Event Coverage B-bop's Laid off, make the most of it Solo road trip

Thanks for the ride.

 

Thanks for the road trip! Great fun riding shotgun

 

Thanks for the adventure. I couldnt wait to check your story every day. Im sort of bummed now that its over. Come see us in the Black hills of South Dakota on your next adventure.

 

Thanks

 

b-bop, that is a fantastic "story". I believe one man just can't have SO MUCH fun. Just can't.
Seriously , I am envious. I drove a moving truck for forty years, coast to coast and border to border, and then some. I did not see half of what you did running the back roads. I congratulate you.

Ben

 

What a great ride.....Really appreciate you bringing us along.....Here`s to the next one!!

Well, That is....if the Boss lets the leash go......

 

Thanks B-Bop, I really enjoyed your trip!

 

Thanks for the ride along B-Bop. I've saved a few of your 'out the windshield' shots to rotate as my desktop background. It's almost like I'm driving!
Cheers from downunder, Arnold.

 

Well B-Bop I thoroughly enjoyed your trip. It brought back memories of our trip we took in 1966. Two mates and I from Australia did a 6 month "hot-rodders" tour of the States and covered 40 of the 50 states. We did better than you though as we got into Yellowstone and I've got pics of "Old Faithful" blowing his top LOL
My son "flatoz" posted a short story about our trip and Ryan ran it in The Jalopy Journal. We did travel thru some of the States you did but there's no scenery shots as I was only showing him the color slides of the cars and rods.

Here's the link to the last page of his thread,
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...rip-of-a-lifetime-many-pictures.165160/page-7

 

Thanks for taking us along on your journey! I really enjoyed the ride and I'm looking forward to the next one as soon as you're done the honey do list
Tom

 

Thanks so much B-bop, i know how you feel as i lived on the road for a few years in a truck.
Love the setting sun photo just at the right time,
I really hope you get "out there" another time in your life.

 

Let me know and I'll join! Great post I really enjoyed reading along as it progressed. Thank you for posting it

 

Hi B-Bop.Thanks for the ride along.Most enjoyable.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Thanks for the ride along!

 

Thanks for the ride along, hope the wife goes easy on ya!

 

Great story. Does this mean you want to be a highwayman?

 

Like the others have said, thanks for the ride Snowman

 

Neat trip . . . Thanx again for the ride-along .

Lynn W

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Norman? Gotta be a story behind that.

 

Thanks for all the nice comments guys, glad you all came along for the ride.

Swifty, just read you thread that your son posted on your adventure. Amazing, considering the time that it was done. You guys were pioneers in the "get out and see it"

Blue One, As you know, from living in Alberta right now, there seems to be very limited prospects in the world of employment opportunities. My wife owns a Hair Salon in Calgary and it needs some reno's so between looking for work and spending time with the grandkids, it looks like I have a whole bunch of work to do in the salon.

Chucky, I still owe you info on this.

 

Yes Eli, And it's kind of a funny story. If you look at the picture of Norman hanging in my living room. You will see two large windows on either side of him. The river rock fireplace was supposed to taper in and go to the ceiling. But we did not build a big enough footing and structure in the basement to support all of the weight or the real rock, so we ended the fireplace lower down which left a big space between the windows.
My wife has an uncle that is a big game hunter and was never a big fan of dead animals hanging on the wall. I had always wanted a big Buffalo head and had been searching for about 7-8 years. We went for a weekend roadtrip to Great Falls MT with another couple. The girls of course wanted to go shopping, so me and my buddy went driving around town to look for tin and treasures. We walk into an antique mall and there he is, this massive shoulder mount, buffalo. I can see the look in his eyes, " Take me home, I am tired of looking at all these tourists". The guy that was running the store asks me if I am interested, and I said yeah, but I can't pay the asking price. He tells me he can call the owner and see if he will accept my offer. Because of the exchange rate at the time, I tell him that I really don't want to insult the guy, but I can't come close to what he is offering. He says the guy is really wanting to move some stuff. So I give him my lowball offer, and he calls the guy. I am standing right there listening to one side of the conversation and it sounds like this. "Yeah, that is what he is offering.......Well, he is from Calgary and they are just down for the weekend, and heading back today........yeah, ok, I'll tell him" Then he hangs up the phone and says, "Well it looks like you have an extra passenger for the ride home."

Now comes the fun part, how am I going to break the news to my wife. We track the girls down at the mall. My wife comes right out of the blue and says "So did you buy anything?" I just grin and say "Yeah, a little something at the antique mall", My buddies wife says, "What, a moose head?". I say No. My buddies face turns bright red. My wife now is looking back and forth at the two of us, I look at John, and say "Nice poker face man". And then I have to explain my new purchase.

The four of us head up to the antique mall to check out my new buddy. At this point I think it starts to sink in that there is no way this monster is going to fit anywhere into my wife's Chrysler 300. So here we are in an antique mall, knowing that we are going to make a return trip the following weekend to come back to get him with my truck. Knowing this my wife figures we should buy some other stuff.


Oh, I like that cast iron sign, she makes an offer....sold, oh I like that antique trunk, she makes an offer....sold. Now I have to get in on the action before she fills the truck. Hey look, a gas pump.....sold. We also bought a couple antique camera's for my son-in-law, and some other small items that I really don't remember now. Then I remember a pedal car in a toy store downtown, so we go there and buy that too. So with enough stuff to fill the truck, we finally head for home.

The following weekend we went down and picked everything up and while we are driving home, my wife says we really should name him. We both remember Billy Crystal in the movie City Slickers bringing home a baby calf after "finding his smile" and we both agree whole heartedly that Norman has to be his name.

The cast iron sign. It says "Court House" It was cast in the 1800's for the Virginia City, MT court house. I tried to contact Virginia City last year to see if they wanted it back. Nobody would return my emails, so looks like it will stay with me.

Pay the man, says my wife. Wayne was an great guy to deal with. The moose head you can see behind him almost came home to keep Norman company, but the wife put her foot down.


My new gas pump


The pedal car and trunk.

 

Funny how things work out huh? Great story!

 

I know exactly what you mean about our work situation all due to the oil prices.
I am blessed myself to have senority in that I can stay until I retire.
Hang in there something else will come up. In the meantime your wife has some quality time with you and free labor too. Win win.

 

Good Luck with your reno. The only time I worry is when my wife says, " l've got an easy project for you!" My wife was just given an involuntary retirement, so I kind of understand your situation. There's something out there for you, be patient, Carp

 

Awesome roadtrip!! I'm g;ad you enjoyed SoCal.

 

Actually, I get real nervous when my wife says, "Oh, we can do that for you". Usually means I'm in for a bunch of work, while she visits.

 

Wow, what an awesome trip! I just spent a couple hours reading through this thread.

Being a recently laid off fellow Albertan, you've got my wheels turning about building a teardrop and disappearing for a while...

 

In my opinion, there is no better way to deal with a "right sizing"

 

Me too....gonna build a tear drop this winter, had my 36 for twenty years, twenty years gonna go to Bonneville, after your trip, next year is the one. How comforta ble is your A? I've got a lotta miles on my old girl, figure it's got one more trip in her, I'm stoked now.