[LONG POST] Road trip - shenanigans and misery

[Twitchin Kitten]

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So here's the long awaited thread for the trip to Michigan for Thanksgiving. Good thing I waited because I banged out a trip and back Tuesday.

So we got into the accident with the mustang before the trip for Thanksgiving. Turns out unbeknownst to Matt, his license is suspended. So he storms into the DMV to see WTF and it turns out this is from some bullshit from 1996 and he found that stuff in his dad's house during the funeral stuff back in July. He tried to call and pay these fines and when he did, their automatic system suspended his license. He's been trying to get it sorted ever since. Turns out Michigan uses snail mail for this. Suffice it to say, his license is in a state of giant-clusterfuck for the next week or so.

OK so on to the road trip.

Michigan:
I gotta say, this state by far, hands down has the worst drivers above and beyond Maryland and Jersey. If you ever wanted any car behind you in your back seat while you're driving, Michigan is for you. I don't get it. This is a HUGE state with wide open roads and EVERYONE tailgates. I was brake-checking people left and right. Besides Tailgating, they feel the need to zip in front of you ONLY when they have to squeeze between you and the guy in front of you so you slam on the brakes.

Michigan does not believe in repairing their roads or painting lines on the shit, crater ridden roads they already have.
People drive through pot holes deep enough to bury a family and they think nothing of it. Everyone's car looks like a beat up jalopy because they just don't care.

Then there's what I call "The Trail of Death". Dead animals every hundred feet and blood stains all over the place. I'm not talking a frog or squirrel here and there, but there are carcasses of deer, dogs cats whatever every couple hundred feet. Old carcasses, bones and fur carcasses, Fresh carcasses. There are always some kind of carrion bird flying above. Apparently Michigan does not believe in picking up the carcasses.

They also do not clean the roads of debris. There are BIG chunks of metal, tires, wood, whatever just lying in the road or along side.

I did get to meet Dylan for a short visit. I'll make it a longer one next time we go back. He'll also be settled into his new home by then too.

Had lunch with his friend Mike and we went to Ford's Grill. Matt thinks you should see the bathroom.

   

   

Tried to get a sneak peek at the new vehicles:

   

   

So things I learned on the road trip 1:

There are Romulans in Michigan.

   

A song came on the radio that reminded me of Trudi:

   

When you get to Pennsylvania, they like to remind you that you're in America:

   

MORE in the next post.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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You cannot make right turns into buildings. Apparently in Michigan people need to be reminded of this.

   

The small Aspen forests are a nice contrast in the winter gloom along the PaTPK:

   

Places you can't park on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (in case you didn't know):

In a hole or "over there":

   

Up on the rock-face:

   

And the emergency pull off has restrictions - Just don't bother:

   

   


*next post more photos.*

[Twitchin Kitten]

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Just so you can see better make sure you click each image.

You can't park off a cliff:

   

Or in a ditch:

   

Or here or there:

   

And you cannot change your mind and make u-turns in the middle of the road:

   

And then there's this guy. He's the king of the hill without a doubt!

   

Road trip #2 coming soon.

[Twitchin Kitten]

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OK Here we go for road trip #2!

This is really a continuation of the Thanksgiving run. We were to take Dad's truck home for us to use, which may have been a really expensive mistake. It was sitting a long time and if LKTraz didn't live up off the PaTPK Northeast Extension I would have taken a 3rd on the road and had him take a look at it.

Anyway, due to one problem after another We wound up coming home in the Caddy and leaving the truck at the dealer to let them fix it more. Yes, I know not to use the dealer but EVERY repair and oil change, maintenance etc on the truck was done there by Matt's dad so they knew the truck and we made that decision on this.

Well, close to $3K later (due to it sitting more than a year) I get the call to bring it home. Since I'm in Jersey and Matt does not have any more time off work, I asked the dealer to drop it at the house (dealer service rep at this point took personal responsibility on the truck as a favor) for me and would he please arrange to have Matt's sister meet him there so she can take the key and leave the key on the counter and also since it's a shared driveway to make sure he does not block in the neighbor. So, then I got the idea that since his aunt and uncle live right there around the corner, why not have them do it?

Well that turned into a federal case and how you can make a big deal out of just taking a key and putting it on the counter is beyond me. So I told the dealer to not let anyone touch the truck and I'll be flying in directly to him to take it.

SO I got the truck, surprised a few relatives and I'm home again. They were not happy I showed up unannounced.

Sunrise over the Meadowlands NJ:

   

The road trip was uneventful but I did stop and stay in the Double Tree just inside Pa because I really hate driving through Pa in the dark. Damn state seems to go on forever!

Well $150/ night I expected something a little better.

Double Tree has the WORST:
TV channel line up
Virtually no WiFi without hassle or paying
Bathroom seems to always be either leaking or "patched up"

   

Very dusty rooms.
Overpriced cheeseburgers (which had no cheese on it) and very salty fries.
NOISY rooms! There was some kind of motor humming through the night. Good thing I had a couple drinks so I can just crash fast.
Shower water pressure. I've complained of lack of pressure in other hotels but this particular one takes the cake. The water dribbles out and they had a very severe governor on the hot water. So I had a lukewarm shower
The phone did not have a damn wire on it from the headset to the base so I can have room service forcing me to have breakfast downstairs with the grumpy dude from the bar the night before. He must be such a joy to live with.

grumpy dude:

   

Double Tree does have good:
Cookies
Bloody Mary's
Steel cut oatmeal (freebie breakfast because of the above list)

So because of the terrible crap above, I felt the need to play a few shenanigans.

   

I've also upped the ante on my graffiti. Thanks Mike Ness for your idea with your song "Prison Bound"

   


You still can't park on rock faces, off the sides of cliffs or make random U-turns in Pa.
The Rolling Stones are psychic. Satisfaction was on the radio and the line that goes:

And the man comes on the radio telling me more and more
About some useless information supposed to fire my imagination...

And my phone literally rings on the word 'imagination'. It's a spammer named Todd telling me about my credit cards. LOL

So now I'm not so sure about the truck. It's got a LOT of rust underneath and the front end shakes and moans when you start. I wouldn't go faster than 70-75 with it. Doesn't seem to have the power it should for a big V8 either. So for now we're keeping the Caddy rental and on the 2nd it's going over to Bobby and he's going to let us know if it's worth keeping or ditching. If it's worth keeping we need to get under it with a wire brush and clean all that loose shit off it. Then the shocks need replacing and the springs need oiling. The rubber bushings are all shot and need replacing. And this is just what I can see from peeking at it. I need to get under there with a flashlight and see if those repairs that cost a fortune were done right. If they were not, I'm reporting them to Ford corporate.

There's a long list of "repairs" that I think they ripped Dad off for too. I have EVERY repair receipt and I'll be going through those soon. The engine only has 22700.00 miles on it. that's TWENTY TWO THOUSAND, not hundred thousand! All original miles.

I also need it steam cleaned inside. It's kind of stinky in there.

I'm exhausted. Tired of this family backstabbing bullshit and other things. Ugh.