LA to Cincy, one little 914 and its Trek across North america Options

[tscrihfield]

Those who have been watching the classified ads know that I have recently purchased a car from the LA area. I didn't think shipping the car was the best method and what other way to see how well sorted it is than to drive it 2600 miles within the first 5 days of ownership, right? I think so...

So, I have been sitting around pondering what me and the wife might want to pick up for another car recently and we tossed around the thought of many things. We wanted something that had a focus on carshowing so, anything we bought had to be "Show worthy." I had a limited budget (Don't we all) and we looked at all of the cars we thought we would want in our ever growing car family... The choice was simple after we really got down to looking into it. The 914 has been something we've shared since we got married and actually before if you consider a 914 was my gift from her for our engagement.

We deliberated over quite a few after we pinned down that we indeed wanted a 914. Then this 73' came up in conversation. It was the furthest down on our list due to location but, my wife Karah-Lyn loved the way it looked... to be honest, the more I looked at it the more I liked it too. So, it took some trickery getting in touch with Noel, who is not the seller actually. He just the friend of the seller and so you all know, he is quite possibly one of the greatest human beings alive. I will explain why in just a moment.

Euro911 (mark) actually put me in touch with Noel (Thank you again for that!). Talking with Noel, he was very concerned that I was thinking about driving the car the some 2000+ miles through 9 states. I thought worst thing that could happen is the car breaks, then I trailer up and tug it the rest of the way.

After I eased the mind of Noel and convinced him that I would be able to make it home just fine, I then made plans to get out to Cali to start the journey home. The day before thanksgiving KL and I flew out to LA and stayed the night just a few miles from Noels place. I barely slept even though the flights out were somewhat involved. Noel came early the next morning and picked us up from the hotel and we had plans to perform an oil change and any adjustments to the car that was needed. Which the clutch needed a little adjustment. That was about it.

Next came why I think Noel is such an exceptional character. This guy did all of the needed tasks prior to my arrival to ensure we could close the deal, he picked up the materials for the oil change and he let me borrow many things prior to my departure. Plus keep in mind we used his space to do all of the work. We did settle up on everything and I feel blessed to have met him.
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Photo courtesy of Noel

Now for the trip, First we had to stop at a beach at wifes request! So, Huntington beach it was. It has always been a favorite of mine when I visit Cali and it was the logical stop. We then headed to Las Vegas for the first night.
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The next day we headed out with intentions of seeing the grand canyon and Hoover dam but we decided to just head toward the next eves destination which did not start out as El Paso TX but was soon decided for us by adverse weather... We actually ended up in Las Cruces NM because I wasn't too sure about El Paso with Juarez right across the border... Heard a lot of cars being stolen for the quick and easy trip across. Even though they may not be true.
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Somewhere in Arizona... Beautiful there!

The next morning we headed toward Dallas as our destination. Texas was by far the worst part of the trip with the exception of seeing a Ice covered desert. No offense to those who live there but that trip was excruciating! it was cold, endless and flat! I guess I liked that I could hold steady at 80-90mph for what seemed like days now.
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Ice covered desert!

As we got into Dallas we saw the first bit of Rain on the trip... this rain lasted for the entire next day... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) ... Good news is that the targa seals only leaked a little and we didn't get wet, too bad. Sorry but no photos from Dallas to Memphis and Memphis home, we had been there and seen that ... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

But here are a few more shots of beautiful desert land!

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Beautiful Arizona!


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Lake Mead


Long story short, The journey took 40 hours, roughly 2600 miles and a whole lot of smiles... Except for the fact that the heat was removed from this car... That part caused no smiles.... No smiles at all... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)