E30 Road trip!!

[Jims5543]

Leaving tomorrow for a small road trip to Asheville NC with the wife and younger kid, taking the E30 for the drive.

I am excited and nervous at the same time, my first trip with the car, and while she is rock solid, she is also a 25 year old car. I just had a talk with her in the garage while I was going over everything on her and hope fully she is good to us.

I am very interested to see what kind of MPG and range I can get with her. I was told to expect low 30's for MPG. I plan on taking it easy on the highway so we shall see.

Not leaving until about 4-5 PM tomorrow which is fine by me, I prefer to drive at night when the roads are quieter.

Hope to grab some nice shots of the old girl in picturesque settings up in the mountains.

[Jims5543]

Made it to Savannah Ga. Wednesday PM at 12 midnight.

Thurs. a.m. we packed the car and hit the road for Asheville.


A Tractor trailer was overturned on I95 and there was a 2 hour delay, we took to 2 lane  roads through the middle of the state.

Stopped for gas / pee / water break in BFE Georgia, we were the only car on this road for over an hour, the only ones in this dusty old gas station too.



It was cool driving through little towns some we stopped in. One place had a little burger joint it was good.



Finally jumped on I26 and headed to the mountains.


Tucked away under a tree at the hotel in downtown Asheville.

[94touring]

Looks like a fun road trip man.  Nice looking car too.

[Jims5543]

Great weekend in Asheville, learned alot about the city, like, Dr. Grove wanted Asheville to be the next New York City. even named many of the roads here the same. Broadway, park place, Lexington etc....

Buildings were modeled after NYC, Flat Iron Building is a replica of the NYC one, and a mini Empire State building was started when Dr. Grove died of food poisoning expectantly in his 70's. The building was never completed.

Same went for Vanderbilt, he died in his early 50's of an aneurysm after having an appendectomy  done.    Many came to Asheville thinking the mountain air had medicinal values that would cure breathing ailments like Bronchitis and also Dr. Grove (who was not a doctor) claimed to have made an elixir that helped you recover from Malaria.

The building to the left in this pic is the top of the Flat Iron building replica:




We found a Pinball museum where you pay $12 and play all you want on vintage pinball machines, I remember this machine from when I was a lad hanging out in the bar by grandfather managed. I played about 5 games on this machine, and countless games on the one in the bar my grandfather managed. Complete nostalgia overload, I do not think my wife or my son realized how much this impacted me.



Then I played a few games on this machine, came out the year I was born. Things were good back then this was a good machine to play on.





Downtown Asheville is really cool is very hilly and really cool. Rolling Stone magazine called it the weirdest City in America and that is true, walk the streets in the evening, see all the crazy street bands and you will understand. I wish I took a pic now, there was a true Appellation Mountain folk band playing on the street for tips, they were filthy and there was this woman playing spoons while her husband played a stand up base with their dirty kids hanging around.  It was bizarre yet they seemed like they were loving life, you were almost in awe of them... except for the dirt...

Picked up this T-shirt.


Last night we had reservations at Hot Springs, they are natural springs where they pump the mineral water that comes out of the ground at over 100 degrees into hot tubs in VERY private fenced off areas that you can rent for $35 an hour, bring a cooler bring whatever and enjoy. I told Mrs5543 she was very lucky the 11 y/o was in tow otherwise.....  it was a perfect setting for fun times. I HIGHLY suggest this if you are in Asheville for a romantic weekend.

This is the only pic I can post...


On a side note, we arrived in the daylight, you have to drive some really fun roads into this place (about 30 miles from Asheville proper) the drive back was in pitch black. My headlights SUCK, and this will be rectified. On the way there I was flying, on the way back a Ford Flex caught up to me. I could not see far enough to drive safely.


I had to take this pic, Mrs.5543's hair matched the tree.


We kept discussing moving here, we really love this part of the country, we had a house about 45 minutes from Asheville but ended up not liking the area too much, it was nice for vacations but sucked to live in.  What was quaint, going back to the 50's in time, was cute in small doses but ended up being tiresome to live in. Add in the locals were very cold towards us, our next door neighbor (who's dog would steal everything from our yard and put it on their front porch) would not speak to us, even when addressed. Complete asshole, I was told to be patient by another neighbor that was from Washington DC and ha been there a while. Eventually they warm up to you. Bullshit.  We sold the place just before the RE crash in 2008 for a tidy profit and never looked back.


I had my first Old Fashioned this evening and could not have picked a more perfect place. This place takes an old fashioned seriously and even ages the whiskey in the mash.



Packs Tavern is a good old school drinking joint, we went to a Brewery just before going here and walked out. It was a fucking madhouse and rowdy as hell. When we found Pecks, we knew we were in the right place, local brews on tap, but I never tried any, I stuck with my old fashioned mix.
http://m.mainstreethub.com/packstavern

A live band and they were very good, we had a fun evening there. I f you go to Asheville (You should be adding this place to your list of places to visit) make sure you hit up Pecks.

My younger son in front of the mascot pickup.



Tomorrow we are getting up early and heading to Savannah for the ay.

[MiniDave]

My daughter lives in Hendersonville, just 15 min south of Asheville so I know the area well. She went to college in Savannah, so I know that town well too, but while I'd live in H'ville any day, you couldn't pay me enough to live in Savannah!

I've never seen cockroaches as big as those down by the river in Savannah!

[94touring]

I've been to Ashville a number of times but never left the hotel.  Who knew.  It's pretty from the sky.  You said Hot Springs and I was like wait a minute, I'm there right now!  Arkansas.

[Jims5543]

Dan, there are over 10 breweries in downtown Asheville up until this year they were the brewing capital of America. Or so they claim.

What I like about Asheville, you can walk around there any time and NEVER feel like you are in a sketchy place.  I also noticed a complete lack of Police presence there and it was not needed.

What I do not like, unlike places like Key West, and Savannah and even the little towns here in Florida, you cannot walk around with an open container.

If you ever decide to wander into downtown, check out Lexington Avenue Brewery for their Burgers and beers both great. Very crowded there though.

Re: Savannah, I love Savannah... to visit, I would never live there, it is a sketchy city, a place where you do not want to get too complacent especially walking around. You need to keep your eyes open and not get yourself too alone there.  It is also a dirty city, it smells in a lot of places and you can see the dirt the grime.  I do love the history there and it is a very beautifully designed and laid out city.


More later, I am back to reality and reality sucks.

[Mudhen]

Thurs. a.m. we packed the car and hit the road for Asheville.

Sounds like a fun trip!  Jealous of all the cool adventures you guys have - we go to breakfast and have to take the next day off to recover.    ::)

And man, you're crazy short.

[Jims5543]

Sounds like a fun trip!  Jealous of all the cool adventures you guys have - we go to breakfast and have to take the next day off to recover.    ::)

And man, you're crazy short.

LOL! That is the  11 y/o but... he is not much shorter than I am. I missed my calling I should have been an F1 driver. I am the same size as most of them.


Being self employed and my staff being comprised of the mentally challenged, it is near impossible for me to get away for, lets say a normal 1-2 week vacation. Last summer in the Keys was a fluke, and was the first time I took off a solid week in 5 years.

So we go on lots of little mini weekends away. We own a timeshare in Atlantis and chose to cash it out for Starwood points this year, so we have about 10-15 nights banked in hotels (Westin, Aloft, Sheraton ) for free.

We have a trip every 3-4 weeks planned all summer with the lad. Trying to sneak in a unplanned trip to Nassau to we can jump out to the Exuma Islands for a day. Trying to take my older son too and my nephew who is 20 years old and never been on a plane.  Kids had a shitty life so it would be cool to take him with us. We used to take him all the time when he was younger.

[Jims5543]

A few cool pics from Savannah.









There are parks all through out the city.






There is also a train museum which I highly recommend.




What we did was leave Asheville early in the morning, drive some, grab some breakfast, then drive some more to Savannah, which is about 300 miles from Asheville.

Then we park the car and walk around Asheville for 6 hours or so leaving to hit the road around 7 PM, I prefer to drive at night, the roads are empty and you just move along at a nice pace. We did an additional 350 miles home from Savannah.

When we arrived home at 2 in the morning and this Gopher Tortoise was parked in front of the house, not sure what he was up to, when I left for work the next morning at 8:00 it was still parked there.

[94touring]

Sweet train

[Jims5543]

A thought on Asheville, my wife is in love with the place, she is a full blown hippy in hiding.

There were almost no chain restaurants down town. Furthermore, a vast majority of the restaurants down town are all organic, use local crops / suppliers and let you know it.

Right there my wife was in love, one place had a sign, buy local, eat fresh, why truck it in thousands of miles?

There is a green market every day of the week in different parks, and on Saturday there is a huge one on the college campus.

I am not sure I would dig winters there, I hated them in Sylva, the town we had our house in, a few 12° mornings made me love Florida more and had me playing Boat Drinks (I wanna go where its warm) by Jimmy Buffet over and over.  I cannot overstate how much I hate cold. Do not mind visiting it, hate living in it.

I have to admit, we were enamored by Asheville and love seeing what it has grown into, we have been visiting there since 2005 and to see the change in the last 10 years has been impressive to say the least. The change over the last 30 years is remarkable, the Mayor 20 somethign years ago made a statement that he could walk outside at 10 at night, point a gun in any direction, fire it, and not hit a decent person.  I remember the place 10 years ago was packed with homeless meth heads, young couples all tweeked out that made you kind of edgy.

I did not see any of that this last time. There were still homeless buy they were your typical, find in any city variety.

I cannot see us making any moves for a few years, but I will admit, the wife has made me stop and pause and think about this one. I would love to get out of surveying and do something else.

[94touring]

Best thing about downtown tulsa is no chain restaurants. 

[Jims5543]

Taking a little break from work, I did a quick You Tube search and found her. Abbey the Spoon Lady.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gZF8EKXeqg

[Jims5543]

Decided on Wednesday this week we would get up early Saturday morning and just drive. One rule, only back roads. We have been exploring little towns all along central Florida.

More when I have time.

[94touring]

 4.gif

[Jims5543]

Still not home... hell of a day. It was a good day but due to a horrible traffic accident with fatalities we were detoured 25 miles out of our way, 10 miles on a nasty dirt road. One of my back tires has been giving me trouble all weekend  It decided to blow out on the detour.



More tomorrow it was an awesome trip.

[94touring]

You have a spare or have to aaa it?

[Jims5543]

I am sort of embarrassed by this entire ordeal because it is not me. I am anal with my cars and should have stepped my game up more with this car. I can only say I am VERY happy to be home safe and sound. I am also fueled by two (Mudhen knows) 7.5% IPA's from the corner Gastropup.

I had a spare, and to be honest, it was not much better than any of the tires on the car. All 4 tires are being replaced this week. I cannot trust them.

The spare is dry rotted and had rub marks and almost holes in the sidewalls. It was also pretty much flat, and I am pissed at myself for not checking it before a trip. Shame on me.




I was pissed, I had to drive on the rim for about 1/4 mile in order to find a safe place to change to the spare. Then I pulled the spare and was pissed to the point that I wanted beer.

The spare was almost flat and dry rotted. Fuck me.

So I threw it on only because it held air and drove to a gas station 2 miles up the road at 30 MPH with my 4 way blinkers on.


I topped off the tire and hoped for the best we had 60 miles to home and our plans to stop for dinner at a historic dive bar were dashed.

We apprehensively got on the Turnpike (I broke my no highway rule) because it was the shortest path home. I stopped at the Turnpike rest area so the 11 y/o could piss and so I could double check tire pressure one more time. I was VERY paranoid at this point.  The front left "looked" low but it would turn out to be paranoia.

The air was free for one, before that I was paying $1 a pop for air (I have an air pump and did not take it, I am indeed an idiot) so it was refreshing to see free air. The pump was trick too, you dial in your pressure and it makes a beep and stops pumping when you hit it.

So here we are on the Turnpike driving 65 in a 70 following an 18 wheeler for 50 miles, praying there are no blow outs or flats.

We finally get off our exit, we are 7 miles from home, 1.5 miles from home is a gastropub. Dinner!!! at 9 PM!!! Saving grace, another family walked in with a 12 year old kid, we were not the only irresponsible parents that night. My 11 y/o got to see daddy decompress on Fathers day. Woooo!!

Backing up, I took the blow out as an opportunity to teach the lad the fine art of changing a flat, had him helping me all the way through.  I even had him take the care down off the jack as well as pass me the spare when I pulled the shredded tire off.  He was taught to break the lugs before jacking, how to chock the tires before jacking then jacking and changing the tire.  I also informed him how dumb I was to not have a proper spare in the car. A car we have covered thousands of miles in these last few weeks.  I am VERY disappointed in myself right now.

[Jims5543]

I have to reflect on my childhood for a moment, because an event like this would have equaled a disaster of a family trip, my father would have been a lunatic if this happened to him when I was an 11 y/o. I was very cool, my 11 y/o was right along side me WANTING to help me, and I saw it a an opportunity to teach the lad, a cliche fathers day moment if there ever was one. In reflection of my youth, if this happened to my father we all would have been berated and would have hid as far as allowed away from him while he raged over his misfortune.

Needless to say, I was not in touch with my old man today. It was about my boys today/ this weekend.

My Fathers day happened Friday, my older son wanted to install his birthday present from my wife and I , which was a aluminum racing radiator for his E30 (yes we both have them and his has an E36 M3 motor in it) on Friday afternoon. My 11 y/o was due to work with me Friday. As things worked out, I ended up at the corner cafe with both my boys Friday morning having breakfast with them, my older boy then went to the office to do drafting for me while the younger one and I went out to some job sites to make some measurements for next week. Then the older boy and I installed his radiator and new Electric fan that afternoon.  It was a great Friday for dad and boys.

Saturday morning we left for, we did not know where. ...

We ended up stopping in Okeechobee Florida and checking out an old tank and helicopter as well as walking around the war memorial and some cool little shops.






We then hit the road, we saw a sign for Sebring Florida, hey!! I know Sebring!! But I have never been to SEBRING just the race track.

I stopped off at the track and said hello and apologized for not staying to play. Last time this car was there it exploded a front brake caliper and destroyed a rim. Now it has a giant front brake kit and cooling ducts to the calipers.



Then we headed to Downtown Sebring, a cute little town that even has a boner outfitter.




Owning a black car and the heat index being 100° + you always try to find shade. Especially with a flaky 25 year old AC system that was converted.  This is a shot of downtown Sebring.



We left Sebring to go see what Lake Wales has to offer, I posted before we went to Bok tower in Lake Wales now we wanted to see down town.



Waste of time, at 3 in the afternoon the place was a ghost town, furthmore it was littered with trash. We quickly moved on after hitting a CVS Pharmacy for Water.


We then headed to Lakeland Florida, a VERY cool little city, we checked into the Terrace Hotel, built in the early 1920's anticipating a huge land boom in Florida as trainloads of folks came down to visit from the cold up north. Sadly the crash occurred a couple of decades later the place fell into disrepair, then it was remodeled and brought back to its glory in the 90's and here we are.

Fantastic Hotel, great location, cool city.




I was going to valet to the car but there were summer storms brewing and one heading our way had hail in it. So I opted to park across the street on my own in a parking garage for free. (weekends free!!)




We walked to dinner and found a cool little restaurant that served Cajun food, they had local beer on tap and the waiter mentioned on particular IPA (Mudhen!!) was locally brewed, GIVE IT TO ME!!  After dinner I set out to find the brewery and found it 1/4 mile from us.


Wandered over and had a flight.


I have 2 friends with wife's named Janet. So this was funny.




Once we left Lakeland we headed to Dade City, I found a cool animal rescue where you can take a tour, feed animals and see many many rescued cool animals from Buffalo to Lions to tigers to Zebras. Sorry no pics they did not allow it, I suspect I will get an email where I can buy some. They were snapping away. It is OK they do a lot of good there.

Dade City, as much of Florida once you go inland is a dead place on Sunday, you are lucky to find anything open, it is the land of Chic Fil, very bible thumpy. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Once again, the theme here is find the shade. Notice the green wall in the background.


This is the side of the restaurant we ate in, it used to be a Model T dealership that Henry Ford owned and his winter home was not far from here. Mrs5543 snapping a pic, the other side of that awning / window is where we sat, she took a pic inside and out.


Seriously, Dade City was desolate. We left.....



.. and went to Winter Haven... it too was desolate... I stopped to figure out where we could get ice cream and snapped this pic...


Then we found a cool spot we remember we visted a long time ago. It is a great 50's style burger joint and ice cream stand. Only the ice cream is open on Sunday.... HEATHENS!!!


Once again, the theme here is, FIND SHADE!!



If you ever decide to take the kids to Lego Land, go to Frostproof and hit up Andy's, have a burger and milkshake and thank me later.


Noticed the tires was low, topped it off and hoped it was OK, I did not see any nails.


Stopped for gas, mostly city driving some back road, many red lights... 25 MPG, I was pleased.


We saw LOTS of this on our travels.


Shortly after that pic, I almost rear ended someone, I got caught up in what I like to call a gaggle of retards. I fell back about 10 car lengths to they could all tailgate each other and slam on their brakes over and over and over and over... I looked down for a split second to grab my bottle of water, looked up and was almost into the rear of the car in front of me, I hit my brakes and realized I would be rear ended by the car behind me tailgating, so I dove to the right and almost alongside the car in front, thank god, the car behind almost rear ended the car in front of me.

Major pucker moment and I was happy to be away from that gaggle of morons.


So we got a blow out, we put a flat on, I drank good beer (Stones Drink by 7/4 IPA) and now I am home.

I have to take a pic of the poor car, it is a mess, that damn detour was hell.

[Jims5543]

Poor girl.  :(

I have a metric shit ton of cleaning to do now. I cannot express how pissed I am at the police for detouring us down that shitty ass road, I saw a new viper heading the opposite way and felt his pain.

I have hours of work to do now to undo the damage done by this detour. It was bullshit, the accident happened 2 hours before we go there, I have no idea why it take several hours to clear this out. This is a major road across the state. Highway 60 that runs from Tampa to Vero. It is a very busy road. The detour was a circus.







I did not have the stomach to open the hood, I am pretty sure I am going to be pissed off.

[Jims5543]

Found the accident reported. Seems a Mercedes did a head on with a Tractor Trailer and lost. Driver in Mercedes dead on impact, car then went up in flames and the sole occupant was burnt beyond recognition.

Does not surprise me, many times I have had to hit the brakes and head for the shoulder due to a nimrod being optimistic about making a pass and running out of room. This road has passing areas every 10 miles or so. I experienced the typical situation though, I caught up to a Camaro, he was traveling pretty slow. I hung back until the passing area and suddenly the Camaro finds its gas pedal and makes me have to drop 2 gears, floor it and do 90 in order to finish the pass in the space given. If I just cruised behind him after hit accelerated up to 80 from 65 he would have returned back to the slow speed after the passing zone. Happens all the time, I am not sure WTF is wrong with peoples heads.

Some folks will try to pass when there is just a 2 lane road with dashed line, perfectly legal, you just better make sure you have room. Cars coming at you doing 70 will come up to you fast.

Sad someone lost their life, it was a disaster traffic event out there for sure.

[Mudhen]

80 Acres Abraham....yes, please.   4.gif

Adventures start when things stop going to plan - sounds like you had an adventure!  Better that than sitting around the house, that's for sure.

I'd be happy if my wife's car and my car even had spares...wouldn't beat yourself up too bad about not checking it.  Sounds like you handled it better than your father would have!   :(

[Jims5543]

The 80 acres and other weaker IPA I had from there was just o.k.

Last Stop IPA from Brew Bus in Tampa was o.k. as well, it was not until I had that Stone Enjoy by that I remembered what a good IPA tastes like.

[Jims5543]

80 Acres Abraham....yes, please.   4.gif

Adventures start when things stop going to plan - sounds like you had an adventure!  Better that than sitting around the house, that's for sure.

I'd be happy if my wife's car and my car even had spares...wouldn't beat yourself up too bad about not checking it.  Sounds like you handled it better than your father would have!   :(

This whole trip was an adventure, we had no idea where we were going, we just knew a general direction we were heading in. Small towns and 2 lane roads was our theme all weekend. We fall upon a gem in Lakeland and will return again to explore some more. It is not too far from Tampa so I am thinking of heading there then on to Tampa one weekend, probably again in the fall when it cools off.

Trying to get home and wash all the dirt off the poor car.   I am sure I need to clean my air cleaner as well. We drove in a dust storm for 10 miles.