Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
From 1974 through 1984 Charles Bronson starred in a series of movies called DEATH WISH.
I think that if he ever does another film entitled DEATH WISH 6, it could be about him and I hauling another vehicle across state lines.
Thursday started out foggy and rainy. It was strange because the wind was blowing too. Normally I would have expected the wind to have cleared the fog. The temperature was hovering around 40' when we left. The p.o.s. Ford is underpowered. It's suspension is way to light. - It has no heater or defroster.
The right rear trailer tire has a slow leak. I don't know why but it seems to eat valve stems. I aired it up before we left and hoped for the best. It usually stays up for a day or two.
That Challenger is very heavy. It's the heaviest vehicle I've hauled so far. The back of the truck sagged pretty low to the ground and I felt as though I was going to need a whip to get it to pull the load.
Without a working defroster the windshield fogged over and kept fogging over. We had taken along some towels that we used to wipe it off but it was a constant battle. Luckily I had purchased a small 12 volt electric heater this winter. It didn't do a lot of good on top of the dash but it did provide a tiny unobstructed view of the road ahead. It definitely did NOT heat the inside of the truck.
The road was rain slick and having so much weight on the truck's rear bumper meant that there was quite a bit less on the front. With a crosswind blowing the truck felt squirrelly above 55 mph. I need to extend the trailer tongue at least 3 foot longer.
I had tossed a couple of blankets inside the Ford before we left. I thought I could bundle up and catch some shut eye when I switched off driving with Spencer. As it turned out we used them over our laps to try and stay warm. - We never actually felt anything close to warm but it was better than nothing. My feet suffered the most. To reduce the steaminess of the windshield we cracked our side windows open. It helped visibility but made it even colder inside.
What should have been a 3 hour trip ran us closer to 5 hours. The Ford just didn't want to maintain highway speed on the hills.
We made it without major incidents although I still say that there is something wrong with Iowa drivers. I saw a Prius try to change lanes into the side of a semi truck. Sure, he did use his turn signal but he was lucky the truck driver was willing to drive onto the road shoulder. I guess that truck driver doesn't hate Prius's as much as I do.
When we got to Des Moines we unloaded the Challenger and got the Jeep ready to take it's place. It hadn't been started in almost a year. The battery was dead. We thought we'd try pushing it onto the trailer. Things were going pretty good until I slipped and fell while pushing. The Jeep was half way onto the trailer so I kept my arms outstretched as I went to the ground. That's when the pain hit. Apparently I tore the rotator cup in my left shoulder. I'd never done that before and I hope I never will again. I hollered at the boys that I couldn't push anymore as I lay on the rain soaked blacktop. Fortunately they had enough momentum to get the Jeep the rest of the way up. - Otherwise it probably would have come rolling back and (at the time) I couldn't move out of the way.
I had to have them ratchet it down because I couldn't use my one arm. I actually thought I'd dislocated it at first but when I grabbed it - it was still where it was supposed to be.
The only other concern we had were the streets themselves. The part of Des Moines we were in is full of pot holes.
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From 1974 through 1984 Charles Bronson starred in a series of movies called DEATH WISH.
I think that if he ever does another film entitled DEATH WISH 6, it could be about him and I hauling another vehicle across state lines.
Thursday started out foggy and rainy. It was strange because the wind was blowing too. Normally I would have expected the wind to have cleared the fog. The temperature was hovering around 40' when we left. The p.o.s. Ford is underpowered. It's suspension is way to light. - It has no heater or defroster.
The right rear trailer tire has a slow leak. I don't know why but it seems to eat valve stems. I aired it up before we left and hoped for the best. It usually stays up for a day or two.
That Challenger is very heavy. It's the heaviest vehicle I've hauled so far. The back of the truck sagged pretty low to the ground and I felt as though I was going to need a whip to get it to pull the load.
Without a working defroster the windshield fogged over and kept fogging over. We had taken along some towels that we used to wipe it off but it was a constant battle. Luckily I had purchased a small 12 volt electric heater this winter. It didn't do a lot of good on top of the dash but it did provide a tiny unobstructed view of the road ahead. It definitely did NOT heat the inside of the truck.
The road was rain slick and having so much weight on the truck's rear bumper meant that there was quite a bit less on the front. With a crosswind blowing the truck felt squirrelly above 55 mph. I need to extend the trailer tongue at least 3 foot longer.
I had tossed a couple of blankets inside the Ford before we left. I thought I could bundle up and catch some shut eye when I switched off driving with Spencer. As it turned out we used them over our laps to try and stay warm. - We never actually felt anything close to warm but it was better than nothing. My feet suffered the most. To reduce the steaminess of the windshield we cracked our side windows open. It helped visibility but made it even colder inside.
What should have been a 3 hour trip ran us closer to 5 hours. The Ford just didn't want to maintain highway speed on the hills.
We made it without major incidents although I still say that there is something wrong with Iowa drivers. I saw a Prius try to change lanes into the side of a semi truck. Sure, he did use his turn signal but he was lucky the truck driver was willing to drive onto the road shoulder. I guess that truck driver doesn't hate Prius's as much as I do.
When we got to Des Moines we unloaded the Challenger and got the Jeep ready to take it's place. It hadn't been started in almost a year. The battery was dead. We thought we'd try pushing it onto the trailer. Things were going pretty good until I slipped and fell while pushing. The Jeep was half way onto the trailer so I kept my arms outstretched as I went to the ground. That's when the pain hit. Apparently I tore the rotator cup in my left shoulder. I'd never done that before and I hope I never will again. I hollered at the boys that I couldn't push anymore as I lay on the rain soaked blacktop. Fortunately they had enough momentum to get the Jeep the rest of the way up. - Otherwise it probably would have come rolling back and (at the time) I couldn't move out of the way.
I had to have them ratchet it down because I couldn't use my one arm. I actually thought I'd dislocated it at first but when I grabbed it - it was still where it was supposed to be.
The only other concern we had were the streets themselves. The part of Des Moines we were in is full of pot holes.
View attachment death-wish-1-2-3-4-5-i-ii-iii-iv-v-poster-posters-charles-bronson.jpg
View attachment foggy-road-road-to-nowhere-reduced-w-sig.jpg
View attachment 14.jpg
View attachment 1-3-frostbite-istock.jpg
View attachment demotivational-poster-16266.jpg
View attachment images.jpg
View attachment GIF-driving-frightened-jaw-drop-OMG-scared-The-Simpsons-GIF.jpg
View attachment 10440685_10152750718188464_5554809198597664316_n.jpg
View attachment holey-smoke-car-disappears-sinkhole.jpg
View attachment omg.jpg
