Forget the Car have some fun

We fueled up, oil up and ice up the drinks in Podunk town KY rested after a good nights sleep and great breakfast we're looking forward to a bunch of destinations and getting to Memphis another 340 Miles away. Our 1st and closest stop is the Louisville slugger factory and primarily the gift shop. The car is now running on 3 cylinders for sure but it's driving so it's no worry for now, hopefully it makes it to AR and I can review my options.

On the way to Louisville we see a sign for Thomas Edison's home and couldn't help but go buy for a little history, after a couple of wrong turns and fear the car was going to die at a light we got to this little 500 square foot home in a bad neighborhood just outside the city limits. We skipped the guided tour at $5.00 a person of the little home but got a picture taken of us by a nice lady riding by on a bike. As we jumped in the car again the GPS said we were right around the corner from the Louisville slugger factory where we only planned on getting some gifts for people back home. I didn't feel like coughing up another 10 spot to park for 5 minutes to get a picture so we just got a cheesy shot of the front of the factory and I rounded the block as Kari ran in and got gifts.



Back on the freeway the car feels great between 62 and 77 and 75 and 80 so depending on traffic I pick those points and head down toward the Jim Beam factory just 30 or so miles out of Louisville. The factory is set back in the green hills of Kentucky. The valley is perfectly undisturbed accept for the spotted casking buildings of the factory which store the brown liquor for up to 8 years as it takes on the flavor of the barrel and enriches the alcohol. We found out about the family and the different generations of heirs that have run the factory and added to the brand, the sampling of course was the best. The whole thing left me a little angry at my ancestors for not building a staple business for me to take over. We skipped Abe Lincolns birthplace just down the road because the Jim Beam factory and going by the Corvette Plant in Bowling Green was more important:



After leaving Bowling Green which didn't have much to see, just the factory (tours available but not on Saturday), and a museum and gift shop on the other side of the street, We headed down towards Memphis by way of Nashville and this is the longest straight stretch of the day. I find something similar about all the country east of Oklahoma City, it all looks the same, dense trees on either side of the road with a few farms and roads cut in between. Beautifully for a while but somewhat annoying to me as I feel a little closed in and unable to really see what the area looks like. I always feel like everything cool is just beyond those trees.

I was surprised at how fun Memphis was. We bit the bullet and got a room at the Westin just one street off of Beal street. I was supposed to eat at Corky's BBQ but it turned out that was on the other side of town and the car doesn't like in town driving so I decided we'd just stay put. Besided Beal street was closed off, you could drink walking down the street and several people told us that for good BBQ and generally great Memphis experience BB King's place is the only place to go. It must have been it was the only place with a line to get in all night long.

Once we got in and paid the cover which annoyed me because I love to hope around and sample different appetizers and paying a $10.00 cover at each place hinders that, but I guess that's the point. We got in and, luckily, got a table. Actually I don't think it was luck. They were standing room only but Kari and I kind of stuck out as out of towners and I think they profiled us as big spenders. They took us to a table near the stage and pulled the reserved sign off the top.

We ended up staying because the band was GREAT and the food was better. We split a sample plat that had fried dill pickles, pork ribs, potato skins, and BBQ Wings, this tasty little plate got us to get a half rack of ribs and I got their sweet onion hush puppies. The hush puppies were the best part of the whole meal for me, they went with the ribs, backed beans and slaw perfectly and the sweet onion gave them this great sweet salt flavor. Additionally I had a couple of BB Kings home brew, a nice rich Blondie that was very cloudy and went down smooth but rich. Upon leaving BB Kings Beal strip was hopping, bands inside clubs, bands on the street, it was a better street/club scene than I've been too anywhere in my life and I hope I have an opportunity to return.



The Westin was nice but it fit the rule, the more you pay the more you'll pay for everything else. The room was $200 plus tip for the bellman (required) and Valet $25.00. No free breakfast and if we had ordered the same meal as we ordered at the Niagara Grand Hotel for 6.95 each. It would have cost us $30.00 each plus service fees. Oh well, we're on vacation right? Next stop the Graceland Gift shop.

We had no intention on doing the tours at Graceland, it's time to get on to see my sister and we have a 5 to 6 hour drive to Arkansas and I was getting antsy about finding out what was wrong with the car and if it could be fixed. The reports from my Dad who had been calling and looking for prices on motors and heads weren't good. There's no engines exchange in the area and long blocks were $3,500.00 and would take up to 3 weeks to get. That's not going to work.

Another show

Hi everyone, I thought you might enjoy my podcast: SoCalTraffiCast

- - Tim and

You've only driven how far?

Shortly after hanging up the computer and almost ready for sleep the phone rings and Sayed the person I was supposed to pick up the car from first thing this morning calls to ask if I've found a car yet...  "Nope I replied", he said, "the car is ready and I have all the paperwork ready to go."  I thought about it for a while and called him back and agreed to the same terms we had before, we scheduled to pick up the car the next morning.  'Well that's the original plan I thought' a little uncertain as I had already accepted the cost of the rental car and was living comfortably in the security of a new car that I knew would run great and would be very comfortable.

 

We woke up early and had a great breakfast, finding more and more that cheaper hotels offer better service than expensive ones.  At Grand Niagra, $100 a night including tax and misc fees, we had a beautifull room overlooking the falls and for breakfast we opted for the $6.95 per person room service which included Eggs, Bacon or Sausage, Toast, Pancakes, and Juice, milk or coffee.  It was delivered on time and they threw in the table so we didn't have to find room on the in room table which was covered with stuff.  Also the hotel provided free wifi internet service.  They last Hyatt I stayed in wanted 12.95 per 24 hour period and the cheapest meal you could get taken to your room was $15.00 plus a service fee.

 

I digress.  Getting out of the Grand Niagra hotel we rushed over to pick up the car from Sayed, it only took a few minutes cause he had the paperwork ready and we were on our way, Kari leading in the rental with the GPS.  As soon as she jumped on the freeway I noticed a plume of black and blue smoke pooring out of my tailpipe when I gave the car gas.  I watched it for a while and realised that this car was a POS, the deal was done and now I've got 3300 miles to go in a busted car. 

 

After a few minutes of following Kari and going around in circles it was apparent that she was having problems with the GPS and pulled over to let me take over.  She handed me the GPS and we took off, after a minute I understood the problem the GPS was set to due north which makes understanding which direction you should turn nearly impossible.  After a few minutes on the freeway Kari calls me and says "You know the muffler is smoking a lot"  To which I replied, "it's not the muffler it's the engine I got screwed."  There was nothing to do but push on, the temperature was OK and it was obviously oil and gas that was blowing smoke out the pipe so as long as the temperature was holding and the A/C was blowing cold it would be comfortable trip, so PUSH ON.

 

On the way to Cleveland we stopped off at a grocery store and Advanced Auto Parts for some supplies.  I checked the oil, there was none on the dipstick so I poured in an entire large bottle of Lucas Oil Additive and 2 quarts of oil to bring it up and hopefully slow down the oil consumption.  This greatly reduced the amount of smoke as we left.

A little further down the road it's time for my 2nd fill up and my dad always taught me to keep a record so I knew how many miles we came, the gas mileage was around 21 MPG in a small 4cylinder, not good.  At this rate with only a 10 gallon tank we would have to stop every 150 miles or so for gas, which is probably fine cause I had to pour in another quart of oil.

 

Arriving at Cleveland we headed directly to the Hall of Fame, I had figured out how to fake the GPS a while ago and I basically had to turn it off let it charge and then use the battery for short burst with it unplugged to get directions in critical points.  The GPS makes navigating easy but this little probelm is an annoyance.

 

The rock and roll hall of fame was awesome, I've attached some pictures here:  http://cemseller.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AZuGLRo1atmK8&notag=1

 

As we left Cleveland our plan was to go down some smaller roads through Ohio's Amish country and check out the farms.  We got about 100 miles down that route to a small town called Wooster, OH and determined after stopping for gas and now getting a little less than 20 MPG and 2 more quarts of oil that we don't want to be driving down little country roads in the middle of the night, we got back on the highway and headed for Columbus.

 

Nearing Columbus I think to myself how all this half of the country looks the same, it's just all forest with pathways cut out for farms and roads, the more I see of everything East of Oklahoma the more I realise this.  What I also realised is that we were coming on Columbus OH, had been travelling all day and had only made about 300 miles of the 1286 miles you got left to go.  So I told her we really need to push on past Cincinnati, besides the car was actually doing ok, driving pretty well with traffic in this state between 65 and 75 miles per hour, slower than I normally drive but I like to keep to the locals indication of what law enforcement will put up with.

 

We stop again for gas and 2 quarts of oil and I notice that our mileage is diminishing a little bit each time.  It's going to be expensive to get all the way to AR but as long as we keep moving forward it will work out.  The night is beautifull, it's so dark out here, no light to interfere with the night sky and headlights cut through the night like a knife.  I am at a heightened sense of awareness through the lack of sleep, concern about the car, or just the idea that a deer could run out of the woods at any minute and the engine would be the least of our concerns.  I could drive all night.

 

We realise that we are going through Whiskey country and wonder where the Jack Daniels and Jim Beam plants are, Sprint WIFI at your service, this thing is awesome.  We look up Jack, that's too far out of the way but Jim Beam is right our of Louisville, and in Louisville is the Louisville slugger museum and just after that is Bowling Green.  That's where they make Corvettes.  Man we got some stops to make tomorrow on the way so we push right up to the border of Louisville and pull over to a Comfort in.  $70.00 a night, Free Breakfast (With waffles and hard boiled eggs mind you), clean sheets, in room coffee and a fridge.  That's what I'm talking about.

Back from Buffalo or bust

Going through the security at the airport I realized we brought more electronic devices than clothes.  The night before I spent 2 hours going through all the wires and making sure we have all the cables to supply the miriad of devices we felt were necessar.  Power cables for the two laptops, USB cables for both Ipods, and seperate usb cables for the GPS, the Sprint Aircard (cable and instruction CD), Camera, batteries, and Power cables for the phones, not to mention a IPOD to RCA cord in case we have a tv with auxillary inputs.  We looked like we were getting ready to plan a strike on Iraq at the security desk, so of course they just waived us through.

 

That's a lot of shit, and the last two weeks prior to this I spent a lot of grey matter trying to figure out if there was some device that would remove a couple of these.  Almost bought an Ipod for the simple fact it came with GPS and a good enough web browser to maybe let me leave my laptop at home.  No deal, those service plans are stupid ridiculous.  I could justify it if you could use all that data you're paying for to tether a regular laptop to and get broadband, but no, so I found an aircard rental place and rented Broadband for the 13 days we are going to be gone, $157.00, OUCH.

 

So we sit there with two packed to the gils computer bags waiting for our flight, taking laptops and ipods out, syncing up songs and movies we didn't have a chance to yet.  All the while looking utterly ridiculous as we find one of the only electrical outlets in the terminal, our week+ adventure kicking off strong and easy with the flight being on time and we even took advantage of some more leg room on our long flight from San Francisco to Washington DC.  I should know that nothing is easy.

 

All we really wanted was to be able to get a little sleep on the redeye, we proved that even under ideal circumstances sleeping on the plane is not something that's going to work for me, at least this time.  I had the middle seat and a veteran flyer came in and sat on the outside seat right next to me, within 5 minutes he was dozed off and without me even noticing I realized the had snagged control of the armrest, leaving me to try and prop up my soulder or do something else to relax that part of my body.  NOthing workded and I couldnt seem to get control of the armrest again.  Fortunately Kari saw how uncomfortable I was and offered to switch for th window and I was able to get aobut 3 hours sleep all told, of course Kari wasn't able to get any.

 

Finally we arrive in Buffalo and get ahold of Sayed, a gentleman I had talked to earlier about buying his 1999 Toyota Tercel for the drive back home.  First we had to drop by the bank, I had previously checked for Wells Fargo's but after getting the rental and trying to use the GPS I was unable to because the GPS was stuck in download ing from the computer mode.  Matter of fact, ultimately the best electronic device we had was the Sprint Aircard as expensive as it was, Kari was able to navigate through google maps, find banks and make transactions right over the internet.  A few searches later and we were walking out of B of A with the money for the car, unfortunately Sayed wasn't as ready as he lead on to selling the car.  His father the title owner wouldn't be back until the next night, so we had to start all over againlooking for a car.

 

Things are different here though, the economy here is incredibly depressed, 1/3 of the homes we drove by in the poorer area of Buffalo were boarded up, the rest except for a spotty few were completely run down.  But it all has this very down home atmosphere.  When I went to get cash from the bank the armored truck pulled up to deliver the cash for the day, not only was he by himself but he also just brought the cash and change in in clear plastic where you could totally see all the money, that's just insane.  I really don't like this place, even Niagra Falls is unatractive except for the actual falls.

 

More next time sooooo tired, hopefully i'll have a car.

Let's buy an RV

Hi everyone, I posted an episode to my podcast, SoCalTraffiCast.

Click this link to check it out:
SoCalTraffiCast - 07-15-08 - Episode 078

- Tim and

You'll get a kick out of this.

My wife and I are off on an adventure.  We've already booked the tickets so there's no talking us out of it. 

 

We are going to Niagra Falls and taking a journey of this country by car.  But I don't want to drive there and back 1 way should do the trick, so we bought plane tickets to Buffalo NY and I am buying a car over the internet for us to pick up there. It won't be anything special, just some POS that runs good and has air that isn't rusted to the ground and will get us back here to Cali.

 

Today, I got the idea that maybe we should buy a motorhome, and my friend wanted one too so we thought we'd split the cost of it.  Hell there's a lot of motorhomes down there for as little as 6k.  Some look pretty nice, so that's pennies.  Then I did the math:

 

The trip I got planned is 3,200 miles over 10 to 12 days. I checked and the cheap motorhomes are 454's or 350 for small ones and they seem to all get between 6 to 8 mpg and that's if you keep you're foot out of it.  Let's say they aver 7.  So

 

3,200 miles divided by 7mpg equal 457 miles.  At 4.35 a gallon

 

Fucking 1,988.00 in Gas....

 

Compared to the cars I'm looking at most +30mpg but let's say 25 I'd only spend 500 or less in gas.  That's an additional 1500.00 to drive my apartment around with me.  Sure I got a fridge, shower, bed and shitter.  But for 1,500.00 I can sleep in a big room with a tub to relax in, splash in a pool in the evening and have someone else cook for me

A new fourth of July Episode

Hi everyone, I thought you might enjoy my podcast: SoCalTraffiCast

- - Tim and

I thought I had it.

When I was a kid my Dad always told me that "everything worth inventing was already invented and there's no way that I was going to think up anything new or original." Not the most encouraging words, but as many things are in father in son relationships, this was just something that provided me the motivation to prove him wrong.

My whole life has been one of inventing and thinking of new ways of doing things. I don't know if it's genetic or it has everything to do with that deafening voice of my father's echoing in my head, I got to prove him wrong. I've had some successes, although of no consequence for the rest of the world, small inventions, such as advertising flyer's, and engineering contraptions for things around the house have given me pleasure and dismayed or sometimes horified my wife.

So I had a new thought, a new invention. Actually it has been bouncing around my brain since the day I learned how a torque converter on a car works. I'll spare you the technical details but I always wondered why you couldn't adapt a torque converter to be used like a clutch, and I was pretty sure I knew at least a couple of ways to try it. It was of no real motivation to me, I figured someone had already thought of it, it's sooo easy that the only reason it wasn't being used somewhere is that it really doesn't work.

Recently I found a real good use for such a thing. A torque converter that could totally be disengaged from the engine would allow the engine to free spin while the car was driving. By disengaging the transmission cars could coast for a much longer period of time under their own momentum or when on a downslope. This could save a significant amount of gas mileage especially when coupled with other ideas I have.

Thustly I decided to do the check, and this one my father wins, partly. Here is the patent from 1974 for the "Torque Converter Clutch" http://www.google.com/patents?id=0x0-AAAAEBAJ&dq=Controlled+capacity+torque+converter+clutch. There are several variations accompanying most if not all of my ideas of how it could be done. From Hydraulic valving to a simple throw out bearing design not unlike a regular clutch. So my Dad wins part of it, but how this is used in a car to increase fuel efficiency with my other ideas is still out there. Really, the hard part is done, the invention is there, now it's all about application.