June 24, 2003
THE ROAD TO EL DORADO
This weekend was spent driving out to Ft. Wayne, Indiana with my
brother so he could purchase a long-time dream of his--a 1972 Cadillac
El Dorado convertible. He found one via ebay and after arranging for
purchase with the owner we hit the road.
We started off around 8:15 Saturday morning and went over to the
Budget rental center on 85th St. to pick up our ordered subcompact,
cheapest available please. They must have been looking to unload a car
from South Carolina from their inventory, however, because when they
pulled it out of the garage we were looking at a brand new blue
Mustang. This augured well for the trip. The ride to Indiana was kind
of a blur of changing CDs and shifting in my seat so as not to succumb
to deep vein thrombosis. The Mustang's a nice car with a powerful
engine. The backseat is suitable for holding maps.
Driving directly to the owner's house, Tom introduced himself and
spent a fair amount of time looking the Caddy over. It's hard to
believe cars like that were ever produced [actually, less than 10,000
of the convertible ever were]. The El Dorado is red with a white
ragtop and white pin-stripe trim. The engine is the biggest thing I'd
ever seen [V8, 8.2 liter, 500 cubic inch if that means anything to
you]. We took it for a test drive with the top down and our lap-belts
fastened. The windshield looked like a movie screen and the hood
stretches before you like you're at one end of the dinner table at a
private meal with the Vanderbilts. The Cadillac insignia hood ornament
sticks up at the end of the hood like a gun site trained on your
destination. It might be the coolest car in the world. Test drive
over: SOLD.
After dropping the Mustang off at Fort Wayne International
Airport [a chain link fence and two Quonset huts] we drove Tom's new
pimp-mobile over to our Motel 6 and checked in. Desperate for dinner,
the only available eatery was next to our motel and called New York
Diner. The menu sure looked the same, although the service was a
little less brusque and a beer only cost $2.50--very un-NYC. After a
nightcap at the bar on the other side of our motel and a few minutes in
the parking lot gazing at the El Dorado, I fell into bed and, as one is
wont to do in motels, slept terribly.
The next morning we gassed up [coffee for us, gas for the car]
and hit the road. Unlike on the East Coast for the past 40 days and 40
nights, the weather in the Midwest was warm and sunny. It remained
that way until we hit New York State, which seems to be contractually
obligated to suffer crappy weather through the end of June. We drove
with the top up all the way home because 700 miles of highway driving
with the top down might have left us too sunburned and hoarse from
screaming to be practical. I've always wanted to drive all the way
across the U.S. and Tom's about to do that this summer [actually ending
in New Mexico]. Driving to Fort Wayne makes me feel like I've gotten
the boring part out of the way, although I'm sure there are some
Midwestern Plains states that might take issue with this and say "Hold
on! We've got a lot less to offer!" Still, it was a good trip unmarked
by any major inconveniences our traffic hold-ups. I have no pictures,
but when Tom posts some from his trip I'll link to them. I also
composed a sort of poem/song regarding Ohio. That state has produced
the second-most number of U.S. Presidents, trailing only Virginia, and
I'm convinced that's due to a deep desire of its residents to get the
hell out of it. Anyway, here's my composition, to be sung on crossing
over that state's border on the way out:
So long, farewell Ohio,
It's time for us to say goodbye.
Next time I have to visit,
You can bet I'll surely fly.
West Indiana roads have bucolic views,
Pennsylvania's have up-and-down grades.
But even next to Scranton, crappy coal mining town,
Your roads' and land's appeal simply fades.Driving Ohio is so boring,
At times it made me want to cry.
So with God as my solemn witness,
I pray I never call myself a Buckeye.Posted by Lexiphane at June 24, 2003 9:15 AM
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