Grizz's Redneck Express 1966 Chevy Short Fleetside RESTO-GO!

[aggie91]

Looking forward to updates on your American adventures again this year.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Looking forward to updates on your American adventures again this year.

So am I my friend, so am I.

So ready for this.

[Grizz1963]

Progress is slow due to extreme heat at Dennis’ with the replica gas station, but progress is progress.

Inner under floor went down today, working alone, I think it is a tough job.



All done.

Next will be laying the inch thick oak flooring over this lot.



Outside closed up too.

There will be a door fitted in the rear wall once we get back from the road trip.



Last night we had a change of guard.

Steve the contractors last night after 20weeks living here, he is off to America with the family for four weeks, then back to another contract, up north, not here.

So we had a few beers and a lovely Thai green chicken curry dinner that Joy had cooked for us.



Caleb, the house and cat sitter from Missouri had arrived too.



Weirdly, the Ginger Whinger was in attendance all evening too.



And it got worse.....l



This morning I went out to my last Bootfair for the year, hoping for some bargains and useless stuff....

When I got back at 9.30 Caleb was downstairs working on his Thesis write up, and Dukey had moved in, this is a good thing because Dukey is the scared, nervous one.



I think that when I leave, the cats are going to be in great hands.

[Palf70Step]

Looking forward to your trip over here. Hope we get to meet up while you are down this way.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Looking forward to your trip over here. Hope we get to meet up while you are down this way.

That would be rather awesome.

[Indian113]

Rian, sounds like your going to have a very busy schedule in the States! Do you have your Plans all worked out because I have to get the Beer on Ice

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Indian113

Rian, sounds like your going to have a very busy schedule in the States! Do you have your Plans all worked out because I have to get the Beer on Ice

We need to be back by 4pm on 13th Sept at the latest.
Not sure if we will travel up on Labour day Monday or spend with Dennis’ family or head up Tuesday and be back Wednesday or Thursday.

So much to do, but Monroe will be a turning point.

[Grizz1963]

Back to Saturday, my first day of vacation.
Decided to go out on the motorbike as I needed to drop a bag of work clothes at MIND the charity I support with anything moveable from my house and parking a motorbike is easier than a car and free in Rochester.



Headed into Charles Dickens territory.......



Had some chips. Got to have some chips from the Gordon Hotel Chippy.



Art......



Look closely.



Mouse house?



Deaf cat.



Alms house





See how low door is.



Charity shop bounty.





I had asked Dennis if anyone wanted or needed anything from here when we headed over, only Debbie asked for some Werthers Butter Mints, so I thought going to Morrisons would solve that one easily.
Ooopps, nope, none in stock. Next shop again failed, thenmoff to no 3 shop and success, bought all their stock of 11 packets, customs will think I am mad for sure.



Morrison’s had a reasonable offer on beers, but I only had the bike



Priorities, Right??



Beers, a hot roast chicken, three large packs of crisps and some cat treats in the top box.
Butter Mint Werther's that we’re at no other shops, 11 packs, tied on top.



Then headed home.

[Grizz1963]

Well.....

Two days of Bootfairs over a long weekend, meant threee bites of or at the cherry.

Rain threatened play for Sunday, but I managed to go to two Bootfairs, and Monday saw another one happen on a different field as they have to move around.

Sunday first blood was a simple 50p useless ornamental tin cup.



Then the writing on the wall (plate)



Love these designs, have one of Noah’s Ark as well.



Then my biggest spend, and nicest purchase of the year, real vintage car roof rack, wooden slats and clamps intact, no rubber feet as they were rotten according to seller. Much more than Imwould ever want to spend but it needed to be rescued.
Plan is to either sell it on for the right money, or mount on my wall in the lounge and to hang random Road trip items from it.
Kind of 3D picture.





The rest of the Bootfairs were pale in comparisson to this find, but I got some CD’s for 50p
Two baby books for the guest bathroom for 50p each, look closely, they go with the Zombie and Wife editions recently purchased.

Also two “Mecanno” models, one for me and car for @CraigRK



Then the second Bootfair for Sunday delivered some fun and some stuff for a friend who is heavily into Steampunk, as well as a new scarf for Joy that still had price tag attached, which was significantly more than the £1.00 that I paid for it.
The black boobs out corset was £2.00 and the black steel ribbed one was £3.00 so friend Dawn was pleased as anything as she says they cost a lot more than that in the shops or at shows.
Lastly a pair of Troll hair bands....... FREE because the lady selling a whole tray of new ones of them saw me laughing and just enjoying seeing them, they will go to Dennis’ grand daughter.






Back in a bit with Monday’s finds, for those still around and actually looking at this madness.

[Grizz1963]

Monday Bootfair first blood went to @CraigRK with a £5.00 vintage Coca Cola mirror for his BBQ area that has a Coca Cola and American Diner theme.



Next his daughter won a prize......
Two large Hello Kitty cushion dolls for £1.50 each, again, crazy money to buy new, these seemed untouched and came from a very clean stall. Trust me, some stalls have mugs for sale that literally have not been washed after being used. Crazy yes, I just keep on by past them.



Bought some more random stuff, including a very large Snail Brand wrench for 50p and a Radley makeup mirror for a friend for 50p

Then from a very clean stall, a load of DVD’s and some CD’s for Joy and myself.

All 5 series of Breaking Bad, for winter viewing, as I have never watched it. £10.00 for the lot, happy with the price.
Deadpool, May be my favourite ever super hero £1.00 as Joy never saw it.
5 disc collection £1.00
Three CD’s for £1.00 of which two are forJoy.




I kept my buy of the day for last.........

It was my first buy, possibly 5 minutes after getting to the Bootfair, and at the end where people park up to display and put their stuff out.
As it cam out the van, I asked how much, thinking between £10.00 and £20.00 would be the price as they were traders...... and Samsonite is known to be good..... the case also has a TSA combination lock fitted, necessary for USA travel, so border agents can open and inspect contents if suspect, unlike into South Africa where your bags get opened to relieve them of valuable contents.

I asked the seller to take the photo as I wanted to show Craig as my newly purchased hard shell cases have been broken the last two years, last year the zipper got torn open and I lost stuff and the year before, they managed to break the one corner and wheel off my bag.

Seller said £3.00 when I asked and her husband said £5.00 so she settled on £4.00 or $5.00 or R70.00

Bit of a bargain, included lock combination.



Got it home and used some Cif/Handy Andy Amonia based scoring agent plus a scrubbing brush to clean it.

Weirdly the outside looked like it had been dragged through a muddy field by a tractor driven by a drunk farmer and the inside was immaculate, with no smells......






Once hosed down, allowed it to dry, then used a bit of furniture polish to buff it up......

And there you go, ready for a Road trip.

This case is perfect for bringing back spares for the truck, or stuff Craig may find for his four vehicles.

[Palf70Step]

Nice haul Rian. I would think your parts suitcase needs to be MUCH bigger

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice haul Rian. I would think your parts suitcase needs to be MUCH bigger

Container size ??



Grizz, Craig and Dennis’s 2018 Humdinger of a USA Roadtrip


So, what do you do after an absolutely awesome American road trip in 2017 where I managed to break a Dodge Hemi Challenger before the owners 60th surprise birthday party?

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...d-small-update

Which had followed the first trip to meet Dennis and a first trip using his Dodge in 2016

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...2016-best-trip

Which had of course come about as a result of my first road trip to America when mate Martin and I had flown into Texas and got to get in at Gas Monkey garage and a load of other amazing peoples garages.

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...chevy-roadtrip

This is the fourth time I am headed back to the USA, third time to St Louis, Missouri to see Dennis and Debbie and the rest of what has become my extended family in America and if you are able to arrange for an American Masters student in infectious diseases, (From Republic, Missouri, just up the road from Dennis) writing up his dissertation on Malaria to come live in your house and look after the cats etc for a month.........

As Steve the lodger from the last 20 weeks leaves........



This was made possible by my boss awarding me a small performance bonus for 2017, which I am thankful for that covered the airfare and car parking at Heathrow, and Craig’s lovely wife Lorraine allowing him to take time off and head out with me, leaving her to manage the kids and home, of course it will cost him....... after my brother in South Africa declined my offer of a free holiday.

When I let Dennis know we were going to darken his doorstep again, he said it was all good, as have many other friends and strangers in the USA who have reached out and offered us a lot of hospitality.

Dennis also chose to join Craig and I on the first week of the road trip, leaving Debbie at home to look after things.

Meet the contestants......

One clown called Craig.



Trying to spin many plates.



Craig’s interest is very wide, as is his experience in cars, having grown up on the shop floor of his parents’ VW garage.
His current cars all resemble each other, threads below.

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...an-inspiration

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...p-electrifying

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...suburban-again


Dennis The Terminator

Needs no introduction, all round amazingly nice guy.




My $5.00 bootfair bargain to carry spares back.....

Ready to travel




First leg on Saturday 1st September will be a long stretch from Missouri to New Orleans, including Tennessee, Louisiana.
After that there is Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and many more including Iowa, Illinois etc.

This year will be a high mileage trip again.

I hope we get to meet other members from various forums along the way.

So this is the macro plan. Keep in mind, not one of us sticks to a plan..... so diversions and changes are due to happen all the way. There is a lot more than what is on the maps, and more detours for week two, still to be created and posted up.





Counting down now........



A cooler full of beer on the back seat, Johnny Cash in the head unit and three reprobates in a big ass rental car, what could possibly go wrong?

Hold my beer and watch this.

Who else is on board?



RIGHT ALL....

THIS IS THE LINK TO THE THREAD AS IT WILL BE RUN ON RETRO RIDES. PLEASE CLICK AND FOLLOW ON THERE.


http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/...2018-humdinger



ENJOY.

[Grizz1963]

My back has been playing up more and more since December when my legs gave way under me.

Started under a physiotherapist two weeks ago, last week she did some Acupuncture which really seemed to work. But by Friday morning my back was killing me again, so I called for an appointment with her, got told, nothing available, so decided to just ride it out to October when my next appointment is booked.
On Tuesday at 12.30 I got a call from them that there was a cancellation at 4.30 was I interested, of course.
I needed her to try manage this back so that I could handle the 24 hours we will be awake and on the go (I do not sleep or fit very well in planes, so keep moving the whole flight) so more acupuncture and some gentle manipulation of my spine was needed.

She did this exceptionally well.

I fell asleep on the bed......



After physio I went to see Joy and take Wyzz for a walk.
Followed by dinner, thankfully they both were happy to see me as it will be a few weeks of not seeing each other.



Amazing dinner deal, two main courses, and two pint drinks £13.60



As I was still hurting, I left early and was in bed by 10.00pm with a drink, preparing for the road trip.

Discovered Mountain Dew last year..... pure poison, just as I love it.

Think Rednecks and Hillbilly’s.



Had a conversation with Caleb the cat sitter this morning.........



Lastly, went to town for various things today, including banking and mobile phone shop, plus late lunch with Joy.

Found a £3.00 “Bolt on” for the mobile phone that allows me a lot of telephone time, using my data allowance in the USA dropping the call cost right down from the historical rip off costs.


@CraigRK and I are also going to test out some other cost saving technology while we are travelling

More about that later.




I will start to pack my bag soon.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by Grumblebum

lol they are already asking about Kelly over on retro rides

have fun

GB

edit: kelly

What are they asking??

She wants to know........

Originally Posted by 03.

Good score on the boot sales well done:thumbup:
Enjoy your USA trip, give my regards to Rogers AR. spent many weeks there on my USA road trips, you friends in Arkansas will know where I mean it's only a short drive from them! :beer:

Absolutely plan on just that..... having fun.

[Grizz1963]

Craig’s last task was getting his driving permit.....

After all, why miss out on all the fun, despite our British driving licenses being valid in the USA, this makes life a lot easier.



Last view of his desk for two weeks.



Last time down this hole too.




Technology is amazing.

Hanna and Adam, Dennis’ son and his partner over here in Europe this week.

Greetings from Venice....




On their way home.



Beat us to it.

707 bhp will do that.



So packing was a chore, had to remove my security assessor repeatedly from the case, she was not happy.



Got to sleep around 10.30 in the end.

Alarm changed to 03.45 to get going.




Picked up Craig at Stupid-0-Clock to go to the airport. He was way too smiley for someone who was still picking up kids at 11.30pm and got to bed after midnight.

Let’s see how good he looks by bedtime tonight.



The Road Trip has now started in earnest. And soon as we have collected Dennis, you will need to strap into your seats.

Checked though security, having breakfast in executive lounge.

Life is Good.

[Grizz1963]

HALLO TO ROADKILL

Headed out.




Sh!t just got real.

[realvc]

What? It is already Rian time again for the USA?

Sounds like you have a very full schedule again this year.
Enjoy the journey have a safe trip.

[Palf70Step]

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by realvc

What? It is already Rian time again for the USA?

Sounds like you have a very full schedule again this year.
Enjoy the journey have a safe trip.

Thank you Vince.

Very full, and we will be missing many people.

Guess a three way team means more teamwork.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Indeeed Bill.




Been a bit busy, as always.

Our flight from Heathrow to Chicago on British Airways was uneventful, but I have to say that staff on the flight were exceptional in the way they managed all the passengers.

Eventually made it to Chicago.



We got to St Louis by 16.15 and then collected our baggage and went outside, Dennis was there within minutes to pick us up, a case of cold beers along for us.



Traffic on the motorway was a bit rubbish, so we went to Rogers first for a beer and chat.

His wife Debbie was on hand to feed us his home made smoked sausage and beer.

Fun girl.



Off to fetch more snacks.



Then we went off with Roger in his favourite truck..... along with Spotless, his gun dog.





One of the many tractors Roger owns that Dennis painted for him.



Then a nice ride around the property on the back of the truck.



Back at Dennis’ place, relaxing on the deck of his replica gas station.

Things were headed along as they always do, friends who are closer than family.



We carried on till about 10.30 USA time before we went to bed, 24hours straight awake.

I slept till 03.00 and Craig got up an hour later.

He may have slept a few more hours later in the morning, lucky guy.

[Grizz1963]

A few beers later, Dennis went to fetch the Cevelle to take Craig for a run down the dirt roads, a-la Dukes of Hazzard.

The silly grin on both their faces was testament to the fact they had a lot of fun.





Video of Rogers Hit and Miss John Deere tractor.

https://youtu.be/CMEKB_LJBqo

For some reason, Cinch is often by my feet.



Anywat, to bed at 10.30 and typically I woke by 03.00 so a bit tired.

So I crushed beer cans to take with to Oklahoma. Details later.



After that I went to see what Adam was up to..... plumbing for his new house



After that I came in as Debbie had made us her bacon and eggs.





After this, Craig and I headed to Walmart......l



Gas prices are good for a road trip.





Bed time now, it is 04.00 in the U.K.

It gets better soon.

[Grizz1963]

Craig getting his Redneck Cherry popped.......


This was a real case of HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS.

Dennis decided as the sun went down to get the Chevelle started.


Click link.

Grizz Craig Dennis Road Trip. - YouTube

The smiles on Craigs face was worth the flight here and back over and over.

Things that make life good.

[Grizz1963]

A slightly out of sync entry.

Copied from Craig’s post on Retro Rides.


Grizz is busily working through getting you all a proper update, in the meantime though, an interlude from me.

Who needs Uber when you have 700-odd bhp at your disposal.


Thanks to Adam Jones for letting me use his Hellcat! What a beast!!


Adam put this out for us to use for the day.......

My first view walking out the house.







Good Morning Mr Hellcat.





And headed out to the motorway.



Over at Walmart we parked away from the other shopper’ cars to prevent door dents etc.




This.....



Is the life.


I am formally in love or is that lust?






Next........

[Grizz1963]

Just pulled this post from Retro Rides to keep you all updated.

Thanks to our Majestifi.com sponsor.


[quote author="@craigrk" source="/post/2443500/thread" timestamp="1535823577"]

[quote author="@hotrodder" source="/post/2443457/thread" timestamp="1535808783"]...live updates "from the road less traveled" by Grizz and Craig. What about him,totally blown away i guess since being so quiet?[/quote][br]

I’m still here. A bit of an observer, so less likely to give big updates! Enjoying watching from the back seat on I55...


[br][/quote][br]


Oh dear, looks like I distracted the driver......

We had just stopped at the “Welcome to Arkansas” roadside rest area 10 minutes ago.

Back on the road Dennis was calling his buddy from New Orleans who is out in the mountains near Nevada.
Completely distracted we were all having a 4 way conversation and the speed crept up.

Next thing Dennis just said “OHHH CR@P I JUST GOT A TICKET” When a Police car in the oncoming lanes of the I-55 turned and followed us. Sensibly he pulled over instantly and waited.
When the State Trooper got to the passenger window and leaned in (thick muscular arms in evidence and hat squarely on his head) he asked Dennis if he knew what speed he was going. Dennis in typical honest style said “Too Fast?” To which the trooper replied “Yes Sir, 87mph”

Then the whole license etc dance followed and Dennis told the Trooper he was taking his English buddies on a road trip to see some of the country. Grizz and I joined in in the conversation, Grizz typically pulled out his phone to show the trooper some photos to support the story.

The Trooper then asked Dennis to sit still while he went to check his details in the patrol car to see if he was wanted.
Bloody Grizz already was planning his next move and when the trooper came back asked if he would hold Dennis up against the car for an arrest photo. The balls of the man.
Trooper declined the photo opportunity and told Dennis to slow down and travel safe.
At this point Grizz piped up again to ask if he could at least take a pic of the patrol car behind our rental.
Trooper agreed and Grizz got out, thanking him for letting us off and then shaking Grizz’S hand. What a LEGEND GRIZZ !!

After the photo opportunity we got back on the road, Speedocruise control set at a sensible pace.

We now have 5 more states to go.

Let’s see if we can get Dennis Tazered before we get home.




Grizz’S bloody cheeky photo of us pulled over on I-55



So.........

What will happen next on the live updates sponsored by Majesti-fi

[69 C10 LWB]

Welcome to St Louis, don’t forget the key to enjoying time here is to stay away from the city.

[Grizz1963]

Originally Posted by 69 C10 LWB

Welcome to St Louis, don’t forget the key to enjoying time here is to stay away from the city.

LOL.

Dennis knows the city and told us the same thing.

He grew up in O’Fallon and had a misspent youth.

So I am happy to listen to him.