| The News Comes
One day in August I cannot recall right now I was on the Mustang Club of America website and I found a link to the 40th anniversary Mustang celebration. I thought to myself, what luck I should get my Mustang just before the 40th anniversary. It all became clear. Master Mustang Jedi Yoda told me I was to get the Mustang completed before the 40th anniversary celebration Hmmm. May the force be with me. I immediately signed up to attend the event. I knew I would go no matter what it took. While I was on the website I saw a link to something called Mustangs Across America so I checked it out. It seems there was a group of Mustang enthusiast's who were planning to go from Fontana, CA, to Nashville, TN. on Route 66 to join in on the celebration. I couldn't believe my eyes. I did not think it was possible that this event could get any better but it just did! I have been most fortunate to have driven across this great nation at least 20 times in my life and I have been on RT. 66 (Interstate 40) many times as a kid but I had never driven it and definitely not the extent I was about to. On August 18, 2021 I signed on with the group and started counting the days on my computer. I knew I had a finite amount of time to get my car ready for this trip and to that end I went into credit card hell and got a credit card just so I could complete my car in time for the ride.
The first item in my list was to get the car road worthy. It would not matter how pretty the car was if I couldn't get it there. To that end I started on the front end and worked backwards underneath the car. New control arms, ball joints, power steering ram and the assorted hoses. New brake lines, brake pads, rotors turned. I went through the entire undercarriage and replaced anything that even looked worn. I put on new tires and replaced the bearings and races. It took quite a bit of time but the front end was beginning to feel real tight. As I began work on the engine I exhausted my cash reserves. The force had abandoned me at my time of need and I was in a quandary as to what to do next. I also "had" to purchase other items such as specialty apparel and I bought a CB. Sam said we were going to use a CB as our primary form of communication. I figured it would be a good investment.
The drive was coming up soon and I now knew I would not be able to get the engine rebuilt in time for the drive and I still had that smoke when the engine was warm. I completely flushed the transmission oil and changed the rear end fluid. This was the best I could hope for on my budget and time constraints. I prayed to the master Jedi of the Mustangs to get me to the show on time!
Before the road trip I felt like a little kid again. I felt like I had just gotten permission to drive dad's car to the prom. My friends at work know me and just chalked it up to my usual antics. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I decided to print up some business type cards to hand out on the trip. Something that showed the car clubs I belonged to and a tribute to MAA. Mustangs Across America (MAA) opened a website so the drivers could introduce themselves and chat about anything. They also posted the host hotels. I made reservations at each one. The first person to introduce himself was Sam Haymart. (Mustang One) From his intro Sam seemed like a nice guy that loved his Mustang. Second in command was Tony Sousa. (Mustang Two) He was going to drive a rented car to Nashville and have his car trucked there. He had a 1965 Shelby GT 350. (BEAUTIFUL CAR!) Since it seemed everyone had some kind of handle I felt I needed a cool handle for Elin and myself. I went with what I had been called for years "Big Daddy" and for Elin I used "Jo". Elin's handle comes from her middle name, Johanna. So that's the handles I used on the website.
Just when I thought things could not get any better Sam puts a post on the web site that there will be a TV production company traveling with us on our drive to document the trip for the Travel Channel. It just kept getting better and better. I almost could not contain myself. I kept getting sillier and sillier every time I though about this drive. About 3 weeks before the drive I get my registration packets from both Mustangs across America and the Mustang Club of America. The Mustangs Across America packet contained a window placard, 2 I.D. tags , an Official Travel guide , and a quick start guide. I remember thinking that both of these organizations had done some excellent planning. The day was now fast approaching and I was scrambling to get the money together to pay for the hotels, food, and gas. I was keeping a watch on the gas prices throughout the country. Prices ranged from $1.61 to $2.31. Quite a difference.
The actual drive started on Sunday April 11 and ended with us arriving in Nashville on April 15. The days just before I left were a blur of cleaning the car and doing what I could to get the car as ready for the drive as I could. I purchased a tool set that had enough tools to rebuild a car on the side of the road if necessary. I had every spare part I could think of from belts to points. I had enough fluids to do a complete oil change if needed. I was as prepared as I could get. My next door neighbor Betty Orr did an article on us for the local paper on our upcoming adventure actually got off work at 11:00pm on Wednesday April 6th. We left for Las Vegas the following morning. I did not plan on leaving for Fontana until Saturday the 10th. I decided early to use a cassette tape to record my thoughts during the drive. |
