Monday, September 16, 2013

UPDATE: Operation Javelin Shuffle



No posts for a while, because things have been depressing.  Firstly, I lost my storage.  An elderly woman across the street from me allowed me to park in her garage for free.  We would clear snow and stuff for her in return.  She passed away recently, and the house is soon to be put on the market.

To add insult to injury,  Maxi needs a timing chain, and that means it is off the road, because I can’t afford the work right now.  The current engine is Todd’s 360, and I don’t want to put money into it instead of my 401.

So, on September 14th we initiated Operation Javelin Shuffle.  The goal was to get my car into storage, and bring one of my boyfriend Todd’s cars to a shop for some restoration work.  Here’s a breakdown of how things went:

STEP ONE: Drive about 40 miles to pick up car trailer and one Jeep restorer by the name of Eric.  Put empty trailer onto F350.

STEP TWO:  Drive a few miles to gas station, fill truck, then purchase coffee and snacks at Dunkin Donuts next door.

STEP THREE:  Drive 40 miles back to Todd’s house, put my Javelin on trailer.

STEP FOUR:  Drive approx 70 miles to storage garage.  Unload my Javelin.  Pump tires up on Todd’s maroon ’73 AMX.  Use jacks, chains, etc to get AMX out of garage and on to trailer.

STEP FIVE:  Drive about 90 miles to Eric’s garage bay, drop trailer, leave AMX on it.

That is everything in a nutshell.  We left the house at about 10:20AM and got home at about 9:30PM. 

There were a few incidents worth mentioning, such as the wood planks the trailer owner had to use as ramps.  One look at them, and I knew they would break.  I tried to mention it, but no one listened.  Sure enough, as Todd drove my car up onto them, SNAP!  What followed was a bunch of scrap wood and jacks and other interesting items being used to prop up the cracked planks.  Thankfully, once we got out to the storage garage, there were piles of old, but far better and stronger planks to choose from. 

Another interesting note is that Todd’s ultra tiny portable air pump blew a fuse in his heavy duty pickup!  I mentioned that such a vehicle should have at least one more power point.  Again, no one listened… until he found one more power point… The small pump managed to get some air into the maroon AMX’s ancient tires.

At one point, while the boys were trying to come-along the AMX onto the trailer, I noticed some turkey vultures circling above us... I thought it was rather ominus, and snapped a photo with the birds above.

Lastly, while on the highway, a middle age man on a motorcycle passed us and gave us a thumbs up!

SNAP!  I knew this would happen...

Flying high!  Back of Maxi jacked up, off of broken plank

Broken planks being shored up with various stuff

Ready to begin Step 4

Maxi in it's new parking spot.  Poor thing...

Todd's AMX being prepared for a little drag

Mid-drag...

... really dragged!

New planks and lots of elbow grease about to begin

Turkey vulture circling above... a sign?

AMX on board, ready for Step 5