ROAD TRIP! 3642 Miles, family, friends, fast food, Spring Carlisle!

While Eddie was occupied with the Blazer, Ben, Dad and I went over to the garage and raised the door. The Z28, last on the road in 1999, was sitting there, covered in dust. There are few finer feelings than pulling a neat old car out of a garage after it's sat for years. Here is as we found it.





This Camaro belonged to Ben's college girlfriend, Michelle, and it''s kind of cool to see the stickers in the rear window. Her high school parking pass is still there, along with a police PBA sticker and a Lycoming sticker, where both she and Ben went to college. Pretty wild. History. Her Dad bought her a new 1996 Firebird and Ben bought the Z28 from him, rather than letting him trade it in.





I jacked up the car and climbed under. It has some crust on it, but is very solid for a Jersey car. I was able to pull the driveshaft with no issues.


Here are Dad and Ben, just after airing up all the Camaro's tires and getting ready to roll it out for the first time in years. Dad is HAPPY! Ha!


The body on the Camaro is very nice. The paint still shines, and there is no surface rust. The only damage is the driver's side front fender is crinkled. The plastic bumper is ok, will just need a fender once we get the car running.

Ben, while we were looking the car over, went to the basement numerous times and filled up both the Camaro and the Blazer with spare parts. I mean a LOT of spare parts. A new leather-wrapped Camaro wheel and shifter, new weatherstripping, a box full or radios, a spare set of wheels, and on and on. Still have not sorted through it all. Amazing!

The Camaro rolled, and being careful not to touch the brakes for fear of locking them, we pushed the car out. No issues. Backed the tow dolly up and hit snag # 1....the car sat too low to get it on the dolly without damaging the air dam. We decided to make ramps, and Ben found a long 2x6 board. We could not find a saw however, and ended up cutting it in half with a jigsaw...ahahaha! Poor little jigsaw...about burned it up!

 

With our wood ramps we were able to use the come-along and finally get the Camaro on the dolly. It JUST fit. Was almost too wide.



With the Camaro loaded we said our goodbyes and thank you's to Ben, and Dad got in the Denali, and Eddie and I got in the Blazer. We made it to Hwy 78 with no issues and headed for PA.

OK, now about the Blazer...I made some instant discoveries. First, happily, it ran, shifted, and stopped fine, but hitting a bump caused it to bound all over the place, both up and down and left and right...and in general on anything but smooth roads is rides like a pogo stick. Eddie of course is loving it and laughing out loud. I'm thinking of how I'm going to feel after 1800 miles of this.

Also I found more than a few things are DOA. The power locks will unlock, but not lock. The driver's door power window does not work...thank goodness for the vent window. Passenger window works, but it's slooowww. Also, the rear tailgate window is frozen in place, so we can't open the tailgate. The cruise-control does not work, and more upsetting, the a/c is dead, and the cassette player does not work, and the radio will not pick up anything, even though I get static....antenna unplugged?? Oh and with a full tank of gas the fuel gauge is WAY overfull, and Ben warned me that at 1/2 showing on the gauge, the tank is empty. Ok then.

The engine however runs fine. 30-40psi on the oil gauge, running cool and good volts.

Gas in NJ is actually chaper than in PA. It was $3.44 in Elizabethtown PA, the highest we saw on the trip. it's $3.19 in NJ. As badly as my Dad wants to get out of NJ, he agrees to stop at the truck stop just outside Phillipsburg to fill up. Well here we have another issue...in NJ you can't pump your own gas, and I tell the gas jocky to put $40 in the Blazer, and he accidently scans my card for $400! DANG! He's sorry, but we have to call Wells Fargo to sort it out. Dad goes into another tirade about how STUPID NJ is...such fun.

Took these pics waiting for the credit card issue to be sorted out.



We finally get the bank to promise my card will be refunded and I will not have a problem on the trip home, and get back on the road. Here we are crossing the Delaware Water Gap from NJ to PA. Dad is on the walkie-talkie yelling YIPPEE!


As we get into PA the temps, which have been in the 70's, fall to the 50's, and soon it starts raining. Happily the wipers on the Blazer are new and work fine...even the delay works.


Eddie talks, and talks, and talks. He has BIG PLANS for his Blazer, and I tell him he better get a lown-mowing business going when we get home ASAP. At least with all Eddie's talking I'm not missing the radio too much.

We pass Harrisburg and Carlisle, and I'm tickled that the Blazer is doing just fine. Gauges are reading normal, and it will do 65mph with no problem. We stop in Chambersburg for a bathroof break and I check fluids on both trucks. All are fine. Raining and cold now, but the heater in the Blazer would fire pottery.

 

We cross out of PA, into Maryland and West Virginia, and finally into Virginia at dusk. I check in with Jim to give him the latest update, and we drive for about an hour and finally stop for gas about 9pm.

While the Blazer and Denali are filling up I pop the hood on the trucks to check fluids. Denali is a little low on oil. Will have to get a quart at Wal-Mart later.

Other than that, fine. The oil in the Blazer is full and clean. I then pull the trans dipstick...and there is nothing on it. What? I stick it again....dry. I start the truck and tell Eddie to look under it, and Eddie yells DADDY! DADDY! DADDY! SHUT IT OFF!!!!

Oh Boy....

I get the flashlight and am greeted by a pool or red tranny fluid under the truck. The engine is wet, the axle is wet, the trans is wet, the floorpan is wet. Oh man! I have a small panic attack....it's 9pm on Sunday night, nothing is open, and we're still well over a 1000 miles from home. I begin to kick myself for being stupid and trying to take a vehicle like this across the country... The trans is blown, I just know it. Now what.....?

I take a few breathes and calm down. I need to at least see where the leak is coming from. I get the flashlight, toss a towel on the ground and slide under, and tell Eddie to start the truck. What I see surprises me. There are two tranny cooler lines that run beside the engine oil pan. They are rusty, and a small pinhole-stream of fluid is spraying straight up from one of the lines, hitting the engine block just under the exhaust manifold, and then the fluid is running back down the engine. The hole is tiny, and I can stop it with my finger. Hmmmm.

First I try what any man would....DUCT TAPE. It works for a few seconds and then the fluid begins to leak out of the tape. Dang. Next I think I could cut the line and splice in a rubber hose, but I don't have a way to cut the line...and no hose either. Hmmmm.

I'm now soaked in trany fluid and filthy. My Dad is watching all this...giving me room. I walk over and pop the hood on the Camaro...look around, and have a "lightbulb"moment. I loosen the hose clamp from the radiator overflow bottle hose at the radiator, and cut about two inches off it, then slide the hose back on the radiator, and take my 2-inch hose and clamp over to the Blazer. I cut the rubber hose lengthwise, slide it over the rusty metal cooler line, and then open the clamp, and install the clamp on the hose directly over where the leak was. I then have Eddie start the Blazer....and it WORKS! No leak. I'm astounded. The gas station has trans fluid for $5 a quart, and it takes 2-1/2 quarts to get it filled, but it holds for the rest of the trip. Amazing. This is the ONLY failure on the entire trip.
Here I am, covered in trans fluid, post-redneck-repair happy.


We press on to Buchanan Virginia, just north of Roanoke, and splurge on a nice clean newer hotel. The shower feels AMAZINGLY good. As does the bed. I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

 

Monday April 29th. Buchanan VA to Jonesboro Arkansas.

There is a Waffle House next to our hotel, and I treat Eddie and Dad to a huge greasy breakfast. Heaven. Good coffee too. I then get the bright idea to look in the box of radios Ben gave us, and sure-enough, there is a Delco cassette that is a twin of the one in the Blazer.

In the parking lot of the gas station next to the hotel, I remove the Blazer's dash bezel and radio. Having owned a '78 Silverado pickup years back, I know this routine, and it's all the same. I'm surprised to see the antenna is in fact plugged in the original radio. Hmm. I have to swap over some of the mounting hardware from the original radio to the one from the box, but in a few minutes I plug the new radio in, install the antenna, and turn the key, and am greeted to four speakers telling me God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy. I have a radio that works. Ha!
Here we are in the parking lot installing the radio


We get on the road at 10am. Eddie tries the cassette player, and it works...for almost 20-seconds, and then it eats my Traveling Wilbury's cassette I've had since high school. Dang! Back to the FM radio...that's ok, it's better than silence for sure!

We pass Roanoke and head into southern Virginia. Really pretty, and the clouds begin to break up and temps warm up. Cruising now and enjoying the views








We stop for gas just north of the Tennessee state line, and there is a car wash behind the station. It's just too much of a temptation for us to pass up!


Eddie insists he be the first person to wash his Blazer. My heart fills with pride. Ha!



And Dad and I are both glad to get all that dust off the Camaro finally!!!

 

On the road again...sadly we blew some paint off the Blazer's hood! But at least it's a lot cleaner now!


Turning into a gorgeous day!


Crossing into Tennessee


Just past Knoxville, heading toward Oak Ridge. Been quite the nuclear vacation!

Passing Oak Ridge

Tennessee is a GORGEOUS STATE!


Frozen Head State Park?? There's a story there I bet.....

 

We pass Nashville at dusk and I call Jim to check in. My father has a cousin that runs a KOA Campground in Dickson, just west of Nashville, and he has not seen him in over 20 years. Dad calls him and he tells us to stop at the Johnny Cash rest area just past Dickson. We do, and my Dad and he talk for almost an hour while I visit with his wife. They were close as kids and it's really neat to see my Dad having so much fun...with someone his own age! Ha!




We get back on the road at about 10pm, and folks, the next four hours are a blur. Eddie rode with my Dad in the Denali, and it took all my energy to stay awake. One eye kept closing. Soda didn't help, chips didn't help, opening the vent window all the way didn't help. I swear I barely remember hitting Memphis and crossing the river sometime after midnight, and the hour drive to Jonesboro is a haze. I followed Dad's taillights. It was the most tired I'd ever been while driving. We pulled into my aunt's at about 1:30am. I slept like a stone.
Monday April 30th - Jonesboro Arkansas to Round Rock Texas.
Dad woke Eddie and I at 9:30. Later than we'd planned, but we needed the rest. After couches and hotels, the big soft bed at my aunt's home was heaven. I love her house. It's an old farnmhouse in the trees, and they have a converted barn/garage and some property where they once raised Christmas Trees, but they stopped years ago and now there are HUGE towering trees back there. Took this pics that morning.


Here we are at 10:30 leaving for Texas. Final Day!

 

Just south if Jonesboro you fall onto the Mississippi River Delta part of the state. It is FLAT AS A PANCAKE and quite a change from the views of the past few days.




BALD KNOB. Got to love Arkansas!

Do you think Eddie likes his new toy?

We stopped for lunch in Little Rock and then headed east into the pine hills. It's amazing how much of a contrast there is between the delta part of Arkansas and the southwestern hills!

Bill Clinton's sign in Hope Arkansas. Where's Monica's sign?

And then, 2 1/2 hours later.... Could it really be?? YEP! TEXAS BABY!!

Ah Texarkana....only 6-1/2 hours from home!

SO GOOD TO BE HOME! Have not seen this sign for a week!

 

Texas....Wide Open Spaces!


We may not have green mountains but our sunsets are hard to beat!


Crossed Dallas at about 10:45 and stopped for gas for the last time in Waco at midnight.

Got home at 1:30am Tuesday morning. Slept until 1:30pm Tuesday afternoon.
We're home!

 

Unloaded the Camaro and put it under my carport for now. So weird to see this car here after all these years!


Parked the Blazer in it's new spot

Boy we have the cars now...and the Citation X-11 isn't even here yet! Ha!


That's IT. Hope you enjoyed the road trip! We sure did!

-Mike

 

Wow....I'm kinda exhausted just reading it.
Saw first pics of the Camaro - it looked maroon/gold. Nice to see it's actually brown. Great pics of Carlisle. Now I finally realize just how large an event that it. We need to have one of those out on the left coast.....

 

Looks like it was a great time!!!

 

Great write up ,i love a road trip.

Was at Three Mile Island and actually did the inside tour back in 89.

Thanks for the memories.

It was actually a blind date but that is another story!

 

Thanks Mike

Great road trip:2_thumbs_up_-_anima. And great pix too:2_thumbs_up_-_anima The Z28 did need a bath pretty bad to look good tho', didn't it? Now you know why I try not to miss Carlisle. OH and FYI Marshall, They host 10-12 shows there thru' the summer starting in late april with Spring Carlisle and running into early October with Fall Carlisle. The one for General Motors(Chebby'z 'N Poncho'z and the rest) is June 21-23 this year. And Phordz iz two weeks before on June 6-8 if you need a blue Oval fix, and Moparz iz July 12-14 this year if that's your pleasure. The only thing I've ever seen that comes close is The Pate Meet in late April when it was still held on the Pate property west of Ft. Worth. And now that they sold the Pate property and moved the show to Texas International Speedway I think it's been shrunk ah bit, and it's a preasure cooker even in April with "0" Shade TreezPomona in the spring used to come close too, the last time I made that one BTW, Hershey iz ah monster also but it was and think still iz all Pre WWll with few exceptions. Thats why a couple guyz when they got their nosez out of joint 20 yearz ago with the pre 1945 restriction went down the road a few milez and rented the Fair Grounds (which the Family of one of the original guyz now owns) Get your Motel reservations early Pal. 6-8 weeks before every show all summer every motel room within 20 Miles or so iz sold outIt iz Mecca reguardless of your pleasure Jer

 

My favorite Carlisle memory was going to Corvette's at Carlisle in 1992 with my Dad in our '79 Vette. We got to park on the upper field, and at the end of the show all the Vette's tour through the town. The most plastic fantastics I've ever seen in one place!

Glad you folks liked my long rambling story!

-Mike

 

Didn't know Chebby put that much fiber glass on the planet didjah