[DeTomaso] Chris Kimball 2013 POCA Fun Rally final entry

Christopher Kimball chrisvkimball at msn.com
Wed May 1 20:14:36 EDT 2013


May 1, 2013

 

Since I had been meaning
to check my intake manifold bolts for tightness but kept forgetting, I set my
alarm this morning for 8:00 AM so I would remember to do so before we left for
the last leg of our journey.

 

I must have been so
excited about tightening the bolts that my internal clock got confused, because
I woke up at 7:15 AM!  I saw Brian
loading his car (he said he woke up at 4:15, or something like that.  Anything before 7:00 AM doesn’t even register
in my brain) and I decided to have breakfast first, then tend to the manifold
business.  I had some juice, a strawberry
Yoplait, and a blueberry waffle with two butters and three syrups.  When I say “blueberry waffle,” what I mean is
a waffle made from the pre-mixed waffle substance provided by the hotel.  I never saw any actual blueberries in it,
just a few small specks of something blue. 
What it was, I’ll never know.

 

We went to the same across-the-parking-lot
gas station we used last time we were at this hotel (last week).  It turns out it is not “Astro gas” as I
reported in that day’s journal.  It is
actually called “Space Age gas,” which renders my Jetsons joke completely
invalid.  Well, it’s not completely
invalid, since the Jetsons were supposed to be living in the space age—but I
admit, that’s a pretty weak connection. 
I’m blaming Brian for the confusion, though.  I asked him the name of the gas station, and
I’m pretty sure he was the one who came up with the “Astro gas” thing.

 

I forgot to mention that a day or so ago I passed the 45th
parallel.  It reminded me of when I was in
kindergarten and made the offhand comment to my teacher that the
45th parallel is often called the halfway point between the Equator and the North Pole,
but the true halfway point is actually 10.1 miles north of the 45th
parallel because the Earth is oblate,
that is, it bulges at the equator and is flattened at the poles. 

I also told her at this latitude the sun is visible for 15 hours, 37 minutes
during the summer
solstice and 8 hours,
46 minutes during the winter
solstice.

She sent me to the principal’s office
for insubordination, and I think that’s when I lost my sense of direction…

 

It was another beautiful drive
today.  I enjoyed the great weather and impressive
scenery all the way to Ellensburg where we stopped briefly for gas.  At the station, a young man approached me and
asked a few of the typical questions about the car.  The, in a demonstration of sophistication and
eloquence, he asked the rhetorical question, “I bet you score a lot of chicks
with that car, don’t you?”  

 

I didn’t like the assumed
answer to that rhetorical question, so I gave a non-rhetorical answer, “I’m
married, so for me, it’s just about one woman.” 


 

Sensing I might, in one
area of my life at least, be almost as responsible as Brian, he quickly backpedaled
and gave his tacit approval of traditional, monogamous marriage.  I could tell he was slightly embarrassed at
his faux pas, so to make him feel better, I adopted my pre-marriage,
rock-and-roll drummer persona, and said, “Hey, if I wasn’t married, this car
would be a real chick magnet!”  He seemed
quite relieved that it had turned out he and I could relate so well after all.

 

As we got closer to
civilization, we were forced to share the road with more and more cars, trucks,
and other motorized obstacles.  What
really annoys me is when someone in another vehicle is in the left lane going
below the speed limit, and then when he or she pulls into the right lane to let
you pass, suddenly speeds up to the same speed at which you are traveling.  I feel like rolling down my window and
yelling, “Make up your mind—do you want to drive slowly or normally; or are you
just oblivious to everything around you?” 
Of course, if it’s the latter, they wouldn’t hear my yelling anyway.

 

I filled the tank once
more just before arriving home late this afternoon so I could check my gas
mileage average for the entire trip.  It
turns out I used 171.52 gallons and traveled 3,222 miles.  This works out to about 18.8 miles per
gallon, which I consider to be fantastic considering it includes all the
in-town driving I did along the way and in Phoenix.  Not only that, there were a couple of times I
drove rather un-miserly-like, including up a twisty, windy hill I negotiated
during one of the planned drives during the Fun Rally.

 

Figuring an average price
of $3.70 per gallon, and including the cost of all the Octane Boost I bought
along the way, the cost for fuel worked out to be about $700.00.  Since Brian and I split the hotel costs, my housing
cost was only $480 for the entire trip, including tips.  For those of you counting at home, that
totals $1,180.00 not including the registration cost of the Fun Rally.  It also doesn’t include food and snacks.  If my food and snacks are taken into
consideration, the total cost for me increases to $1,000,000.00 or so.

 

I got home and greeted the
dogs (two miniature dachshunds) who went positively apoplectic when I arrived.  They really missed me.  And there are some people who have the
audacity to say pets won’t be in Heaven!

 

This weekend I’ll need to
wash Pandora and see if the Griot’s bug shield works as advertised.  I’ll also install my fourth chin spoiler—I wonder
how long this one will last!  I may check
the header bolts as well to ensure they are still tight.  

 

Other than that, Pandora’s
ready for the summer car show season, and next year’s Fun Rally. 		 	   		  


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