The Long Drive North

Well that was certainly an interesting two days in Daytona. In the end, the "Long Hauler" found a new home as a home for someone that needs to get their life back together and my hope is that it will become part of something positive for someone. This is the parting shot of the RV before I headed out of town and back north today.

 No scrapping -- no scrap yard will take RV's anymore with all the regulations. All the wood and insulation needs to be removed before anyone would even consider scrapping it. So, the old RV will become a new residence for someone.

After doing a first day of clean out and packing of the truck I recharged the battery and restarted the engine. I couple quarts of Lucas oil treatment and the engine kept pressure for the trip to it's new home! Hot and sticky outside and it was a reminder of the 5 days in the RV hoping that the shop would help out and fix the engine.


The 440 engine was sold for the reserve price to an owner of a Plymouth Fury yesterday evening and so that part of the project will be picked up next week.

So, that's the end of the "Long Hauler" being stored in purgatory for over a year. Not the way I anticipated but it's the way life is!

A Day in Paradise.

I managed to survive the first day after the "going to the airport" fiasco this morning. Got on the plane, made it to Florida, took a taxi to A-1 Rentals to pick up the rental truck that would bring home all our personal belongings from inside the RV. Great folks at A-1 Rentals! Got me on my way in under 10 minutes!

After that it was off to Bill's Carb shop to let him know I was in town and formulate a plan to get the RV either scrapped or sold off.....

Pulling into the storage yard, I was waiting for that key fob card to not work at all and having to deal with all that instead of just going in and checking out "The Long Hauler". Gotta say it weathered a year in Florida pretty well but despite that the faded lettering on the back of the RV really said it all.

I spent most of the afternoon clearing her out and sorting the garbage from the stuff going back home. That first step into the RV brought back some memories. Not only the bad ones but the kids and the camping on Cape Hatteras.

There she is in Florida. Maybe someone can take her on, swap out the crank and main bearings and have a really cool vintage RV..... We'll see how that works out this week. More later!

On my way, with a few diversions.....

Left the house at 3:30am to catch my flight out of Rochester only to have the Subaru freak out on me just as I got off the Thruway!! Got her off onto Route 96 at a Mobil station. Popped the hood, suspect that transmission so I went in at 4:15 in the am to buy automatic transmission fluid. Nope, they're out of it.... Joy. Called 2 tow truck companies only to find that they aren't 24 hour service. Got Ricci Towing to come by but only after I had to leave in an airport taxi to rush at 80 mph to the terminal to get my flight on time.

Crazy on top of all of it. Called Van Bortel Subaru to let them know my car should be sitting out in front of their service area. At least it was really close to where the car stopped working!

Hoping that is the only big glitch this trip. You'd think this whole mission to FL was cursed or something.....

I'll provide an update once I'm on the ground and have the rental truck. Oh, Penske called. They are still trying to find me the truck I reserved.....