15th August 2008, 10:16
| #61 |
| Team-BHP Support   | Picture number three. That's one after track injury from "CARS"?  |
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15th August 2008, 10:25
| #62 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
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15th August 2008, 11:44
| #63 |
| Senior - BHPian | Continued from post#60 But this day, my mood is different. I have to tell myself within 30miles of driving, Gallup is only 60miles away, we will stop there, then reaching Gallup decide to continue a little more. Yes, no mood at all to drive for hours. Obviously the lack of sound sleep on the previous night has had its effect. In the meantime, driving at over the speed limit, or even the allowable margin at which Cops turn a blind eye, I see a red and blue flashing light atop, what appeared to be a Ford Crown Victoria, approach in the far off distance in the rear view mirror. I can't beleive my eyes, cursing myself for trusting blindly on Beltonics. One look at the said gadget and dang, the thing isn't even connected! I had taken it back into the teepee and forgot to connect it back in the morning (although it was installed). I was like, gone, nothing can save me today, Anirban, you are going to a place you would not like to go to. The seemingly Crown Victoria was getting larger by the second and I had no dobt it was coming for me. I slow down and decide to pull over. The red and blue lights, pass me and continue to travel!! Guess what? It was a Dodge Charger R/T. Ofcourse thats the new cop ride. The feeling was of relief, disgust, frustration and ofcourse "what if?". I turn on the Radar detector, thank my lucky stars, pray for it to stick to me further for just that day, in laying a blind trust on the device. Trying to identify all cars coming from the horizon in front and making sure I do that correctly. Little later it was clear that the flashing lights were actually heading for a Bus that was on fire on the highway.  Our First stop was at SkyCity Casino, we were making all sorts of calculations as to where the next stop could be. Logically it was Tucumcari 240miles away, but we wanted to get to Amarillo 350 mile away. Wife asks me to give it a shot. One full tank should take us there. This was better said than done, although we still made it, breaking the previous record for continous driving in one stretch in the Smoky mountain trip by 20 miles, but undercutting it in time, as we took 4hours and 10mins for it. We were soon into Texas.  Amarillo greeted us with a huge thunderstorm and rain. So much, that we had to drive on waterlogged streets (and we curse our own roads back home). It was difficult to proceed further, but then, we always intended to stop at Amarillo for food and a much needed break. One and half hours later, there wasn't any sign of the weather getting any better. Called up friends in Dallas to check the weather in the intervening route. The guy remarked, get out of Amarillo everything looks clear after it. We hit the road again braving the storm. But the best was yet to come. We hit the US287 south, and very soon we were driving by a town called Claude. What do we see? a very dark sky in the eastern horizon with two black streaks running from the sky into the ground. They were tornado funnels. It was scary, but I decided as once long before, as long as there are trucks moving in both directions, I am fine. Trusting their weather expertise more than mine. Difficulty was driving behind a truck, the spray was making everything invisible, so every truck had to be overtaken. While overtaking there was a moment of complete blindness. The trick was to see the road before hand and then go for it with eyes open but having the same effect as being closed. Very soon the sidewinds started getting serious. The car was being pushed left, had to constantly adjust the steering. We were beginning to think, we need to stop, but where? Nothing was in sight apart from the road. Will it be safe to stop or to carry on. We decided to carry on. The rains reduced, the winds reduced, we had overtaken the storm from underneath, without loosing speed. This is where the W210 platformed car seemed most wanting in handling department. On road curvatures, due to stagnant film of water on the road the car wasn't exactly gripping. That was expected. What was not expected was the car keeping the steering aloof from what was happening. At one particular curve, the car decided to go straight, a little reduction in steering somehow claimed some grip back, but that feedback wasn't from the steering but from the "feeling" in person. All through out, at every curve it was constant correction and adjustments. In comparison, the W124 lets you know precisely what is going on underneath those wheels and you can take the curves with one confident swerve of the wheel. Handling is a very important aspect for a car which many people overlook. Its the most important safety feature as it tells you of potential danger before it happens. Even the Mercury Grand Marquis to Colorado springs was very talkative through its steering, but thats a Ford and they are masters in the handling game. We reached Wichita falls at 11:30pm and there, the series of flyovers got the GPS confused. It was asking me to take exits which did not exist at the level we were on. We drove down visually to a non flyover area, stopped at a IHOP for some refreshments. From there asked the GPS to find our home, this time it did. We reached home at 1:15am. In the end this day turned out to be an experience. Next day there was a meeting in office at 8am and I was up by 6:30 am, quite fresh for the day, a brilliant ode to where the priorities of the W210 platform engineers were. So here we are.... Goodbye says Chrysler  Goodbye says Anoushka (aka Merc)  So do we  A very Happy Independence day to you all. Last edited by 1100D : 15th August 2008 at 11:54. |
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15th August 2008, 12:27
| #64 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,044
Thanked: 69 Times
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18th August 2008, 12:07
| #65 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bong-land
Posts: 2,323
Thanked: 426 Times
| Superb Travelogue once again you seem to have enjoyed every bit of it. at one point it seemed as if i was part of the trip - rock on dude! |
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18th August 2008, 14:15
| #66 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: KA 05, MH 10
Posts: 303
Thanked: 128 Times
| Good write up 1100D, enjoyed it thoroughly.  |
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18th August 2008, 16:06
| #67 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 267
Thanked: 5 Times
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18th August 2008, 21:36
| #68 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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19th August 2008, 07:58
| #69 | |||||
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
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Those classics were kept parked in front of every Teepee, kind of creating a theme for the aging motel. The motel was setup by the owners father many years back. However they are in desperate need of funds to keep the original going at Holbrook. Its not often that they get too many visitors. There is a Best Western (chain of hotels) just a block down. But then does it offer the same charm?! Quote:
I was already beginning to feel there were too many in there!! Thanks to all of you. | |||||
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19th August 2008, 15:10
| #70 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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19th August 2008, 17:28
| #71 |
| BHPian  | Fantastic travelogue!!!! I could even see Hudson Hornet there Well, I didn't really knew that "Cars" is based on a real town, though my daughter and me watch the movie every day. Thanks Last edited by WhiteKnight : 19th August 2008 at 17:29. |
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19th August 2008, 20:06
| #72 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
Cars (film - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Needless to say, even if I love all animated movies, Cars tops the list, for some unknown reason. | |
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19th August 2008, 23:23
| #73 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: cincinnati, jabalpur,chennai
Posts: 1,264
Thanked: 209 Times
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19th August 2008, 23:50
| #74 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
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20th August 2008, 00:41
| #75 |
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