My Florida trip - final recap (really)

[SunshineTwilight]

A better pic of the final group shot courtesy of "GlitterGlamGirl". Thanks!

Pam has her eyes slightly open.
Great pic and great job on the weekend re-cap Ed.

OMG!!! Too F'n funny!!!! I was JUST taking a catnap, I swear! LOL

[Clasicrockldy]

A better pic of the final group shot courtesy of "GlitterGlamGirl". Thanks!

Pam has her eyes slightly open.
Great pic and great job on the weekend re-cap Ed.

OMG!!! Too F'n funny!!!! I was JUST taking a catnap, I swear! LOL

On your feet?

[StevePerryHair]

A better pic of the final group shot courtesy of "GlitterGlamGirl". Thanks!

Pam has her eyes slightly open.
Great pic and great job on the weekend re-cap Ed.

OMG!!! Too F'n funny!!!! I was JUST taking a catnap, I swear! LOL

At least you have a nice smile

[SunshineTwilight]

LMAO!!!!

You guys are killing me!!!

I gotta get some pictures done so I can post them!!!

[zino]

Great reporting AR, sorry I missed you at Pompano. Sounds like you guys had a blast. A little more movie triva for ya, I f i am thinking of the correct denny's you went too, where there was a blackout at. The building next to Denny's is where they filmed the movie Stirptease. Glad you folks had a great time and got home safe !!

[duke22]

Well, here is the radiator story in detail.

We are driving just outside of Jacksonville after the HOB show looking for a place to stop for the night. We are all exhausted and 3-4 hours off the trip was enough for one night. dcvader is out like a light and AR is nodding in and out of sleep at this point. There is some construction on 95. We are right next to a truck with someone tailing my ass pretty close when I see a construction cone laying sideways in the road. We have no choice but to hit it. To my surprise it does not immediately dislodge itself as I would have expected. I slow down enough to change lanes and the cone finally leaves the undercarriage of my 6 month old Acura RDX. Everything seems fine.

Like AR said, we get to southern VA and the sensors for overheating come on. We pull off and take a look. I must preface this next statement by letting you all know just how little "car prowess" I have. I am a guy who hasen't even changed his own oil in over 20 years and i drive to Jersey whenever possible to get gas as they pump it. 'nuff said. dcvader says there is no anti-freeze in the overflow tank. Me, being the "don't believe it 'til I see it" kind of guy, slowly opens the radiator cap. It's not that it was hot as I was using my sweatshirt to open it, it just starting making this hissing sound like it was going to blow. Sure enough it blew and only God knows where that cap is now. We all guessed that it had to be jettisoned on top of the roof at the gas station as it was nowhere to be found.

We dop dcvader off and i get to AR's and call it a night. It wasn't going to be any better in the AM but at least it would be light out.

I depart from AR's about 9am the next morning. I clear off the windshield and the little stone chip from earlier in the trip had spintered. Damn, new windshield too. All kinds of diagnostic lights are flashing all over the dashboard. Throttle, AWD, and the overheating light are all going nuts. Again, showing my car prowess, I punch in directions to the closest dealer and figure I better get there and let them handle it. Well the car won't go over 20 miles an hour, even with it floored. I pull over and pop the hood. Looks like ice and snow got caught up under the car. I cleared it out and the car was functional again.

Well Virginia and Maryland were almost all ice, but by the time I got to Delaware and Pennsylvania it was a nast mixture of snow and ice. By the way Delaware feel free to plow a major highway occassionally and Pennsylvania, there are 2 to 3 lanes on major highways, it may have helped if you plowed more than 1 lane.

Anyway, it takes me almost 6 hours to get home. It is normally a little over 2 hours. If you thought all that was bad the worst is yet to come.

Thursday morning I take my car directly to my dealer. He uts it up on the lift and promptly tells me he can't do anything. Apparently that construction cone was filled with concrete to weigh it down. That explains why it took so long to dislodge. In short, structural damage to the front support of the car which pushed up and punctured the radiator. I was pretty numb at this point. Until I got to the rental car place and realized I had to drive a Plymouth PT Cruiser. I was furious at this point. All my luxury and now I have to drive this piece of crap for a week.

The miraculous thing about all of this is that we did not get stranded or injured and we all made it home safely. Despite all this, I would do it all over again. The spring break trip I never did as a youngster with my travel mates AR and dcvader was the coolest thing I have done in a long time. Not to mention all the folks that I got to hang with again and the new freinds I made on this trip.

Can't wait for the May Melee at dcvaders... I miss all you already.

[Jeremey]

Thursday morning I take my car directly to my dealer. He uts it up on the lift and promptly tells me he can't do anything. Apparently that construction cone was filled with concrete to weigh it down. That explains why it took so long to dislodge. In short, structural damage to the front support of the car which pushed up and punctured the radiator. I was pretty numb at this point. Until I got to the rental car place and realized I had to drive a Plymouth PT Cruiser. I was furious at this point. All my luxury and now I have to drive this piece of crap for a week.

The miraculous thing about all of this is that we did not get stranded or injured and we all made it home safely. Despite all this, I would do it all over again. The spring break trip I never did as a youngster with my travel mates AR and dcvader was the coolest thing I have done in a long time. Not to mention all the folks that I got to hang with again and the new freinds I made on this trip.

Can't wait for the May Melee at dcvaders... I miss all you already.

Joe, that really sucks, man. Glad you guys made it in one piece, and more importantly that everyone will have memories to last a lifetime!! Hope to see you again soon, or definitely in May!

[Moon Beam]

Damn Duke that's something else.
Brand new wheels and it get's all banged
up on her first road trip.
I feel bad for ya fella but glad you weren't sore
about it and had a blast with the Lot.
Thanks for adding your words here Sir.

AR, great job on the diary.
I loved reading about what you all did
and the fun you shared.
Thanks for taking the time to type this up
for us Ed, good reads indeeds.

[Clasicrockldy]

Damn Joe, like Jeremey said, that really sucks. You must of had a higher power looking out for you on the return trip home. I am glad that you made it ok.

[SunshineTwilight]

Damn Joe,

Didn't realize all that happened!! At least you weren't in an accident and you all made it home safely. Hope it doesn't take too long to fix you 'new' car.

I miss everyone too!

[duke22]

No worries. I find it easy to laugh at myself and you are right we all made it safe.

One more thing i forgot. After I got home we got about 6 inches of snow along with that ice. Shoveling sucks. Thank god for my neighbor he bailed me out after about an hour of shoveling with his snow blower. Gotta get me one of those.

[(Crazy)Dulce Lady]

Well, here is the radiator story in detail.

We are driving just outside of Jacksonville after the HOB show looking for a place to stop for the night. We are all exhausted and 3-4 hours off the trip was enough for one night. dcvader is out like a light and AR is nodding in and out of sleep at this point. There is some construction on 95. We are right next to a truck with someone tailing my ass pretty close when I see a construction cone laying sideways in the road. We have no choice but to hit it. To my surprise it does not immediately dislodge itself as I would have expected. I slow down enough to change lanes and the cone finally leaves the undercarriage of my 6 month old Acura RDX. Everything seems fine.

Like AR said, we get to southern VA and the sensors for overheating come on. We pull off and take a look. I must preface this next statement by letting you all know just how little "car prowess" I have. I am a guy who hasen't even changed his own oil in over 20 years and i drive to Jersey whenever possible to get gas as they pump it. 'nuff said. dcvader says there is no anti-freeze in the overflow tank. Me, being the "don't believe it 'til I see it" kind of guy, slowly opens the radiator cap. It's not that it was hot as I was using my sweatshirt to open it, it just starting making this hissing sound like it was going to blow. Sure enough it blew and only God knows where that cap is now. We all guessed that it had to be jettisoned on top of the roof at the gas station as it was nowhere to be found.

We dop dcvader off and i get to AR's and call it a night. It wasn't going to be any better in the AM but at least it would be light out.

I depart from AR's about 9am the next morning. I clear off the windshield and the little stone chip from earlier in the trip had spintered. Damn, new windshield too. All kinds of diagnostic lights are flashing all over the dashboard. Throttle, AWD, and the overheating light are all going nuts. Again, showing my car prowess, I punch in directions to the closest dealer and figure I better get there and let them handle it. Well the car won't go over 20 miles an hour, even with it floored. I pull over and pop the hood. Looks like ice and snow got caught up under the car. I cleared it out and the car was functional again.

Well Virginia and Maryland were almost all ice, but by the time I got to Delaware and Pennsylvania it was a nast mixture of snow and ice. By the way Delaware feel free to plow a major highway occassionally and Pennsylvania, there are 2 to 3 lanes on major highways, it may have helped if you plowed more than 1 lane.

Anyway, it takes me almost 6 hours to get home. It is normally a little over 2 hours. If you thought all that was bad the worst is yet to come.

Thursday morning I take my car directly to my dealer. He uts it up on the lift and promptly tells me he can't do anything. Apparently that construction cone was filled with concrete to weigh it down. That explains why it took so long to dislodge. In short, structural damage to the front support of the car which pushed up and punctured the radiator. I was pretty numb at this point. Until I got to the rental car place and realized I had to drive a Plymouth PT Cruiser. I was furious at this point. All my luxury and now I have to drive this piece of crap for a week.

The miraculous thing about all of this is that we did not get stranded or injured and we all made it home safely. Despite all this, I would do it all over again. The spring break trip I never did as a youngster with my travel mates AR and dcvader was the coolest thing I have done in a long time. Not to mention all the folks that I got to hang with again and the new freinds I made on this trip.

Can't wait for the May Melee at dcvaders... I miss all you already.

I'm so glad you guys made it safely.

[Ratgirl]

wow Joe.. I'm glad you guys made it home ok.

[Ratgirl]

LMAO!!!!

You guys are killing me!!!

I gotta get some pictures done so I can post them!!!

Well if it helps any.. the guy on the other side of Dave also has his eyes closed. So maybe it was in the air?

It could be worse.. it looks like I'm possessed.

[larryfromnextdoor]

Well, here is the radiator story in detail.

in 6 months this will be one the all time classics!! in 20
years i will have managed to get myself in the story !!

[duke22]

Well, here is the radiator story in detail.

in 6 months this will be one the all time classics!! in 20
years i will have managed to get myself in the story !!

Hell, Larry if I knew you better I'd find a way to inject you in now.

[larryfromnextdoor]

Well, here is the radiator story in detail.

in 6 months this will be one the all time classics!! in 20
years i will have managed to get myself in the story !!

Hell, Larry if I knew you better I'd find a way to inject you in now.

, i would want to be the hero!!! and not the "cone thrower"

[Cheri]

You are all VERY lucky there was no water in that radiator when you took that cap off--hot water under pressure=seriious burns.

[StevePerryHair]

Wow Joe! What a story! I didn't think they were supposed to put cement in cones for the very reason that you can wreck your car. Isn't that why they're plastic? So will you car be fixed and ever be the same after this? I'm just glad you guys made it home safely! Also, better these things happened on the way home than on the way to Florida, if you want to find a bright side

[duke22]

Wow Joe! What a story! I didn't think they were supposed to put cement in cones for the very reason that you can wreck your car. Isn't that why they're plastic? So will you car be fixed and ever be the same after this? I'm just glad you guys made it home safely! Also, better these things happened on the way home than on the way to Florida, if you want to find a bright side

I don't view it as being bad. I am just glad it all worked out. It's not major structural damamge just enough to put me out of commision for a bit. The bright side was making the trip and seeing you all again. And Journey with JSS again of course.

[Michael Leigh]

Great reporting AR, sorry I missed you at Pompano. Sounds like you guys had a blast. A little more movie triva for ya, I f i am thinking of the correct denny's you went too, where there was a blackout at. The building next to Denny's is where they filmed the movie Stirptease. Glad you folks had a great time and got home safe !!

Ed,
Great read, Bro!!
DAMN, I wish I could've been there with you guys!

[Melissa]

Wow Joe! What a story! I didn't think they were supposed to put cement in cones for the very reason that you can wreck your car. Isn't that why they're plastic? So will you car be fixed and ever be the same after this? I'm just glad you guys made it home safely! Also, better these things happened on the way home than on the way to Florida, if you want to find a bright side

Yep, glad you made it home safe! That is an awesome car from what I remember the short time I rode in it, lol . Hope you get it back in working order soon!

[junky]

Monday: Final Day - House of Blues

Once inside we found some new friends we met up with in Clearwater - jrnyjunky and her husband known as Dubrow, Heather and Gen, Susan and a few others. It seems that a few people did the Clearwater & HOB shows and took a pass on Pompano. No matter, as the group is now back at full strength.

Ed, like you, we didn't plan on HOB either.

We were at the airport in Tampa on Monday afternoon completely depressed that we had to leave. Just out of curiosity we checked the flights from Orlando to NYC and there happen to be two seats left on a 6am flight. So we called HOB, got some tickets to the show, changed our flight, rented a car and drove to Disney. It was well worth it. The show was a lot of fun and so was the company.

Dubrow was back in time to teach a class at 11am Tuesday morning in NYC. We were lucky we made it back before Jet Blue had their MAJOR meltdown.

Sorry your trip home wasn't as easy as ours, but as you said you would do it again and so would we. It was a BLAST!!!

[Rockindeano]

That was a good travelogue Edward, however, you think we should sit down and write the REAL story? The UNEDITED version?

I guess that is reading for the Annex, eh?

[Granny]

That was a good travelogue Edward, however, you think we should sit down and write the REAL story? The UNEDITED version?

I guess that is reading for the Annex, eh?

That version would certainly be great!!!!!

[Granny]

it was great meeting you and Frank(Dubrow) HOPE TO SEE YOU TWO SOON AGAIN !!!!

[junky]

it was great meeting you and Frank(Dubrow) HOPE TO SEE YOU TWO SOON AGAIN !!!!

Be careful what you hope for

You and Norm were so much fun. When we saw you two first thing at the HOB, we knew we had made the right decision to stay for the show.

[Rockindeano]

That was a good travelogue Edward, however, you think we should sit down and write the REAL story? The UNEDITED version?

I guess that is reading for the Annex, eh?

That version would certainly be great!!!!!

You were there dumbshit! You don't need to read it!

[StevePerryHair]

That was a good travelogue Edward, however, you think we should sit down and write the REAL story? The UNEDITED version?

I guess that is reading for the Annex, eh?

That version would certainly be great!!!!!

You were there dumbshit! You don't need to read it!

Be nice to granny!

[AR]

That was a good travelogue Edward, however, you think we should sit down and write the REAL story? The UNEDITED version?

I guess that is reading for the Annex, eh?

We should collaborate on the unedited version for sure.