Ten days, 3,477.8 miles, 13
tanks of gas and one quart of oil later “Johnny” and I arrived home safe and
sound late Wednesday afternoon. This epic journey to collect Johnny and drive
across country to visit friends and relatives, living and dead, came off without
any catastrophic mechanical failures, flat tires or failure to perform on
Johnny’s part, or mine for that matter.
The final day was probably
the least interesting and eventful of the trip. I awoke early and we were on
the road by 5:40 aye-em from Oxford, Alabama. The rainstorm that we pushed
through on Monday, which caught up to us later that night, we passed through
again Tuesday afternoon only for it to catch and pass us once again overnight
made it inevitable that we would catch it again in the morning. Unfortunately,
the timing coincided with reaching Atlanta during rush hour. Yet again I turned
a deaf ear to Ms. Waze’s directions in what I thought would be a better route
during Atlanta’s rush hour frenzy. BIG mistake. Waze wanted me to continue
straight through downtown on I-75/85 and I thought that would just be insane.
Certainly, taking the I-285 around the city would avoid the worst of the
traffic. Wrongo moose breath. The traffic on the loop was crawling at 5 mph,
therefore, I reevaluated Waze’s input and we thence proceeded through the
streets of Atlanta to link back up with I-75/85 somewhere in the vicinity of
the Georgia Tech campus.
Once clear of Atlanta the
drive was smooth sailing except for the interminable construction zones,
although the rain abated for a while. I did make one unscheduled stop at the
Red Hook Brewery outside of Raleigh, NC. My neighbor turned me on to Red Hook
awhile back, so I thought why not? I picked up a case for him and one for
myself and got a brief peek at the operation too boot. Full brewery tours are
only done on Friday afternoons. Back underway, we managed to make good time and
hit the rain yet again as we crossed into Virginia. Undaunted, we pressed on
and arrived home at 5:40 pee-em, exactly 11 hours after starting out that
morning. For you math wizards you have to take the time zone change into
account for the arithmetic to work.
I now have a laundry list of items
to address and as I finally get around to writing this Johnny has already been
delivered to Auto Haus’ Classic Center in Williamsburg, Virginia for evaluation
towards a sympathetic restoration. Initial reaction by the staff and owner was
favorable, so I look forward to the final result, if there ever is such a
thing, if not the final bill. I’ll keep you posted.
Would I do this trip again?
Certainly! But I think I’ll wait a wee bit before doing it again. I couldn’t
have done any of this without the encouragement and support of my darling wife
Avril. When I first broached the subject of buying the car and then later
driving it across country, Avril was all for it even though it would leave her
holding down the fort here at home while I was gallivanting across the country
in our Eighties Mercedes. Somebody should write a song…
Arrival
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