skibigsky's Diaryland Diary
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Diesel Truck Prepared Rally
DTP Park City to Santa Cruz to Park City Rally*
The DP Miata is here. Mr. V, the poods and I left Monday at 2pm, drove 817.4 miles (so says mapquest) to Santa Cruz to pick up the car, and promptly turned around and drove 817.4 miles back, to arrive in Park City today (Wednesday) at 3pm. Actually, we stopped in Sparks, NV Monday night – as close to the armpit of the universe as any place I have ever been – and we stopped in Winnemucca, NV Tuesday night – which was fortunate because I-80 was closed 60 miles further on because of a wildfire…. But still. 1634.8 miles in 49 hours. Call us dedicated, call us crazy, but just don’t call us until tomorrow. We’re beat….
The car in its native environs, before it leaves for parts East.
The entire way back from Santa Cruz, it seemed like we were being tailgated by a black and silver car (and a poodle). The more tired we got, the more often we’d have these “Oh geeze! We’ve got someone Right Behind us. Uh, no, wait. That’s the trailer, doofus!” moments. *ahem. (Look, it was a long trip!)
Oh yeah. And the news reports are true. The entire west is on fire. This is outside of Reno. Kicks self for not bringing telephoto lens…. I didn’t think there’d be much to see. Of course, Mr. V. didn’t mention that we’ve be going through the Sierras. And I wasn’t smart enough to look at a map and think that there might be something of photographic interest…. But I digress. This fire turned the entire sky black. Reno truly looked like Hell. (And I won’t even got into the ‘as-if-it-didn’t-before routine’….)
But we made it, and got it up in the driveway (gotta love those DPTs!).
And now it’s all tucked in, ready for its appointment with the boys at Wide Open Performance to make the bolted in driver’s seat movable so that someone other than just Mr. V. *cough*me*ahem*cough might be able to drive it. (Actually, the car fits Charles, the guy we got it from, and current co-driver of it. We need to get it set up so Gary can drive it comfortably, too. Me? I’m happy to take the Mini and run like a thief!)
If I ever get the energy, there’ll be a full post on this, as this was the first time I have a) ever drive across all of Nevada, b) driven across all of California (I think Ah-nahld as governor has done good things, but clearly they have been done at the expense of the roads…), c) been ½ mile from the Pacific ocean and not actually gone to the beach, d) driven 1634.8 miles in 49 hours, and e) used Febreze antimicrobial formula on hotel sheets before getting in to bed. (Tom Bodett, I’ve got a word or two to say to you. Actually, I’ve got a bunch of words to say to you, including; “You cannot be serious. $61 for this dump?” *ahem. I just hope they read my comment card. After all, it’s not like I’m worried about them not wanting me back again.)
*Okay, so maybe it was a rally race of one, and it was for Diesel Prepared Trucks only, but to complete the rally you had to come return to Park City with a DP car on a trailer – which seemed to significantly cut down on the number of entries received by the organizers. The organizers are desperately hoping that this does NOT become an annual event.
8:40 p.m. - 18 July 2007
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