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Once upon a time [ok, it was June 2018] I had to drive my wife to Chicago for an experimental medical treatment on one of her eyes. On the way back, we made the fateful decision to stop in Rapid City South Dakota and meet Edgar Matuska @Redgrrr , a young man who I had done some business with though the forum. Over dinner Edgar told us that he was chairman of his club’s big annual event, the Black Hills Cruiser Classic [BHCC]. And of course he wanted us to attend.
I told him I had heard about the event from my friends Steve Cramer @Poser and Paul Fantry @3_puppies and had thought about it, but hadn’t ever wrapped my head around the logistics of getting there. As Butch Baker @Texican , Mike Costello @66fj40x2 David Williams @Fireman Nolen Grogen @wngrog Nick Sone @Green Lantern and all the other fine people I’ve met in TX at the Lone Star Roundup can tell you, I am no stranger to marathon drives. So I said I would think about it.
Fast forward six months, and it’s become obvious that Edgar is not only engaging, he is tenacious. For better or worse, Edgar has my private cellphone number, and two days before Christmas he started in on me again about attending the BHCC. He made me a very generous offer to cover my registration if I would attend and I capitulated. I have lived a charmed life in which the motto ‘jump and the net will appear’ has worked many, many times. So I said ‘what the heck? I’ll just say yes, and somehow it will all work out. The BHCC officially started on July 17th with an overnight run starting that morning. Which meant I would have to be in Rapid City by July 16th.
I spent the next two days thinking about how I would break up the drive out to South Dakota, as well as wondering which vehicle I would take. And then came Christmas, and my daughter and son in law through me a curve ball: they handed me a Christmas card with a ticket to join them at the upcoming Paul McCartney concert…July 13th! Of course I couldn’t have been more surprised, and a little confused. With as much mental dexterity as I could muster in front of the whole family I concluded that I would have to do something I had never done before: transport my truck.
I had already placed a call to Paul in Montana to recruit him into my crazy adventure. Now it looked like I was going to use him for a destination point as well, shipping my truck to him and flying out to retrieve it. So the phone calls started. Paul had a neighbor who did vehicle transports, which made it a little bit likelier that I would get a break on shipping if the guy was basically just driving home with it. But that still left me with 500 miles drive between Helena and Rapid City, and one day to accomplish it in a 50+ year old rig with sub-par cruising speeds.
In the meantime I had weighed out all my considerations for what I wanted to accomplish on the trip. I had already agreed to make a stop in Sheridan Wyoming to help Alfred Hendrickson @Rigger jumpstart his stalled FJ40 project, as well as stopping by Aaron Pena @airon23 in Reno to diagnose some steering and carburetor problems. Needing to travel with three weeks worth of camping gear and diagnostic tools made it clear that the hardtop 40, the Karma Cruiser, would be the best choice for this adventure.
Once I finally decided on the rig [oh the rough life of MVS: multiple vehicle syndrome!] I decided to tackle the list of deferred maintenance on the rig. This included a long-overdue fix on my parking brake, as well as a front axle overhaul, both of which had to be squeezed in between other service jobs at the shop.
So then I thought about transport directly to Rapid City, bypassing Paul, who wasn’t interested in the overnight adventure anyways. I reached out to @Riverrunner on the forum, who brokers auto transports. Having never transported a vehicle before, I was in sticker shock over Aaron's quote to Rapid City and started mentally backpedalling. A local friend of mine and Edgar simultaneously suggested that I consider Denver as a destination point, both because being a hub city it would likely cost less to transport, as well as give more options for flying in. Sure enough, that turned out to be the case.
So with T minus one month, I pulled the trigger, booked a ticket and contacted my Landcruiser connection in Denver, Bob Devereaux @devo about getting me a ride from the airport to my truck.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that in the meantime the widow of my soul brother Carne Lowgren who passed away in March had reached out to me about attending a celebration of life for her deceased husband with a group of his musician friends over the weekend of August 2-4 in the Bristlecone forest 250 miles from home. So I also mentally adjusted my two week adventure into a three week adventure!
On Monday July 8 [T minus one week] the transport showed up for my rig. Aaron had explained to me that I would be paying a slight premium for the fact that my truck was SO tall it could not be put on the lower deck OR the top deck, but would have to sit on the diagonal tail of the transport, using up two spaces. Nonetheless, the driver who showed up for the truck seemed bent on putting the Karma Cruiser on the most forward spot of the upper deck. Not one to argue, I handed him the keys, only to see the confusion set in when he couldn’t find the shifter!
After changing places with him in the truck and showing him the pattern of the column shifter, he proceeded to smoke the clutch just getting the truck out of my driveway. Doubt settled in, and sure enough, he was more than happy when I volunteered to drive the truck up onto the transport for him. Well this was a new and very uncomfortable experience, and I could immediately see why he so quickly relinquished control. Even in low range, getting a 3 speed with manual steering to back up a ten foot slope on two ribbons of aluminum less than 2 feet wide was a little scary! And as I approached the front of the top deck, in reverse, I realized that the deck had no stops! My right knee was none too happy holding the manual brakes until he could get the front of the frame chained down.
Then I got down from the transport and looked up. Holy cow it was tall! I had serious reservations over whether my truck would be a convertible by the time it got to Denver. Driver said it measured out at 13’7”. With a couple of pics, it was off, and I was committed.
In the meantime, the impetus for the transport vaporized: We didn’t end up going to the concert! Instead, my daughter gave birth to her first child Thursday night. I am now officially old.
I told him I had heard about the event from my friends Steve Cramer @Poser and Paul Fantry @3_puppies and had thought about it, but hadn’t ever wrapped my head around the logistics of getting there. As Butch Baker @Texican , Mike Costello @66fj40x2 David Williams @Fireman Nolen Grogen @wngrog Nick Sone @Green Lantern and all the other fine people I’ve met in TX at the Lone Star Roundup can tell you, I am no stranger to marathon drives. So I said I would think about it.
Fast forward six months, and it’s become obvious that Edgar is not only engaging, he is tenacious. For better or worse, Edgar has my private cellphone number, and two days before Christmas he started in on me again about attending the BHCC. He made me a very generous offer to cover my registration if I would attend and I capitulated. I have lived a charmed life in which the motto ‘jump and the net will appear’ has worked many, many times. So I said ‘what the heck? I’ll just say yes, and somehow it will all work out. The BHCC officially started on July 17th with an overnight run starting that morning. Which meant I would have to be in Rapid City by July 16th.
I spent the next two days thinking about how I would break up the drive out to South Dakota, as well as wondering which vehicle I would take. And then came Christmas, and my daughter and son in law through me a curve ball: they handed me a Christmas card with a ticket to join them at the upcoming Paul McCartney concert…July 13th! Of course I couldn’t have been more surprised, and a little confused. With as much mental dexterity as I could muster in front of the whole family I concluded that I would have to do something I had never done before: transport my truck.
I had already placed a call to Paul in Montana to recruit him into my crazy adventure. Now it looked like I was going to use him for a destination point as well, shipping my truck to him and flying out to retrieve it. So the phone calls started. Paul had a neighbor who did vehicle transports, which made it a little bit likelier that I would get a break on shipping if the guy was basically just driving home with it. But that still left me with 500 miles drive between Helena and Rapid City, and one day to accomplish it in a 50+ year old rig with sub-par cruising speeds.
In the meantime I had weighed out all my considerations for what I wanted to accomplish on the trip. I had already agreed to make a stop in Sheridan Wyoming to help Alfred Hendrickson @Rigger jumpstart his stalled FJ40 project, as well as stopping by Aaron Pena @airon23 in Reno to diagnose some steering and carburetor problems. Needing to travel with three weeks worth of camping gear and diagnostic tools made it clear that the hardtop 40, the Karma Cruiser, would be the best choice for this adventure.
Once I finally decided on the rig [oh the rough life of MVS: multiple vehicle syndrome!] I decided to tackle the list of deferred maintenance on the rig. This included a long-overdue fix on my parking brake, as well as a front axle overhaul, both of which had to be squeezed in between other service jobs at the shop.
So then I thought about transport directly to Rapid City, bypassing Paul, who wasn’t interested in the overnight adventure anyways. I reached out to @Riverrunner on the forum, who brokers auto transports. Having never transported a vehicle before, I was in sticker shock over Aaron's quote to Rapid City and started mentally backpedalling. A local friend of mine and Edgar simultaneously suggested that I consider Denver as a destination point, both because being a hub city it would likely cost less to transport, as well as give more options for flying in. Sure enough, that turned out to be the case.
So with T minus one month, I pulled the trigger, booked a ticket and contacted my Landcruiser connection in Denver, Bob Devereaux @devo about getting me a ride from the airport to my truck.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that in the meantime the widow of my soul brother Carne Lowgren who passed away in March had reached out to me about attending a celebration of life for her deceased husband with a group of his musician friends over the weekend of August 2-4 in the Bristlecone forest 250 miles from home. So I also mentally adjusted my two week adventure into a three week adventure!
On Monday July 8 [T minus one week] the transport showed up for my rig. Aaron had explained to me that I would be paying a slight premium for the fact that my truck was SO tall it could not be put on the lower deck OR the top deck, but would have to sit on the diagonal tail of the transport, using up two spaces. Nonetheless, the driver who showed up for the truck seemed bent on putting the Karma Cruiser on the most forward spot of the upper deck. Not one to argue, I handed him the keys, only to see the confusion set in when he couldn’t find the shifter!
After changing places with him in the truck and showing him the pattern of the column shifter, he proceeded to smoke the clutch just getting the truck out of my driveway. Doubt settled in, and sure enough, he was more than happy when I volunteered to drive the truck up onto the transport for him. Well this was a new and very uncomfortable experience, and I could immediately see why he so quickly relinquished control. Even in low range, getting a 3 speed with manual steering to back up a ten foot slope on two ribbons of aluminum less than 2 feet wide was a little scary! And as I approached the front of the top deck, in reverse, I realized that the deck had no stops! My right knee was none too happy holding the manual brakes until he could get the front of the frame chained down.
Then I got down from the transport and looked up. Holy cow it was tall! I had serious reservations over whether my truck would be a convertible by the time it got to Denver. Driver said it measured out at 13’7”. With a couple of pics, it was off, and I was committed.
In the meantime, the impetus for the transport vaporized: We didn’t end up going to the concert! Instead, my daughter gave birth to her first child Thursday night. I am now officially old.
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