build diary

April 20, 2006: After a fairly easy night of packing and relaxing (not a completely even distribution of the two, but better than might be expected), I dropped the Seven off at a local upholstery shop to have a tonneau cover made for the rear.
Was this a good idea? Good question. I figured the cover would make a big difference, closing off the last mechanical area of the car. It was certainly a risk, leaving the car in the hands of a stranger only hours before my departure. It didn't help when they seemed a little puzzled when I showed up with the car at 8 am. So it was a moment of doubt as I left the shop with my car parked inside.

A few hours later, I got a phone call that the work was done. I jumped in the Jeep - once again, my girlfriend Janel has allowed me to use her precious Grand Cherokee as a beast of burden - and headed over with the trailer. To my great relief, the tonneau looked great. It was exactly what I wanted, closing off the rear nicely without impeding access to my fuel tank and giving the Seven a proper boot.

So, car strapped down and Jeep full of items such as two spare sets of tires, a set of cornerweight scales, an air tank, jack, tools, spare nuts and bolts and even a small Shop Vac, I took off for Texas.

That last sentence does overplay the sense of occasion that remained a few hours later. While I had beautiful weather for my trip over the high Red Mountain Pass, New Mexico proved to be long, flat and dull. The northern section of the state is not a rich area and I felt a little conspicuous. It's not the sort of place you build a little bright orange sports car for the hell of it. More entertaining was the fact that I saw many signs that announced my altitude as 7000'. Always 7000 and always fairly randomly. At one point, I decended a fairly major slope shortly after a 7000' sign and was presented with one that said 6800'. Okay, someone at the New Mexico DOT is playing games.

I stayed with my friends Sam and Carol Sharp in Alberquerque after rolling in fairly late. It might have added a bit of time to my trip, but it's always more pleasant to stay with someone after a long day on the road.

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