[DeTomaso] Chris Kimball 2013 POCA Fun Rally final entry

[Christopher Kimball]

Thanks for the kind words.  Yes, it was a blast--and Pandora didn't break down once!
Chris

Date: Thu, 2 May 2013 13:58:27 -0400
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Chris Kimball 2013 POCA Fun Rally final entry
From: erjpike at gmail.com
To: michael at michaelshortt.com
CC: chrisvkimball at msn.com; detomaso at poca.com

Chris,
I really enjoyed reading you accounts of the trip. Thanks so much for posing. Sounds like a good time was had by all!
Ed...


On Wed, May 1, 2013 at 8:37 PM, michael at michaelshortt.com <michaelsavga at gmail.com> wrote:

Very entertaining series of reports. Fun to read, like being there except

with more calories.



Thanks for keeping those of us homebound informed.



BTW. The Jetson's was set in 2062 and the dog's name was Astro.  I think

you get a pass on that one.



Michael Shortt

On May 1, 2013 8:15 PM, "Christopher Kimball" <chrisvkimball at msn.com> wrote:



> 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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-- 
Thanks,
Ed...