Zfrk HAS moved! (trip's over, long post, pics later)

[ZfrkS62]

At the end of August, i will be packing up and moving back home to Seattle, Washington.

2 years of living in Cajun Country, and almost 5 years away, it's time to go back. Mainly though, things between my girlfriend and i can't go much further if we can't see each other more than 2 or 3 times a year. (she's in oakland, Ca). She's moving up there with me Summer of 07 to attend grad school.

While it's been fun living away from home, i've finally kind of become homesick as well. As much as my family irritates me, i do kind of miss them, and my dog....

I'm not sure if i'm taking the Yoda or not. If i don't, i'll probably borrow my step dad's 95 Ford Taurus until i can buy another Z.

I'll be taking I-10 to I-5, but circumventing Los Angeles i think by 210 or 510...i'm not sure which one it is, but i traveled it when i drove from Phoenix to Seattle a couple years ago.

I'll let you know when exactly i'll be on the move :D

[black_magician]

my grandmother(76) is on vacation in Seattle right now (seeing family), she calls me up and say's "I got a tatoo, a permanent one"...... thanks Seattle.


I do like Seattle though. Good food and good music.

[ZfrkS62]

^ HAHAHA!!!

What on earth would possess a 76 year old to get a tattoo? :lol:

[nthfinity]

^ HAHAHA!!!

What on earth would possess a 76 year old to get a tattoo? :lol:

the drugs man, its the drugs :o

good luck with the trip back home

are you parting ways with BMW in LA on good terms, or is this a multi-platform "i need to get out"

drive safe :)

[novass]

Youre from Seattle huh? Now I got someone to Fed Ex me some seafood from Ivar's :wink: I love that place.

Good luck with the trip!

[black_magician]

^ HAHAHA!!!

What on earth would possess a 76 year old to get a tattoo? :lol:

haven't figured that one out yet.:bah: :bah: My only thought is... she's 76, she can do what she wants?

[ZfrkS62]

are you parting ways with BMW in LA on good terms, or is this a multi-platform "i need to get out"


No, it's on good terms. I've got the highest Customer Satisfaction in the shop. And that includes 2 Master Techs. I have virtually no comebacks to speak of and i get along with pretty much everyone.

But there is a sense that i need to get the hell out of here. Everything that makes the south the butt of all the jokes, is centered next to my dealership. And no, i am not joking. The dealership is located across the street from the Housing and Urban Development neighborhood, and kitty corner to low income apartments :?

A couple months ago, 10 Mercedes had their mirror covers stolen. Apparently the mirror covers of the C class fit on Civics and Accords :roll: (yes, i am talking about the lighted mirrors) No one here makes much of an attempt to shake their stereotypes and it really pisses me off to the point where i feel like i've lost alot of respect for alot of groups.

[nthfinity]

A couple months ago, 10 Mercedes had their mirror covers stolen. Apparently the mirror covers of the C class fit on Civics and Accords (yes, i am talking about the lighted mirrors) No one here makes much of an attempt to shake their stereotypes and it really pisses me off to the point where i feel like i've lost alot of respect for alot of groups.

come up to Detroit...

you have one faction that is the exact same

and the ones who are desperately disassociating with the first group... so much so, they'd concider almost themselves white... and they def. wouldn't get along.

[ZfrkS62]

so i take it you see alot of 86 monte carlos and regals on 23 inch rims and subsequently lifted 4 inches higher, too?

[nthfinity]

so i take it you see alot of 86 monte carlos and regals on 23 inch rims and subsequently lifted 4 inches higher, too? you have no idea :P

X-kalades are the rave, if you can afford it.... but otherwise, its your monte carlo's, Lincoln's, and Buicks with the rims.

[Zot09]

Good luck with the move Zfrk, it's always nice to be back home around family. So do you plan on working at another BMW dealer in Seattle?

[ZfrkS62]

yeah, i'm sticking with BMW. If i ever decide i don't want to work for the Bavarians anymore, i'm going to go Italian :mrgreen:

[Minacious]

I'll be taking I-10 to I-5, but circumventing Los Angeles i think by 210 or 510...

:(

[ZfrkS62]

I'll be taking I-10 to I-5, but circumventing Los Angeles i think by 210 or 510...

:(

I'll PM you once i have a concrete schedule. if LA traffic isn't too bad i may end up going through if we can't meet up somewhere else.

[Minacious]

I'll be taking I-10 to I-5, but circumventing Los Angeles i think by 210 or 510...

:(

I'll PM you once i have a concrete schedule. if LA traffic isn't too bad i may end up going through if we can't meet up somewhere else.

The 210 isn't all that far from me, especially if I ride, so if you do end up taking it, that will work too. We can meet somewhere around there for a little confab.

[dingo]

Good luck with the move, all I know about Seattle is the 10443 "Seattles Best Coffee" stores that I saw in Vancouver.....unfortunately I didn't make it down to Seattle.

[blinkmeat]

hey cool, boss

I guess this means less "away from home gf pics" it'll be tragic.

Alas, safe trip, and good luck!

[TT]

Many movings on JW lately! Best whishes for your come back home ;)

[PaulGT2164]

feel free to stop in phoenix on your way!
if you need a place to stop, crash for a night, and hang out with some cool car guys, let me know. my door is always open to a fellow JW'er

[ZfrkS62]

feel free to stop in phoenix on your way!
if you need a place to stop, crash for a night, and hang out with some cool car guys, let me know. my door is always open to a fellow JW'er

if i didn't know what the autotheft/vandalism rate was in the valley i would be tempted to take you up on that offer. but i plan on hitting the area during the day as i have a stop to make on Bethany Home Rd and another one right off I-10 at 99th in Avondale.

I'm just afraid that the U-Haul and car trailer may be too tempting to teenagers and tweekers with sticky fingers. I already have 2 cd players floating around the state somewhere and i don't really feel inclined to give them a better chance ata 3rd :?

[PaulGT2164]

your stuff would be secure, i have a locked RV storage place along the side of the house ;)

[ZfrkS62]

yeah, that really sucks ass. I was really looking forward to seeing my first enzo, up close and personal too :(

Paul, if i get into the valley late in the evening i may take you up on that offer :D

I will be PMing contact info to those along my route when i leave, just in case i can't update while i'm on the road.

[antonioledesma]

good luck with the scenery change Z :D , and at least a brighter future is coming your way with your girlfriend.

[ae86_16v]

Definitely let me know when you swing by here :) .

[SilviaEvo]

well its about bloody time i had some company in Washington :lol: cant wait for a meetup or something. car sightings and paintballing. what a combo! but for updates i got an Ion for cheap cheap :)

[ZfrkS62]

August 28th, last day of work

August 29th, pack up U-Haul and Yoda

August 30th, begin the 2100 mile trek to Seattle!

:D

I just got back form interviewing with the BMW dealer up there and all i have to do is show up when i get into town and sign the rest of the papers :D I'm looking forward to going back home, but just not too thrilled about the drive :? Better than flying though :roll:

[ZfrkS62]

driving with me, myself and i...and my bird

[Pimp Racer]

Damn man. Good luck on the move once again. Anyways drive safely cuz the highways are dangerous because of stupid underaged dumbass drunken kid"z".

[ZfrkS62]

driving with me, myself and i...and my bird

ahh, well that will be a bit boring but kool none the less.
couldnt of gotten your girl to come down here and then drive up with you??

I might pick her up once i get to california. not sure if she'll be able to though.

[ZfrkS62]

well, i'm turning off my internet either this weekend or monday. I will try and post when exactly i leave..somehow, but the way i plan it, it's going to take me a full day to get through Texas; another day for NM and AZ, and another day to get to Oakland where i plan on taking 2 days with my girl, and then she's going to drive up the last 13 hours with me :D

Anyone who wants to meet up for lunch or something, drop me a PM with a cell number and i will try and drop a text message when i get into the vicinity if i can't drop a PM from the hotel at some point.

[ZfrkS62]

Internet is getting shut off and i'm picking up the Uhaul truck now.

Depending on what time i get done loading that up, i might leave today.

[antonioledesma]

good trip. Rest once in a while. +2000 miles isn't an easy distance

:D

[ZfrkS62]

Well, i actually pulled in on the 6th at 5am after a 19 hour straight drive from Oakland with my g/f. It took me 3 days to get from Lafayette to Oakland and i stayed there for 3 days before making the final stint to Seattle.

The trip was long (ended up being a little more than 3000 miles i think) and seemed to have something interesting in every state i passed through.

Somewhere between Houston and San Antonio, there was a Chevy Cavalier doing about 20mph in the West bound lane...but heading East :shock: :? I was wondering why the semis stopped leap frogging each other when i noticed the car putting along. Then it looked kinda funny. It took a second to realize i was looking at his head lights, not his taillights. But mmy first thought was that it was an elderly driver who got confused on an on ramp somewhere, but as he passed, i saw that the driver was about 30 :? go figure.

After that, about 2 hrs later i'm nearing the outskirts of San Antonio and i notice a couple of F-16s flying around in the distance. They weren't hauling ass and it didn't look like they were on manuvers or anything but their landing gear was down so they may have been doing touch and go runs at the air strip. This didn't strike me as odd but kinda made me lift an eyebrow in retrospect as a tour bus passed me with a big ass Homeland Security symbol on the side :? Don't they have better things to do than to drive around the fucking desert?

I have to extend a big thank you (read: you fucking bastards) to the DOT of San Antonio. Thanks to them i was on edge all through town and for about 60 miles after as the construction the were doing on the inner city portion of I-10 made the lanes extremely narrow to the point where i was afraid to blink for fear of the UHaul getting to close the lines, allowing the trialer to find a groove and scoot into someone else's lane. Fortunately that never happened, but for someone who doesn't have much experince with a heavy fuckin truck let alone truck with trailer, it was pretty hair raising.

Nothing happend for a few hours which was fine by me. Night fell and about 190 miles out of El Paso, i get passed by a Honda Prelude. Ok, no big deal, cars have been passing me the entire trip so far. the funny part came when the retard decides to pass the semi truck in front of me, on the right :lol: he guns it the second he reaches the big rig's trailer. Well, he made it halfway up the trailer before the trucker started moving back into the left lane. I can only figure that the Honda was in the rig's blind spot (he didn't flash his high beams to let the guy know he was there or anything) so there was no way the trucker could have seen him. Now when someone starts moving into your lane, you would sound your horn and alert the other person to your presence...but no. Honda boy pulled a Gumball and jumped onto the hard shoulder and floored it :lol: I only wish a State Trooper had been there to see it all and then ticket the Honda for passing on the right and passing on the shoulder :D (the truck was in the clear because he had just completed passing me)

Just my luck, i reach El Paso and it's fuckin raining :roll: and yet again, thanks to construction, there were no recognizable lines on the freeway to mark the lanes :roll: so once more, key up the nerves :? Especially when i get passed on the inside of a turn by a Ford Exploder and fucker sprays a blinding sheet of water on my windshield eliminating my sight until the windshield wipers can make another pass :? and again another mile or so down the road by a semi on the left :roll:

Construction on I-10 was non-stop from about Beaumont all the way through to the New Mexico line :roll: I would have to say the points where it narrowed down to one lane were the best :fist: Thanks Texas :roll:

I pulled into the first rest stop in New Mexico at about 1am. I had started out on my drive at about 7:30am the previous day, so it took me about 18 hours to get from central LA all the way across TX and into La Cruces, New Mexico.

Thanks to the Red Bull i downed just outside of El Paso, it took me about an hour to fall asleep. 4 hours later, i was back on the road.

New Mexico...what a bore :lol: nothing but desert foilage to look at. Fortunately, it's only about 120 miles from La Cruces to the AZ border :lol: I swear, there are exits off I-10 in NM that serve NO purpose at all. You look to the either side of the freeway and see NOTHING. No houses, no gas stations, no barns, NOTHING. Not even a cactus. Hell the exits don't even have a town name listed on them. It's just exit 123 or whatever number it is :lol:

The drive through AZ was pretty uneventful right up until i got into Phoenix, well except the Maserati convertible that passed me. I got a pic of it, but you can barely see what it is :roll: . I stopped off to see my old boss and to take a break from driving (Phoenix drivers are the WORST). i stayed there about an hour and a half, two hours. Somewhere during this stop, the AC compressor clutch went out. I got back on the freeway, unaware of this until my bird began acting funny. when i realized he was panting, it hit me that we was starting to suffer from the heat. I tried turning on the AC, and this is when i found out it had taken a shit on me :roll: So i got off the freeway after about 20 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic, and had to duck into the air conditioning of a Chevron station so that i could get my bird cooled off. that was easily the most tense hour of my trip. Once he fluffed his feathers back up and started holding the ice cubes i was giving him on his own, i wen tout to see if i had picked up a rock in the AC condensor or something. Thats when i heard the compressor squealing. Of course no one answered on the 24 hour breakdown line that UHaul has :roll: so once the bird was back to normal and traffic freed up, we were on our way. By now the sun was going down and it was beginning to cool off. It was probably about 11pm when i pulled into Indio, CA and found a hotel.

The next day, after checking out, i called UHaul again and they told me that i could take the truck to the repair center in Cathedral City, which fortunately was in the direction i was heading anyways. Of course when i get there, the AC is working fine :roll: i had to spend a good 15 minutes explaining to them that the way i saw they compressor turning was NOT the normal cycling of an AC compressor. I had to convince the mechanic to go drive the truck to get it to act up. At this point both him and the manager kind of had that "this fucker is out of his damn mind" look on their faces. Until i told them what i did for a living :mrgreen: 10 minutes later, the manager tells me that after driving the truck, the compressor clutch is glowing bright red :lol: Unfortunately, before they change any parts on these trucks they have to get the approval of UHaul's corporate office :roll: so 3 hours later, i was finally on the road :roll: (the compressor clutch is NOT that hard to change, especially since on the Ford 460cid, it's right on top of the engine. The most difficult part is taking off the drive belt).

so by now it's about noon, i'm still on I-10 and i have a long way to go before i get to I-5. Traffic sucked ass as i neared Fontana, thanks to something going on at the speedway. Once i got passed there, i could see the brownish green haze of the LA smog :puke:

I missed the 215 interchange to bypass Los Angeles (thought i was looking for 210) and had to get on 5 North where it physically interchanged with I-10. All the way from there to Grapevine, traffic sucked monkey balls :? probably didn't help that it was Labor Day weekend (3 day weekend in the US) and it was Friday, so everyone had the same idea of cutting out of work early to beat traffic. That works providing you get out before everyone else does though :lol:

The Grapevine was fun. 6 miles of going up a god damn mountain to get out of the valley :? it's about a 15% grade (you gain 15 feet of altitude for 100 feet of distance traveled) that is spent in 2nd gear at about 40 mph. kind of a confidence killer when you see signs that say "Radiator water- 1 mi ahead" and "Turn off Air Conditioning to avoid overheating" all the way up.

before reaching the peak of the hill climb, i glance in the side mirror and see a flatbed truck about to pass me. As he goes by, i get a look at what's on his bed. A Maserati :? Brand spanking new. didn't even have a temporary tag on it yet. Of course it would pass by right when i have to conentrate on the impending descent i'm going to have to make :roll: and to add insult to injury, on I-5 South, there is a damn 360 Modena mocking me. AND I CAN'T GRAB MY CAMERA :bad-words:

The descent out of The Grapevine is just as bad as the ascent. Why? Because you get the confidence inspiring signs that say "runaway truck ramp 1 and 2 miles". AND when you look out at I-5, it's nothing but a long, straight, black line as far as you can see :( and trucks, along with cars with trailers, are limited to 55 mph in California :cry: (didn't stop me from convoying with the trucks at 65 mph though :mrgreen: ) What's a Runaway Truck Ramp you ask? it's a long ramp made along the side of the road where trucks who have smoked their brakes and can't downshift anymore can exit and subsequently get stuck in the deep gravel instead of continuing down the hill at the mercy of the truck and the laws of inertia.

I'd like to extend another big thanks (again, read: FUCK YOU) to CalTrans for allowing the left lane of I-5 to go to absolute SHIT. I couldn't go 200 feet without hitting a damn pothole :? and of course if you travel in the right lane, you get a ticket. And it would be just my luck that i'd be the one to get busted. So i stayed to the left. I got passed by an M3 that had been riced out to look like a CSL (see previous topic in Car Chat) .

I pulled into Oakland about 11pm where my g/f's dad was nice enough to move his van and let me park my 33 feet of vehicle in front of their house for 3 days while i stayed and rested before grabbing their daughter and dragging her up here for a few days :mrgreen:

I met up with ae86_16v for lunch since he lives pretty much on the other side of the freeway from my g/f. (Thanks again for lunch Ken!) He's pretty cool and his M3 Sedan looks even better in the metal than in his pics :good:

The drive from Oakland to Seattle was fucking long and wasn't helped at all by the drive through mountains between Yreka, CA and somewhere near Medford, OR, i think. Fuck that is one never ending pain in the ass :? The last time i was on edge though was driving over the Columbia River into Washington. Thanks to construction on the bridge on I-5, i was forced to use the 405 detour into WA. Now here's the shitty thing about that. when cresting the bridge, you can see that it turns to the right...somewhere. It's more of a blind turn than the braking zone and turn in point to the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. Especially at about 1 am :fist: Not cool when you have nearly 18,000 lbs behind you :bad-words: There was only one more WTF moment in store but i wouldn't hit that until about 4:30 AM and that was construction work on the I-5, SR 18 Junction, which royally sucked because they had the 18 East exit closed (the one i needed) which meant they detoured you onto 18 WEST, just to get on 5 SOUTH to exit to 18 EAST :? Which by the time i got on 18 East, i was so fuckin dizzy i was questioning as to wether or not it was the direction i was supposed to be going. couple that with a cranky girlfriend and you have to LONGEST 20 mile final stretch in history :roll:

I pulled into the driveway of my parents house at 5 am. 2 hours later i would realize that i has lost a day in my internal calendar and that it was a day earlier than what i thought it was, so there was really no reason for me to drive 19 straight hours :?

But, everything is squared away, i have most of my stuff in storage, my tool box is at my new job and i start tomorrow. Girlfriend just called me, she just got off the plane back in Oakland (she's moving up next year) so now i can finally relax for a little while :lol:

Sorry to everyone who wanted to meet up along the way that i didn't get a chance to stop off and see. We'll have to try again when time isn't really of the essence :bah:

I'm going to make a post in the travel section with a few tips for road trips that i've learned on my long haul (well, i learned it on my first 2 hauls as well, but only now am i on JW :D ) a little later. But first...lunch :D

[666fast]

LOL Thats quite the trip! I get tired of being in a car in just a few hours, much less in a Uhaul for that long!

Glad to see you made it without any major problems, other than the AC anyway! Welcome Back!

[gucom]

DANG that post took almost as long to read as ur trip :P
glad to hear u arrived in 1 piece, 19 hours of driving => respect :)
hows the weather in washington?

[sameerrao]

Other than that it was a blast right? :lol: :wink:

At the end of the day, nothing seems more inviting than reaching home and slipping behind the sheets of a comfortable bed.

Glad you made it safe with both your birds.

[ZfrkS62]

Gucom, right now it's sunny, and actually it's been sunny for most of the time since i've been back. yesterday was overcast and it rained early, so it's pretty much exactly how i remember it.

Sameer, yeah it was fun. but then again there's not a whole lot to do on the road.

I had picked up a power adapter so i could plug in my computer and play my music library the whole trip since the radio requires adjusting every 30 miles or so when stations come in and out of range.

[Zot09]

Glad to hear you made it in one piece dude! hahaha Enjoy Washington!

[T-Bird]

Sounds like you had quite the adventure.

One thing though; I thought you are supposed to stay in the right lane and the left lane is for passing? I read you said you stay in the left and right lane you get a ticket in for driving? here you stay in the right and the left is for passing except during rush hour were semis can't enter the left period, and you can be in the left as long as you aren't slowing down traffic in that lane.

[ZfrkS62]

^ yeah, i stuck to the right lane for most of the trip. In El Paso and San Antonio, i didn't like being next to the walls or i got pushed to the left by traffic entering the freeway (little bastards are supposed to yield to traffic already on the freeway dammit!) I played leap frog with a few convoys of semis and for that i had to get in the left lane obviously.

[SilviaEvo]

glad to know your back Z theres nothing its been sunny all summer cept for yesterday i think was raining a tad and overcast.

[TNT]

man that was a lot to read up on, but i hope all plans work out and you have fun back home. I use to live on Whidbey Island. great place up there in washington. I miss it.

[ZfrkS62]

Silvia, drop me a PM sometime. We'll have to break out the paintball gear before it gets cold.

TNT, my aunt lives up there now, and my parents are moving up there in a couple of years. I have decided i'm going to get a Yugo for trips up there. The temptaion to speed on that island is too much for me :D :lol:

[Mattk]

Wow! What a trip! Glad you made it all in one piece.

[TNT]

haha, speeding is only as fast as the RVs will let you. during the tourist season its hell. traffic out the ass. I lived right at the top in Oak Harbor. So anyone that drove onto the island had to go through the town. less just say you avatar is what you want to do when the tourist come. they act like they have never seen a green tree before. :roll:

[ae86_16v]

Glad you made it back okay! It was very cool to meet up with you and your girlfriend! It was a pleasure to meet you!!! :)

Thanks for the compliments about the car :D.

[TopGearNL]

Hope everything went ok :)

[ZfrkS62]

haha, speeding is only as fast as the RVs will let you. during the tourist season its hell. traffic out the ass. I lived right at the top in Oak Harbor. So anyone that drove onto the island had to go through the town. less just say you avatar is what you want to do when the tourist come. they act like they have never seen a green tree before. :roll:

well, my aunt lives on the south side of the island, pretty much near Greenbank. Whenever we go up there it's deserted :D It's too quiet for my tastes though..too many blue hairs :roll:

[Minacious]

Damn, I missed you. Well at least you live in the same state as me now. :D

[novass]

Damn, I missed you. Well at least you live in the same state as me now. :D

Did I miss something? You move to Washington?

[Minacious]

Damn, I missed you. Well at least you live in the same state as me now. :D

Did I miss something? You move to Washington?

Ah hell, see there, I am losing my mind.
Ok, he lives above my state now. :D

[Johns]

i drove 13hrs one time..will never do it again..19hrs you my friend have BRASS BALLS :mrgreen:

[novass]

Damn, I missed you. Well at least you live in the same state as me now. :D

Did I miss something? You move to Washington?

Ah hell, see there, I am losing my mind.
Ok, he lives above my state now. :D

LOL I was gonna say, you moved and didnt tell us :P

[ZfrkS62]

i drove 13hrs one time..will never do it again..19hrs you my friend have BRASS BALLS :mrgreen:

having the cranky girlfriend next to me made it worse :lol: