Ford Fusion Review Pt III, Drive in Blizzard Conditions....

Ok, I have a Ford Fusion for my trip this week. Trip has taken me from Chicago, through a blizzard to Omaha and then down to Kansas City. The drive from the Quad Cities area to Omaha on Wednesday was one of the more interesting experiences I have ever had behind the wheel of a car.

First off let's review my thoughts on the Fusion. Last time I drove one was last August on my way to the GT v Notre Dame game. Car served me well but I had some issues. I think the one I got this time is either newer or is not the base model I had last time. It has steering wheel audio and AC controls that I noted where missing last time. A very nice touch that makes the car seem a bit more upscale. The car also came equipped with automatic climate control that worked perfectly. Easy to control and I was able to set the temp and not worry about it. Also included in the car where side mirror defrosters, which came in very handy. The rear deck does not seem as high this time as last, maybe a design change between years? Blind spot behind the c-pillar on the passenger side can still hide an 18-wheeler if your mirrors are not adjusted properly. Seats did not seem as comfortable this time, maybe that was another change. Even with adjustable lumbar support, there where times I just could not get comfortable (this very well could be more me than the car). All in all the car impressed me yet again. It gets that job done, no frills but makes a nice base end 4 door.

Now on to the weather. In case you missed the news the last few days, areas in the mid-west where hit by a pretty big snow storm. Total snow fall amounts varied but the hardest hit area just happened to by eastern Iowa. Guess where Moline, IL is? Yep, eastern Iowa. Moline must have gotten close to a foot with areas to the west (towards Des Moines) got even more. So what did I decide to do? Well drive right through the worst hit spots! Smart Jim, smart. Anyway, hoped in the car Wednesday and was in for the drive of a lifetime. The first sign of trouble was the fact I was barely able to even get on I-80. Had to gun the Ford to push through the snow on the on-ramp! No plows in sight, huh ok. No other cars, where is the road? It was all white. 50 mph winds whipping across the road, snow everywhere. 18-wheelers, cars and RV in the ditches. Yep, fun had by all. Anyway, I just remembered my wet autocross experiences, no big movements, no brake, just be calm and take it easy. It helped I got in behind an 18-wheeler that looked like he knew what he was doing. I just stayed in his tire tracks and let him act as my personal snow plow. Only had 2 pucker moments that I can remember. I am sure I got some odd looks from the Iowa folks I passed on the road, my rental is tagged from Florida! I should have some pictures once I get back to the Atl and have access to my cameras usb cable. That is it for now, back to Atlanta in the morning.

Weekend Work

Well, the weekend is almost upon us. Going to do a little work on the TR6 and try to drive it a bit. Plan on trying to give the car a tune up and balance the carbs. It seems to idle a bit high (don't know for sure because the tach tends to sit a 1000 rpm no matter what) and I know it is out of balance. Heading up to Gainesville, GA to visit a car buddy and hoping that he has a bit more experience with carbs than I do.

Heading back out of town next week. This trip takes me to the frozen plains of the mid-west. Flying into Chicago on Monday and then end the trip all the way over in Kansas City, MO. Should be exciting, hope the weather holds up.

Back out on the Road

Heading up to the Mountains of North Carolina this weekend for some R&R. My wife and her family have been going one weekend in January since she was just a little girl. Nice place they have a deal with up near Cashiers. The weather is going to get interesting Saturday. It is supposed to snow all day! I haven't seen a real snow since my honeymoon out in Colorado. Could make driving back to Atlanta a bit of a challenge.

After getting back from the mountains, I am back off on my SC/NC plant trip. Head out towards Hartsville, SC then over to Southport, NC, up to Raleigh and then back home. 1300+ miles in 3 days, woohoo. So I won't get a chance to start work on the TR until middle of next week at the earliest and it is looking like it really will not be unitl the week of the 28th.

Went through the spare parts that came with the car and found a few things that will save me some bucks. Rear license plate light assembly was in there ($300 part) as was the interior convience light (another $100 or so). Plus a set of rebuilt rear lever shocks, the brake PDWA switch, some new indicator covers and a bunch of other random parts. Won't have much else to tell on the 6 until I can get the wheels off and diagnose the brake issues. That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

On the Road: Moline, IL to Atlanta, GA

I got back to Atlanta in one piece. I am still trying to catch back up on work and sleep from the trip (I had a 5:30am flight back to Atlanta). All in all it was a good trip, lots of new business contacts. Thursday night I decided to do something different from baseball and went to an Arena Football2 game. I didn't even know that the Quad Cities area had a team until I heard about it on the radio. Picked up a 2nd row seat on the 20 yard line and had a blast. If you like football and have never been to an Arena Football game, give it a shot. It is like watching a pro version of the backyard football games you played while growing up, very little running plays, no zone defense and high scoring. I also visited another one of the Quad Cities fine Brew Pubs (there are 5 or so locally owned Brew Pubs in the area, which is 5 more good brew pubs than we have here in Atlanta). Bent River Brewing Company was the name. Good beer, good food, nice folks. They had about 17 locally brewed beers on tap, every type you can think of. I started off with the daily special (a Black Lager, a very nice beer) and moved on to my current favorite style, a Dry Hopped Pale Ale. The pale ale was excellent. For my last beer of the evening I asked my very friendly Bar Keep (Eric was his name) to surprise me. He then did something that I had never really thought of, he mixed the Pale Ale with a Red Ale (Ok, yes I have heard of a black and tan and a half and half but those are layered pours and not really mixed. They MIX the beers at Bent River). I was really good, added something a little different to the taste. Eric told me they mix many of their beers and most of the regulars have at least one or two mixes that they will order. So, try mixing your beers. That is it for now, Eclipse Spyder review, Merc Grand Marquis Review, College Football preview, and TR/MINI update will follow this week.

On the Road: Fulton, Mo to Moline, IL

First I want to admit that I am stealing the first part of the title of these blog entries from Charles Kuralt. If you are un-familiar with him, he did a traveling TV segment called "On the Road" for years. He also ended up writing several books about the TV series, highlighting some of the things he covered along the way. I don't remember who turned me on to these books but I think it was my Dad. Reading the books had a big impact on me, showing me that there is more out there in the country than just the stuff off the interstates. The books have to be one of the causes of my wanderlust and love of just driving to new places. My love of just grabbing my road map and heading off to somewhere I have never been. It has been one of the greatest things about this new job, being able to drive places that I would never have thought to go and see different parts of the country (I've been to 34 states + DC, ones I have not been too: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Mass., Vermont, New Mexico, N & S Dakota, Oregon, Arizona, Delaware, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Washington and Wyoming. Driving new roads in new places is what makes a 4 1/2 hour drive (like the one from Omaha to Moline) seem short because everything is new (it is also this that makes a 3 1/2 hour drive from Atlanta to Savannah seem to take forever because I have only driven it about 100 times?). Anyway, on to my trip journal for the last two days

I took the looooong scenic route from Fulton, MO to Wolf Creek Nuclear in Kansas. Drove across Lake of the Ozarks and Lake Truman. You wouldn't think that there would be many twisty roads in southern Missouri but I can tell you I found some. Not much to say about Kansas other than "Look, Corn....". Stayed in downtown Kansas City and went to a Royals game. Kauffman Stadium is a great place to see a ballgame. The Yankees where in town and the game was sold out. Apparently it was the 24th anniversary of the George Brett "Pine Tar game. Yankees won the game but it is a great stadium and a cheap ticket is you are ever in town.

In the past 2 days I have driven through Mexico, Mexico City, Nevada, Nashville, Savannah, Oregon (This is in western Missouri and I am guessing some lazy wagon train folks on the way to Oregon state quit early and said, "Heck, I'm not sitting in this thing for 3 more months. Let's stop here and build a town names Oregon"), plus a few other interestingly named cities.

I drove from Kansas City to Omaha, making one stop between and one north of Omaha. If you ever find your self in Blair, NE I suggest getting a Malt or Shake at Goodrich's in downtown. Nice deli with a great old ice cream counter. Apparently, they have been open in Blair since the '30s. I then drove clear across the great state of Iowa. If I thought Kansas had a lot of corn, boy was I wrong. Corn as far as the eye could see. I also passed the largest truck stop in the world, Iowa 80. Not much else exciting about the drive, it did have some neat views and not much traffic.

No more long drives for the rest of the trip. I am going to take customer out to the Swing of Quad City Minor League Baseball game tomorrow. Should be a good time, as most single A games are. I am really digging the Eclipse, only a few complaints. It is a car I could own. Best thing are the seats, they are fabulous. I wonder if I could mount a pair in my MINI? Anyway, a full review of the Spyder and the Merc will be coming when I get to it, maybe tomorrow afternoon.

On the Road: St. Louis and Fulton, MO

I fly into St. Louis today to start my swing through the Mid-west Nuke Plants (Callaway, Wolf Creek, Cooper, Calhoun, Duane Arnold and Quad Cities). All in all the first day has been a bit strange. Let's start from the beginning.

This is the first time that I have flown into the St. Louis airport and I already don't like it. All the signs are hard to read and there aren't enough of them. The signage around baggage claim was particularly terrible. And while they where at it, lets just put two bathrooms in the baggage claim area, have them as far away as possible from anything and hide them around a few corners with some signs pointing you in the general direction. It took 45 minutes to get my bag, I don't know if this was an Airtran problem or a St. Louis Airport thing but by the looks of some of the other flights that landed when we did I am going to go with an Airport thing. Next, I go to rent a car. Lady at the counter tells me all they have is a PT Cruiser (which will take a while to get) or a Mercury Grand Marquis (!). So I am in a hurry (to get to the Budweiser Brewery before it closes, more on that in a minute) and go with the Merc. Next I have to catch a bus (!) to get to the rental car lot (Nice idea, lets put all rental car and airport parking off-site and across a busy interstate from the Airport. This is the Atlanta equivalent of if they put all the parking across 285 from the airport). Once I get dropped off at my car I know I made a mistake (Review of my 5 minute experience with the Merc will come later). So I walk back to the on-site office, on the way one of the wheels on my bag comes off (day is just getting better and better). When I talk to the lady at the counter to see if there is anything else I can drive (give me anything, I'll even drive a Chrysler 300 again) she finds me a nice Mitsubishi Eclipse Convertible that I can take 1-way because it is an Illinois car anyway (Sweet! Review coming). Things start to look up, I get the car (pretty nice) and head off to the Budweiser Brewery.

Brewery tour was quite nice. I suggest it if you are in the St. Louis area and have an hour or so to kill. So far from my experiences in St. Louis this is the only thing I have liked. I am just not a big fan of St. Louis. Bad airport, strange road system plus a lot of other things, but back to the beer. Picked up a nice glass set at the store at a very reasonable $20 (2 glasses, a rubber bar mat, bottle opener plus some other swag). In fact, everything in the store was priced pretty good. Best thing about the tour is you get 2 free 10oz beers at the end. Guide explained that they give you 20oz free because the typical human can have 24oz of beer in 20 mins and still be under the legal BAC limit (thus the 20oz to keep Bud clear of any legal problems). I tried Bud Select and Beach Bum Blonde Ale. Both very good and will be bought again by myself (if I can ever find the Beach Bum stuff).

After the tour I made the 1 1/2 drive out to scenic Fulton, MO. Staying at a hotel near town. I checked my e-mails (I have 13 news one from my customer in South Korea, joy), grabbed so food and then headed out to find Callaway plant so I know how to get there in the morning. Driving through Fulton I see the speed limit change to 30 so I slow down to 30. I then see a 20mph sign with a yellow "School" marking above it. Thinking this must apply only during school hours I stay at 30 mph. After pulling away from a stop sign what (to my delight) comes on in my rear view? Cop Lights! Yeah! The cop comes out and asks why I think he stopped me, I answer that I have no idea and he tells me the speed limit is 20 and he clocked me doing 31 (great). Asks for my license and where in Illinois I am from (Quick side bar, I am in a convertible Mitsubishi Eclipse with the top down, out of state plates and the radio up. In other words a nice target to add some money to the local repaving fund). I tell him it is a rental and that I am from GA and in town to do some work at the Nuke plant. This catches his attention and looks at my license and tells me he is going to check my insurance. At this point I am praying for a warning. Thinking of ways I can argue out of this ect. Officer comes back, hands me my license and tells me to watch the speed limit, it changes quite a bit around town, explains that the school signs are all the time since I just drove through the local college (oh....) and to have a safe trip to the plant tomorrow. Sweet! No ticket, I would like to thank the officer for cutting an out of town southern boy a break. I then pull out into traffic and up to a stop light. Another car pulls along side me with the officer behind him. Light turns green, I turn left, the car next to me goes straight, and the officer follow and turns his lights on to pull the guy over. What for, I have no idea but apparently you had better have everything in order before driving through Fulton, MO (Later on in the night I saw police have 3 other people pulled over!)

So that was my day. Up and down. I am really digging the Eclipse. Plan on using the drop top mode a good bit tomorrow on my trek across the whole state of Missouri. I will post reviews of the Eclipse and the Merc sometime the week. Nite.....