5000+ miles to Scirocco Heaven and back [loooong]

[jtoomasson@yahoo.com (Jeff Toomasson)]

T -

You are the man!

Many props for sacking up and driving all the way there - I plan on joining
you next year...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tobias ><" <scirocco16v88@hotmail.com>
To: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 10:39 AM
Subject: 5000+ miles to Scirocco Heaven and back [loooong]


>
> Don't have time to read a lot of text ... pic links are down at the bottom
> :)
>
> The whole trip started early Tuesday last week with a run over to ND to
get
> the oil and pan changed out, then over to NAPA for the all-important
> connectors and back home to finally install the xenon units in the
rounds -
> this turned out to be more work than I had expected, I over-engineered the
> rear cover a bit and it didn't fit inside the bracket. 2pm I roll out to
> Castro Valley to get the tires mounted on the RFX's and the snowflakes
> stripped of theirs.
>
> 4:30 I finally get on the road, have to beat my way through rush hour
> traffic all the way to Sacramento - Brian is waiting in Roseville, which
is
> not exactely in Sac Brian .... cuz I was in Sac at 6:15 hehe. Chat with
> Brian a bit and grab the ragtop for Eric. Car is scraping on all 4 corners
> with the 205/50s (yeah, I listened to Randy and went bigger).
>
> The trip is pretty uneventful till I hit Reno, where two people managed to
> leave nothing but metal shards all over the freeway - I don't think anyone
> walked away from that mess. Nothing much happened till I got to Eric and
> Katy's place the next night - thanks for putting me up for the night, the
> burger and rolls :) Leave there waaaaay too early - something like 5:30am
my
> time. Again the ride was pretty uneventful apart from the starter that
> finally decided it had enough when we were somewhere in Kansas - we just
> push started it. Roll into St. Louis that night and head for Scott's
place,
> who was putting us up for the night. His buddy Matt was great enough to
take
> the the wheels, tires, trannies out of our trunks for the rest of the
trip.
> Small incident where we thought we had lost Eric and Katy while they were
> walking their dog ... hehehe.
>
> Head out the next day.. at the first gas-up and elderly gentleman walks
over
> to my car and asks me if this thing is a Scirocco .. did it have this
> torsion bar type thing - you mean a Neuspeed stress bar? - yeah my 85 had
> one of those.. had a few others too, but now I drive a 64 Ford, like it
much
> better.
>
> I love how in the middle of nowhere some random person knows exactly what
> you're driving, while the rest of the people just give you strange looks.
>
> At some point in Illinois (I think it was there huh?) some crazy ass in a
> Minivan can't get back to South Carolina fast enough, barreling down the
the
> left lane flashing people out of his way. Mind you, there's a decent
amount
> of traffic. He finally ends up on my bumper, and when I say on - Eric was
> somewhat in front, he couldn't see the bumper of the van behind me. I slam
> on the brakes once for good measure, but he just gestures for me to get
the
> f*** out of his way. Two Roccs, a Dodge truck and a Neon proceeded to
block
> his way (yeah, who would have guessed we were a group coordinating on
> radios) and he got a bit impatient. Finally found himself an opening in
the
> right lane, and proceeded to promtly force his way into my way - he hadn't
> cleared me, just pulled into my lane - so I slam the horn button, what the
> hell else is there to do .......... wait, digicam ... snap a pic of his
> license plate.
>
> When we clear the trucks, I pull ahead, and he roars by from behind in the
> right lane. I drop my car in forth to keep up (mind you, I'm pissed and
> there's no chance this guy is getting off) ... 80..90..100 truck coming
up,
> he squeezes into the left lane in front of me, and I'm so close to his
> bumper - at best an inch - that I can read his registration tags. Clear
the
> truck .. I hit the left lane - big space - foot to the floor - uphill
race -
> 100 ... 110 ... 120 - the Safari van drive in the right lane got nervous
as
> we were flying up behind him .. I squeeze the Rocc into the right lane -
the
> probably wasn't much room, heck I don't recal :) Adrenaline levels start
to
> taper off a bit, and I slow this ride down. Let the a**hole pass me - grab
> the digicam and snap a pic of the two clowns in there - the passenger sees
> me and whips up his paper in a lame attempt to hide his identity ....
you'll
> see in the pics, he was a little late.
>
> Point to all this - the guy didn't do much speeding after that. Lesson
> everyone should learn - don't piss of people on the freeway, you never
know
> when some nut in his Rocc decides he'll come after you.
>
> Later, roll into Cincy .. party starts. Saturday, after I get suprised by
my
> parents showing up (from Buffalo), and then later my sister (Auburn Hills,
> MI), I take the car into Daun's garage to swap the starter - came out easy
> enough, but getting it back in was a royal pain in the ass. After many
> attempts of this and that, Drew (Diesel Rocc) finally came to the rescue
and
> put things back in place. I owe ya one, and if you want to pick up a Cali
> Rocc, come talk to me. I also owe Daun some cash because the starter,
> although a little rough, did and still starts every time and got me back
> home.  There is no better group of people than Scirocco
> owners!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> It was great to put faces to names and emails and cars, though I think I
> barely managed to meet and greet half the people there. I'll make up for
it
> next time I head out there. All the people I did meet, hope to see ya'll
> again sometime!
>
> Sunday at 12:45 it was time to hit the road back here. Starter good, car
> good ... tires, hmmm, not so good. Salina Kansas I stop to get gas and
> notice that the front tries are getting chewed up a bit on the edges.
Well,
> after all the rubbing the plasitc was all gone, so the screw heads were
now
> sticking out and eating into the tires when I hit bumps. I spend a good 45
> minutes trimming the fender regions and removing the screws. Back on the
> road .. do you know how gawd awefull boring Kansas is?!??!!?!? Couldn't
> manage to stay focused for more than an hour at a time.
>
> Somewhere in the middle of a bazillion acres of farmland, going 80, power
is
> gone .. like someone flipped a switch on the fuel line. Strange. Put it in
> 4th, give gas, nothing, exhaust groans and gives a loud pop. 3rd ..
> nothing... neutral, coast to a stop, car dies. Wonderfull.. must be the
> external pump, or maybe the relais. I'm on an upgrade, there are 3 foot
tall
> weeds on the side of the road, I don't want to do this now. Ignition on,
car
> fires back up. Weird. Jump out to make sure I get the right noises from
the
> pump and that all fuel lines etc are still intact. All good. Get in and
go.
> Have to get the f*** out of Kansas - repeat this every 5 minutes till I
> finally get out of there.
>
> Nothing else happens till I get outside of Salt Lake City. Come up on a
> Trooper doing 70 in a 75. Trucker passes him, I figure it's ok, pass him
> too, pull back in in front of him. He's not going anywhere ..........
red'n
> blues come on. What? Not speeding, signaled .. maybe he wants to give me
> crap about the headlights or the dark turnsignals. "How's it going today?"
> "Alright, how's it going for you?" "Ok morning so far .... reason I pulled
> you over " (i get exited to find out what it could be) " saw you weren't
> signaling long enough when passing. Blipped you twice, once back there and
> when you pulled around me. You know you have to signal for 3 seconds when
> you pass?... " " ..sigh... I'm sorry, I'm a bit burnt, had a long trip .."
> "where ya coming from?" "cincy, was ther for a Scirocco meeting .."
trooper
> whistles "damn.. ..ok, could I see your license, registration and
insurance"
> "Absolutely" hand the stuff over "Ok, how about I let you go this time?"
> "that would be great, thank you." "alright.. remember to singal longer,
and
> have a save trip back"
>
> Hahahaha, not signal long enough? Boy, must have been a slow morning. Ok,
> I'm kinda fried so all the way back till I hit the Cali state line I
singal
> like forever when I pass people :) California .. back again. Speed limit
is
> 65 and people are going 90 - yeah this is what I'm used to. I make it from
> Tahoe to Sac in record time .. Brian, I hit Roseville at 8:30, I figured
it
> was a bit late to stop for dinner. Heading out of Sac I followed a chick
in
> a Grand Am tailing a Benz at 90 plus - let me just say I never made it
from
> Sac to the Bay Area faster :P
>
> 10:30 pm I pull back in at the apartment. Over 5000 miles, something like
41
> hours driving to, and 38 odd driving back, in 7 days. Oh, no radio and no
AC
> on the whole trip ----- yes, I'm plenty nuts  :)
>
> Would I do it again? HELL YEAH! Unless some undetermined circumstances
> prohibit me from making it out there, expect to see me there again next
> year. And here are, finally, the couple pics I managed to take (or which
my
> folks and sis took while I was busy working on the car):
>
> http://www.imaginehow.com/scirocco/cincy/cincy.htm
>
> Here are a couple misc shots that were taken there and on my way back
home:
>
> http://www.imaginehow.com/scirocco/cincy/blrc1.jpg
> http://www.imaginehow.com/scirocco/cincy/blrc2.jpg
> http://www.imaginehow.com/scirocco/cincy/blrc3.jpg
> http://www.imaginehow.com/scirocco/cincy/blrc4.jpg
>
> Keep on Scirocc'in, and next year, maybe, we'll drag a few more Cali
listers
> out there eh .. nudge nudge :)
>
> Tobias
>
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