Which ways the Beach? Santa Maria to Austin Roadtrip Family Style

Thumbs up!!! Nice!!

 

Great memories you are making!

Good Job!
Great thread!

 

here are some more photos from the show saturday in the featured lot since our internet tonight is lightening fast...




met John and he is a super nice dude, look forward to seeing him in santa maria





And a few others from around the show...

my favorite car no joke and Cormac's favorite too...



And I can't leave out the family wagon...

 

DAy 6
Cruise to the lake? Nope, cruise to the laundromat...that is the reality of traveling with kids. After doing laundry and saying by to some of our new friends from east texas, we headed down to Congress for lunch at home slice. Let me give any of you planning a first time trip to the roundup a tip, stay Sunday, as the scene is much mellower and it really gives you a chance to enjoy South Congress.

It seemed like the quality of cars parked on Congress today was much higher too. After lunch, I checked the oil one more time, still not down, and we hit the road. We travelled the 183 North, to the 84 w, to the 83 north to Abilene. Beautiful drive, but I didn't get many photos as my co-pilot was passed out next to me (see below).

About 22 miles from Abilene my rocker started chattering again, so I nursed it at 60 to our hotel, unloaded the family, parked the wagon, and hit up the indoor pool and hot tub with Cormac for 3 hours! I'll look at the wagon tomorow and will probably buy a new rocker arm nut if its the same one lose which I think it is (lets hope the stud isn't pulling out). Car is still running strong, and no smoke I can see, so I think I may have over filled the transmission in Phoenix on the way out and it was leaking out of the vent or the fill tube onto the how exhaust? Not sure but the smoke is gone so I don't care!

THanks for reading...the adventure isn't over yet!

South Congress this morning and a beautiful Shoebox

5 hours of this

the photographer!

I did manage to grab this photo somewhere in west central texas...

 

Too cool! Safe travels!

 

Great road trip and great story telling. I like your pictures of the show too cause they actually give some feel if the size an layout of LSRU, looks huge


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1.07 for a new rocker nut...hope that fixes the backing off problem. Pool and then the Big Texan in Amarillo!

 

Great thread. Good looking family too. Road trips are the best fun.

IMHO...this 35 is the best looking car I've seen in a long time. If it has a mohair interior then it's just about perfect.

 

Road trips rule. Enjoy! And thanks for sharing your adventures.

 

man, y'all are livin' right!!! thanks for the photos and hope you make it home safely

 

great trip, great stories..
as a non scenester family with 2 young children i have to say that this may be my favorite post of all time.
i read your wifes blog and had to share it with my wife. your wifes point of view of the whole trip had me cracking up, and her decription of the show and scene are just about rite on the money....
i saw you walking around quite a bit this weekend, but i'm not that outgoing guy who introduces himself to strangers, just because i saw you on the internet..

anyways, great post, and best of luck on your journey home.

 

AWESOME!!! Those kids will always remember that vacation.

 

Beautiful family, beautiful car and an adventure you guys will remember for a lifetime. Bummed I didn't get the chance to meet you in Austin.

 

Dinner at The Big Texan...the new rocker but fixed that problem! Cadillac ranch before sunset.[/ATTACH]

 

...

 

I love the wagon and looks like everyone had a good time....

Here is what my road trips look like...

 

DAy 7

Woke up early while the family slept and headed over to the Abilene NAPA to get a new rocker arm nut hoping that was the problem. There were 4 Texans sitting at the parts counter drinking coffee, and they told me PAULINE was at the warehouse and she could have the nut here in 15 minutes. So I sat and shot the breeze with a bunch of camo covered Texans. If you have seen me, you can picture how funny this looked (I was wearing OP shorts too!) I ended up swapping the nut in front of the NAPA, and was back in the Hampton Inn pool by 9:15. The wagon is still not burning any oil! Kenna thrift shopped and Cormac and I swam til noon (we had to make up for the fact the hotel in Austin had a frozen pool), then we hit the Road for Amarillo up the 83 to the 287.

Lots of long, straight roads! And the winds were wild, and it was 95 degrees most of the drive. We found this cool little town called Paducah and spotted this historcal museum for the city. The gates were open, but the building was closed so we snooped around for about 30 minutes. Lots of cool stuff, even an old wood outhouse out back that Kenna decided to take for a spin.

From there we ate ice cream, drank a case of water, didn't even turn on the radio, saw buffalo, and made it to Amarillo around 6. Dinner at the Big Texan (NO 72oz challenge this time), Cormac shot at the gun game there, and we went in the huge maze, and then the sun was setting so we decided to spend the night in Amarillo and check out Cadillac Ranch in the AM.

The bad news, that dang rocker is chattering again, so I think the stud may be pushing out, so I may have to bust out the "harley wrench" and give that stud a few taps rather than keep tightening the nut. The engine is still running really well, no more smoke...275 miles today, tomorrows goal is the WIGWAM MOTEL!



THis is what the road looked like most of the day

Air Conditioning


Paduach



old ambulance





of course i checked to see if it was unlocked


my ladies

 

if you gotta go you gotta go






NEXT TIME!

 

Awesome picture's! Love the wagon!

 

Hope you guys enjoy your stay in Amarillo !! If you need any help with that engine just holler

 

man I wish my wagon was that nice

 

Thanks man...Might take you up on that!
I actually don't work on the car til
The early morning when the family is sleeping since this is their vacation and the pool beckons when we get into towns

 

Leaving Amarillo...42 degrees and 40mph winds! Yesterday was 94

 

man that sucks. but look on the bright side you could be stuck at a desk typing on a keyboard and wish you were on the road.

 

Read your post so far, your giving me hope that a family trip is possible! I have a 4 year old and 2 year old. Good traveling, Thanks for using NAPA and safe passage all the till home!

 

Awesome picts! Great family trip!

 

So the culprit was a broken pushrod all along...pulled off in vega Texas after the clank started again, decided to pull off rocker arm to mark stud to see if it was pulling out, and low and behold the pushrod had no end. The napa and carquest were closed, so I went into the corner service station and Roy had a sbc pushrod and said the price was free...15 minute stop and now we are on our way to the dinosaur museum in Tucumcari, NM

 

Glad to hear you tracked down the problem. My pops was born in Tucumcari and I've spent lots of time there over the years. Love driving through the land of enchantment and the heavy native vibe. Your kids will dig the dino museum. Thanks for taking us along on your trip. BTW you can rest easy, you haven't missed to much surf over here, just lots of crossed up wind swell.

 

This thread is just full of all kinds of awesome. Thanks for letting us live vicariously through your posts.

 

A few Things made me a car guy since I was about 7 or 8, first the fact that when we made the long trip from Baytown to Kerrvile to visit Grands my dad usually had to make a few brush adjustments along the way, second Mom could jump the starter solenoid on her 61 Catalina, and third was reading the Grapes of Wrath about 11.

I thought melting a can to make Tin Babbit was awesome.

The sum of these experiences was an abounding respect for a Dad or even a Mom, to take what they had and transport the family.

Your story brings this back in living color detail, and I thank you for reminding me of why I am a Car Guy.

Hoop