Goon Tour 2008

[va72mlibu]

Arrived safely in Arizona. Full write up with lotsa' pics later today.

[JamesJ]

those were all long drives...... i bet you are wasted....

[va72mlibu]

Sorry it took so long to post this, but it’s been a hectic week.

Monday: Atlanta, GA to Houston, TX – 803 miles:
Mr. Vengeance picked me and Nelson up from the hotel and we started heading to the garage to pick up the car, but he just couldn’t bear the thought of the Full Ride fighting Atlanta rush-hour traffic, so he drove us to the airport to pick up my best friend Jacob. Traffic wasn’t too bad as we made our way back to the garage.

We headed out of Atlanta under gorgeous blue skies. Since we got a late start we decided to let the Full Ride stretch its legs a bit. Passed a truck full o’ Vettes’

Roads were great and traffic was light for a couple hundreds miles and we had high hopes of getting to Houston by 9 pm. Around 2 pm we noticed a very minor stumble from the engine and weird indications on the digital tach. It mostly went away for a half hour or so, but then became more regular. I decided to pull over and take a look. In the time it took to find the next exit, get off, and pull into the gas station the engine was acting very erratic. We shut it down and popped the hood. Having done the Power Tour I knew it was critical to have tools, so I had packed my whole kit. After giving it the once over, we determined that we had a bad alternator, as the battery was dead and the car wouldn’t stay running after a jump. As we were trying to figure out how to get to an auto parts store, two guys came over to see if we needed any help. They volunteered to run us up to the parts store so we pulled the alternator and took it and the two batteries to the parts store to get tested while Jake waited with the car. At the car, Nelson gets bored of being tethered to the fence, so he chews through his leash and tries to make a getaway. Luckily he didn’t get far and Jake was able to tie his leash back together. At the auto parts store, we get the alternator hooked up to the bench and it tests out 100%. Batteries are also good, but discharged. So now we’re stumped so we head back o the car to brainstorm. Jake calls Jeff Schwartz (Thanks Jeff) to get some ideas. We decide that we either have a bad ground or a short. We put the alternator back on and disconnect everything and start hooking things back up one at a time to see if we can narrow it down. As we’re testing, everything appears normal so we hook everything back up. Engine turns right over and appears to be running ok, so we let it idle for a few minutes. Everything seems normal, so I reached in to start tightening the battery connections and as soon as I touch the positive terminal, I burn the ever living hell out of my thumb and index finger on the bolt. So apparently we DO have a short. We finally narrowed it down to the charging cable going to the back for the trunk mount battery. We pull it off and all problems immediately disappear so we’re good to go. Get everything buttoned up and we’re off. Total time lost: 3 hours.


At this point, GPS is saying that we won’t get to Houston until 2 am, but luckily we forgot about the time zone change, so we ended up getting there about 1:30 am. We stayed at my friends house north of the city so the Full Ride had a nice secure garage to sleep in.

[va72mlibu]

Tuesday: Houston, TX to El Paso, TX – 748 miles

Since we got in so late we needed to sleep in so we got a late start again. We still had over 1000 miles to drive and the thought of doing that with no stereo was not appealing. We found the local Best Buy and rewired the stereo right there in the parking lot.



With the tunes bumpin’ we rolled out of Houston and hit the road hard. Luckily, this was one of the first things we saw:


Weather was still great and the car was running awesome, so we really started chewing up some road. This stretch was really desolate and we were trying to make up time by limiting our stops. That almost got us into trouble. At the last fuel stop before El Paso, this is how much fuel I pumped into the 18 gallon tank:


Needless to say, that wouldn’t have gotten us to the next station. This was the only gas stop that no one said anything about the car, but that’s probably because there was absolutely no one else around.

[va72mlibu]

As night fell we were rolling good and the Valentine 1 was pointing out bogeys so we kept it close to the limit. Next thing you know, Jake is getting pulled over.


Cop comes up and tells Jake that he pulled him over for doing 71 in a 65. SIX OVER! He let us go with a warning. I have a feeling he just wanted a one-man car show.
While in Houston, the guy I was staying with gave us a tip about a hotel with a parking garage in El Paso, so we made a reservation there. Only problem is, they don’t allow pets. Luckily, the elevator in the garage went straight up to the rooms, so we parked across the street, let Nelson do his business, then I walked across and checked in. Parked the car then smuggled the dog up to the room and everyone hit the sack.

[va72mlibu]

Wednesday: El Paso, TX to Sierra Vista, AZ – 305 miles

On the last day, we finally got started at a decent hour. The drive to El Paso put us into Mountain time and Arizona was still one time zone away so we gained another hour back. We put the pedal down and were rolling good. We only needed to stop once so Jake decided to get an appropriately sized soda, “THE TANKER!”

At this point the sun was beating down so bad that I had to drive with a towel over my arm.



It was the manliest Hello Kitty towel that I had at the time.

Nelson was an absolute angel the entire trip, so he got a little in flight meal



Then he just chilled

[va72mlibu]

In no time we were in Sierra Vista and pulled up to our new home.


The car had a few bugs on it



That’s ok, Nelson helped us clean ‘em off!



So we made it there safe and sound. After our initial problem, the car ran flawlessly. I think our stats are pretty impressive. 70 MPH overall moving average ain’t easy. For the record, I have no independent recollection of how the max speed was established.



Now the Full Ride is nice and clean and I’m getting settled in to the new digs. School starts tomorrow. A special thanks to my boy Jake for making the trip, I had a blast. Thanks everyone for reading!