Day 1 – A Staccato Rhythm With Hard Transitions

1/3/19 -- Professional journalism might be described as the art of connecting observations and perspective in a finely-woven story, a tapestry from which a compelling picture emerges. Or something like that.

Well, this is not that because the only way I can describe today is in a staccato rhythm without the luxury of smooth transitions, so here goes:

1. Pre-dawn start and the lights on my 55 Chevrolet ¾ ton truck don’t work. Quick text conversation with Dale Wickell back at LeMay; he cogitates a bit and says the dimmer switch in the floorboard may be stuck; bingo, lights on and running.

2. Great morning event hosted by Shell Oil, courtesy of Pam Rosen and her team. They wined and dined us with breakfast burritos, coffee, and a full tank of gas, and Houston State Farm Agents Jose Vasquez and Bao Tran came by to help give us a sendoff.

3. Houston was wet and the drive to Dallas was wetter. Stayed off the interstate to take the load off the trucks and things got interesting a few times.

4. Great lunch at Doc’s BBQ in Crockett, Texas, but our chief mechanic and schedule manager Dave Hord says we’re an hour behind and we gotta go.

5. I lag behind in the 55, lose my way and somewhere north of Palestine in the middle of the south Texas scrublands the engine starts knocking. I think she needs oil but oil’s in the other truck. Dang. I stop at a house that has Texas Chainsaw Massacre written all over it and thankfully no one answers.

6. I go another couple of miles down the road and find a house with a polite old gentleman curious about my predicament. About that time the Hennessy boys (more about them tomorrow) come by in the TrackHawk jeep and give me oil. The 55 is still knocking so I call Dave with the truck and trailer and he rescues me.

7. Riding with Dave and towing the 55, he starts making calls – and this is the amazing thing about the car community. A half dozen phone calls later he’s got the okay from Aaron Kaufman (Gas Monkey Garage fame) to take the truck to Aaron’s shop for diagnostics. Crazy good luck.

8. Dave drops me off at our scheduled event at State Farm Cityline in Dallas and heads for Aaron’s shop. I connect with State Farm colleagues include my old Public Affairs compadre Jeff Davis.

9. Oh, in the meantime, the International Travelette lost power along the road and the team put a new battery in it to get to the State Farm event. More to come on that as well.

10. Crap. Dale just texted me. He spoke to Dave at Aaron’s garage. No. 2 rod bearing is bad on the 55 and it damaged the crankshaft. Looks like we’ll be towing it to Detroit. Crap.  

Sorry for the staccato rhythm and hard transitions. More sorry that the 55 is in tough shape, but Dale is already talking about how we can get her running for the drive down Woodward Avenue in Detroit. That’s the spirit of the Drive Home Team and the spirit of the car community in general. You enjoy the ride, you take some lumps, but no matter what happens, you have to keep on truckin’. 

PS: Special thanks to State Farm and Shell for their gracious hosting and to Aaron Kaufman and Arclight for being there when we needed them!