Night Train

[Jason Mawhinney]

Welcome to North Carolina and the Audi-less south.  It may not be as
Audi-less as you think but more like Audi-few.  Check out the Carolina
Quattro Club at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/carolinaquattro/
You can also check out the website associated with this club at
www.ncaudi.org or the local VW club at www.ncvw.org
There aren't many people in the club with old cars like ours but they do
have an enthusiasm for the cars and are fairly interested in learning about
the older cars.  Most of the people in the club are located in the central
region of the state but there are probably a few in the coastal region.
Anyway, glad your trip was uneventful and wish you luck with your new
job.  If you need any Audi contacts in the state, I can probably hook you
up with a few.  Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you out.
Later,
Jason Mawhinney
'85 4kq 20v
'86 coupe GT (probably up for sale)
'87 5ktq (new to me)


At 05:35 PM 2/15/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>About a month ago I gave up being unemployed and
>took a HUGE paycut (well, I already took that
>when Kana laid me off over a year ago) and took
>a job down in NC. Two weeks ago I brought my
>Audi 200 TQ down from NH.
>
>I left Concord NH about 7am Sunday morning in the
>midst of a big snowstorm.  There was about 6" (15cm)
>of snow in the unplowed parking lot, and lots of big
>flakes still coming down. I hit the diff lock button,
>and calmly pulled out of my parking spot. In spite
>of the quattro, I was slipping and sliding all over
>the place -- my Firestone SHs(?) are not snow tires.
>By the time I got to the Mass border, there were 7
>cars off the road.  It took about an hour and a half
>for a 40 mile ride. Not a good start to a 850 mile
>trip.
>
>But my 14-year-old 200 soldiered on. The weather
>got better.  I made my first stop for gas and a
>bio break at the top of the NJ Garden State
>Parkway.  Traffic was flowing nicely, and you
>could keep an 80mph pace on the NJ Turnpike. I
>skirted Washington DC.  Passing through Virginia
>was fast and uneventful.  When I hit the NC border,
>the speed limit signs changed to 70mph! Yahoo!
>You could cruise in the right lane at 80, and
>hit 85+ in the left lane.  The 200 TQ sure likes
>to cruise at 85-90.  And I know she's good for a
>lot more. Only the long arm of the law kept me
>at 80. (NH plates in NC -- for our non-American
>friends, think of the Roger Moore James Bond flick
>when he had that Southern Sheriff tagging along.
>I could hear it now, "What 'cha doing down here,
>boy? What's an 'oddey'? Is that one of them thar
>for-ine cars?") Otherwise I'd have been hitting
>triple digits for sure.
>
>I probably could have made it to my destination
>(Merritt NC, along the coast) on the second tank
>of gas, but it was late and dark and I had the
>chance to fill up, so I took it when I reached
>Rocky Mount, NC, just over the border from VA.
>
>Audi God moment: When I went to start my car
>after filling up, I turned the key and ...
>nothing.  I didn't even swear. I just turned
>the key to Off, and tried starting it again ...
>Vrroooooom. And I was on my way.
>
>The Euro headlights really light up the road,
>even on low beam.  When I got off of Route 95
>and onto the back roads, into the woods where
>the deer (and the antelope) play, the high beams
>just burned up the darkness. Sweet.
>
>In summary, I am still impressed with my 200TQ's
>ability to eat up the miles in her old age. My
>butt wasn't sore, the car returned about 25mpg
>(according to the instrument cluster), and I
>arrived safe and sound after 14 hours on the
>road.  You can't ask for more than that.
>
>Cheers from the warm and Audi-less South,
>
>Kent
>'89 200 TQ, "Bad Puppy" with 221K miles
>
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