Getting it from OK to AZ was an awesome experience. A buddy of mine was kind enough to accompany me on this rad adventure.
We flew out of Phoenix on Tuesday night, arriving in Oklahoma City at almost 10:00 pm.
Skip picked us up in Frankenstein, which was totally awesome cause before then, I had never ridden in an SRT-4. Really makes me want to put those seats in Blackula, now :3
After a quick dinner at Denny's, we arrived at Skip's place a little after 11:00. Skip is definitely one of the most interesting people I know. He's super easy to get along with. Very relaxed, and has a great eye for detail. He's incredibly knowledgeable about mechanics. An all around great guy! I'm glad i've made a new friend during this whole process.
After talking cars for a couple hours, he set us up in the camper he has in his backyard; which, thankfully stopped the crazy Oklahoma tornado winds from blowing us away to the land of Oz.
In the morning, he signed the title over to me, over some coffee. It seemed a little emotional for him. I know he's going to miss it. He was kind enough to include the letter from Chrysler, stating their release of the lean. Along with the title, I got: Blackula's two and only factory service records(fuel pump and valve cover gasket), a 2002 Dodge accessory catalog(mint condition), three diagnostic manuals(almost mint), the factory build sheet, and the window sticker ^.^
In the trunk, I found the original front brake rotors, springs, front sway bar, and tail lights; as well as a set of socket wrenches, a car duster, and car cover.
Thanks, Skip!Around 10:00 am, we were ready to go after a quick refuel. Skip followed us to the freeway, for one last photoshoot.
We waited until we were just outside of Oklahoma to grab some brunch.
Oklahoma freeways are really poor, and don't treat your car very well. Add that to Blackula's stiff suspension, and we may as well have been traveling across the Savannah. You remember that scene from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, when Ace is bouncing around in the jeep while they're still on the highway? That was us
Texas roads were a little nicer to us, but the scenery was far more boring. In Oklahoma, we had fields of grass and farms to the left and right of us. At least we had something to look at. In Texas, we had nothing. Not a damn thing. I think there were alot of cows. Can't really remember now. Texas is more boring than the Twilight movies. Thankfully we only had to pass through the panhandle, so we made it to New Mexico in no time.
I thought the Texas Panhandle was bad, but we were in no way prepared for how ugly New Mexico was. We had the same views as Texas, except now we had rolling hills. We at least were expecting a great time in Albuquerque. Weird Al makes the place sound so magical. Boy were we disappointed. I don't want to relive the experience of traveling through an unappealing place like that, so i'll just say that we stopped for gas and dinner before hurriedly moving along.
This was the first time i've ever entered Arizona from the north east corner. I wish it hadn't been so dark, because from what I could see, it was beautiful. Tall cliff walls, with exposed red clay. Green trees lining the edge. Bummer it wasn't brighter.
Made getting this picture a royal pain in the butt!
We were warned about a snow storm hitting Flagstaff by the time we would be going through. And sure enough, 20 miles outside of Flag, we started seeing it. 10 miles outside of Flag, we were doing 40 in a 75, using the reflectors in the middle of the road to guide us, because the only thing blue Xenon headlights do in a snow storm is reflect off the snow XP At one point, the reflectors ended, and all we saw infront of us was a wall of white. My friend was driving at the time. We both freaked the hell out though, because the road literally disappeared. We couldn't see anything for a good seven seconds. I've honestly never been more scared in my life. I really thought we were going to die. No road + slip'n'slide = DIE. Thankfully we didn't die. That was fun.
The storm let up a little bit by the time we stopped for gas in Flagstaff. I know this is almost a regular occurance for some of you. But remember, being from Phoenix, I've never driven through a storm like that. So this is new to me.
And poor Blackula. I don't think he's ever seen this kind of abuse before
My fog lights were useless at this point, as they were covered in half an inch of snow. Which really sucked, cause when they weren't covered, they were casting more light than the headlights.
We had been hoping to get some coffee, since we still had about two hours to Phoenix; but with the way the storm was going, it was either push through without coffee, or get stuck in Flagstaff for the night.
Ten miles later, we were doing 30 in a 75, driving in the tire tracks of a semi-truck, 50 feet behind it. Thankfully the truck driver was keeping an even pace, because we followed him like that for the next 50 miles. Must have taken us about two hours to just get out of the storm. That was entertaining. I could feel the car's traction control working, but even with it, we were getting all squirrelly and goosey at times; especially up hill. Fun fun!
Got into Phoenix close to 3:00 am. Took my buddy home, and went to bed.
Travel time was about 18 hours, with two meal breaks and five refuels. Not bad at all!
Averaged about 31 MPG. Keep in mind, we were driving into the wind and uphill most of the way. I'm sure I could have gotten better if conditions were nicer to us.
I've never driven that far before. I would have been able to do it without my friend there, but he made it so much easier. I'm sure it would have taken me several hours longer if he wasn't there to drive half the distance. I really had a good time. Nothing breaks in a new car, like 1100+ miles. It really was a bonding experience for Blackula and myself. I'm looking forward to the next road trip I can take with him.
Already replaced the door speakers(stocks were blown), and had an alarm installed. Though the assholes that did it, didn't do a very clean job, so i'm going to be relocating wires this weekend.
I've replaced the Xenon bulbs with Silverstars, de-badged the trunk(i'm keeping the 2.0 Magnum), and removed the side-moldings.
Next is custom grill inserts(Skip was kind enough to supply me with a sheet of mesh) and shorty antenna from MP.
More pictures
I'm the same...All the bumps I've had over th years I'm surprised that all the bolts haven't all vibrated OFF!!
Sam-I-Am
