FJ60Cam an' Fam Get High AF

[FJ60Cam]

We make our way to the last Caddy, and I see a small spacecraft had landed on it’s tire, the back end burnt up from re-entry, the whole thing now covered in fifty layers of spray paint…

Excited about my find, I tagged this car before leaving…

 

[FJ60Cam]

 

[FJ60Cam]

On the way back to the hotel, we took a wrong turn and, I shat you not, stumbled into the top-secret Very Small Array…

Yes, they were pointed back to Summer Avenue.

Goosebumps

 

[FJ60Cam]

We decided against the 72oz Steak Challenge at The Big Texan Steak Ranch and got some Tex-Mex at Chuy’s (wife’s choice). Nolen, in polite but no uncertain terms, reminded me that there was a Rudy’s in town, and that our friendship would end now if we did not stop in before leaving. He informed me that they served brisket tacos for breakfast, so we still had a shot at redemption.

In the morning, me an’ the boy went downstairs to make a Rudy’s run while the girls got ready. We could have a tasty breakfast, grab some extra for lunch, and hit the road at a good time.

Our truck was parked on the street directly in front of the entrance, as it was too tall to fit in the parking garage with the cargo box on the roof.

Our excitement for brisket was abruptly deflated when we walk out and see this:

 

[FJ60Cam]

It was only flat on the bottom, but boy was it totally flat. Not just low.

WTF? I aired up all of the tires before we left, but all seemed equally low. Nothing unusual. Definitely no active leaks.

But the flashing tire pressure light did come on early in the trip, though no tires had lost pressure. I made sure to check at every gas stop.

I must have run over a nail or something.

 

[FJ60Cam]

We have AAA, so I figure a truck could come out, pop the wheel off and plug the tire so we could go get some Rudy’s. No reason for us to unpack the truck to dig out the jack and get dirty crawling around on the ground if we don’t have to. That’s why we spring for the Super Platinum membership.

The phone number was a waste of time - no answer and the estimated wait time was infinity. So I try the app.

The app says there’s no service for that and we’ll need a tow. Fawk that noise, we need some Rudy’s.

So we get to work…

 

[FJ60Cam]

I figure we’ll put on the spare, toss the flat in the back and go get it plugged. As we’re working, a Good Samaritan stops to see if we need help. He has a combo jump charger/air compressor thing and is itching to use it.

He puts air in the tire and it leaks back out just as fast. WTH??

That’s when we notice that the two cars in front of us also have flat tires. That’s super odd. Must have been a ton of nails out. I see a few possible culprits in our tire, but they look old.

We walk over to the other cars for a closer look and noticed that they’d been shanked. Clear knife gash in the sidewalls.

Clearly someone with a grudge for RR tires on white vehicles

 

[ntsaint]

lort

 

[FJ60Cam]

Fortunately, the spare holds air and is full, so now our mission is to find a new tire, then hit Rudy’s.

I’m a big fan of Discount Tire, and Amarillo has several to choose from. There just so happens to be one 500 ft from Rudy’s.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Things are starting to click, the coincidences just too obvious. The top three suspects in the tire stabbing are: Nolen, Rudy’s, Discount Tire

We relay this info to the Amarillo Homicide Detectives and head to Discount to follow the clues.

 

[FJ60Cam]

As all of them are, this Discount is hoppin’ and the employees are humpin’.

We have to wait a few minutes, but they are on the case. When he looks up our tires in the system, he says that, unfortunately, they do not have any Toyo Open Country’s in our size. Zero in town. Zero anywhere, because this is a old model and the new model something something something.

To make matters worse, they don’t have tires at all in our size. Closest tire in that size is in Albuquerque, which has several to choose from as long as we don’t want Toyo.

Our options are wait for them to order them or head to Albuquerque. Just like OJ, we want to find the real killers, so we will follow the trail to Albuquerque.

We call the ABQ store to confirm availability and take a screenshot for evidence. Then ask them to pretty please air the spare to full operating capacity, we don’t have any margin for error here.

 

[FJ60Cam]

I pull out of the parking lot and head straight to Rudy’s and…. FAWK!!!!

There’s a car coming straight at me at full speed!!

I totally forgot that this is a one-way interstate access road. I swerve out of the way and jump a curb, praying to ETAF I didn’t pop my ancient spare.

We overland the final 200’ to Rudy’s, which is not busy at all. We order a variety of breakfast burritos and a handle of sauce to drink on the road and head back to pick up the girls, our carefully crafted schedule now derailed by a few hours and an unexpected trip to Albuquerque.

 

[FJ60Cam]

We get our food and it is amazing, especially the sliced brisket sandwich

It is so amazing that me and Andrew agree that we need to pick up a few pounds for the road on the way out of town.

The universe provides instant feedback that we made the right decision. We pull up beside this dope 60 as we ease down the exit to Rudy’s.

 

[wngrog]

I’m glad there is one Andrew that appreciates Rudy’s brisket …. The other one can’t be trusted.

 

[FJ60Cam]

I’m glad there is one Andrew that appreciates Rudy’s brisket …. The other one can’t be trusted.

You either like it or you’re wrong. Pretty simple

 

[ntsaint]

I feel like Nolen owns a stake in Rudy’s or something.

i mean i guess it’s ok? If you like gas station BBQ.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Finally hit the road several hours late, but we were rolling through the awesome New Mexico sign in no time.

Required stop at the #77 Blake’s Lotaburger on Route 66 in Moriarty for a lotaburger, New Mexico style of course…

 

[FJ60Cam]

I feel like Nolen owns a stake in Rudy’s or something.

i mean i guess it’s ok? If you like gas station BBQ.

Technically, it is a gas station. Maybe Bomar needs to open one

 

[FJ60Cam]

We were planning to head north at Clines Corners and land in Santa Fe for the evening, but our search for the truth took us to Albuquerque first for a fresh 275/65/18 Cooper Discoverer ATP.

My bros at Discount scanned all the TPMS’s and figured the one on the spare tire was the culprits for the flashing light. We didn’t have time for that, so we would have to live with the flashing light fir the duration of the trip.

 

[FJ60Cam]

We stopped by Walter White’s house on the way out of town. I missed the turn and ended up circling around and approaching from the side.

As get closer, there is the meanest looking lady you can imagine, staring us down with a face that makes Walter White look like Santa Claus.