Pikes Peak: the report -Reply

[Ed Kellock <EKELLOCK@ecs-inc.com>]

Dan Hussey wrote:
>I hope everybody's trip home went well with no major disasters!  Those
>of you who left before me, how was your trip?  Todd, Adam, Ed, did
>you guys make it home OK?  

I had an absolutely awesome time.  It was so great to meet and hang out
with everybody.  I was so glad that we were able to pull this meet off! 

My travels were only marred by the closure of I-40 by a landslide.  I had
hope it would be cleared up before my return trip but not.  This made for
two very tedious detours.  There is just no other easy way to get
between Knoxville, TN and Greenville, SC.  At one point I found myself
about to cross an old 2-lane bridge spanning a rather large gorge and
realized there were 4 or 5 semi's as well as about a dozen cars, nose to
tail already on it.  I stopped immediately for fear of plunging to a mangling
death below if the bridge decided to give way.  Maybe I was paranoid but
I decided to play it safe.

Other interesting trip notes:
-En-detour, crested a hill and found a mid-80's Cadillac in full blaze. 
Realized when right next to it that that sucker might possibly blow up. 
Got the hell out of there quick.  Must've overheated on the wonderful
detour.  

-Approached by total stranger at gas station for money for gas.  I listened
for a bit, he seemed legit, I was feeling generous, let him pump about $9
bucks on my Exxon card.  As I pulled out of the station, 2 cop cars rolled
in and ended up taking him in for ID.  Seems he had no license.  As they
took him away (uncuffed), he looked over at me and said he was still
going to send me that money back (I gave him my work address.)  I don't
play a good samaritan often and hope this one doesn't backfire.
Hey, it was in rural NC. 

-The return "detour" was through Sieverville, Pigeon Forge, and
Gatlinburg TN.  If you have any desire to get from point A to point B,
STAY AWAY FROM THERE.  If you want to stroll aimlessly back and forth
across the street in one of a thousand crosswalks, causing the hundreds
of cars to stop at EACH and every cross walk... HAve fun!  It did look
pretty cool; I would like to go back.  Just wasn't the best choice of a way
home for me.  After I cleared Gatlinburg I was driving through the Great
Smoky Mtns (& Park) which was very pretty.  Turned onto the Blue Ridge
Parkway for about 40 miles.  This all would have been great if it were
daylight and I wasn't worried about deer and had something other than
stock headlights.
Final day of driving: Left Columbia, MO at 830a. Arrived home at 1120p. 
I'm still tired.  

Very many thanks to Jim Griffin and Ben Howell for their substantial parts
in pulling this off.  Thanks to Eric Fletcher for an great time in StL, to Ian
Duff for being at the ready (glad we didn't need you), Eric Renneisen for
leading me to StL at a brisk pace, and Ingo for the 80-130, ah, leg
stretches ;-), yeah that's it.  Also thanks to those who helped me get on
the air while Brendan wrenched Bob Myers leaky 5ktq (you know who
you are Roadkill, Pitchfork, Racing Iron, and, uh, Dan, too!)  It really made
the trip for me!  And thanks to all others who attended.  It was great
putting faces & cars with names.  For those who couldn't attend, hope to
see you next year, wherever we are...

Ed Kellock ............. Greeville, SC
91 200qw ......  3000 miles in 4 days not counting the trip up the hill  8-}
(Are those S rated tires?!)
Leo is my copilot.
Cornflake, out.