Nov 26: we made it!! and new video!

hola amigos!

we made it!! a freshly built car with a brand new motor and tranny with no test time, just picked the car up from the builder and got on the highway! pretty much a total crap shoot in real life scenarios. (again thank you scot jones for the added attention to detail)

well, we got home to pat's and the car performed perfectly! no glitches at all.

we went to kennedy space center today, and didn't get a chance to stop by brooke's place which was a real bummer... a visit way long over-due.

but we DO have a new video posted tonight. ;)



here are some shots from KSC today! pat's father worked on the apollo missions, so this was a real treat today.













and today's random person picture! meet angel, the friendly irish bartender:



we'll post more photos and vids soon. thanks for visiting us here on earth.

Nov 25th! our last night.

hola,

well we are on our last night staying at a nicely equipped place in cocoa beach, fl.
we have no photos or vids tonight, BUT found out this morning that we WILL have a final vid before friday to post for you.
it will be a culmination of the last 3 days of the trip.

thank you everyone who let us bother you with this blog, and whom bothered to keep track of the trip. it was the best road trip ever. we have a ton of shout outs to key individuals:

- travis: thanks for the rad padron cigars!!! awesome smokes my friend!

- brian: for the reggae mix cd's! insane selection and many, many, many hours worth of road tunes. had a hard time getting all the dreads out of our hair tonight. ;)

- scott baldwin and melli: for setting us up a place to stay and to scotty for editing all of our random video data. thank you scotty.

- elaine and rob: thanks for putting us up and putting up with us. :) it was great smoking a fine cigar with my good friend's little sister. and a huge kudos to rob for offering a total stranger to ride his v-rod bike.

- vuk and allison: thank you guys for the most excellent aussie hospitality, and killer fun dogs! and excellent bundy australian rum! hope to see you guys in the future in SF.

- tony at big-o in arizona for getting some wheel weights that actually stuck to the rear wheels - even afer letting kent do a lightning fast 1st and 2nd gear burnout in the parking lot of the casino!!! i'll never get that streak out of my underwear.

- too all the well wishers that stopped to say something to us when they saw "jean" and appreciated her for what she was. you all made it very fun and entertaining. even the guy who kissed the car in beaumont, texas. (we have video of this, ha)

- and thanks to PAT for creating the best dang road trip ever. driving a 460 horse powered '68 camaro across the states with an excellent itinerary of stops was absolutely insane fun!

- ron, kent and rod! thank you guys for driving 500 miles just to see us for one night in new mexico! what a fun night! it had been 20 years since we all have gotten to hang out together and share a martini. what an evening!!!

and a final giant thanks to scott jones! (the car's builder). scott, you paid attention to the smallest details anyone could have imagined. all the way down to welding the cracks in the sub-frame before getting it powder coated. the entire package is mind blowing. a VERY solid car. not one single creek and annoying sound while driving. the vintage AC you put in freezes you to the bone. the big-block aluminum radiator kept the engine around 165 degrees even when trolling in 1st and 2nd gear.
there's not one single gasket that has leaked oil or any fluid on any part of the engine. the steering mod and front end work you directed, made the car handle like a porsche. (a combination of poly bushings and rubber bushings as well as the entire suspension package) wow is all i can say. it made driving the scenic route across the USA a pure pleasure. thank YOU scott.

we'll post the new and final vid before sat.
hope you enjoyed the ride. and the cheese.

Nov 24: miles day again

we are now in Florida after crossing Louisiana and Alabama on the low road. we didn't really get any photos today, except for meeting cristy at lunch, and meeting the next all-star bmx champ jeremy!

we'll post a videos soon.

state line:



a 30 minute bridge crossing across the bayou:



meet cristy, our hostess at los palmas:



meet jeremy! he was super stoked to RIDE. out playin' in the rain! (have great vid of this)



today was all rain all day. it made for some spooky driving. "jean" is a bit too torquey for anything other than dry, sticky pavement.

road trip specs coming soon.

Nov 23: redux with video

here is this vid. thanks a ton scotty!

Nov 23: miles day

whew... cough.

this will be short and a total waste of your time. (don't worry, we will refund your minutes of life lost shortly) :)

today was just blasting down the highway to get from point A to point B. we shot over to austin to check it out, and due to time constraints, just fell into where ever we landed and ate some food. we ate at a "Mongolian BBQ" place.

i knew something was wrong when we entered the restaurant and saw nothing but a tumbleweed roll by. --- note, all it takes to run a mongolian bbq is sauces, oils, bean paste, peppers and the obligatory food items to cook with. this barely had both... hey i'm a mongolian snob. austin, go to denver (or mongolia) to see how it's really done! :) (BD's mongolian bbq on wazee street)

we didn't get to check out any of the swanky music venues that austin is known to harbor. i'll give austin +100 points for being the music capital that it is; and -20 points for being a "college town", then +10 points for that school being the 2nd largest public school in the nation. another +20 points for the bicycle culture there as well. i saw 3 "fixed gear" (messenger) bikes, and a plethora of commuter bikes. good job austin.

then back on the highway to snack up pavement. note to self: next time i drive through texas, bring lube! we were in a 460HP vehicle and had people driving up our ass all day and night long. (read obnoxiously unsafe driving distances between cars) when it comes to personal space, there are no boundaries in the "lone star" state.

we have new vids coming. i'll post last nights vid tonight, then a new 3rd vid to follow tomorrow or the next day.
please contact the administration for your quality time lost tonight.

random photos...



entering the very large state of texas: please note the welcoming bullet holes. (hey, we DID see 1 obama bumper sticker. +200 more points for the lone star!)



last shot. "jean's" speedo gauge cluster shows 1968 miles on the odometer. ha.



g'night. see you tomorrow.

Nov 21 & 22:

hola amigos,

note: please click on photos to see them larger

we had no time to post last night as we were hanging out with our good friends ron, rod and kent from colorado.
the guys drove down from colorado (500 miles no doubt) to see us and meet "jean' for the first time!
pat mentioned that this particular circle of friends have not had a chance to be together in over 20 years. (so yeah, the nightly post last night took a back seat to martinis with the greatest hooligans on planet earth)

first item of the day on nov 21st was waking up to seeing frost on "jean"! being a "california girl", i know this was a bit of a shock to her. she was being a bit pouty on the idle setting in the crisp morning high altitude air.





next up was visiting the Meteor Crater in arizona. something that i've wanted to do since i was a kid.
we also brought a 110lb. rare earth magnet to get a first hand chance to see little nuggets of meteor (iron chondrules) that are lost in the dirt. this is highly illegal with a penalty, so we actually didn't take any BB-sized spheres of an ancient meteor that stick really well to the magnet. (please note: i wasn't carrying around 110lbs. worth of metal, it's the strength rating we're referring to)

did you know? Meteor Crater lies in an elevation of 5700 feet, is about 4000 feet in diameter, and is 570 feet deep.
the object that excavated the crater was a nickel-iron meteorite about 150 feet across. (half a football field)
new data says that the object hit the earth going 28,600 MPH! estimated weight of 150,000 tons.

the impact produced a massive explosion about 150 times the yield of the atomic bombs used at hiroshima and nagasaki. (a little more than an m-80)



after Meteor Crater, that's where we met cindi and her colleague brandon at Crystal Forest Museum. an amazing place that will have you running in circles on decision. thousands of pieces of petrified wood, that show the ancient bark and rings of the original wood's cellular composition. these guys are a true pleasure to talk to and wealth of knowledge to boot.



this shop was amazing. totally impossible to actually choose which piece to buy. not good for the ADD brain...



just down the road was the Petrified Forest. a place that you can spend more time than your sightseeing budget allows. just amazing.

this place contains the petrified remains of 225 million year old trees from the Late Triassic. Petrified Forest was set aside as a national monument in 1906. it is well known for having a broad representation of the Late Triassic Paleo-ecosystem, significant human history, clear night skies, fragile grasslands ecosystem, and unspoiled scenic vistas.

















we left Petrified Forest behind schedule (as usual - wink) to rush and meet the lads from colorado in new mexico at the Sandia Casino Resort; where rod incidentally made $2,400.00 on mechanical slots! lucky bastige. (vids of this soon. or rather "incriminating evidence" coming soon)



today we hit roswell, new mexico! the famed alien spacecraft wreck site that took place in 1947.
the best restaurant in roswell seemed to be McDonald's. seriously, the options were severely limited.... roswell isn't known for their dairy products, the cows are size B at best. but i give them +100 points for being whom they are.











the next few days are "miles" days. so there will be limited resources of vids and pics just due to demanding destination timelines and getting more wheel weights that "jean" like to throw off. hahaha... (video of this scenario coming very soon, thanks pat and kent!)

oh and WOOT! here is the latest video! thanks scotty!
EDIT: will upload video tonight. technical diffs.




have a great evening all.

Nov 20:

hola friends,

last night pat and i spent the evening at Vuk's place in vegas. he's an australian in all regards. a bbq master and uber friendly guy. as we entered vegas, we took "jean" to the strip! (we'll post a video compilation soon of the cruise down the strip)









also, i got the chance to try "vegemite"! the aussie breakfast / toast spread. salty goodness. :) i'll be looking for some in an international market in SF when i get home. thank you vuk and allison for letting pat and i stay at your pad at last minute notice and getting a chance to enjoy your most hearty and fun french bulldogs.



this is elvis! i didn't get a chance to get a shot of darla as she was on the move, BUT we did get some hilarious video of them - stay tuned!



getting on the road today we noticed the evil 80 mph "shimmy" coming from the rear end of the car. we have found out that "jean" like to pitch her rear wheel weights like teenage underwear in the heat of passion. (interesting lesson in physics). so for our 2nd visit to big-o tires for a rear balance, we had them do a "static" tape weight install where they stick the weights in the center of the wheel over putting weights on the back and front side. seems to work good thus far.

we left vuk's place this morning and headed out to see hoover dam. what an amazing feat of engineering.









here is a new bypass bridge that is underway. totally amazing!



we'll post the newest video as soon as it's done. thanks for your patience as we trudge through all of this compiling.
tomorrow we go to the meteor crater (i'll be bringing a 110lb. rare earth magnet to find iron from space with)
then off to the petrified national forest!!! something i've been wanting to see since i was a chid!!!

THEN we drive 4 to 5 hours to albuquerque to meet our good long time friends! fire fighter ron parks of salida, colorado, and dr. kent frisbee of colorado springs! these guys are going to be on the road up to 8 hours to spend 1 evening with us, so that's going to be a major highlight in the trip! see you guys tomorrow ron and kent! EDIT: pat just mentioned something very interesting. as we are thinking about it, the last time kent, ron, pat and i got to hang out together was probably upwards of 20 years ago! in the fort collins days. wowzer. :)

have a nice evening, and we'll see you tomorrow!