Above 1200 Sq/FT Swanny's Garage Expansion Project

[Swanny1953]

Sounds and looks like a great trip Gary, other than the tire issue of course.

You have been to so many places that the wife and I blessed to be able to go to often being in our backyard. So sorry we missed you and Lori, we would have loved to have met you in person. Too bad our trips aligned during the same week and we weren't home.

Mike, you truly are blessed to live in the part of the country you do. Lori was continually amazed with the natural beauty we have encountered on this trip.
I hope we will have the opportunity for our paths to physically cross sometime in the future!!

 

[zmotorsports]

Gary, now you have me contemplating loading up our Camaro onto the trailer I want to build in the near future, hook it up to the coach and take it over and drive Pike's Peak. That looked amazing. I was telling the wife about it last night and all she said was "ok, let's do it."

 

[Swanny1953]

Gary, now you have me contemplating loading up our Camaro onto the trailer I want to build in the near future, hook it up to the coach and take it over and drive Pike's Peak. That looked amazing. I was telling the wife about it last night and all she said was "ok, let's do it."

Mike, I don’t think you would be disappointed with that trip. And Pikes Peak is only one of the many things you can enjoy in Colorado Springs. Their CVB has a very nice book they will send out with all the things to do and see in the area.

 

[Swanny1953]

It's now Friday and our tour has been over for a couple of days, so I guess it's time to go back and fill in a little more on Monday and cover the rest of the tour.
Once we left Cody on Monday, we had a very nice drive through a river gully and across some mountains to Crow Agency, MT. There we stopped at the Custer Battlefield Trading Post, where the proprietor of 40+ years served us Indian tacos.


Once we were fed, our caravan toured the tipi grounds for the Crow festival that was going on. We were in search of the group of Native American dancers whom we were told would be dancing all day until sunset. While we never came upon this group, it was very interesting driving through the grounds. They were taking as many pictures of us as we were of them.


Leaving the grounds and heading back to the freeway, we ran into this interesting juxtaposition.

Getting back on I90, we started heading to Gillette, WY and that's when the whole tire issue raised its ugly head.
I wasn't able to make the museum stop, but Lori took a few pictures for me.


She said it was a very nice little museum and I'm sorry I had to miss it.
That catches up Monday.

 

[Swanny1953]

Tuesday was a great sightseeing day! We started the day at Devils Tower, a very interesting rock outcropping with much significance to the Native Americans.


There were some stories shared about the significance of this tower, one of which centers around a giant bear.

Next stop was Deadwood, where we had a couple of hours to tour the old town and enjoy lunch. We had lunch at Mustang Sally's, which was very good.

We also went by the saloon where Wild Bill was killed


There were some very interesting storefronts.




As it looks like I have hit the limit on pics in one post, this continues below

 

[Swanny1953]

They were just at the beginning of a multi-day car show, and some of the participants arrived early to register. Wish we could have been around for the weekend and the full show, but I'm sure I wouldn't have been happy with the crowds!!!


Next stop for the day was Mt. Rushmore. Lori had never been here, and all the surroundings have changed in the 43 years since I last visited.



Once everyone was done at Mt. Rushmore, we all retired to our residence for the next 2 nights, the historic Alex Johnson Hotel in Rapid City. We had our "farewell dinner" that night, even though we had another of day of sightseeing left. We were entertained by some Native American dancers at the dinner.

After a full day of driving and sightseeing, we retired, very tired, to our room!

 

[don long]

Hi Gary
I see you over on my thread quite often and I found yours last night. So I thought I'd spend the evening reading through it.
I feel like I know you just a bit now. I enjoyed seeing your garage expansion projects and the many nice cars you have added to your stable over the last several years. I'm a little envious of your many club trips and the fact that you tinker a bit on your cars. I wish that I had a little more knowledge of the Mechanical side of the cars. I would feel right at home fixing your deer encounter but not the electrical or suspension issues that you tackled.
I enjoyed all that you have shared and will be following along now

Cheers
Don

 

[Swanny1953]

Don, thanks for the kind words. I’m in awe of the restoration skills you have shared with us. During one of my sabbaticals (read unemployment periods) during my career before starting SRS in 2008, I took some basic body working classes (metal bumping, welding intro, beginning paint) at the local community college. While I don’t have the courage or equipment to tackle the projects you have done on your Corvette, Elky or COE, I do really appreciate the knowledge and skill you bring to this forum and your generosity in sharing the same. I’m just a finance guy who is a lifetime car nut, starting around 6 or so. What I have learned has been through trial and error and from taking **** apart and having to put it back together. I have taken lots of things apart as I have an innate curiosity about how things work. Sometimes they don’t go back together so well - I guess that’s where the learning part comes in!!
The car tours we have taken have been a lot of fun. I had to beg Lori to go on the first one, and she was really looking forward to this current one we’re on. Now to figure out what we’re going to do next!!
Thanks for following along.

 

[Swanny1953]

The last day of our tour (Wednesday), we headed out early and congregated at the parking lot near the entrance to the Crazy Horse monument. I believe this is a representation of what the finished product will look like.

I'm told there hasn't been a lot of progress over the years. In fact, my sister said it looked a lot like it did when they visited there when my niece was little (she's now 45!!).

From there we headed into Custer state park, so we could access the Needles Highway. This was an exceedingly fun drive - very technical with lots of switchbacks (including the "pigtail" bridges) and some really neat tunnels, including one which frames Mt. Rushmore as you're driving through it!



Next up, we drove to Wall Drug where we had lunch and had a chance to shop for souvenirs. I even found a new Stetson hat to fit my XL head! They have sure built this up into a very nice "tourist trap" over the years!!

We finished the day touring Badlands National Park.


After wrapping up our Badlands tour, we drove back to Rapid City and had a great dinner at Sabatino's Italian Ristorante with some new friends!
Our tour group taken at the base of the Tetons -

All in all, this was a great tour! We met and enjoyed some new people, but some of the folks on this trip traveled as a group and were pretty closed off to meeting new people. Oh, well - their loss is the way look at it. Austin Coop did another terrific job of coordinating everything and keeping us all on schedule. He's the same guy who put together the Route 66 tour we did last summer. If you have any inkling at all of doing a guided car trip of this sort, I highly recommend him (www.2laneamerica.com)! He does other tours as well - a fall colors tour in New England, a motorhead tour in the upper Midwest, a music city tour from Nashville to New Orleans through Memphis and a southwest national parks tour. Again, I might sound like a paid shill, but I have nothing but good things to say about this company!!!

 

[Swanny1953]

As I was planning this trip, I decided not to rush straight home as we have family & friends in the upper plains that we haven't seen in a while.
First up is visiting my niece and her family who are presently stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base in Grand Forks, ND. Google showed this to be an 8-1/2 hour drive, mostly on rural SD and ND roads. All the roads were very well maintained and I didn't do a very good job of adhering to the posted speed limit!! Our family uses Life 360 so we are able to know where each other are. My daughter said our vehicle emoji had flames shooting out of the rear of it!!
While the roads were fine, the amenities were few and far between. We finally so badly needed a rest stop and some lunch that we stopped at a local diner in a town of 300 or so. This was almost a "blink and you missed it" town. Lori had a patty melt, I opted for the French dip, which the waitress claimed was good. Lori's patty melt was served on whole wheat rather than rye, had American cheese instead of swiss, the wrong kind of grilled onions and no thousand island dressing. My French dip meat looked like it had been chipped off the ends of an overdone roast and the sandwich was impossible to keep together to dip in the au jus!!! It was one of the worst French dip sandwiches I have had, and they are a "go to" when on a menu! Oh well, at least the fries were hot and tasty!!
We finally arrived in Grand Forks and went to our hotel as our family was still returning from a short getaway at one of the upstate lakes. Once they got back to town, we drove out to the base and went through the security screening process to be admitted to the base and our nephew created a very tasty Quinoa salad for dinner. After a couple of card games, we excused our weary selves and headed back to our hotel for the night. It was a long day of driving!!

 

[Swanny1953]

Friday dawned and it was our nephew's birthday. He is a fairly newly minted Colonel in the Air Force, having been fully elevated last fall. This is his first command, and oversees around 1,100 folks in support roles in multiple bases in this country and abroad. It's a pretty big job! Since he was still on leave, he offered to give us a tour of the base, which we readily accepted. We saw several Globalhawk drones (these things are much bigger than expected) and he told us there were 12 B1 bombers on the ramp.


That evening we visited Rhombus Guys - a pizza joint in downtown Grand Rapids - for Brandon's birthday dinner. I had the Puff the Magic Dragon pizza which was really good.


We returned to the base where Brandon finally opened the bottle of George T. Stagg whiskey I had given him to commemorate his promotion. He said he had been waiting for a special occasion!!

I'm extraordinarily proud of him!!
We then said "see ya later" to our family and got ready for the next long day of driving!

 

[Swanny1953]

On Saturday, we got up and hit the small diner, Darcy's Café, we had discovered the day before (www.darcyscafend.com). While the place is very small, the food was terrific and we were able to get in both days without any wait. We weren't disappointed with our breakfasts - the Sioux omelet and French toast were great!
We then embarked on the day's drive, 7 hours if I29 between Grand Forks and Omaha, NE. What a boring drive!!! It is nothing but straight with a few "hills" thrown in for good measure.
We got to Omaha mid afternoon and spent the remainder of the day visiting with my Corvette buddy and his wife who had moved here several years ago. They took us downtown to the Twisted Fork where I had the country fried steak and Lori had their famous country fried chicken salad. Both were very good!


After a couple of games of 10,000, a dice games we taught our friends, we dragged our exhausted butts off to bed.

 

[zmotorsports]

Gary, looks like an amazing trip.

We've spent a lot of time in the Deadwood/Spearfish/Custer area over the years and many of the sites that you shared mirror pictures in my thread. AWESOME!!!

We LOVE the drive down through Custer State Park, then back around the Needles Highway over the pigtail bridges and the entire surrounding areas. As for Mustang Sally's, we've eaten there multiple times as well, their "steak bites" are awesome.

 

[Swanny1953]

Sunday was a sleep in/lazy day. We ventured into Omaha for their farmers market, then had lunch at the Innerline food court. We then went downtown to experience their waterfront park. It’s a very nice space. I was lazy about taking pics, however.
We finished the day with dinner at Mahogany Prime Steak House. The food was terrific, but the highlight of the evening was their Brûlée cheesecake! This is a regular cheesecake covered with Brûlée cream which is then caramelized. It was beyond delicious!!

A bunch of extra calories I didn’t need, but it was well worth it!!

 

[Swanny1953]

Monday, our only objective was to make it part way home - Wichita, KS to be exact. However, I wanted to make a stop in Lincoln, NE to visit the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed. This is a 3-story museum dedicated to all things American speed related. I was told about 70% of the collection was owned by “Speedy” Bill Smith, the founder of Speedway Motors. He started Speedway Motors in 1952, and it’s still family owned by his 3 sons. An interesting history of Speedway Mortors can be found here - https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Info/SpeedwayHistory
Upon walking in, you’re greeted with all things Indianapolis 500 related -

To the left is a full room of historic Harry Miller and Offenhauser race engines

There were several Riddler award winning cars, including the first ever (which I neglected to get a picture of). The Don Riddler Memorial Award is probably the most prestigious award in the show car world and is awarded each January at the Detroit Autorama. To qualify, it must be the first public showing of the vehicle, and there cannot have been any significant media coverage (at least publicly available) prior to the show. The vehicles must be “minimally operable”, meaning they must start and move forward & back on their own power, stop with their own brakes and turn left and right. As you might imagine, some of the winners are multi-million dollar builds!!



There are 2 rooms dedicated to midget and quarter midget racers

More pedal cars than you can imagine. There was a sign announcing it was the largest known pedal car collection.

This wall displays many of the intake manifolds available for the Ford flathead V8.

George Poteet’s Speed Demon was on display. Poteet was an avid land speed racer, having gone over 400 mph more than anyone else. He was also an avid hot rodder, and commissioned dozens of high end builds from many of the marquis builders in the industry.

There was an entire section dedicated to the Unser family and their many, many racing achievements.
Since I’m near the attachment limit, this is continued below.

 

[Swanny1953]

Some of the Unser’s awards


They have the five millionth and 10 millionth Fords produced on display.

And for you tool guys, a Monkey Wrench display and an old pedal powered grinding wheel!!



This is a really significant museum and cudos to the Smith family for having the vision and expending the time, effort and not insignificant capital in acquiring and displaying all these historically significant items! I’d encourage you to spend a couple of hours here should you find yourself in Lincoln, NE!!!

 

[jon72vega]

Thank you for all the pictures!
Very interesting.

 

[Swanny1953]

We finally made it home yesterday afternoon, after 20 days, 13 states, new friends, countless memories, 4,790 miles and 21.5 mpg out of the 640 hp Caddy!! This was all virgin territory for Lori and I got to revisit places I haven’t been in way over 40 years!!
The downside is I have one beyond dirty car after driving through the plains of South and North Dakota (this thing was clean when we left Rapid City)!!

Off to give it a bath I am!
Thanks for following along on our adventures.

 

[Swanny1953]

Thank you for all the pictures!
Very interesting.

You’re very welcome. It’s fun being able to share . . . .

 

[zmotorsports]

Sounds and looks like an amazing trip Gary. What an opportunity that you and Lori took advantage of. Thank you for sharing your travels with us.

Yes, your Caddy needs some love now.

 

[Swanny1953]

Before we left on our trip, I got an email from the National Corvette Museum that they were offering LED backlit signs for all the various Corvette generations. So, I bought 6!
These things are flat on the back, so I had to come up with a mounting solution that would allow for power cord management behind the sign.

What I came up with was using 1/2” square doweling as a stand off from the wall, which allowed room for the Wago connectors behind each sign.

Each sign had a little transformer and power switch. Before hanging everything, I tested a couple to see if I could daisy chain them together. It initially worked, but when I added the 6th sign, the whole thing shut down - too large a draw on the little transformer I guess. So, I disconnected the 6th light, which seemed to work, at least for a few minutes until they all began to flash. Still too much draw! So now each transformer powers 3 lights and all is good.

One sign for each generation I own.

 

[LXCam]

Before we left on our trip, I got an email from the National Corvette Museum that they were offering LED backlit signs for all the various Corvette generations. So, I bought 6!
These things are flat on the back, so I had to come up with a mounting solution that would allow for power cord management behind the sign.

What I came up with was using 1/2” square doweling as a stand off from the wall, which allowed room for the Wago connectors behind each sign.

Each sign had a little transformer and power switch. Before hanging everything, I tested a couple to see if I could daisy chain them together. It initially worked, but when I added the 6th sign, the whole thing shut down - too large a draw on the little transformer I guess. So, I disconnected the 6th light, which seemed to work, at least for a few minutes until they all began to flash. Still too much draw! So now each transformer powers 3 lights and all is good.

One sign for each generation I own.

Very cool Gary. How many amps or milliamps (and what voltage) is the power supply you have rated for. More than likely I've got one that'll handle all six without issue. Let me know and I'll send one out to ya.

 

[Swanny1953]

Thanks, Cam. Each transformer is 12v 3.0A output. Appreciate your offer, but it works fine with 2 switches as is.

 

[Mr.zippy]

I really enjoyed a recap of your road trip....so many of those places are fairly close to me....we live in a wonderful, beautiful Country! Wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thank you for taking the time to document the travels for us!

Love the Vette signs too!

 

[Swanny1953]

I really enjoyed a recap of your road trip....so many of those places are fairly close to me....we live in a wonderful, beautiful Country! Wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thank you for taking the time to document the travels for us!

Love the Vette signs too!

Happy to do it, just following in the footsteps of others who have done the same, particularly @zmotorsports.
I have preached the beauty or our country to my wife for years. She just hasn’t had the opportunity to travel it as much as I have. On the other hand, she is drawn to Europe for its history, architecture and scenery. I have to admit both have their attractions, I’m just biased to the good ole USA!!!

 

[Swanny1953]

Well, it has certainly been a week, and not in an altogether good way! There has been plenty of good, don't get me wrong, but the trips and stumbles have taken us off course, literally - more on that to come.
The final drive home from Wichita was uneventful, for the most part. We just had to be home with enough time to unload and get to our eldest's house to watch their kids while they went to a Ranger's game. Everything was good until we got about an hour from home, then we got stuck in a traffic jam (wreck, I assume) that delayed us 30-45 minutes. We did get home in time to help our kids out, but just barely. There wasn't much time to get unpacked, and the house was in a state of disarray as well. We had taken the opportunity of being gone for 3 weeks to have the water damage in our master bedroom taken care of while we weren't around. As there was also some damage in the great room, the remediation/reconstruction company, BMS/CAT, basically packed up all the great room, kitchen and master bedroom. Although they took pictures as they were packing us up, lots of stuff is in the wrong place when we got home, and much of our electronics, particularly in the MBR, were not reattached properly. This just gives Lori anxiety!! At any rate, once we got home from the kids around 11 PM, we first had to reconnect the stuff around our bed and deal with a few other things. We finally got to bed around midnight - it was a much longer day than we expected.
The first order of business the next day was to get the Caddy cleaned up. I completely forgot to spray the front down with Griot's Garage Bug & Smudge Remover, which in my experience works really well to emulsify bug guts. Don't know why I forgot as I use the stuff all the time on my Ram and Jeep, but I guess as old age creeps in . . . . .
That just resulted in a lot more scrubbing than I would have liked to do, but the front of the Caddy is PPF'd and ceramic coated, so it could have been a lot worse. In the end, the Caddy cleaned up nicely - I think this is sure a good looking car when it's all shined up!!
pic of Caddy from 2023
Following the extended wash on the Caddy, I spent the rest of the morning getting our great room electronics reconfigured and working properly. In the afternoon, I had a board of directors update conference call. While not a wasted day, it certainly was far from getting anything accomplished in the garage!
Thursday, I had a coronary artery scan scheduled (not a big deal - just a semi-annual test my Dr. does), lunch with a buddy, then off to do shopping for the long weekend at the lake house. That, combined with dinner with a buddy and his wife, pretty much did in Thursday, so again, no garage time!
Friday morning, I tackled washing the Z06 as I hadn't touched it since bringing it home in late June. It wasn't filthy, just needing a little bath. Following that chore, we loaded up and headed to the lake house for the weekend.
Although the weather didn't really cooperate (it rained hard 2-3 hours solid one day), we had a very nice weekend with our eldest daughter, her family and her friends and their kids. In all, we had 9 adults and 5 littles traipsing around the house for 3 days. While it was pretty much pandemonium, we truly enjoy our time with all the kids and being able to watch all the littles grow up. Courtney's friends are like our own kids as we have watched them grow up over the last 20+ years into adults we are very happy to call our dear friends! For the last several years, the kids have planned all the meals, bought all the food, done all the prep and cooking, cleaned everything up after meals - what a deal for us. All we provide are burgers for Friday night and lunch fixings. The menu for this weekend was homemade chicken chimichangas with a homemade cilantro cream sauce, rice & beans, and chicken fried steak (they started with sirloins), garlic mashed potatoes, pepper country gravy and sautéed green beans & bacon. They also made homemade onion rings as an appetizer.






Before they leave on the last day of the weekend, they strip, wash and remake all the beds as well as clean all the towels that have been used over the weekend. While they don't leave the house spotless, all we generally have to do at the end of the week is a final clean of the counter tops in the kitchen!!
Upon getting home, we finally unpacked our bags from our 3 week excursion, but then had to repack for a week trip to Oregon. Our maid of honor finally succumbed to her battle with ALS in July, and her celebration of life is today (Saturday). Given that Lori has known Donna since middle school, we just couldn't miss this event. Since we hadn't been home (I grew up east of Portland about 20 miles) in a year of so, we decided to extend the trip and visit the OR coast for a few days with my sister and BIL. I had mandated a 6:30 AM departure from the house to make our flight, so it was a scramble to get everything packed up and ready for the next morning before hitting the hay.
continued in next post -

 

[st4ngster]

great solution with the Wago clamps, simple and effective
I probably would have overthought the whole thing and mounted 6 transformers

 

[Swanny1953]

Tuesday morning we're up bright and early (neither of us regularly sees this hour other than from the insides of our eyelids!!) and out the door before our appointed time. Before going to bed, I checked the gate for our flight. The terminal we were departing from is know for having longer TSA lines, which mandated the earlier departure from home. When I checked in route, the terminal had changed - damn it, we could have slept a few more minutes! When I got on property, I checked again out of an abundance of caution, and they had yet again changed the gate and terminal. So, I valet at this terminal and we work our way through security and head to the Admirals Club. While waiting in the Admirals Club, I get a message that they have yet again changed our gate (and delayed our flight a few minutes), and to another terminal which will require a shuttle ride to get there. Rather than immediately get up and move to the new terminal, I decided to ask one of the AA agents at what point they lock down the departure gate and stop changing it. I was told an hour before departure. While we were waiting, they changed our gate again to another gate in the same terminal. And - just before the hour cutoff, they yet again changed the gate and returned it to the terminal we were waiting in! For those counting, that's 5 gate changes covering all 4 American terminals at DFW!! I'm just glad we decided to wait in one place and not chase the gate changes all over God's half acre!
My sister and BIL picked us up at the Portland airport and we began our journey to the OR coast. Alice had done our research for us, and got us a nice little 2 BR condo on the third floor of a complex right on the beach in Lincoln City. On our way, we stopped at Cana's Feast winery in Carlton, OR and enjoyed a wine tasting flight along with a lunch Alice had brought with us. Fully fed, we continued our journey to the coast.
This is where the trips and stumbles come into play. We stopped in route so Lori could pick up something. Returning to the car, she didn't see a cord protector running across the parking lot, tripped and tried to catch herself, but ultimately went down hard on her right knee, elbow and shoulder, and hit her head on a little planter moving it a few inches. She was in a lot of pain, with road rash on her knee and elbow. After a few minutes, she collected herself and we got her back into the pickup with a little assistance.
By the time we got to the condo, she was in a lot of pain when she tried to put weight on the right leg. We commandeered one of the luggage carts to be her transport to the condo unit.

I went to Walgreen's and bought her a cane, thinking that might help with both stability and pain while walking. The first time she tried to use the cane, it was apparent the injury was severe enough it required medical attention. So, I called 911 and asked for non emergency transport to the ER. The EMT's and ambulance were there shortly and got her loaded up for the ride to the ER.

The result of the ER visit is that she broke the patella plateau, which is the top surface of the patella upon which sits the cartilage between the patella and the femur bone. They told her it was a minor fracture, and put her in a full leg splint and gave her some extra strength Ibuprofen and sent us home with a walker and orders to keep the leg in the splint, elevated when possible, and not to put any weight on the leg. Now comes the challenge of getting her back to the condo. The pickup is a 4X4, not lifted, but plenty high off the ground. Lori couldn't get her good leg onto the step and the seat was too high. Finally, the ER folks found a couple of low step stools so she was able to get her back onto the seat and shimmy her way into the cab.
Once we got back to the condo, it was much easier for her to get out of the truck - just slide down and land on the good foot. However, rather than give her another ride on the luggage cart, she used the walker to get back to the condo. This absolutely exhausted her.
The next 2 days were spent basically watching TV and wishing we could see the coast. Most of the time, the fog was so thick we could barely see the waves right outside our condo. I also spent time making arrangements with American for a wheelchair assist in both Portland an DFW and got wheelchair rentals for both Portland and Dallas. Once we were ready to leave on Friday, we decided to have her sit on the cooler and used the luggage cart again to get her back to the car.

The good part of a wheelchair assist is that you get to be the first to board. They really had her tied into this cart!

The bad part is that you have to wait until everyone else is off the plane before they will come and retrieve you! The silver lining to that is that we didn't have to wait for our baggage once we got to baggage claim!
We went to the orthopedist yesterday morning and he confirmed the fracture of the tibia plateau. The good news is that he said the fracture is relatively minor confirming what we were told in Lincoln City. The bad news is that he told Lori she need to be non weight bearing for 10 weeks! He did not address any soft tissue damage (there would need to be an MRI), but said the likelihood of such damage is relatively low with this king of injury.
So, we're now home and the healing process begins. I'll still be able to slip into the garage for a bit at a time (the garage is only steps from the main house), but golf/car shows/etc. are probably on the back burner for a few weeks!! It's for better or worse, right - and she has certainly taken care of me through my multiple shoulder and ankle surgeries and recoveries! I'm going to be the best "Nurse Ratchet" (pun intended) that I can be!!

 

[Johnno]

Wishing her a speedy recovery and Good Luck with your nursing duties

 

[Mr.zippy]

Well that *****. I hope she recovers quick, fast and soon! I hope you didn't ask her why she couldn't have done this after you arrived home from the trip ?

 

[Swanny1953]

Well that *****. I hope she recovers quick, fast and soon! I hope you didn't ask her why she couldn't have done this after you arrived home from the trip ?

I'm a little smarter than that, but not by a lot! She has beat herself up enough over this!!!

 

[Xti04]

Prayers for a speedy recovery for Lori and for patience for you Gary!

 

[Cdubu52]

What a good sport Lori is! Smiling in every picture! I think my wife would have shot me if I posted about her "unexpected trip".

Good luck with the recovery.

 

[LXCam]

Damn Gary, I'm not sure what say other than you always seem to make your trips an adventure. AND my best wishes for a speedy recovery for Miss Lori. I have no doubt she's being treated by the best of the best, but regardless that *****!

 

[Swanny1953]

Prayers for a speedy recovery for Lori and for patience for you Gary!

Thanks, bud!!

What a good sport Lori is! Smiling in every picture! I think my wife would have shot me if I posted about her "unexpected trip".

Good luck with the recovery.

She has been a pretty good sport about all this - in fact, she's the one who ordered the picture with the EMT's and ambulance personnel! However, she isn't aware that I have posted the entire journey here! I don't think I'd be in tooooooooooo much trouble, though!

Damn Gary, I'm not sure what say other than you always seem to make your trips an adventure. AND my best wishes for a speedy recovery for Miss Lori. I have no doubt she's being treated by the best of the best, but regardless that *****!

Cam, I cannot disagree with you as even the trip to the Phoenix area during which we met had its unexpected early return to DFW due to Lori's illness. Thanks for the well wishes!

 

[Swanny1953]

I’m very happy with the 70th anniversary Z06. It hit 7,500 miles and I took it to a dealership I hadn’t visited before for the mandatory 7,500 mile transmission service. Now, this service is covered by Chevrolet if done in the first 2 years after the “in service” date or 7,500 miles. Although I was nearly 7 months past the 2-year in service date, Stonebriar Chevy worked with Chevy to get this covered for me, and this was without me asking for any special treatment (Chevy did end up covering it). In fact, I told the service advisor I was surprised he even brought it up!! Compare this with the dealer I took the first 2023 to for the same service. Followers of this thread may recall I was rear ended in that car which took it out of service for 4+ months. Once I got it back from the repair shop, I quickly put the remaining miles on it to get to 7,500 miles and took it to another Chevrolet dealer that I have visited many times during my nearly 30 years of Corvette ownership. Prior to going to that dealership, I talked with Chevrolet directly, explaining that I was just a couple weeks removed from the 2-year in service anniversary and explaining the circumstances (damage, out of service, etc.) and was told the dealer could contact Chevy and they would likely cover the service. When I talked with the service advisor, I was told there was nothing they could do regardless of the circumstances. They were not willing to even attempt contact with Chevy, telling me they were relegated to having to do everything online! I guess this was just ******** and that they just couldn’t be bothered. I shared the story with the Stonebriar service advisor who said I’m not the first who has similar tales of woe with the other dealer!! I sure as hell won’t be going back there - Stonebriar has my business going forward!!
The one thing I wasn’t happy with was the base aero package the original owner ordered. While I don’t mind the low rear wing (makes seeing out rear view mirror a little easier!), the front aero was less than inspiring. Luckily, ACS Composites offers a more aggressive front splitter to fix this problem. It requires removing lots of screws and the under car panels, but the visual difference is much improved.
Before -

After -

While everything was apart, it also gave me the opportunity to install aftermarket rock guards for the radiators behind the front fascia.
Now, I just get to enjoy the Z06!!!

 

[zmotorsports]

The car looks much better with the new front facia/splitter Gary, good call.

Sorry to hear about Lori's incident, hope she is well and recovering.

 

[Bob Heine]

We ventured up to the Broadmoor Hotel.

It’s probably been 15 years since I was here last for a board meeting - Lori has never been here. Their rooms were completely booked when I tried to make reservations more than 2 months ago!! No golf today, although this sure looked inviting!!

We had dinner at The Golden Bee, an authentic 19th century English pub that was transported panel by panel to the Broadmoor in 1961. Food was very tasty and the piano player was very good!!

Gary, first time I got close to the Broadmoor I was 11 (Summer of 1956). It was our second cross-country trip. The first was all the way to the west coast but the '56 trip was only as far as the east side of the Rockies. If I saw the Broadmoor complex it didn't leave a lasting impression. We were staying in national parks and private trailer parks in Casa Heine (the mistress of the manse is my then 44-year old mother).

The Broadmoor did leave a lasting impression on my car-obsessed mind because they had a fleet of custom Cadillac Skyview limousine station wagons built by Hess & Eisenhardt on a commercial [aka hearse and ambulance] Cadillac chassis. They were used to transport guests of the Broadmoor on scenic tours, including Pikes Peak. We encountered one in town and I hurt my neck trying to get a better look. We encountered another on the drive up Pikes Peak. The carburetor on our Oldsmobile was jetted for sea level driving so it was an interesting drive to the top with the dual range Hydramatic transmission shifting from Low-Low to Low and back again when the engine wouldn't put out enough power (and probably fouling the plugs with too much gas). This is the Skyview model I saw (I think it's a restoration):

We did give our '53 Olds 98 a rest on the way up and took in the views. My father was a poor driver so the rest was also for us because every switchback successfully navigated was preceded by my internal screams of "WE'RE GONNA DIE." The sucking sounds from the back seat luckily didn't distract Dad so we made it out alive. The look our faces indicate how grateful we are for being in contact with the earth rather than being airborne and plummeting to our death.

 

[Blackbyrd]

New chin looks good! Hope the misses is recovering well.

 

[Swanny1953]

New chin looks good! Hope the misses is recovering well.

Thanks, Bud. We’re a little more than 4 weeks into her 10 week no weight bearing period and all seems to be going well so far.