We Picked Up The Camaro Today

Here it is, the Camaro that we had special ordered, finally in our possesion. It took some time, from ordering the car on November 20th, 2009 to watching it go through the process of being built then shipped by train to Nashville, Tennessee and from there, it was trucked to Bristol. We weren't sure if the timing would work out, but the Camaro finally made it to the dealership on February 27th, 2010, so we were able to drive it home from there.

Now, why did we go all the way to Tennessee for our car? Actually, there were several reasons... First, was that we couldn't find anybody in the state of Florida whom would sell us a Camaro at less than $4000 above the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), but when I checked on the internet, Bill Gatton in Bristol, Tennessee said they would sell it for list price.

The second reason is that we prefer to drive it from such a distance so we can get it through the break-in period in a controlled manner, rather than doing it in stop-&-go traffic, which isn't so good for the drivetrain. And the side benefit is that we were able to visit a place that is typically a hotbed of NASCAR activity (for the Dodge Magnum, we went to Hickory, North Carolina to a dealership that was next door to Dale Jarrett's race shop), and we could 'rub elbows' with fellow race fans. If you don't think that Bristol is loaded with racing fans, then you simply haven't been to Bristol.

And now, let's begin with the story...

After catching a flight to Bristol Thursday night, we were greeted by this view Friday morning. We called the dealership and they told us that although the Camaro was loaded onto a truck, it wasn't out for delivery yet. From what they understood, the truck might show up later in the afternoon....

So, we went geocaching. Here is one we found by the Bristol Welcome Center.

We also took some pictures of painted murals on the brick walls. Some of them are pretty nice.

There was this huge one across the street from where we were and it shows Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a clear shot of D.E. Sr.

On our geo-ramblings, we came upon this train bridge with icicles dripping from the ceilings of the tunnels under it.

And when we got top-side, there was an engine hanging out in the rail-yard.

Eventually, we called our salesman, Jaime Widner (said like: Wide-ner) and we stopped by to get the paperwork together in preparation for the Camaro's arrival.

While we were there, I came across the tallest toilet plunger I had ever seen. I mean, this thing must have had a 6-foot handle on it...

And when you sit down for your 'command performance' in the restroom, you are greeted by this sign in the window across from you. Apparently, somebody let the whole dealership know that he had been in there... and cleared the lot.

Unfortunately, the car didn't show up by 4PM, so we decided to head out and get some other things done.

Since we had promised to get one of the people helping us out at the dealership a choice selection of chocolates, we decided to look for confectionary possibilities at the Bristol Mall. When we got there, we came across a pile of icy snow in the parking lot and Luann told me that before we had left for Tennessee, Bradley had asked if we could make a snowman for him. Unfortunately, the snow had pretty much melted into a chuck of hard-to-work-with ice, so we tried to make an 'iceman' for him instead. Well, like I said, we tried...

As the sun went down, we toured downtown Bristol and saw this really neat sign that has been in place since the early 1900s. I wonder if Bristol could be 'A Good Place To Live'... What do you think?

Here is a picture of a train station at night. This is the spot where we got the shot of the engine in the railyard earlier.

And here are a couple of signs we came across during our travels.

After this, we turned in for the night, hopeful that Jaime would be calling us with some good news tomorrow...

And he sure did... There it is, just like we ordered it.

I got this picture of Luann, while she was working on synching her iPhone with the bluetooth hands-free phone unit in the car.

And then she got a picture of me driving off for the first test drive. The car was quite responsive, but I didn't want to put Jaime through the 'spin cycle' in our new car... Next was Luann's test drive and Jaime said that she drove it a bit harder than I did. After this was done, we went over and signed the paperwork.

Finally, with all of the legal stuff done, we headed over to the Tri-Cities airport to drop off the rental car, then we stopped off at Cracker Barrel nearby for lunch. At about 4PM, we headed out from Bristol on our way home.

Of course, we did a little sight-seeing on the way, stopping here and there. This spot is a scenic overlook on I-26 in South Carolina.

I discovered some soft, powdery snow on the backside of this wall, so I went to work building Brad's real SNOW-man.
C-c-c-c-cold!

And here is the finished work. He's got some eyes, a nose and some arms too... Weeeee-Haw!

And actually, he was all of this tall...

The overlook was great with a few photographic opportunities.

I took this shot to show you the ice that was building up on the roads. Whenever we hit a steep downgrade, I had to shift the Camaro into manual-shift mode and downshift it so the rear end was dragging us down the hill. Even the semi tractor-trailers were slowly crawling down the hill. We made it with no problem though. I guess my experience driving to and from Minnesota in 2007 prepared me for nasty, cold-weather driving elsewhere.

Here is one of the those runaway truck ramps that we came across... Hey wait, does that sign up ahead say, "Runaway Toyota Ramp"?

Ah, the sun is going down as we make our way home. The car is handling nicely and the seating is comfortable, even on the long haul.

It's kind of neat to see how it lights up inside. There is some special 'ambient lighting' that comes on in the gauges and the door panels and it looks real neat, although it is aqua in color (not red?) so we may do something about that.

All-in-all, the whole trip really was fun. We were able to pick up the car, break it in on the drive home and even did some geocaching in a state we hadn't cached in before.

So, we got the car home and now we need to get it registered and have a custom tag ordered. As usual, there is so much to do and no time to do it in.

On to the next page.

It Is Done...

Well, we went over to Car Max tonight and sold our Dodge Magnum. The deal was smooth and quick and we were done and on our way in less than an hour. I have to admit, it was tough on Luann to sell a car that we special-ordered for her and was built on her birthday.

Unfortunately though, it was time to sell it in order to prepare for the arrival of the Chevy Camaro that we ordered. The Magnum has been a great car for us and we put 95700 miles on it before we sold it, but it's like I always said, we bought it to drive it...

So, the next chapter in car ownership begins for Luann as we work on bringing home her Camaro. Which by the way, is now out of the railcar and at the distribution yard in Nashville, waiting to be loaded onto a car hauler and taken to the dealership in Bristol. Things are coming together...

On to the next page.

It's National Engineer's Week

I received the following message from the home office and I have to admit that I wasn't aware of N.E.W. so I figured I would let you guys know what is being said about us poor ole' engineers...


Engineers use their imagination and analytical skills to invent, design, and build things that matter. They are team players with independent minds who turn ideas into reality. By dreaming up creative and practical solutions, engineers are changing the world all the time.

Engineering has been called the “invisible” or “stealth” profession. Everything around us and that we use every day has been engineered in some way yet we may not see the engineers behind the scenes or know much about engineering.

The engineering field is as varied as engineers themselves. Engineers can design and build superstructures or delicate medical instruments. Engineers are exploring for energy and for new worlds in space. They are designing the environmental controls for an art museum or directing global sales of today’s hottest cars and computers. Who knows where the next great challenges will be?


Just remember, when people tend to contemplate whether a glass is half full or half empty, an engineer will seriously consider whether the issue might be that the glass is simply too big to begin with...

On to the next page.

The Camaro Has Been Built!

We got an email this morning saying that the 2010 Camaro we special-ordered has been built and they gave us a VIN number. Now we will begin watching it travel from Canada to Tennessee via railway. Then we will watch its travels by truck from Nashville to Bristol. Eventually, we'll be flying out there to pick up the Camaro and drive it back. We'll keep you posted...

Here is a front view of the Camaro in Red Jewel Tintcoat (candy apple red) from the 'Build Your Camaro' page on Chevy.com. It has projector headlights and halo rings around the headlights.

Since it also has the Rally Sport package it comes with 20" wheels and tires on it.

Of course, it will have RS badges on it (front & back), a tastefully small rear spoiler and tailights that are specific to the RS package.

There were a few other things included in the special order, like a real spare tire (we were surprised that it only came with a compressor system and 'inflate-a-tire' stuff in it as standard equipment) and a ton of comfort & convenience stuff inside. Can't wait to see how it came out...

On to the next page.

Some Caching, GNO, A Wayward Turtle & Game-Prep

Luann & I went geocaching, she went out to dinner with her friends (Girl's Night Out), she had to pick up a big-ole snapper turtle that came right up to her window at work, and she 'celebrated' Super Bowl in her own way, with a four and a quarter pound steak...

So, here we is where we went out geocaching at the Hillsborough River Preserve. We were bicycling along the 2-track along the ridge up to the right, then climbing down the ridge to go looking for geocaches. Remember, 'Click-On-A-Pic' to see a larger version of a picture.

Just as in many things, the job isn't over until the paperwork is done.

This is one of the travelers we had picked up elsewhere. He's riding along with Luann until we find a spot for him to stay at.

You never know where you might find one of those elusive geocache containers...

Yep, we're riding along a flood control service road.

This was a neat cache, strung up through the trees on a system of wires and pulleys.

Since it wouldn't reach the ground, the log book and such was dealt with while standing up.

And I dropped off these foreign coins for good measure.

Many of the containers were hidden in the woods.

We really like the scenery and photography on these jaunts. In this picture, there is a pelican and an osprey wheeeling in the air, looking for fish in the water.

Later in the day, Luann went out with her friends to a restarant on the beach called Frenchy's.

Conni was there...

So was Karen, but it looks like she wasn't in a mood to have her soul 'stolen' by the camera...

And Lynn was there too. Dinner at Frenchy's has always been great and the prices aren't bad either.

After dinner, Luann went down to the beach for some pictures.

Yeah, it was a bit chilly out...

This snapping turtle decided to crawl up to the window outside of Luann's office and try to attack his reflection. She picked him up and put him back into the nearby pond, but he came back for a second round of beating up on his reflection. So, she picked him up and dropped him back into the drink. That seemed to do it...

On Sunday, the superbowl was on, so we sat back to watch the game.


But only after I cooked up this monster for Luann. You know, just because I'm allergic to beef doesn't mean she can't have a 4.25 pound steak... Of course, it took 3 days (and counting) to work on it.

On to the next page.