Fast Car - Wandering Star - Page 3

Laneco · 09-21-2006, 10:42 AM

The drive down to Havasu was gorgeous - sorry Jordi that I didn't give a shout while in Vegas. The car was having zero problems and I did not want to bother you. Of course, as a matter of good manners, I SHOULD have called and treated you to a coffee!

I now know why Las Vegas is named as it is (the winds)... Just a few miles outside of Vegas, traffic was picking up nicely. A fellow with a mobile home was coming the opposite direction and all HELL broke loose! The entire left side and most of the roof BLEW off the mobile home as he was boogeying down the freeway. What an exciting site! Fortunately, I saw way, way down the road that something was happening because I could see the roof lifting. Moved into the e-lane, then the dirt, and threw the anchor out. When the roof/side actually blew off I was probably 1/4 plus mile away. Enough to get a spectacular ringside seat without being the landing pad for the debris.

Wouldn't that be a lousy way to go? Smashed flat by a mobile home?

Pics are a fuel stop at the jump-off point on 40/95 - magnificent flag, the mountain around Needles and the Lake Havasu. angela

Laneco · 11:03 AM

Last night's camping at Lake Havasu State Park was the best night on this trip (so far!). I shared my little campsite with about a dozen rabbits, several quail, a surprisingly friendly road-runner and a skunk who I was very careful not to startle. Fortunately, the skunk was just passing thru. Quiet, peaceful and a velvet sky full of stars. Even saw three shooting stars in the early a.m.

Woke up around 4am, ready to hit the road. Problem is, today I'm not going anywhere. I don't leave Havasu until tomorrow early afternoon. After a nice run, some book reading etc. I'm actually kind of antsy/bored. Bad bad combination....

So I decide to check the spark plugs. At the advice of the engine builder, I had installed a slightly less cool set of plugs. I was curious how they looked after this many miles. Ahh...Curiosity...why does it ALWAYS get me into trouble?

I'm working my way around the engine. All is well, the plugs are great, definately the "right" ones exactly for this engine. As I pull #2, I hear not the usual "pop" that the wires make leaving the plug, but an odd sort of "slurp" sound. I look in the hole and find the metal contact end of the plug wire on the plug, not on the wire.

First thing that goes thru my mind is not "oh $hit I'm 1000 miles from home and I do NOT have a spare of this.." but rather "Oh $HIT - Steve (husband) is going to KILL ME this is a really $$$ set of plug wires!!!"

A slow excruciating process to repair this Clewett plug wire. I fix it, then grab the ohm meter. It doesn't ohm out. NUTZ. Tear it apart a second time - just sure that I've lost contact in the "hidden" spot of the end of the wire and fix it again. Still doesn't ohm out... Tear down and try a third time. Same result... By this time, I've spent about an hour and a half with no success and I'm growing greatly concerned. I've also cut my thumb and bled profusely inside of my latex glove. On a whim, I pull another plug-wire and ohm it - with the same no-result. Oh DUH - apparently the plug wire material does not act exactly like a copper wire and it doesn't "ohm" or at least not for me today. Nervously I put the plug wire back on the plug.

Car fires, runs great. What do you think are the odds of Richard Clewett selling me one plug wire? Okay - note to self: LEAVE THE GOOD RUNNING THING ALONE YOU STUPID HAIRLESS HALF-WITTED MONKEY!!!

That is the second Rule of Roadtrips. First is a good car and spares. Second is don't fix what isn't broken!!!! Right now I'm at a Starbucks enjoying a green tea Frappaccino. What an amazing bit of decadance after three days of camping and some 1000 miles of open top driving. Check with all-you-all later! angela

Jim Richards · 09-21-2006, 11:04 AM

LOL! Great road trip reports, Angela!

sand_man · 09-21-2006, 11:21 AM

By the way, if it's twin-plug, you can actually run the engine on either the top six or bottom six plugs. For how long, I don't know. And you might have to adjust your timing if it's a long haul. Probably good to know though if you're in a jam and trying to get/limp the car to a shop or a parts store.

Richard Clewett mentioned this to me when we were testing things on my twin-plug Electromotive install... he indicated that if I pulled the wiring (the wiring that runs from the ECU to the DFU) from either one of the DFUs that the engine should run via whatever one was still connected. It worked. I didn't drive it like this, but it idled fine.

syncroid · 09-21-2006, 11:26 AM

Sounds like you would have made MacGyver proud.

Great road trip story. One you won't forget.

jorian · 09-21-2006, 12:03 PM

Makes me want to wander too...

pwd72s · 09-21-2006, 10:31 PM

Don't get RoninLB started....

Good going Angela....may the roads all be kind.

daepp · 09-22-2006, 07:26 AM

Needs more pix!

Laneco · 09-22-2006, 06:27 PM

Ever have an unpleasant hotel surprise? I don't mean to be picky, I ignored the stack of mattresses near the main walk-way along with the broken down air conditioning equipment. When I got up to go for a run this morning, I noted several empty beer bottles in the parking lot directly in front of the hotel lobby. The spyder was near them, but unmolested, so I shrugged on. Best Western Lake Havasu City.

But this is the deal breaker... After camping all week a nice hot soaking bath was really sounding good. I began filling the tub. At about 4-5 inches full, I stepped in ready for a luxurious bath.

And then it happened... The faucet began SPEWING BLOOD!! I lept straight out of the tub, skidded across the floor and checked to see if the walls were going to start bleeding too. But they looked pretty normal. I grabbed my camera because there is no way anybody would believe this one. GROSS!!!!

The management informed me that this was just a minor problem. Minor? What the heck is a MAJOR problem? They advised me the water softener had failed and to just run the water a few more minutes and all would be fine... I emptied the mess and indeed, after a few minutes, the water ran clear. Far too grossed out to take a tubby, I opted for a shower instead. Boy, maybe I should have camped again! angela

pwd72s · 09-22-2006, 06:37 PM

EEEEWWWW! Now we know why we prefer the Northwest...it's the water.

jorian · 09-22-2006, 06:52 PM

looks like oil - 20W50

Laneco · 09-22-2006, 08:06 PM

Well after that nastiness, I had a work-related appointment, then back on the road at high noon! Headed toward Kingman AZ. The speed limit in AZ is 75 on the interstate, I figure 78-80 is probably pretty safe. The spyder makes short work of I-40 to Kingman. With the higher speed and smooth road, the spyder feels like spirited horse pulling for its head, "Let me run! Let me run! " I keep prudent speed.

This section of route 66 is about 85 miles long. The highway is quiet, no glaring neon signs and I meet only other travelers along the way. Big motorbikes, wandering motor homes and young people car camping. My kind of adventure. There are many forgotten places along this road. When the interstate when in, these little places dried up and are blowing away in the wind. It is the landscape that I find most beautiful as I leave the very arid true desert for this somewhat greener plateau country. Softly, the rocks give way to high pasture land. Arizona is full of such beautiful places. angela

Laneco · 09-22-2006, 08:12 PM

The spyder and I have safely made Prescott. Tell ya what, if I ever win the Lottery big time, I'm buying a place in Prescott. Drop-dead gorgeous. I don't have any scenery pics, I'll get those tomorrow. Absolutely stunning landscapes.

Met up with my spyder buddies at a local garage. Beer, hot dogs and good company. Tomorrow we take off as a group (7 spyders and one speedster) as a tour group. We're taking 89A, which on the map at least, looks interesting. Good to see my spyder friends. These are people that Steve and I have been talking to on the internet for a couple of years. Some we've seen face to face, but most are friends who before today, I couldn't pick out of a lineup. angela

jorian · 09-22-2006, 08:36 PM

Man that car looks sweet...

snowman · 09:51 PM

Man, you are making me long for the old days, pre 1970. In the wild west you could CRUSE at 110mph and still get passed! No fear of the gestapo, just cruse. I still long for the days where I drove from cinn OH to corning, NY in just 6 hours, no tickets and I did get passed, And that was in an old Plymouth Fury. Over 600 miles in 6 hours. A good friend drove his vette from San Fran to corning in 28 hours. Thats 3200 miles.

Rodeo · 09-22-2006, 09:33 PM

That tub shot makes me think you stayed at the Bates Motel.

Glad you made it out ok

sand_man · 09-23-2006, 04:08 AM

Man that bath water was hideous-rex! What does a girl have to do to shave her legs these days?!?!

Joeaksa · 09-23-2006, 04:46 AM

Just so you do not feel like this only happens to you, here is what the water looked like during a recent trip to Sicily. And this was a 4 star hotel!

Needless to say we changed hotels the next day!

Laneco · 09-23-2006, 05:56 AM

A FOUR star hotel? That is absolutely repulsive! At least my hotel was a Best Western - not that it makes it any less gross, just that you expect a little less from that type of hotel.

The group of us are driving to Sedona today. Can't wait to get started. angela

Moses · 09-23-2006, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Laneco

The group of us are driving to Sedona today. Can't wait to get started. angela

You'll fall in love with Sedona. Magical place. Great travel journal, by the way. Nice pictures and a beautiful car. You must get some pictures of the car with big Sedona backdrops. Beautiful.