Took a little trip

[GTOger]

We just got back from a week and a half on the road with the Z and thought I'd share a quick report and a few snapshots for anybody that may be interested. We put close to 3,000 miles on the car and it performed near-flawlessly. The trek took us from Dallas, TX to Las Vegas, NV with a bunch of little side-trips to places such as Show Low, AZ and Durango, CO to visit friends and family.

The first thing I did was go digging through the attic. My dad had a couple of '84 Corvettes when they were new and I recalled that after he got rid of the cars he kept a car bra. Sure enough, found it tucked away in its protective pouch. Although it seemed odd to have a car known as "King Of The Hill" wear a "bra", it felt like a little protection from rocks & bugs would probably be a good thing.


Even though it had been folded up for storage for a good 20 years, it went on the car without an issue. Kind of a neat thing about having a '90 model I guess.


The trip got off to a great start until we hit the Panhandle of Texas and some little towns off Hwy 287. The State Trooper alleges he clocked me at 94 in a 70. I never felt like I was going that fast. The wife was sleeping soundly at the time, but the GPS never recorded a top speed over 136. Actually, I think I won't use the GPS log as part of my defense.


Anyhow, we rolled on and hit I-40 where it was basically just us, some trucks, and a bunch of tumbleweed.


The stereo says it was "Sentimental Street" but I'm telling you it was just lonely. You have to watch out for those tumbleweeds, though. They cross the road in big herds and make it pretty tough to dodge them.

I got pulled over again in the middle of Nothing, AZ. Deputy Ponytail Noseypants didn't write me a ticket but did issue a written warning. As if 82 in a 75 is even worth mentioning. But she did take the time to pull me out of the car, run my license as well as my wife's, and ask me all sorts of questions about where I'm going, what I'm "hauling", where I've been and can she search the car. I told her if she wanted to search the car, knock herself out but she's going to have to help me pack it all back because it's a tight fit. She declined and told me to have a nice day.

The winds started to really pick up and we started to see some precipitation. You're not supposed to run the car bra in the rain, so we pulled it off the car and stored it in the back. I wound up with a few pieces of tumbleweed embedded in the driving lights and around the front plate knock-out.

A few hours later, it really started to rain. I was glad to have just put on the new set of Nitto's before we left. The rain performance felt far superior to the Goodyear's I had just pulled. I'm not saying Goodyear makes a bad tire, but mine were several years old and the tread wasn't good.


As we were pulling into Durango CO from Farmington NM we encountered a "surprise" snow storm. There had been reports of snow in the area but all reports were that it was very light and too warm to stick or accumulate.

We wound up getting over 2 feet. And it came down fast.


As nice as the new Nitto's are, they absolutely FAIL in the snow. I tried running in the tracks of the vehicle in front of me, but nothing leaves tire ruts wide enough for the ZR-1. At one point I very nearly wound up in a ditch. We slid perpendicular to the road at one point going passenger-side first then driver-side first and I managed to narrowly pull it out before disaster. Thank everything that is holy for that. We passed about half a dozen people who weren't so lucky in their SUV's, Subarus and trucks. The little Corvette kept dutifully plugging along, albeit slowly and judicious use of clutch & tall gears.

I said the car performed "near-flawlessly". Here's where we encountered a flaw. At one point I turned on the defroster. The temp showed to be 27 degrees, snowfall was heavy, and the windsheild was getting a bit foggy. It cleared right up but after a few minutes the system went back into "auto" but the "auto" light flashed green for a while. The car got parked for a couple days at my Uncle's house but when we rolled out we noted the car wouldn't make heat. We stopped at the "Pee Pee Tee Pees" (anyone who has traveled US-550 between Durango & Albuquerque knows what I'm talking about) and consult the manual. It wasn't a big deal to reset the climate control system by removing fuse 1 and 17 for a minute. After that, the controls worked perfectly again.

Actually, after that the entire ride was perfect. We had a good selection of snacks, a USB drive full of tunes that plugs right into the USB port for the DNX6160 which lives in the center console, and even a couple audio books. With my favorite gal by my side, we finished up the trip and pulled into home just before rush-hour started. I proceeded directly to the car wash to remove the bugs, road-grime, snow-residue and other remnants of the road. Then I thanked the car for a great journey. There will be more in the future!

[GTOger]

Something that I left out from the story... about the time we hit the NM/AZ border, I started feeling weak and queezy. I must have looked pretty bad because the wife asked if I wanted her to drive. She knew I was really feeling bad because I took her up on the offer. When we hit Winslow AZ (which would normally elicit me breaking into harmonious song) I was very suddenly and very violently ill. I'll refrain from getting real graphic here but we had the foresight to travel with some little garbage bags and I quickly filled 2 of them.

Big shout-out to my wife here. She kept on truckin' at around 90mph until I just couldn't sit in the car any more. We made it to Flagstaff (halfway to our intended stop for the day) around mid-afternoon and got a room for the night. By that time, I'd filled another 2 bags. Ugh. The wife dragged my sorry butt into the Best Western and I made what was thankfully a very quick recovery. By morning I was able to hold down some oatmeal so we got back on the road and the wife got us to the AZ/NV state line. By that time I was good to drive again.

Is the above TMI? Maybe. But I couldn't tell the fun parts of the story and leave out where the wife saved the day.

[Hammer]

Great story, thanks a lot for sharing. This would be a great article in the Heart of the Beast, next edition.

[tomtom72]

Originally Posted by Hammer

Great story, thanks a lot for sharing. This would be a great article in the Heart of the Beast, next edition.

Very nice story.

I think that the Bra your father bought is a nifty idea to protect the rise in our hoods! I like that layout, don't see many like that!


Tom

[XfireZ51]

Did they stop you in AZ because you may have had a tan?

[bobbyhi]

Great story....sounds like you had a really good time for the most part

[ZR1@gmx.com]

Awesome story... Which cost you the most...
Gas
Lodging
Tickets?
My wife would have killed me if I got two tickets in a row, er, I mean if I let her know I got so many tickets... Good lawyer cost me more than all of the above!
I can not wait for a long trip!

[PhillipsLT5]

Guys, there really is a Nothing, AZ

[GTOger]

Thanks guys. I really did have a blast with the car. And you know it got a LOT of looks. I'm not sure most folks have any idea what it is, really, but they see a clean "classic" Vette and like what they see for the most part.

I've really been inspired by what I've read on this board in terms of guys restoring, keeping, DRIVING, customizing and generally enjoying their ZR-1's. It can get a little tough to resist the temptation to "keep it perfect", but the joy you get from driving it just overpowers the rest.

My wife isn't one to complain about the ticket. That was my first in many years and truth be told, she was doing well past 90 herself when I was over there wretching in the right seat. :O I just happened to get caught and she didn't. LOL