Thanks everybody. I will come up with a name for the trip, and had no idea there was a road trip section! I'll have to go check that out once I'm all done with this post.
I have no regrets on the trip, but it's not at all how we wanted to make this trip. Speaking of which, let's talk about Day 3.
So we stayed at a Red Roof Inn in Amarillo Texas. After a hearty meal of microwave noodles eaten using a couple of coffee stirs we found in the room the night before, we were kind of dragging both physically and mentally. We had expected to have more time to stop and SEE ALL THE THINGS, but as I mentioned that was not at all what had happened. We were especially dragging when we looked outside to see this:
I never thought I would use the heated mirrors in any of my corvettes. The day before on the road, and today not only did I make for certain that they worked, but they work like champions. I love my corvettes, and all corvettes. I never had any doubt.
I distinctly remember looking at my wife and telling her how much I appreciated her allowing us to do this trip. I know how she must have felt seeing the car that day. The hopes of day 3 being a lot of fun were dwindling. If the snow had been in the forecast or she hadn't wanted to come I'd have just shipped the car home as she is my partner in crime and doing something like this was a trip of a lifetime for me; it would have been meaningless without her. She loves to travel and I love to drive (not mentioning my love of Corvettes) so this seemed like the mecca of trips. Without her the night before we wouldn't have made it to Amarillo, her second set of eyes and her diligent watching of the weather Radar on her phone was invaluable.
As she got ready, I started the Z and let it warm up and even with the 25 year old injectors she started right up. While also brushing the snow off I may or may not have thanked the lord baby Jesus that it was just fluffy powder as I likely would have died if I had to Actually scrape ice off of this car.
That morning after eating at the local Waffle House we hit the road. It seemed like another long day in the snow and Ice, but then something miraculous happened.
The snow stopped.
Eventually the snow went away and for approximately 60 miles that was the view. The roads were wet, but the snow was gone. With the wet roads, I continued to keep my speed in check, but being able to cruise at the speed limit was a nice change at that point. Eventually we reached the Oklahoma/Texas Border which is where it started to rain again, relatively hard as well, but at that point I said I'd take rain the rest of the way as long as there was no more snow. I have a feeling I shouldn't have said that.
Oklahoma had it's own plans as to how it wanted to mess with the trip. We merged onto the Oklahoma Turnpike and read a sign stating Toll in 45 miles. I decided to find an exit for gas, but noticed that the first exit was an exact change only toll manned by no human, but one of those basketball hoops that counts change after you throw it through your car window. After about three of these, I decided we needed to stop because I didn't want to risk getting to the large ALL CAR toll, and be SOL with an undetermined amount of "correct change". So I exited without exact change. Yup. I am that guy that drove through without paying because I did not have $1.50 in quarters, but i was on my way to fix that problem at the gas station.
Despite it seeming like I stopped for gas a lot, I really wasn't. In fact, I don't think I put more than a half a tank in at any given time, but I'll get to that.
In the gas station I went to the guy at the counter looked like he may have been in his 20s and confessed my crimes against the Oklahoma Turnpike. He laughed at me. Then he proceeded to tell me that the toll at this exit had been broken for years so it didn't matter. I laughed and thanked him. I went to the ATM in the station to get cash for him to break into quarters for future tolls, but the ATM was out of service. He then refused to give either myself or Shannon Cash Back on a purchase. I asked him about the ALL CAR Toll coming up and he said they took Cash, Cards, Checks or any other form of currency we might be carrying. At ease, we got back on the turnpike when it started to Rain. Not light drizzle, although there was some of that in the mix. It started to Really rain.
Once we arrived at the First ALL CAR toll, we discovered that they DO NOT in fact take anything but cash. Cash that we did not have enough of thanks to the broken ATM and lack of their wanting to do cash back on a Debit card. The toll was $4 and the $2 we had between us wasn't going to cut it. The guy at the toll booth gave us an envelope and told us to either mail it in, or pay at the next call car toll. On the way to this toll, we saw that there were a few exits that did not require the $1.50 in quarters to access. I asked when the next one was, and he said not before the next ALL CAR. Begrudgingly we continued on, and before anybody asks YES. It's still raining.
A few miles down the road, we then once again sinned against the Oklahoma turnpike by going through the toll without paying to get cash; again to pay the "Great" state of Oklahoma. Shannon ran into the gas station and got cash and we were on our way. At this point we came up to the toll to get back ON the turnpike and the change throwing side of the toll was closed (with a big old sign and construction cones kind of closed). So we drove through the prepaid side, and set the alarm off because gosh, we didn't have a PikePass. The interesting part here is that not a single other toll plaza had an alarm go off. Maybe they were mostly broken...
Needless to say, we were getting frustrated with Oklahoma. We decided to stop for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and Casino in Tulsa. The first really cool thing we were able to do on this trip.
(Shannon standing with our new Z)
After eating at the Hard Rock diner we took a couple of photos of us around the attractions at the casino, and then with the car since the rain had turned into a fine mist at that point. We then hit the road. It wasn't long before we hit the next ALL CAR toll on the Turnpike. The Last. ALL car Toll on our trip. I once again Confessed my sins to the attendant, wanting to pay penance (or quarters, at this point it didn't matter). You'll never believe what she said.
"I wouldn't worry about it, most of the tolls are broken and the last time I had to do it they never mailed me a bill".
I was dumbfounded. If I did that in Chicago, there would be a bill in my mailbox in two weeks and there would be a fine to go along with it. I asked if she was sure, and she said yes. Continue on. I made note to remind me to let Don know to keep his eyes on the mail. We were using his plates after all and the last thing I want to do is sour him to the idea of trusting fellow Corvette folk, or people in general.
I drove for a few more hours in what continued to be rain varying from mist to full monsoon until there was a fatal accident on US44. When we navigate in the car we use an app called WAZE which uses crowd sourced alerts to traffic jams, accidents or ect. Someone had posted a photo saying it was a complete standstill ahead because there was a fatal accident. WAZE however rerouted us through a nearby town, which was good and bad. It was good because we didn't have to sit in a traffic jam for an hour, but it was bad because you know those windy twisty narrow roads we all love to find in the fall? The ones that make spirited driving fun? You know those kind that are NOT the kind you want to drive in the dark and pouring rain? That's how we got around the accident. A 7 minute detour took us approximately 30 minutes of intense driving at 30mph watching for deer. I'm also pretty sure the Z got its off-roading merit badge after having to cross what I think was a creek running through a super tiny town in Missouri. You did read that correctly. Running water was coming down the side of a concrete ledge onto the street, and it was running over the street (about two car widths) and falling off another concrete ledge. It was enough running water that I would have been afraid to walk through it. The Z took it in stride.
That night we pulled into the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis at right around midnight. If you are wondering, yes in fact it was still raining but they had a parking garage and I think that if the Z could talk, she would have had a sigh of relief as Don said that she had probably only seen a limited amount of sunlight in her entire life being stored for 12 years at one point and then mostly going from garage at home to garage at work otherwise.
(Lobby of the hotel, all ready for the holidays!)
While it may seem like we enjoy Casinos you'd be surprised to know neither of us are really gamblers. The Allure to the casinos in this case was that we could stay there, park and not have to leave again if we wanted to eat or go do something. And that's what we did. We enjoyed a nice Thai dinner, had a couple of drinks and Shannon won $28 playing $2 in the Penny Slot Machine.
Things were finally looking good.
(Day 4 in next post, but I won't likely get to that until tomorrow)