Just got back from Talimena, and had a blast!

Despite the cold, the drive was excellent, and apart from me Terrain Testing my 914 (she passed by the way), there were not problems and no mishaps.

Pictures to follow.

Cars lined up in front of our rooms at the motel.
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The "infamous" room 914
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What it's all about!
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At the start of the run... ready to go!
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Betty wishing she had let clay hook up her heater...
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Pretty Line of cars...
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My beauty "Das Weibchen" before her off road adventure...
(Notice the front valance still intact and attached)
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Betty Enjoying (?) a cold one after the run...
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CAPTION CONTEST

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I think Betty was as cold as the beer! I know I was.

Clay was saying " I only used to be this tall".

" No really, it was a rabbit about this tall...really..."

pray tell....having been on this drive and trying to keep up with Joseph, I can only imagine....

" No you start the Macarana with this hand"

As the hand goes up and down he is saying, " As I pushed her head south, she Monicaed me into paradise!"

is your wrist as limp as mine?

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I see you brought one of those 911 BBQ's with you... Handy.

Thanks Doug for posting your pics and attending the tour!


And thanks to EVERYONE that showed up and made it a really fun time!


I know there's more pics out there. I'll post some when I have the chance, but today I gotta go to work.

..

Hey Joseph... it was great to see you. Your donor car is looking very sharp.

I wish I could have stayed up later... but I ended up leaving at 4:30am. I hit the snooze alarm quite a bit when it went off at 3.

I wish I had taken more pictures this trip...

i like the sheridan body on the blue car! who's is it?
Andy

That's Josh.. he lives out west of Fort Worth.. Maybe he'll sound off here...

JOSH...

Doug: Where's the story on the "off road" incident???

Yes, yes... do tell us the story of "Dougie and the 4WD 914!"

Who has the maroon teener with ghost flames?

Maroon w/ ghost flames is Richard Fisher. It's a SBC.

Josh is not a member yet. But he should be showing up any day now. He built this V-8 car without knowing anyone with a 914... He was amazed to know that there were so many people around here who own them!





Richard's is more than just a SBC.. It is a Brodix 350... somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 HP, and gobs of axle breaking torque. Wes Hildreth built the 915 transmission, and Richard has managed to break it 3 times now. Wes finally got it to hold up, and now it is breaking the axle flanges. I have seen the carnage in person!

It is one hell of a car!

OK... ok... But Josh should give his version of the story too. He was directly behind me and my mind was racing at the time so it clipped out the minute details.



We had just left Queen Wilhelmina Lodge after a quick break and were continuing on toward Mena for lunch. I was 2nd in line after Clay and were were doing a fairly good clip.

Now remember that, although it was a sunny day, the pavement was cold and didn't have the grip that it might have if it were a normal summer day. We were going through a reasonable sweeping right hand curve with a slight uphill grade right at the bottom of a small hill.

I was about 1/2 way through the curve when my tires broke free and I felt the rear end drift out. I tried what I could to get it back under control, but in the end I had to take the ditch.I probably did a good 50 feet of ditch while the car slowed and I managed to regain control.

Josh and Richard passed me and I used what momentum I had to climb out of the small ditch.

We continued on to the next overlook, then stopped to get out and inspect the car.

I was SO LUCKY... the ONLY thing that happened to the car was the fiberglass Snowplow air scoop was torn off, but there wasn't even a SCRATCH on the rest of the car. It drove fine the rest of the day and on the way home.

It could have been SO much worse. Most of the ditches are full of huge boulders and trees. Another few yards in either direction and I (and the car) could have been toast.

Anyway... That is the story behind my new avatar!

Kool. Glad you (and the car) came out ok.

It was funny.. I looked in the mirror, and I had a string of 914s behind me. Then I look up and I see Richard and Josh.. Next time I look, no one.

I slow down.. I still don't see anyone.

I pull off at the next overlook I see. I sit there with the engine idling for about 5 minutes. About the time Betty calls my cell phone, I see Richard and Josh round the turn. I jump out behind Richard and Josh. I didn't know about the problem until the next stop.


Glad there was no damage.

I was behind Betty, who was behind Josh. I saw betty brake hard, then what appeared to be a dirt storm, then the car coming out of the ditch and continue on. Great recovery Doug. We were all releived you and car were ok. I think that slowed everyone down a bit

Well... I'm glad Doug finally fessed up with the story. I was starting to think I was going to have to make up something outrageous about ferocious bears (we don't have a bear smiley) attacking the line of cars or something like that!!!

I was a little distance behind Doug as we were leaving the Lodge. As I entered the corner, a minivan coming the other direction was flashing his headlights at me like a maniac. I thought, "cop?" and waved back at the driver of the minivan to thank him for the warning. I slowed drastically, came around the corner and saw Doug's car in the ditch on the right side of the road. I came to a stop in the road (there was VERY little traffic on the road that day, I figured the minivan driver was signaling everybody behind me, and Curt behind me had slowed too so I figured we'd all be safe - not to mention there really wasn't any room for cars to pull off anyway). Just as I came to a stop, Doug was able to get his car out of the ditch and onto the pavement.

All I could think about was the right side of his car being crunched in from the rocks I'd been seeing along the side of the road. It was Doug's first time meeting this group of crazies and running with us and now his car had gotten hurt and he wasn't going to like us anymore! When we stopped to check out his car, I was amazed that there was no damage to the body of the car! We took off quickly, I tried to call Clay to let him know what had happened and we caught up to him at the next turn-out before he could answer his phone.

I must congratulate Doug on his choice of places to have this happen though.... it was probably one of the very FEW places along the entire drive where the ditch wasn't too deep, there wasn't a guardrail, the rocks hadn't fallen, and there was nice soft grass to skid on. If it had to happen, that was the place for it!

Turns out there WAS a bear involved somehow.... Clay says he saw a small black bear amble across the road as he was sitting there waiting for the rest of us to show up.

So........ Since Clay's replacement transmission had been spewing oil... The way I figure it, his leaking transmission, caused Doug's car to skid out, which held everybody else up, which delayed the whole line of cars from blasting through the section of road that the bear crossed.

In other words... Clay And Doug Saved A Bear's Life That Day! What guy's! What environmentalist's! What selfless animal lovers they are!

Yeah... YEAH... Animal Lovers.... THAT'S THE TICKET!

PETA awards are on the way to Clay and Doug, even as we speak. PETA informs me these will be the first awards ever sent to the state of Texas

In Texas, PETA = People Eating Tasty Animals.

Sounds like y'all hadfun! Lots of 914's lining up!

Haha short story on the PETA side. This chick was at a buffet a while back while I was eating. She asked the cook if it had any meat in it. I almost walked up to her and said "For every one piece of meat that you don't eat... I'm going to eat three!"

Nice save Doug, maybe your teener want's to be one of these

when it grows up.

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Here are some pictures in no particular order.
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No 914 content, my 911 and Robyn's 944.
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A few more
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This was supposed to be my first event, however my employer and beloved 914 kept me from the drive, I made the dinner, good times, advice from experts and breakfast.

Thank you all

Stephen

P.S.

If anyone needs to find the motel next year, just drive east down the main drag of Talihina until you see this sign

Or this in the parking lot

Ever see a grown man cry?????

Curt didn't but I would have.

What does Curt's front bumper look like?

My car looks exactly like that minus the bumpers (it even had the tinting)

Curt's nickname is "Woody"... that's because both his front and rear bumpers are made of Mohogany.. :firesmiley: Everytime we get cold, we threaten to pull off his bumpers and burn them. And Curt is the only 914 owner to have to worry about Rust and Termites!!!!

Termites don't eat mahogany!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heres a link to a video posted on another thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDGGjLPdeos

Hey everyone! It was great driving with the group! I like taking all those corners, cant wait to do another trip! ( as long as its not offroad ) JK!

HEY JOSH!!!




Now, post pictures of your car in the pinned thread and jump in the fray!

The people here are really helpful (if not a little strange

From another DFW guy. I'm the one that met you at the IHOP but wasn't able to go to Talimena.

Here's a few pics of mine...

A few more...

ono mas...