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The 82's delivery saga is complete



Well folks, 

After owning the 82 for 4 months it has finally made its way from
Daun's house to Tarra's Grandmother's in Dubuque, IA to our house in
Boone, Iowa. It is pretty sad when Mark can haul a car 8-10 hrs in one
day and it takes me 2 days to go 3.5 hours. Of course there were just
a few complications.

Mark arrived sometime Friday evening/night with the car in Dubuque.
Everything was fine and dandy besides Mark having a PIA with loading
and unloading. (Sorry Mark) I arrived then Saturday night and spent
some time with my friends, drank a few beers and enjoyed the night.

Sunday morning we got up took the other friends home gassed the truck
and my friends car and went to Grandma's to begin hooking up. She had
not gotten up yet so I found a stiff piece of wire and hooked it on
the hood release wire and popped the hood and we started to prep the
car for the tow bar. This involved removing the headlights to make it
easier to reach the bolts for the bumper. Installing the tow bar was
simple enough. then came wiring the lights. HAH!! Right!!! We more or
less made it look like they were suppose to work. Which with the right
combination of blinker and brakes they worked occasionally.

A little preface here. I was towing the car with a ~90 ford ranger 4
cyl. 5 speed, and from the bumper because of no receiver hitch. Well,
after about 20 miles I decided to pull over and check everything out.
Everything was tight and good to go but the bumper had already
slightly bent (most likely from the mile long hill.) It didn't look
too horrible so we drove on. FIDO. Two hours later we decided to pull
over and take a break. this was near a college a few of our friends go
to so we headed into town to see them for a while and get a bite too.

I knew where a Hy-Vee lot was that would be perfect for us to park in
with the car. I headed there. As I was pulling into the lot (a right
turn, and the side with the shorter emergency chain) an a$$hole in
another small truck comes flying out of the gas station on the corner
at me. Well, in order not to hit him I twitched to the right a little
more. THUNK! I found a spot and parked. Got out and looked. SHIT, That
*&^^$^#%)*&%%$@%. well not only was the bumper now bent worse but it
also bent the tongue on the tow bar. So a few mins. later, some cool
down time (which eventually made me more mad), and a little cigar we
started calling up our friends. So we made our way onto campus with my
friends car. Hung out with the guys for a while and decided it's time
to get back on the road. Hop in the truck start rolling... THUNK
again. "stop, stop your going to get hit." I look back as I stop the
truck and the car is rolling at a different speed. Bump. Shit!! The
bar had popped off the ball. so I need to replace the tongue. Unbolt
it get back to my friends and look for a parts store. Farm and Fleet
became the store of choice. they have one and its the right ball size.
Get back to the truck and it has the wrong placement for the mounting
holes. well, that kinda screwed the day! We had no drill to re-drill
either piece. so we go back to F&F. They're CLOSED! F*CK!! OK, screw
it I'm done and going home!!!!!!!!

So I went home, tried to relax ate some more food, went to bed. Got up
Monday morning, decided class was less important than getting the car
(yes, I am addicted). Tracked down a bigger truck (this time a '73
Chevy 3/4 tom w/a 454 BB in it, and a heavy tow bumper. Replaced a
radiator hose that had blown and a replacement was sitting in the cab.
After replacing it and filling it with some extra coolant I headed
back to the house to get Tarra and go rent a tow dolly this time. Get
the dolly, and off we went 70MPH with an empty dolly down the
interstate a little over 1.5 hours. Got there, returned tongue to F&F,
got a small battery for flashers, and some food at Wal*sMart and off
to load the car up. Loading and everything went fine. But we weren't
getting home until 9PM CDT. YEAH, its dark by then!! Got a bite to eat
and we were off again. So we got to 65MPH and all was good, had to
keep myself from going 70 though because the motor only ever knew the
car was there going up hills and that only took a big toe push to fix.
Got home fine but Tarra was so over-tired by this that she was begging
for it to go faster before we started. Well, after to 2yo like
attitude we finally got the car unloaded in about 10 mins. Which is
pretty good for 2 people with not a lot of towing experience.

I returned the tow dolly this morning before class and all is well.
the guy from the rental place hardly even took a look at the dolly. He
has seen me around a few times though. Got my receipt and I was off to
class today!!

If you have read this far you deserve a THANKS!!! Apologies to anyone offended.

Rhett & Tarra