I have never been able to sleep well in hotels. I can get a good night’s rest in a tent, on a couch, in an airplane, but not in a hotel. My stay in Charleston was no exception. I was wide awake by five in the morning so I decided to get into the shower and get moving. Once all that was done, I went out and checked the car. One of the extra tie straps I had put on was a little slack, so I tightened it down. Other than that, I was ready to roll. Check out was painless and there was a nice breakfast buffet waiting. A cup of coffee, a couple slices of French toast and handful of mini-donuts for the trip and I was on my way. Overall, there were no surprises and if you are ever in Charleston, West Virginia and need a good place to stay look for this sign.

The morning roads were clear and I was able to make good time. The Trailblazer did not like some of the steeper sections of the drive and I found I had to run either 65 mph or above to keep it from dropping down into second. Second gear wasn’t too bad up to about 55, but in that 55 to 65 range, the Vortec I6 never sounded very happy. Pictures of that long crank flexing in my head generally made me keep the cruise set at 67. While it was neither my engine nor transmission to worry about, I am enough of a gearhead that the sound of any engine struggling is something I like to avoid.

The beautiful mountains of West Virginia and Virginia passed without incident. I was in my home state and beginning to feel like things were going my way. (For the record, NEVER trust that feeling. It is the calling card of doom.) As I gobbled up the miles and approached the Triangle on I-40, I noticed something in my mirror that I had not seen before. What was that on the fender? Suddenly the funny writing I couldn’t understand before was making sense. Here is my friend Mike Westerfield’s interpretation of what I saw.

I was soon home and pretty happy. The trip had been uneventful and the rental of both truck and trailer had gone off without a hitch. This should have told me something, but I was too happy to listen.

I live at the top of a cul-de-sac and a slight hill, thus I wanted my car with no engine as close as possible. While there is no reason to detail my stupidity, suffice it say I tried to back the rig up to put the car at the bottom of the driveway and the fenders paid the price.

ARGH! Of course, to add insult to injury, I later noticed that the factory seem sealer is still present so those are the original fenders. Learn from my mistake – do not back up a tow-dolly.

After my display of idiocy, I pushed the car off the dolly and then pushed it out of the way of the of my neighbors’ driveways. Having not completely rid myself of stupid, I made my first attempts to move the car while there was no air in the front tires. In case you didn’t know, that makes rolling a car only slightly easier than when the brake is on. On the bright side, the car was home and so was I.

The car made it into the driveway with the help of my loving wife who arrived home from running some errands shortly after I did. Once there is air in the tires, a car without an engine is not that hard to push with two people, even uphill. Thanks again Pam. With the car home and out of the way, the only thing left to do was to return the rental equipment.

My U-Haul drop-off went as smoothly the pickup and then I was on to the airport. I stopped to fill up with gas and one of the most anxiety provoking incidents in my life occurred: I lost my wallet. While checking through the truck to make sure I had forgotten nothing, I must have bumped my wallet out of my pocket. It was not until I was merging on the highway that I noticed. I turned around, raced back, but it was nowhere to be seen.

If you have never lost your wallet, it can be pretty scary. With all the news on identity theft, you can certainly conjure up some nightmare situations. Beyond that, the ONLY key to the car I had just bought was tucked in the wallet! This story has a happy ending, however. A contract worker found it on the ground and turned it to his boss at the labor firm he worked for. That man, Rob Morrow, found my business card and called me at work. When I got to the office the following day, he had also talked to my HR department and was ready to overnight the wallet to me. 24 hours later, it was in my hands with nothing missing. They wouldn’t even take the cash in there after I offered it. A HUGE “thank you” to those two guys. Everyone, if you ever lose your wallet, may you be as lucky as me. If you ever find one, may you be as good a person as they were.

Even with my wallet lost, I still had to return the truck. I was pretty down at this point and between calls to the bank, credit card companies and everyone else I could think of, I was sure that my illegal towing use was going to bite me in the butt. Thankfully, I drove the truck in and no one even looked at it. Since it was early afternoon on a Monday, there seemed to be a lot of business travelers arriving and the rental people were far more interested in getting the almost 900 miles of accumulated bugs and dirt off the car for a quick turnaround than anything else. Pam was there to pick me up, we went to get the car Focus from Wes, and I was finally home.

The whole trip was fun. I saw parts of the country I have never been to before, got to see some cool car stuff and ended up with a great car at a great price. Now the fun can really begin.

With the car loaded onto the dolly by 5 pm, the decision was made to go to a local shop and see Bruno’s car. He is selling one first generation RX-7, but keeping another to run in E Modified autocross competition. The open rules of E-Mod allow for almost anything, and I was soon to find out that he would be taking full advantage of the allowances. Before leaving, we loaded up a nice parts package including a front stress bar, front sway bar, battery box and set of stock wheels with some old tires. The real gem was the full set of fresh steering joints that should help in tightening up the looseness often found in the RX-7 steering. Bruno also revealed that the rear axle in the car was a limited slip and had a lower than standard final drive ratio. He was not sure if the limited slip was a factory unit or Mazda Competition spec and the final drive would have been illegal for C Street Prepared where the car would have been run. Clearly an early project is to see what I have. The axle has drum brakes so it was assumed that it would end up being a donor anyway, so a tear down is no big deal.

On the way to see Bruno’s car I had to reacquaint myself with towing. It had been a few years, but it quickly came back to me. Drive into the intersection then turn was the order of things once we got onto the city streets. The Trailblazer had no problems pulling the car and on the flat Ohio terrain, the transmission did not seem confused at all. I am sure the lack of engine in the car helped!

The shop tour was amazing. It is a professional outfit that does all kinds of modifications and has a number of autocross cars in the stable. My attention was focused on the RX-7 which is getting a BOP/Rover aluminum V8.

The car will be equipped with a simple two speed automatic to minimize weight. The lack of ratio coverage is not a concern as the car is designed for autocross and the 80 mph max speed of the car will most likely never be a problem. The engine will feature increased capacity and will certainly motivate the car with authority. As the above picture shows, the firewall has been clearance to allow for maximum engine setback. Bruno and his teammates are a little concerned with the proximity of the header to the driver’s leg and plan for some extra heat shielding in this area. Below, you can see the header pipe.

I like the work done on the dash panel, particularly the switch panel on the left. I had never before seen one in that position, but it certainly will be considered for my own car. His car had many details that I liked, including a three link rear suspension that I might be asking for a copy of. The fender flares on Bruno’s car also caught my eye. I assume at this point that I will need to flare the fenders in order to fit adequate rubber and while I doubt that I go quite as wide as what he has, what is pictured below certainly got the wheels in my head turning.

With over an hour spent looking at and talking about the car, it was time get back on the road. Bruno and I shook hands and I was off. I have never bought a car long distance and my experience was nothing but positive. Thanks again, Bruno.

As I got back on I-70, I quickly ran the numbers. I had left NC at about 8 am and arrived in Ohio at just after 4 pm. Getting back on the road at 6 pm meant a 2 am arrival time if I were able to average the same speed in the dark while towing the car. Before 7 pm, I stopped for gas, a couple of hot dogs and got a little excitement at the same time. Exiting the gas station, the trailer went into a large truck rut and then there was a sharp screeching sound. I quickly glanced in the mirror and saw dust trailing from the passenger side rear of the car. This lead me to pull over and judging by the skid mark in the road, it was immediately obvious that the rear tire had locked up. I was afraid that the bearing was seized after having what could very well have been its first heat cycle in a couple of years.

Luck was on my side at this time because the passenger side window mechanism is a little weak and the window falls down over time. This lead me to open the door, at which time I noticed that the parking brake was up. Apparently the jolt from the rut had jarred it enough that it locked up the right rear. I released the parking brake, wound up the window and was back on the highway.

By 8 pm, it was becoming clear that pressing on through the night was not the wisest choice. I wanted to get through Charleston, West Virginia before I stopped so as not to have deal with morning traffic. At just before nine I had passed through the center of Charleston and there was an exit with multiple hotels. I looked at each mindful of the fact that I did not have a lock on the hitch nor on the ball-mount pin. The Days Inn had the best lighting in their lot, so I got a room, called the wife, and hit the hay so I could make the final leg in the morning.

The country road didn’t quite take me to my home, but I got to the home in the song – West Virginia.

Getting a car with no engine from Ohio to North Carolina presents some challenges to someone who owns neither a truck nor a trailer. After a couple of false starts, the decision was made to rent. My friends and my wife prevailed upon me the wisdom of letting someone else’s transmission take the punishment, so I starting making some calls. First off, U-Haul and most places charge mileage. Even 39¢ a mile adds up to a lot of money when 800+ miles is on the itinerary. The other problem is that all the rental fleets (Hertz, Avis, et al) prohibit towing. So I was faced with a choice of breaking the rules or breaking the bank. I hate rules and I am doing this whole thing on a tight budget, so the choice was easy.

First stop was the airport to get the truck. Now the adventure begins. I had reserved a mid-size sport-utility based on Steve Westerfield’s result with the same establishment renting him a receiver equipped Trailblazer. I am told I am getting a Buick Rendezvous. No receiver. I tell the clerk I need a receiver, and he has no idea what that is. So I explain it. Still he has no idea. Then I make the mistake of saying it the part that a trailer hitch goes to. His corporate programming kicks in and he dutifully notifies me that towing is not allowed. Sensing it all about to slip between my fingers, I tell him it is not for towing, but for a bike rack. Thankfully at this point the lot driver arrives and I reiterate my cover story. He looks at me suspiciously and I say it is for bikes and I don’t want to get chain oil on the seats. He then runs to a competitor to get a Trailblazer and I think I am about on my way.

Realize that I am doing this on a Saturday and my wife is sleeping as she prepares for a night in the NICU. Thus, I have my two kids with me. They are playing in the car at this point, and I figure that I can get them out, load them up into the rental, leave the car there until I return and all will be groovy. WRONG. Counter clerk who doesn’t know what a receiver is tells me I cannot. Even the logic that their place of business is basically little more than a parking lot doesn’t sway him. So I have to go back into scramble mode and figure out what to do. I call one of my homeboys in 919, Wes Eargle, and he agrees to me coming to get him, drive him to the airport and then baby sit the Focus for the weekend. Thanks again Wes.

After that ordeal, I am expecting the worst at U-Haul. Quite the opposite. The Mechanical Boulevard U-Haul in Garner gets a thumbs up. Although crowded and dealing with a difficult customer at the time, I am in and out in short order and the tow-dolly is clanking along behind me. Now, I must say that there is some odd writing on the fender of the dolly.

Can’t be anything important or they would make it legible, so I continue on home.

Next morning, I am up and ready to go. I have to wait for Pam to get home from work, and then I hit the road. The route from Apex NC to Hilliard OH is almost all Interstate highway. I am quickly on 40 and on my way. Apparently US 52 isn’t quite good enough to be an Interstate at this point, but it is peppered with “Future I-74 Corridor signs” that remind me of the “Future Home of the Anderson Family” sign that was in front of my house while it was being built. I-74 turns into I-77 right before the Virginia border and just when things start to get hilly. The country side is nice, and as it is a Sunday, traffic is quite light.

Once in Virginia, the speed limit drops to 65 and there are a lot more patrol cars seen. Nothing ruins a good trip more than artificially low speed limits and strong enforcement thereof. Virginia is mercifully a short portion of the trip and the scenery is becoming ever more spectacular. I drive through a tunnel and under the Blue Ridge Parkway on a clear, sunny 60° day and manage to make it to within site of the state line with no problems. I have the Beastie Boys “No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn” coming in on one of the local radio stations as I enter the tunnel which marks the entrance to West Virginia.

I come out the other side and there is no more radio station. I expected to lose it in the tunnel, but apparently they don’t tunnel through a mountain for no good reason and this one is big enough to block the transmission. Quick tap of the scan button and what do I hear? Banjo music! No, I am not kidding. Of all the clichés, I enter West Virginia and hear banjo music on the radio. Further scanning reveals hellfire and damnation proclamations. Sunday in West Virginia is apparently not the place for an atheist like me.

I quickly come to the conclusion that West Virginia is all uphill. The Trailblazer begins to be unhappy about this and even with no load on the tow-dolly, downshifts to third are becoming frequent. The industrial base of the US comes into clear view and there are some pretty amazing sights right along the highway: coal conveyors that stretch a mile and huge marshalling yards for scores of hoppers. This is a place my son would love and I think that a field trip is in order. Pity I was driving or I would have some cool pictures.

The first tank of gas was about up so I start looking for a place to stop. I stopped and got a steak biscuit and bacon biscuit. Not high nutrition, but certainly good. Travel in West Virginia was actually nothing short of excellent. Along with the spectacular scenery, the roads are in great condition, the drivers are courteous, Officer Revenue mostly absent and speed limits high. I don’t like the toll booths, but if they result in the previous, keep them. Only problem was that I couldn’t find the ACC men’s basketball championship game on the radio.

The second half of the state was about as downhill as the first was uphill. You really do go down into the Ohio River Valley. Pretty impressive. I had to battle a strong rain, but made into to Ohio and gave the owner of the car, Bruno, a quick call to let him know I where I was. He let me know that he had found a bunch of stuff for the car and he would meet me at the house. I also managed to find the basketball game and cruised through ever flattening terrain of Ohio while listening to Duke capture another ACC crown.

I was about 30 minutes away when Bruno called and asked how I liked my coffee. This was the first of many pleasant surprises. I soon got to his house and the car was waiting outside. To say that it was better than I expected is an understatement. No rust, just clean and exactly as advertised. Really at $650, the car was a bargain. Hooking it up to the dolly was easy I was ready to head home. There was just one stop that needed to be made before I could head back to Appalachia.