Pictorial where did you go in your Stinger today

[Stinger GT SS]

Thanks. I will try and time my bladder and gas tank to match that stop. I have only done this drive twice before and swept right by Clines Corners. I do remember seeing the billboards for it.

That’s funny,the place is good IMHO & as it is in the middle of nowhere you may have to do a bladder & gas stop, it’s worth the look anyway & a good place to add to your pictorial trip.

 

[Ozstung]

Dropbox - MOV07829.MPG
Dropbox - MOV07812.MPG
Dropbox - MOV07810.MPG
Dropbox - MOV07819.MPG
I'm at a humble Travelodge in Albuquerque, at the end of a long day driving. Got away c. seven o'clock this morning, and got Rm 234 at c. five-thirty PM. Out of the c. eleven hundred miles from Salt Lake city to Wichita Falls, TX, where my son lives, I've got just under five hundred miles left to drive tomorrow.

Although I had my camera handy, I wasn't very handy with the picture taking. The video links might convey a bit more of the atmosphere of the drive; but they are very rough too.

I had one very exciting episode on the drive down here. In Utah, at the end of Hwy 6, I picked up a white modified BMW sedan; couldn't tell you which kind because it was debadged; lowered; and with a tuned exhaust that he loved burbling at me. Cheeky bloke! It had dual exhaust so I presume a straight six. I was in the left lane passing him as he loafed behind a semi in the right lane. But as I was about to pass, he gunned it and went around the truck ahead of me. I just kept my cruise speed going. And soon enough I caught up with him again. He had slowed down. I went by with a straight ahead grin on my face (didn't even try to get a look at anybody in the car because it was too heavily tinted for that). Well, he wasn't having any of that. He shot up alongside and went slightly ahead and backed off so I could hear his tune, his music burbling. I let him go. A little while later, after I had interchanged onto I-70 and kicked up my cruise accordingly, here he was again and this time I went by with a good 10 MPH difference. Just in cruise control at 89 MPH. Next thing I know, here he comes flat out up from the rear and accelerating like a fiend. He barely slipped between my front bumper and the tail of a semi I was in the process of closing on to pass. The BMW angled through the narrowing gap and kept going. I latched on: just because he was there. I forgot all my resolve of last fall, not to follow on the tail of performance cars exceeding the speed limit. This was more than exceeding; it was thrashing the speed limit. I looked down and saw 135 (I flipped to the MPH LCD screen when passing things today). Then the BMW put on the brakes and I did likewise and stayed behind. Then I got off at a rest stop and he kept going.

I did the whole drive in Sport mode, using manual shifting. The best MPG leg was this last one: 28.5
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Hey Merlin are you telling me you got up to 135mph? Tell me it ain't so.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Hey Merlin are you telling me you got up to 135mph? Tell me it ain't so.

I did. I'm such a bad boy. It was only for a second or two, then the brakes were on.

Made it to Wichita Falls TX (to my son's house) without fanfare, folderal, mishap or hiccups. Car worked flawlessly. Traffic was light. Road work at an acceptable level and always brief. I got here by c. four-thirty, including the lost hour.

Well, there was one stupid thing: right at the start of the day, before sunup. I checked out of the Travelodge at c. six-thirty and headed up the street, thinking I'd pull into the first grocery store I found. Well! No grocery stores did I find until I'd added another 18 miles or so to my trip. Heh! I saw many nondescript buildings, banks, lodgings aplenty, theaters, eateries galore: went right through what looked like the heart of the old town. Saw quite a few buses, but little traffic. Where were all the people? And, don't people in Albuquerque EAT? Oh, I get it, they eat OUT, not at home; therefore they have no need for grocery stores. Finally I did find one: El Super. A Hispanic supermarket, with English as the second (afterthought) language. It opened at seven. I got the ice, twenty pounds of it, replenished my wife's ice chests and was on my way. (Btw, she flies, and I bring her food, via "ground support": she's vegan and requires a special diet that is ridiculously complex to prepare; she took food enough on the plane for one day, and I brought down a week's worth in the ice chests.)

Today's drive was shorter, but still from c. seven o'clock in the morning to three-thirty actual driving time; but four-thirty because of crossing into Central Time. That happens right on the state line between New Mexico and Texas. There were no adventures today and no horsing around: with nobody "encouraging" me, I tend to behave myself.

I noticed a couple of things: the "Accumulated Info" screen tops out at 99999.9 miles; yeah, I haven't reset it in months. Meanwhile, the average mpg and the total driving time keep going.

The road surface on Hwy 287 in TX is alternating great/quiet and atrocious/screamingly loud. It was so loud that I shut my tunes off. I'd say about a quarter to a third of the distance is like that; the rest is quiet and smooth. I think the loud parts are caused by a rough lay down of gravel over tar.

You can see from the "variety" of my pics that the scenery is about that unvaried across the Great Plains. I did stop at Clines Corners, @Stinger GT SS suggested. The most interesting thing was the steer horns collection on the wall; and these two weird skull carvings. I have no idea.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

I did. I'm such a bad boy. It was only for a second or two, then the brakes were on.

Made it to Wichita Falls TX (to my son's house) without fanfare, folderal, mishap or hiccups. Car worked flawlessly. Traffic was light. Road work at an acceptable level and always brief. I got here by c. four-thirty, including the lost hour.

Well, there was one stupid thing: right at the start of the day, before sunup. I checked out of the Travelodge at c. six-thirty and headed up the street, thinking I'd pull into the first grocery store I found. Well! No grocery stores did I find until I'd added another 18 miles or so to my trip. Heh! I saw many nondescript buildings, banks, lodgings aplenty, theaters, eateries galore: went right through what looked like the heart of the old town. Saw quite a few buses, but little traffic. Where were all the people? And, don't people in Albuquerque EAT? Oh, I get it, they eat OUT, not at home; therefore they have no need for grocery stores. Finally I did find one: El Super. A Hispanic supermarket, with English as the second (afterthought) language. It opened at seven. I got the ice, twenty pounds of it, replenished my wife's ice chests and was on my way. (Btw, she flies, and I bring her food, via "ground support": she's vegan and requires a special diet that is ridiculously complex to prepare; she took food enough on the plane for one day, and I brought down a week's worth in the ice chests.)

Today's drive was shorter, but still from c. seven o'clock in the morning to three-thirty actual driving time; but four-thirty because of crossing into Central Time. That happens right on the state line between New Mexico and Texas. There were no adventures today and no horsing around: with nobody "encouraging" me, I tend to behave myself.

I noticed a couple of things: the "Accumulated Info" screen tops out at 99999.9 miles; yeah, I haven't reset it in months. Meanwhile, the average mpg and the total driving time keep going.

The road surface on Hwy 287 in TX is alternating great/quiet and atrocious/screamingly loud. It was so loud that I shut my tunes off. I'd say about a quarter to a third of the distance is like that; the rest is quiet and smooth. I think the loud parts are caused by a rough lay down of gravel over tar.

You can see from the "variety" of my pics that the scenery is about that unvaried across the Great Plains. I did stop at Clines Corners, @Stinger GT SS suggested. The most interesting thing was the steer horns collection on the wall; and these two weird skull carvings. I have no idea.
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Nice, your pics bring back fond memories of my last trip to the US.
Those masks are a Mexican thing & I apologise that I cannot remember why they are like that, maybe one of our forum members can enlighten us.
Thanks for stopping & sharing that I hope it was enjoyable.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Thanks for stopping & sharing that I hope it was enjoyable.

It was. I was interested in a couple of rude bumper stickers (wouldn't put them on my car, just liked the humor), but they were out of stock; in fact, 95% of their bumper stickers were sold out. I thought I might buy a mug or a baseball cap, but couldn't like anything I saw enough to do that either.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

It was. I was interested in a couple of rude bumper stickers (wouldn't put them on my car, just liked the humor), but they were out of stock; in fact, 95% of their bumper stickers were sold out. I thought I might buy a mug or a baseball cap, but couldn't like anything I saw enough to do that either.

Lol, I bought Route 66 New Mexico T-Shirts

 

[eflyguy]

Those masks are a Mexican thing

"Sugar skulls" associated with the "Day of the dead" - which was falsely glamorized in "Spectre" but has turned into a tourist attraction. Go Hollywood.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Went walking along the Lake Wichita trail this afternoon. But prior to that bit of exercise, I saw that during the night or sometime this morning, my car got bombed by a bird in the tree overhead; it was big enough to leave a splatter of guano larger than a silver dollar on my spoiler (with more offerings on my hatch window and windshield). It was thoroughly dried on. Damnation! It took a good five minutes or more to soften it enough to wipe/pinch it off. Then I angled for a view of the spot in the sunlight, and daaamNATION!!! There was the shape of the guano in my clear coat. I got out Meguiar's buffing compound and rubbed vigorously; three times I did this until I deemed that with a Meg's wax layer over it the abuse would be all but invisible: which it is, except I can still see it if I insist. My wife, even with my pointing directly at it, cannot see anything. And, of course, it passes the "five to six feet away" rule.

The lake is a very pleasant location. I walked out c. half an hour and then back. The "motte" (motte and bailey castles of the early middle ages had wooden castles on the flat tops of just such hills, often artificially thrown up out of the earth obtained by digging a deep trench around what would become the base of the hill, or motte) was visible in the distance and I only got c. halfway to it before turning around. So as I looked across the wetlands, with the hill sticking up against the horizon, I was imagining this as NW Europe along the North Sea or English Channel coastland somewhere. It would definitely pass muster visually.

When we got back I refused to park in my son's driveway anymore. The risk of being on one of the quietest, least traveled subdivision streets I've ever seen, is far less than continuing to park under any trees in these parts. They grow birds big around here. And big birds shit big all over your car, usually from perches in trees. So the neighbors across the street now have a view of my car out their front windows. And I can see her from my guestroom window.

 

[Ozstung]

Looks flat like the fens of East Anglia in eastern England. Did you spy any Saxons or Norseman?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Looks flat like the fens of East Anglia in eastern England. Did you spy any Saxons or Norseman?

I see those dudes everywhere. Probably a metaphysical thing: they live on in my cells.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Dropbox - MOV07860.MPG No bird shit! And I get a free "car wash". This'll get off the tree pollen too.

My car wash just got better: Dropbox - MOV07861.MPG

"How much longer is this going to go on? I mean, it's just really on and on and on, Sonny. Now don't just sit t-, good, simple question: I say, what year did Cardinal Richelieu die? 1642. That's the sort of, interchange we should be having. Not these, strange rambling expirations of your unconscious. Now, come along, Sonny …"

 

[eflyguy]

Gave my daughter some private coaching on performance driving up in the hills. She is a great driver already, and we had a blast.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Gave my daughter some private coaching on performance driving up in the hills. She is a great driver already, and we had a blast.

Love the second shot outside the old store, that’s a winner for next years calendar.

 

[eljay]

Nice, your pics bring back fond memories of my last trip to the US.
Those masks are a Mexican thing & I apologise that I cannot remember why they are like that, maybe one of our forum members can enlighten us.

I haven't studied it, so I don't know how enlightening I am, but the skull imagery goes back to the indigenous people of Mexico, including the Aztecs, and up through folk and professional art currently—a reminder of mortality, I assume. It's really common in the American Southwest. You can rarely walk into a Mexican restaurant in my area (cities east of Downtown Los Angeles along Whittier Blvd. and up through the San Gabriel Valley) without finding skull art somewhere, and shops locally sell a lot of skull-themed art and tschotskes. One of my friends has often celebrated Dia de los Muertos/Halloween by dressing as Frida Kahlo in skull face make-up. (It was really freaky to walk into her classroom and see her teaching something like Thoreau's Walden in her Advanced Placement American Lit class tricked out like that.)

 

[Stinger GT SS]

I haven't studied it, so I don't know how enlightening I am, but the skull imagery goes back to the indigenous people of Mexico, including the Aztecs, and up through folk and professional art currently—a reminder of mortality, I assume. It's really common in the American Southwest. You can rarely walk into a Mexican restaurant in my area (cities east of Downtown Los Angeles along Whittier Blvd. and up through the San Gabriel Valley) without finding skull art somewhere, and shops locally sell a lot of skull-themed art and tschotskes. One of my friends has often celebrated Dia de los Muertos/Halloween by dressing as Frida Kahlo in skull face make-up. (It was really freaky to walk into her classroom and see her teaching something like Thoreau's Walden in her Advanced Placement American Lit class tricked out like that.)

Interesting, we also saw a lot of this art in Santa Fe NM, we actual bought a tile of a couple of “skeletons” in wedding attire as a gift for my friends daughter who is right into this stuff.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Last day here. Went for a walk out to the hill and climbed it for a look around. Took pics with my cellphone sideways (to reduce the number of pics to do a 360 view). That ended up being a waste as far as creating a panoramic view went: because (duh) the edges to "stitch" were on top of each pic. I hadn't thought of that. Anyway, I'll upload all eleven pics from the top of the hill. Enjoy how flat Texas is. I get lost (turned around) here: I can't judge how far I've driven in a given direction, or even which direction. It's too flat. There are no geographical features to orient on. I'll be glad to get back to the mountains.


Here are a few more perspectives around the hill and along the lake shore. Notice the splash. I see trouble ahead from the wind swept high water eroding the lake edge right up to the path. It's almost there already.


And here are four videos; one of the lake doing its eroding thing; and three of the spillway, which two days ago was bone dry, and the channel/canal was also except for a tiny little marshy puddle-pond near the base of the spillway.
Dropbox - VID_20190415_173125.mp4
Dropbox - VID_20190415_181039.mp4
Dropbox - VID_20190415_181200.mp4
Dropbox - VID_20190415_181404.mp4

And the Stinger and the waxing moon.

 

[Ozstung]

Last day here. Went for a walk out to the hill and climbed it for a look around. Took pics with my cellphone sideways (to reduce the number of pics to do a 360 view). That ended up being a waste as far as creating a panoramic view went: because (duh) the edges to "stitch" were on top of each pic. I hadn't thought of that. Anyway, I'll upload all eleven pics from the top of the hill. Enjoy how flat Texas is. I get lost (turned around) here: I can't judge how far I've driven in a given direction, or even which direction. It's too flat. There are no geographical features to orient on. I'll be glad to get back to the mountains.
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Here are a few more perspectives around the hill and along the lake shore. Notice the splash. I see trouble ahead from the wind swept high water eroding the lake edge right up to the path. It's almost there already.
View attachment 22892 View attachment 22894 View attachment 22895 View attachment 22896 View attachment 22897 View attachment 22898

And here are four videos; one of the lake doing its eroding thing; and three of the spillway, which two days ago was bone dry, and the channel/canal was also except for a tiny little marshy puddle-pond near the base of the spillway.
Dropbox - VID_20190415_173125.mp4
Dropbox - VID_20190415_181039.mp4
Dropbox - VID_20190415_181200.mp4
Dropbox - VID_20190415_181404.mp4

And the Stinger and the waxing moon.
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Was that a Viking burial mound in picture #16?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Was that a Viking burial mound in picture #16?

That, is the hill; the "motte" referred to earlier (if it had a wooden castle on it, that is).

 

[MerlintheMad]

Drive home took all day and well into the night: I was on the road at Wichita Falls, TX by c. six o'clock Utah time; and pulled into my driveway at c. 11:30 PM. My original intention was to stop at Moab and get a room. Heh! Some "four wheeler convention" was staking claim to every reasonably priced motel, and what was left was ridiculous; e.g. "We only have a single king left, and after tax it is one hundred and forty-five dollars, sir." I said that prices like that made me feel like pressing on (with all due dispatch! ) (the distance remaining was under 300 miles; but this conversation took place near sundown). Suiting action to words, that is what I did. Moab to West Jordan was all in the dark; and the rain; my Stinger looks like crap; that's the dirtiest it has ever been. It's relative, I know: an Aurora Black with that much spray dried all over it would look gray. Silky Silver, already "gray", hides a lot. But not from me!


Early in the afternoon, I stopped at Clines Corners for gas and to eat a Subway Sandwich. One of the several "door greeters" said "How!" as I left.


Hwy 6 (or, N. 191) was a dicey drive in the dark, especially when I came up on 18 wheelers throwing out clouds of road spray. The visibility (in the dark already) turned into a jostling bubble of mist. When a passing lane would come up, I'd press by on the left and voila! Clear air! A few times I got disoriented in the dark and the gleam of the wet roads; the lines were hard to see; and I'd find myself bending down into an exit lane: once I had to stop and turn back up and wait for traffic to go by so I could get back out on the highway. When I cleared Spanish Fork canyon, my ordeal was over and the relaxation almost undid me. As I was getting on the freeway the onramp, for some (still) mystifying reason "shifted" in my vision and I had to yank my car hard to the right to avoid the barrier ahead!? I knew, then, that I was "driving drunk": for the maxim goes: "driving sleep deprived has the same effect on your nervous system as driving drunk." I never did get drowsy: that's the strange feeling part: I knew that I was just shy of the hallucinating stage: but my judgment was impaired. I went sailing with the cruise control at 79 through a section of freeway switchbacks where they are working on it. I left everyone behind. But it was not intentional. I had forgotten that "70" was reduced at that section to "55"; and here I was doing almost 80. (Confession is good.) I wouldn't do that again. But the Stinger was up for it. The Eibach rear sway bar kept the back end from floating around and my rapid left and right cornering was buttoned down very nicely. (Btw, I determined near the beginning of Spanish Fork canyon, that driving a twisting canyon in the dark with cruise control is not the best choice. I could feel the road much better with the gas pedal, especially with the added rainy conditions.)

Shiprock, NM; you can see the eponymous rock feature in the distance (I mistimed the pic; waiting till the intersection just ten seconds later would have been an awesome pic; oh, well):


Entering CO, I noticed, for the first time, that the southern portion of the highway is "the devil's highway", heheh:


The westering sun got oppressive to the eyes so I swung my visor over there, and thought my little mod to the airbag warning label would make a good pic. So, a "Stinger selfie" (no Aussie sexual innuendo jokes; there, I have forestalled all you all ):


Approaching that cool "chimney" rock (a better traveler than I would scrounge up or notice the actual name):


Off in the distance is a very prominent Colorado peak covered in snow. I'm deducing (after a Google Maps search) that this is Lone Cone Peak:


Approaching Monticello: on US 491:

 

[Ozstung]

Driving at night out of city and surbubia here is very risky, hitting Kangaroos and wombats are very common.

Im doing a 4 day trip to the southern part of the state to a town i have never been to for a bit of a holiday and site seeing. Its going to be a 7 hour drive from Sydney.
I will incorporate a Stinger count tally along with the customary road kill count. Last trip was enormous including many feral foxes. If you hit a big grey or red kangaroo you stay hit.