9/4/07

And we’re back from a long weekend. I had nothing to say on Friday so rather than say it, I didn’t. Saturday morning I was to meet the dude about (Stinky). We had scheduled to meet at 0800 h at my credit onion but he called about 0730 h to say he was running a bit late and could we make it 0900 h instead. I debated calling Gregg to give him some more time but decided to go ahead and be there early. Oh, Friday evening after work I went to the shop and got (Stinky) by the way. I also called Gregg and arranged for him to be my muscle as dude and I finished the deal, just in case. I arrived at the CU and waited for Gregg. When he arrived we went to Golden Corral for breakfast. Yeah, I hate GC also. I've yet to meet anyone who doesn’t make a face when I mention that place. Anyhoo, it was close so we ate. We walked back to the CU and waited for the dude to arrive. They finally pulled up and I was relieved to see that they looked to be upstanding folks. I let him drive the truck, I rode along of course, and he seemed pleased with it. He handed me a cashier’s check and I went inside to deposit it. I filled out the slip and went to the counter. The cashier said, “I have some bad news,” which I took to mean the check would have to clear before he could disperse money. “We’re out of hundreds,” he went on to say. “Will fifties be all right?” I told him to make part of it a cashier’s check made out to Denver Ray Mut and I'd take the rest in fifties. This he did with no problem. As soon as I had all my transaction done, I handed the title over to the dude and sent him on his way. The plan from this point was to go to the Motorsport Ranch to see Ray. Gregg had to go get a check from his boss and I wanted to get my trailer from my sister’s place in Granbury first though. He went his way and I headed mine. We agreed to meet back at my shop. We did and then piled into (Fifi) to go see Ray. By this time it is around 1300 h. We talk to Ray for a bit and do our initial transactions on the deal. We load the car Gregg bought onto the trailer and took it away. I'm not saying what car or where we took it because I'm not sure how public that knowledge is. Ooh, all cloak and dagger stuff, ooh! Anyhoo, we left there and went back to the Ranch to get (Marty). As we were loading that, Gregg and Ray struck another deal for a Legends car or two. I'm not sure of the details as I intentionally stayed out of that one. We took (Marty) to Beenbroke and unloaded it off the trailer and into the main bay. It felt good to have that car back even though it needs more assembly work than I remembered. Gregg went home and I did the same. Mom and I tried a little “Italian” place on HWY 80. What is up with the eastern Europeans opening Italian restaurants? I must admit that the Russian Mafia did make a rather tasty, albeit a bit too lemony and a tad overpriced, shrimp scampi. Sunday morning Pat and I were going to meet Tony Calvert, of Tony and Dawn from the Tail of the Dragon trip, at an SCCA race at the Texas Motor Speedway. I got up and headed to Pat's so we could ride together and do that. We took Nora’s new four door Jeep. It was quite nice. We got to the Awful House at almost exactly the same time as Tony. Unfortunately there are two Awful Houses on 121 near 377 and the Speedway. We were at one; Tony was at the other. He finally called about half an hour later and Pat directed him to ours. We ate and then went to the race. Pat schmoozed us in and we watched stuff go around and around for a while. We walked through the garages and found Marty. The first words out of his mouth were, “Where’s my B-210?” We talked for a bit and then he had to go because his car was going to grid. We watched that session and then went to lunch at Schlotzky’s. I had a chocolate cake sandwich and several glasses of Dr. Pepper. We went back to the track and watched the rest of the races. Pat had to talk to the guys from Young Chevrolet for a bit and then we took our leave of each other. Well, Pat and I took our leave of Tony and we headed back to his house where we took our leave of each other. I went home and crashed out. Monday morning I was to call Gregg when I got up so we could go to the Motorsport Ranch and pick up the rest of our stuff from Ray. Gregg’s marriage is imploding and he was pretty shook up about the crazy-assed things the wife is doing when I called. I told him to take his time getting it together and call me when he’s headed my way. I went to the shop. I looked at (Marty) for a bit and decided to go ahead and roll to the Ranch. When I got there, Ray and I loaded several totes of parts into the back of (Fifi) then I followed him to another garage where I loaded two A-series transmissions. Gregg called to say he was on his way so I said, “Meet me at my shop.” I got there to find him pacing around on the phone. I rolled the (Seven) out and started unloading the totes into that bay. He finally got off the phone and helped me with the two-man tote and the two transmissions. We rolled the (Seven) back in and discussed the rest of the day’s plan. He was still too messed up by the divorce thing so we blew Ray off. We hung out for a bit and I got the dual DCOE manifold thingy out of (Barbecue Bob). I bolted it to the Slant Six Clifford four-barrel manifold to see how the carburetors would be oriented. They would point fore and aft, parallel to the valve cover. Gregg said that if I didn’t put that on (Mr. Wiggly) I was totally gay! So, now I'm on the lookout for another pair of 45 mm DCOE carburetors for (Mr. Wiggly). We hung out for a little longer then he went home. I headed home but wound up at the motorcycle accessory shop on Alta Mere looking for a “Dune Flag.” I didn’t know it was called that, I went in asking for “one of those poles with the orange flag that you see on ATVs and dune buggies and stuff.” They had them. I bought one for the (Seven) and went back to the shop to install it. I found a piece of metal and drilled out the holes for the flag and a bolt. I mounted that to one of the bolts holding the diffuser to the chassis then zip-tied the shaft to the down tube of the roll hoop to keep it from banging. The flag is about six and a half feet high so it ought to alert the great unwashed to my presence. I know, it is kind of sissified, and if the gubment had made me do it I would be bitching up a blue streak, but its better than getting run over by some stupid bitch in a utility truck who’d rather talk on the phone than pay attention to her surroundings. So, with that installed I thought about a quick hoon but it was raining. I went home instead. Along the way, the intermittent wipers became even more intermittent than usual. They finally quit halfway up the windshield. I twisted the knob a few times and the wipers would jerk around a bit but never settle into place. Then the damned stalk/lever came off in my hand! The wipers were pointing straight up, the headlights were stuck on high beam, and the left turn signal was on. I pulled over and fiddled around with it until I got the turn signals to shut off then headed for Texas Motors. Parts and Service were closed for the holiday. I went home and parked the truck thinking I'd possibly bring it in to service in the morning. I then decided I'd just replace the thing myself and called today to get a price. $178.20 or something like that and they have one in stock. I'll pick it up on the way home tonight and install it sometime. Well, that’s about all I have. I'll talk to y'all tomorrow, maybe.