5/25/2008

Friday May 23rd 2008...on the road getting ready for Baja 500

Friday May 23, 2008

After dealing with our truck that broke down between L.A. and San Diego we finally arrived in San Diego at 1 a.m. I finally got to sleep by 2 only to be awaken by the most annoying alarm clock buzz I have every heard in my life. But, happily rush to KUSI to do a morning show segment with Dave Stall to show off the buggy and talk shop. Everything seemed to be rolling along just fine until we got to the SCORE inspection station and were informed that we could not pass inspection due to a few technical misunderstandings.

Living in the Charlotte, NC area which is across the Country it can be difficult to get a clear understanding of the SCORE rulebook at times. The distance leaves me to do most of our communication and inquiries over the phone and being that this is my first time in the driver’s seat of my SCORE Lite Buggy I am fully aware that I do not know everything there is to know about the SCORE Rulebook, but would have appreciated a little more concise and open communication at the inspection station…that is all I will say about that, and no… my buggy was not built in the sixties, it was built in 1989.

So as I sat in the truck with the buggy snuggled in its trailer, my undying drive and determination kicked into full-force gear. After multiple phone calls were made to numerous people we were finally informed on what exactly needed to be modified on my pride and joy….The Buggy. Thinking we were going to be fortunate enough to get it dropped off at a shop in San Diego to do the modifications late Friday we soon would get slapped in the face by yet another problem that would push most people to the point of throwing in the towel and haulin butt home quicker than an ant would jump off of 150 degree concrete. The truck has broken down on the side of the highway again!!! #$@%&^(!!!

With traffic flying by at 90 miles per hour on one of the busiest freeways in San Diego and the rain coming down in buckets, the shoulder that we find ourselves sitting on was not even wide enough for a ten speed. Knowing that we only had five miles to go to make it to the KGTV/ABC segment, I remember that old saying “so close yet so far away” and boy did it keep haunting my mind. With 20 minutes to go we both agreed to start the truck to see if we could inch our way there. I now have a new realization of chuggin and sputterin.

Sports anchor Steve Smith was probably one of the nicest multi-tasking anchors I have ever met. I absolutely cannot wait to see the package of my buggy that he put together.

Rain soaked and frustrated we were able to inch our way to the local auto parts store. Lucky for us we were able to scan the truck for codes and found seven, all related to the throttle and accelerator pedal. The truck was now dead in the water…literally, because not only would it not start, we found ourselves in the middle of a gully washer of rain coming down.

Knowing that I had to make a million phone calls in order to locate parts at a local Chevy house in a town that I am not familiar with, return a ton of pressing phone calls and locate a cab, I not only realized that my Blackberry battery was on it’s last five seconds, but as I quickly scanned the neighborhood that we were in I realized that no matter what we needed to get out of there before dark or quickly become a statistic.

I will spare everyone the million terrible, horrible and haunting details that filled the rest of the afternoon and evening by saying that the truck and trailer ended up being towed to the hotel and being dropped half-cocked on the curb because of the shortage of parking.

I could not take anymore of this awful day so knowing that the truck and trailer was more than likely going to be towed and impounded, I went to the room and was lucky enough to catch an episode of Grey’s Anatomy where now it seems the McDreamy and Meredith are finally going to give it a run. …..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz