Hot Rods Social distancing & seemly endless rain = cabin fever

Gibbs oil. The black hills where I live has very low humidity so dont get much for surface rust.

 

My Roadster is in upholstery shop jail. Waiting for fabric swatch to come in from supplier. Nothing left for me to do but clean up the shop...

 

I'm waiting for my buddy to come help me rewire the roadster. 4 hour trip from western Maryland to my house on the mighty Chesapeake!

 

Danny,

Officially, I am supposed to be at my computer from 9-2 every weekday to answer questions from my students and their parents/guardians. Luckily, I have my school email on my cell phone, which means I can check it whenever/wherever, sooooo...

I've been spending the last week prepping my garage to take in my parts/stuff that have been in storage since the move/car accident (the shop has been on hold, waiting for what will hopefully be a good settlement from the accident). So far, we've finished the drywall in the garage, used the plywood that WAS on the wall for the two units of pallet racking that went up this weekend, and now I'm going through the boxes to make sure things are okay, if there's anything that needs to come out (errant tools, stuff that should go to the swap meet, etc).

I really miss my students (especially my 8th grade band- they are a great group of kids) and coworkers, so to say that this has been therapeutic is a gross understatement

 

I had the Nomad out the other day practicing social distancing.


Today, I self quarantined in the shop dropping the transmission from the sport coupe to replace the flex plate that the starter ate up after going south. Made it around the block before it started to rain.

Tomorrow will be more self quarantine changing the plug wires on the deuce.

 

Beautiful car. HRP

 

The missus and I took my OT pickup out for a drive. I think that as long as we don't get close to other people we will be fine. Not much moving except on the US highway that goes through town. About 60 miles of rural roads gets your mind right.

Now I'm working on a fresh bottle of Garrison Bros. bourbon and it did not rain today. Life is getting better.

 

Let me please reply to another post from HRP.....rain ended today from maybe a little over a week - actually doesn't stop me so much as I'll work between the drops....peddled over to one of my picking yards late this afternoon for a look see....sad the mid 60's Caddie convert that had just come in - last registered in 2017 had already had the motor pulled thanks to the posting on CL....it was a nice car - oh well - because even with the price down on metal - they had some oldies in the crush stack from the far back of the yard and the first I past'd on the ground was the 50 Chevy 2 door torpedo back....got a little worse looking at the big X's on the cars.... but oh well - can't save them all !

 

I’m enjoying the fact that a lot of folks are home and not on the road, much less traffic! It’s funny when you can go across Nashville TN and never slow down below 65! Makes my job a lot easier.
As to rain, we’ve been in record territory all year. My yard is like a sloppy wet sponge, and I live on top of a hill!

It’s crazy to go though towns and they look like towns did when they had the blue laws on Sundays years ago, nothing open. Lots of eating places closed because they don’t have a viable way for a drive up. Got an email from OReilleys that you could call in your order and they’d bring it out to your car. My supper stop closed up, so I’m having to switch between Subway and McDonald’s at the truck stop. Can’t do drive thru in a semi truck lol!

 

Thanks for keeping the wheels rolling BamaMav. If I lived closer and was on your route I'd have a good home cooked meal for ya.

 

I spent a bit sanding on the O/T Corvette my daughter and I are refreshing for her first car- decent shape, but being 41 years old, it needs some love. Got to the point that I was tired of sanding on it, did a bit more work on the '52 pickup's fender, then realized that the sun had came out and it was beautiful outside the shop. I managed to talk the wife and daughter in to loading up in the '46 and going for a back road drive of around an hour or so, out in the countryside. All in all, not a bad thing to be able to slow down a bit..
If nothing else, I should be able to get the Corvette in primer while I'm off, and maybe get some spring cleaning done if the rain will stay away for a bit.

 

Seen where some of our law enforcement agencies are delivering food to truck drivers, or they'll pick you up and run you to a drive through. I thought that was pretty cool. Most people forget that a tractor trailer can't fit in a drive thru lol

 

Bobby, we don't say it enough but you guys keep this country running, if it wasn't for you guys this country wouldn't just be fighting the corona virus but we would have empty shelves at the grocery store and any other business that depends on you guys.

Thank you my friend. HRP

 

After self isolating for 2 weeks my town just declared 2 week lockdown so I can't go anywhere but places necessary for health.

 

The rain has called it quits, good thing since it has been around 35 or so. I'll have the Ford out later if the weather holds, need to get on the highway and blow some cobwebs out of it. I have to do a plug check and possibly jet the primary side down, I have all the stuff. The thing is a blast to drive.

 

Danny - your story- almost lyrical-paints quite a picture of life as we know it today.
There’s a song hiding somewhere in those words....

 

Picked me up a new roadster Thursday, was rainin Friday, Sat, Sunday and Monday. Weather was Bootiful yesterday, Sunny, mid 70's so off the with the top and a nice 100 miles putt on the open roads of Okieland

 

Hello,
In college, we studied weather patterns in a class for part of our credits. It was eye opening semester... my class lab partner was my wife's mom!!! that was weird at first. As So Cal surfers, we teens knew how to read the incoming weather patterns on the news and newspapers. But, this class allowed us to see how the USA is set up naturally and how the weather affects everyone across the land, from ocean to ocean.

We, in So Cal, have been getting rain storms, as light and heavy as we normally we do during this time of the year. But, as most late winter-early spring storms go, it hits us from the ocean and swirls until it is set up to go across the country. We get sporadic rain for a week or so, then sunny days thereafter. Where does the rain storm go after it pelts us? Why, the Southwestern states within a few days on its trip East. Then sometimes it joins up with some moisture from the subtropical areas below us and now heads east-north east.

A lot of times, we think our rain storms are quite heavy, but it is usually just consistent for a few days of constant raindrops. But, being inside as instructed, it just seems like it is forever. It is nothing like the Midwest, sideways rain we experienced one year on a summer road trip on Highway 70. That was a lot of water.

So, in looking at the satellite maps and radar maps, the technology has made it so we can almost predict to the day, when we will get rain, clouds, fog, sun. Then, where it will go during the seasons. Our geographical area is a mild Mediterranean climate. Being stuck on the coast, near water helps with the great weather. But, it does get stormy and then as the prediction goes...heads East, while sometimes building up for more power.

Jnaki
As we recently heard in a movie, "Hunker down and ride it out..." If you like where you live, have made provisions for enjoying the surroundings, “locked in place” and “social distancing” just is part of our current lives and possibly the future.


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...got lucky last Sunday, took a nice hour &1/2 drive in my 47 pickup,...it was snowing very lite flurries , an hour after I got back home it looked like this...

 

The wife and I took the '36 Dodge pickup out for a back country cruise Sunday looking for a particular old homestead site, which we never found. We never got to use her new metal detector but we had loads of fun just puttin' around and seeing the sights and having snacks.

Dave

 

Yeah, driving around now brings back memories of a Saturday drive in high school. Not much traffic, listening to the top 40 on the AM radio, driving slowly, looking behind buildings and back yards and farms, looking for old cars.
A nostalgia trip. Except for the suffering of those sick and out of work, I consider it pleasant. Thank God I am retired.
But...I will still be glad when it has all passed. American can't tolerate this for long.

Constant rain here too, seems like for the last 4 months. It sounds like its rainy everywhere!

 

I can remember a time or two when my wife taught me the meaning of "social distancing".

 

OT Jeep got a new lift kit, had fun testing it in the fresh mud in the north 40.
36 Flatbed going to home depot, pup gets to go along.
Coupe gets new slicks on Friday, races are postponed. Testing will be done, were gonna have some fun! Rain, Rain, go away!
Then the wife's car gets some much needed luv.
And I am still working, just bugging out early due to slow times in the locomotive HVAC business.

 

AGREE, a cruise in your car or a cycle ride is the best therapy you can get.

 

at least the sun is shining today.

 

..............Can you package a little bit of that and ship it to the Mid-Atlantic.

 

I am on the board of directors for the United Veterans Club here, and today was our normal bi monthly meeting, so I got the convertible out of the garage and drive it to the meeting. It was very nice driving it again, it’s been awhile.

 

As long as nobody goes full Jimmy Buffett and starts shooting holes in their freezer we will be fine here.

 

He probably had good reason, I took a expensive Quasar Television set outside,plugged it in via a drop cord the day after the guarantee expired, the tuner & soundboard went out and the cost to fix it out weighed replacing the TV, I turned it on and shot it with a 357 magnum it was extremely satisfying.

At the time it seemed the right thing to do, the aftermath was a PITA, I still find a occasional piece of glass, it was a huge explosion. HRP

 

No thanks necessary Danny, I'm just doing my job, and happy I can still be able to do it. What I haul isn't as important as food and medicine, but it is important to those needing a new roof. I'm really surprised they haven't shut down everything but food, medicine, and fuel deliveries, but we are keeping part of the economy alive just by being out there. It is a little scary though, everywhere I go they have closed the store fronts and lobbies to the public and won't let you past the front doors and act like you are a carrier of the bubonic plaque! While there are few cases in the counties that surround my home, there are none in my county so far. But going to areas where there are cases is a bit unnerving. At first, it kinda pissed me off with everything blocked off, but after a little thought, I realized they are just taking precautions, they don't know where the people coming in have been or what they have been exposed to. I've grown used to being treated as a second class citizen by the general public, most people have no understanding of our industry, so right now it's just a little stricter than normal. I do hope this opens a lot of people's eyes though, and they wake up and realize, everything you have was on a truck at one time. There is our fair or unfair share of scumbags in the industry, but everything else has it's share, too.

Here at home, we're still not under a stay at home order, but with everything closed, there's nowhere to go anyway except grocery stores, pharmacies, Walmart and Dollar General, auto parts and some auto shops. There are some folks out riding around, but work traffic is extremely light. I'll get my off time in a few weeks when the spring buy has ran out and we get caught up hauling. I figure everybody will be stocked pretty good for a while, maybe until on over in the summer. Most people are going to put off buying a new roof as long as they can until the economy straightens out again.

I expect after this is over, there will be a lot of changes in the way people live and conduct business. I predict a lot more internet shopping as people will be leery of going into crowded stores. Food places will change how they go about their business. I just hope we're ready for the next time and it isn't as bad.