[mr.mud1]

the longest roadtrip i've done was about 20 years ago,where did 20 years go??from Halifax,Nova Scotia to Encinitas,California by plane to LAX,an Amtrak train to Encinitas,CA to meet up with a fella there from Utah but working in California, to pick me and my buddy Tommy up.i bought a 71 big block longhorn truck from him with about 90,000 miles,hauled a camper all it's life,solid as a rock but sunburned as you can see,we went out to eat,stayed the night and left in the morning to start out on a 3700 mile drive home with a detour to a swap meet at a desert drive in movie theatre parking lot along the way.the airlines had lost my luggage and all i had was what i had on.i was lucky,at the swap meet,i was able to buy some
t-shirts,jeans,socks,toothpaste,a toothbrush,everything i needed and a big bag of oranges we ate all the way home.one stop shopping.then onto to Peoria,Arizona to buy a trailer and load on the 72 torino a friend of mine here at home bought and i hauled it home for him.then a search for an auto parts store that might have a carb kit.the truck ran horrible.everywhere we stopped, could have one tomorrow but tomorrow is no good,we'll be 100's of miles away.i did finally find a store that had a kit and when me and Tommy stopped for the night,he went for his daily run,i went to the parking lot,made the tailgate my workbench and dismantled the carb.soon i found the spring under the primary power piston missing,went to the front desk,asked the nice lady if she had a ball point pen i could steal,she had a bucket of them so i took a dozen pens apart til i found a spring i thought would work,repaired the carb,re-installed it and on the road in the morning to Colorado Springs for 2 more trucks,a 68 and 72 that didn't run, that Tommy had bought.once there we loaded everything up in a trailer place yard where Tommy had bought a trailer, started for home.not far up the road,i looked in the mirror,no Tommy so i slowed a little,no Tommy,stopped on the side of the road,no Tommy so i went to the next exit,turned back.there was Tommy on the side of the road,hood up,not looking happy.when i got back to him and asked what happened,he said the motor wasn't happy,sounded terrible so we limped back to the trailer place we had just left.they were great and let us stick the truck in the corner of the shop and use their tools.i determined we had a dead cylinder and tore off a cylinder head.it was on the floor before they closed and it was still warm.i can't remember where we were,Kansas maybe? but anyway they recommended a machine shop,Dennis Saum i think it was and they did mostly race car stuff but we took this broken screwed up head to the shop,they were great too,stopped they were doing and a set of zillion $ set of race car heads to fix this busted up old head.i think i read about Saum's passing a few years back?back to the trailer shop,put the old girl back together,said goodbye and thanks,on the road again.the rest of the way home was uneventful,just the way i like it.once we got home,i took the truck to a local swap meet,loaded full of parts and had a guy start to torture about the truck.i told him it wasn't for sale but eventually he caught me on a day i didn't have much patience and i said,listen if you want that truck,it's going to cost,and i don't remember what i said but i figured it was enough to scare him off.it wasn't.i've had 3 longhorn trucks,2 big blocks,1 350 truck.all original paint and too stoopid to hang onto at least 1??well it's taken 20 years but i finally have another,not a longhorn but that's ok,from the same guy now living back in Utah,a 1972 Cheyenne Super 20.big block,built in Freemont,Californis,sold new at Hoffman Chevrolet in LA,74,000 miles,1 owner and in storage since 1997.I'm anxious to go get it but can't with the covid mess,the border is closed between Canada and the U.S for everything but essential travel.i'm looking into,but haven't found anybody yet,to having it hauled to friends in Ohio or even to Maine,so that when the border opens,it won't be so far to go get it.it'll all work out i'm sure.that's only 1 of my adventures but certainly the longest.take care.Greg