Team Blog

Got the word last night the car started and was ready to go! We planned an 8am team meeting in the lobby of the hotel. Everyone’s spirits were back up and excited to hit the road.

Christie and I both set our alarms but for some reason, neither of them went off. The baby started cooing and I remember thinking “hmmm…I wonder what time it is?” One glance at the clock and I shot out of bed. We all scrambled to get ready – it was 7:56am! Ready to head downstairs, Christie made mention that it took us collectively 8 minutes to get ready. Not bad and always good to know for future reference.

I was excited to hit the road. I feel like we’ve just gotten started and the way the drive ended the first day with such amazing rolling hills, pastures and greenery I was eager to set out and explore the Finger Lakes region.

After all the scrambling to get ready, we got downstairs to learn the car needed some further tweaking and had been taken back to the shop. A little bit more hurry up and wait. I should know better than to think we would be moving along as scheduled. This is a 100 year old brass car for goodness sake and she runs the show!

With the time to kill, I got some work done and got all packed up. Once the car arrived it was move it on out as quickly as possible. The Cobleskill newspaper reporter was on hand to capture photos for the next edition and Cassandra and Sally hopped in the back seat.

I finally saw Tim (the incredible Maxwell mechanic) for the first time since Tuesday and I had to pause to thank him and shake his hand before we took off. The local club here called in some big favors to help Tim and my Dad get the work done and no one had gotten much sleep. But everyone was still ready to go and stoked the car was looking/sounding good.

Tim talked us through watching the oil gauge – apparently we are burning through a lot of oil and for some reason on Tuesday we just didn’t have enough. Almost a steady stream of oil was dripping when we started and Christie and I kept our eyes on it all morning.

I can’t help but hear my Dad talking to me while I am driving – even though he isn’t sitting next to me I can predict almost to a science what he is probably thinking or even saying out loud in the car behind us. In fact whenever I have trouble shifting or I let the clutch out a little too fast I automatically say “SORRY” out loud. Christie is now threatening to hit my leg every time I apologize to help break me of the habit.

Every so often Dad would drive up alongside us with a huge sign that read “OIL??” and we would keep giving him the thumbs up. I finally had Christie make a sign in return that read “BABY??” so I could rest assured that Kaisa was doing fine.

What a different day with the top down on the car. Almost immediately my driving cap flew off with all of the wind and smacked Sally in the face in the backseat! We are definitely moving faster without the drag of the top and I love it! On the flip side, the experience is so much more windy, loud and wide open. Christie says once in awhile she feels like she could almost fall right out of the car. I feel that way sometimes too although I’ve got the steering wheel in front of me and the gear shift next to me which secures me in a bit more.

The bugs started to hit us almost immediately and while we tried to talk to each other we realized we had to keep our chins down or turn our heads sideways so the bugs would stay out of our mouths! We had a bird also swoop so close to us that we realized we’ve got to not only pay attention to the bugs but also the birds! Getting hit by a bird would not be fun.

The world is a different place when you are cruising around 40 mph in the wide open air! My eyes water (tear drool), my nose waters and when I open my mouth I am afraid the saliva will fly out of it. A few times I caught myself laughing so hard I was afraid my drool might hit Sally in the face!

The small towns we were cruising through today were so cool – old churches and brick homes among other things really showed us the history of the area. Several historical sites would have been so interesting to visit if we only had the time to stop! Not to mention the Prehistoric Creature Museum and the Worm stand.

Right outside Bouckville we noticed a group of people on the left with their cars waiting to greet us. An old fire truck pulled out and I got nervous – could I pass him with the oncoming traffic coming at me? I knew I didn’t have time to stop so I held my breath for a second as we squeezed on by.

Later I learned the fire truck had pulled out to lead us to our lunch destination but we were really cookin’ and no one could catch up to us! Thanks to Steve Davis for putting out the welcome signs for us as well – what a treat! Steve used the signs he puts out for selling sweet corn and painted over them for us. God Speed said the first one, Alice/Emily said the second and You Go said the 3rd.

We were looking for Steve Bono’s shop for a lunch break and a visit with the locals there when I started to notice the car sounding like it was trying to backfire. It was slow at first and not consistent but the timing of the engine was off – especially in second gear. In order to hear I had to turn my head to the side and lean forward a bit. The wind was so loud that it made even talking to Christie difficult. I was starting to lose my voice.

Shortly before reaching the shop two things happened. The first was the smallest fawn I have ever seen stepped into the road in front of the car. Luckily Christie saw it and told me to watch out…the fawn froze a little in it’s tracks at the sight of the oncoming car. So add fawn to the list of things we don’t want to hit – bugs, birds and deer.

The second thing that happened was we came up on a huge piece of farm equipment moving down the road. I don’t know what it was but it totally boosted our egos as we were able to actually pass a moving vehicle for once instead of everyone passing us!

The shop took us by surprise as we cruised around a corner in the road. We pulled into the driveway and I told my Dad about what I had been hearing with the engine. Tim came over eventually and they started to tinker and do what they do best. We all enjoyed a delicious lunch and got to visit with everyone – what a great crowd!

As time wore on, I started to get nervous. The daylight hours were quickly ticking by and the clouds were moving in. Plus we still had quite a distance to cover before reaching Seneca Falls for the night. Once we finally received the all clear to continue driving raindrops had started falling so we put the top up. I was a little sad because I had hoped to continue on at a faster rate but I knew we needed the top on if we wanted to stay dry and warm.

Only Christie and I drove on as we didn’t want any passengers in the back seat for the second half of the day. We had a lot of hills to climb and needed less weight to climb them as well as some time to make up.

So off we went and as we were just getting into a groove – telling some stories and settling in the knock, knock knocking noise returned. I didn’t want to believe it at first but I knew it right away so I pulled over. Crap. Done for the day. Did we blow another piston rod? Not sure so we loaded up the car and trailered back to Steve’s shop for a look see. Now it was late – going on 5:30 pm and no easy fix in sight.

The team had to separate leaving the mechanics behind with the project at hand, the rest of us moved ahead to our accomodations for the evening. Not an easy feat with pouring down rain, darkness and not the best marked roads. At the same time, the baby started to get fussy and then having had enough of her car seat and the ever changing environment decided to scream for the first hour of the drive :( We were all a lot tired and tense.

I was feeling disappointed but I kept reminding myself – what is a car tour without something like this happening? It isn’t a matter of “if” it breaks down it is a matter of “when” it breaks down. I know a lot of folks reading might think this is bad news however rest assured it is pretty normal news. All a part of the journey and the adventure my friends!