(I was keeping this title in my back pocket for a more important post, but what the hell.)
First, to reward y’all for putting up with my grumbling, some road trip finds I haven’t yet posted. All two of them.
Countless years ago I read something by a wise man that said, paraphrased: I ride a motorcycle until I stop being terrified, at which point I sell it.
I don’t know how motorcyclists do it.
If I’m away from the interstate highways for any length of time, like I have been for the last week, getting back on one topless & doorless in fast, heavy traffic is absolutely nerve-wracking.
Especially since I often drive with a crippled roll cage so I can more easily drop the windshield. One screwup like this and I’m in really bad shape.
(Which reminds me, I think it’s time to bite the bullet and install a proper roll cage for the front half of the Jeep.)
The rest of the time, though, I’m bored as hell. Interstates are the absolute worst.
Anyway, just needed to vent a bit.
In happier news, I saw both a Comanche and a modern Gladiator on the road this morning. Neither are common, but all of the other Jeep trucks are so vanishingly rare that seeing another model today is effectively a lost cause.
I also committed to buy a broken XJ, until I discovered the seller had meant to mark it as an automatic. My forlorn quest for a manual SUV continues.
There’s an interesting Cherokee an hour from home for a very reasonable price, but it’s two-wheel drive. Unlike Wranglers, where you’d have to look really hard to find a 2WD vehicle, there are quite a few such XJs out there.
Hoping to see this M715 tomorrow on my way home, but I haven’t heard back from the seller.
And that’s my update from Kernersville, North Carolina. Time to continue the boring/terrifying drive west.
(Update: oh, hey, I just realized I’m done with interstates for the day! And I have my first trip through the Cumberland Gap Tunnel to look forward to. The day’s looking up.)