It was late on Saturday afternoon this past weekend as this olelongrooffan was sitting amongst a bunch of cool old cars chatting it up with my coworker about the dismal amount of traffic we have seen over the past month since we started schleping classics cars, our congenial sales manager approached us. “The owner has decided to make some changes and I have been told to release you two guys from our employment.” Yeah, one month in and my career as a classic car salesman has come to a screeching halt. WTF? It sure has been an interesting year for this olelongrooffan. So after spending the evening on Saturday pondering my next move with a bit of the Skye, I could only come to one conclusion as to my immediate next move.


Yeah, my fellow Hoons, is there ever a better time for a mind clearing Road Trip than after losing two fun jobs within a four month period? So this olelongrooffan loaded up my longerroof with my much scaled down possessions and left the city where the Water is Clear on Sunday morning, not really knowing where I was going. As I was traveling up the Eisenhower Interstate System to check in with thehorsefarmer, I rang up thejeepjunkie to check in on tickets for this weekend’s NASCAR parade over at the Daytona International Speedway.

thejeepjunkie mentioned the finite number of tickets he has available for the Firecracker Pepsi Coke Zero 400 may have already been spoken for as theKid is home on leave from the Army and a bunch of his fellow soldiers are in town and would this olelongrooffan mind if one of them used my ticket? Well, needless to say, much like what happened at Sebring and St. Petersburg this year, my longtime race tickets would be going to another family member and That Is Cool By Me. Afterall, thejeepjunkie and I have been attending races together for nearly 20 years. Time to pass along the torch, so to speak.
So we signed off and I got on the horn with BabySisterJoan living up there in the land fellow Hoon Marcal frequents these days. When she was informed of my situation, she mentioned her annual 4th of July party this coming weekend and why don’t I Road Trip it up to attend it for the first time? “Do you think you can make it here by Friday?” Now actually, that is a fair question of this olelongrooffan. 1,143 miles in five days? Yeah, I should be able to make it.
What the hell? No job, no prospects, and a little bit of folding in the pockets of my britches? Why not?

So after visiting thehorsefarmer and thebarngoddess, thehorsefarmer informed me that a trip over to thejeepjunkie’s garage was necessary as he had an even dozen used golf balls for him and I was to play a UPS driver (although in the little blue truck) and deliver those precious golf balls to thejeepjunkie. Yeah, that is them inside that egg carton just below the Halltown sign on thejeepjunkie’s hobby bench.
So let’s see….drive 80 some miles in the opposite direction to deliver some golf course pond retrieved golf balls and see theKid for the first time in a couple years? What is a Road Trip all about anyway?
This olelongrooffan is confident my fellow Hoons know what I did.
So I arrived at thejeepjunkie’s garage and he is sealing up this box for me to transport to Bus_Plunge up there in the Queen City of the Ozarks. Apparently, this box full of stuff has been packed and waiting for nearly two years for just the right time to get it from the World Center of Racing to the Ozark Mountains and this wannabeUPSdriver is gonna deliver that package.

So, thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan rearranged the cargo in my wannabeUPSlongerroof and got that box packaged into it without removing the front seat or the assistance of theKid who arrived home a short time later. I had to capture this image of thejeepjunkie and theKid in beside that old Michigan yellow CJ2A that has provided so many great memories for the three of us.
And trust me, my fellow Hoons, the fact theKid, home from the Army and not even knowing I was heading his way, was wearing this Miss Daisy provided TeeShirt I regifted to him brought an enormous amount of joy to this olelongrooffan.

And spotting this old Mercury in the Birthplace of Speed shortly after departing thejeepjunkie’s garage was an excellent omen for this olelongrooffan’s Unexpected Road Trip Adventure.
My travel route is from Ormond Beach, Florida to Springfield, Missouri with no confirmed route planned, if any of my fellow Hoons have any suggestions for detours or deviations from my route, please feel free to sound off in the comments.
And stay Hooned for more Road Trip adventures this last week in June and first week in July, 2015.
Until then.
Images Copyright Hooniverse 2015/longrooffan