Okay, I knew it was bound to happen, the warm weather can only last so long this time of the year. Getting to the middle of November with decent temps outside is not bad, but now it's just too cold and wet to do any kind of work outside on the car. It's so lonely looking sitting there up on jack stands from where I removed the wheels last weekend.
After loading up my Monte Carlo with 3 tires on rims, 2 bare rims and 4 tires, along with the air cleaner and hood hinges from the Buick the night before, I left about 8 AM last Friday morning and headed down I-75 to Lexington, KY to Jim and Melody's place. Upon arrival I parked my car at the house and got in with Jim to begin our adventure. Our first order of business was to try to locate a replacement for the heater core in the old Buick which was pretty much shot. After not having any luck at the first radiator shop we stopped at, we hit pay dirt at the second one, where a suitable replacement was found. The end from my core had to be transferred to the new one and the owner advised it would be ready on Monday at a price of $65. Seemed very reasonable to me, and I was tickled pink! Jim said he would stop by and pick it up for me.
The rest of the day was spent mostly running around to different places. Jim is the chief transportation officer for Jim and Melody, INC. so it keeps him pretty busy. We did find time to visit Melody where she works at Sam's Club. Her job it to demo different food items so it seemed logical to visit around lunch time. Along with Melody, there are many others doing the same thing at Sam's, so we hit them all up and by that time were ready for lunch. The snack bar at Sam's is a good place for that as a huge slice of pizza (at least the size of 3 regular slices) and a soda can be had for just $2.48.
In between more transportation duties we managed to remove the old tires from the rims so they could be sand blasted later at Jim's friend Barry's place. As one of the rims did not need any work we went ahead and put a tire on it. It was discovered to have a bad valve stem so we decided to just get all new ones once the rims were ready to have tires mounted. After all of the transportation duties were complete, including picking up Melody from work, we finally headed out to Barry's to do the blasting work.
Jim had told me a bit about Barry and the kind of work he did, but seeing it all was simply amazing, I was very impressed! I suppose you would call Barry a fabrication specialist. His current project is taking 2003 Camaros and turning them into 1969 Camaros for a gentleman of seemingly unlimited funds. The process is basically to remove the front and back sheet metal from the later model Camaro and then Barry fabricates brackets and all necessary hardware to attach the '69 sheet metal to the back and front. Once his part is complete the car is taken to the body man who does the necessary body and paint work.
This apparently is a lucrative business as one of these cars was recently sold at a Barrett-Jackson action for around $55,000.00. Not too shabby at all! Barry also has some neat Anglia's at his shop he has built for himself and others. It was also neat hearing some of the stories from his and Jim's past and all the trouble they got into as kids. Ah, good times.
In no time at all, Jim had managed to sand blast all of the wheels and the air cleaner while I carried the finished ones out to the truck, so it was time to say good-bye to Barry and head off for supper. Completely unaware of what was in store next, I soon discovered we were on our way to the local Texas Roadhouse to meet up with Kathy, Jeff, Amy, Melody and Rodney for a super supper. Good food and fine company, it just doesn't get any better than this!
After saying good-byes to everyone I headed off to the Super 8 where I had checked in earlier in the afternoon. Now nearly midnight, it had been a full day and I was ready for a warm bed and sweet dreams. Unfortunately the family in the room above me were not yet ready. I know it was at least 2 AM before they finally stopped jumping up and down and running across the floor. Oh well, can't have everything!
I awoke the next morning, well rested and ready for another day of action. After I showered and checked out of the hotel, I headed back over to Jim and Melody's. Jim had already started his transportation duties for the day and was now ready to mount the tires on the freshly blasted rims. But first we needed to secure new valve stems, so after finding the needed items at the local Autozone, a trip to Harbor Freight was next to see if we could find the little tool used to install valve stems. No luck there, but we had a pair of channel locks and in no time at all we had the new stems in place.
Although the job was made somewhat easier using the Harbor Freight tire changer Jim had, getting the tires off the rims is a much easier process. But I can tell you this, it sure beats trying to put a tire on in the middle of a parking lot with basically no tools! With Jim doing much of the grunt work while I stood around and looked pretty, the tires were soon mounted and ready to be loaded back into the Monte Carlo for the trip home.
After working up an appetite, we decided to visit Melody once again and see what she was cooking up at work. Once again we hit up all of the sample tables and topped it off with another huge piece of pizza and a soda. I do believe I would have no trouble adjusting to a lifestyle like this!
We had time to kill before we went to visit my other sister (Sharon) in Crab Orchard, so we visited another one of Jim's cousins who has a place in the country he is fixing up. He also has a rather odd collection of vintage iron, mostly Ford products, scattered about his property. When it comes to old cars, I may joke around a lot about the difference between Ford's and Chevy's, but one is just as good as the other when it comes to the old ones and truth be known, there are several old Ford's which I would love to own.
Time flies when you're having fun and in no time at all it was time to head back into the city to meet up with Melody and Rodney to head south to Crab Orchard and Sharon's restaurant, The Past Time Cafe. The trip down is a long one, no matter which way you go, but well worth it as far as I'm concerned. I have not had much of a chance to talk with Sharon as she is not one for traveling, so this is about the only way to do it.
Once there we met Kathy, Jeff and Amy and all had supper again. Sharon had been told I would not be able to attend, so it was hopefully a pleasant surprise for her when I showed up. After eating she showed me where she and her husband live above the restaurant. A very nice arrangement to be sure. After more very pleasant conversation and story telling, we said good-bye once more. Sharon assured me she would visit soon when Jim and Melody come up to Belterra for a visit. I really hope she does.
After the long trip back to Lexington (took the expressway this time), I said my good-byes and thanked them for a most wonderful visit, for I still had to drive back to Vevay. Except for some rain, the trip back home was uneventful and I arrived back home well before midnight. My cat (Dixie), greeted me at the door and she seemed happy to have me back home so the food bowl would be refilled.
All in all it was a wonderful trip which I thoroughly enjoyed. It occurred to me once back home that I had not paid for a single thing I ate and this was a very different experience for me. I want to thank everyone for making my visit so pleasant and hope I can repay you all when you come up to Vevay. Especially you Sharon, don't be such a stranger!
Love you guys!
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