Author’s Note: So this weekend is Memorial Day weekend here in the good ole USA. Uncle Sam gives us this Monday off in remembrance of fallen members of the US Armed Services. While I am lucky that all three of my older brothers served and lived through it, there are many who did not. So while we are enjoying this day of leisure, remember the reason for this holiday. Thanks to all who served and serve to protect the right to enjoy the many things I do as I Celebrate Life.

Every week in Greg K’s Hooniverse News column, he winds up said column up with “What is your automotive news? Well as this olelongrooffan doesn’t wrench on my stuff much these days, I usually don’t have a lot to comment about in the comments section of those posts. However, that was changed up a couple weeks ago.


My brothers and I know that when a phone call is received by one of us by one of the others and that phone call begins with “Whatcha Doin’ Brother?” means than an interesting automotive excursion is headed into the life of Bus_Plunge, thehorsefarmer, thejeepjunkie or this olelongrooffan. And the phone call I received from Bus_Plunge began much like the ones I initiated with thejeepjunkie what now seems like a lifetime ago. “Whatcha Doin’ Brother?”

My standard answer to this question has always been, “Just cleaning under the hood of my washing machine.” I would suspect my fellow Hoons are wondering just what is the meaning of this response? Years ago, back prior to my Hoonivere or By The Numbers blogging days, when this olelongrooffan was living in SlOcala, Florida, my oldest sister and I bought a house, I renovated it and we put it on the market again. At this time my oldest sister was living in Guam working for a military contractor and would call periodically to ascertain the status of the remodel, even after it was completed. One time, after we had listed this now pristine home on the market, she called late one nite to tell me to make sure the underside of the lid of the washing machine was clean. Seriously, this olelongrooffan can’t make this shit up. But it is now okay as I have a standard answer when that question is asked. “Whatcha Doin’ Brother?”

Now over the years, the “Whatcha Doing Brother?” phone calls have ranged from my getting stuck on the beach in the Birthplace of Speed one day while out looking for chickadees. A carb on my olestationbus decided to stop working over beachside and thejeepjunkie and theKid came out to rescue my sorry ass. Another time some now unidentified relay also decided it had lived a long enough life and it was required thejeepjunkie needed to perform yet another rescue of this olelongrooffan.

This olelongrooffan is not really certain where this “Whatcha Doing’ Brother” intro came from but I suspect it may have been from neighboring farmer Mr. Devine when he saw thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan stuck in the creek in that old M38 years ago and came and rescued our kid butts with some of his draft horses.

Or it could just have easily originated the day thejeepjunkie, theKid and this olelongrooffan Stuck One and Broke The Other. And this olelongrooffan is certain that the “Whatcha Doin’ Brother?” phone call occurred between theKid and thejeepjunkie the day theKid was out Hooning it around in the swamps near the World Center of Racing.

I distinctly remember making that phone call to thejeepjunkie when I tried to replace a plastic collar on the steering column of my olebeaterpickemup truck. Still one of my favorite vehicles of the 80+ I have owned.

So my older brother, Bus_Plunge, and his private RN own this classic old Airstream they completely restored many years back. They tote it around this great country of ours behind that old Burban 2500 peeking out from behind that mirrored beauty often staying out for months on end. The last couple years they have traveled extensively around the Pacific Northwest and out west in general.

However, while out galavanting around the countryside, their cabin down on the shores of Lake Taneycomo has gone neglected. Yeah some of the exterior decks have come loose from their shorings, the screens need replacing and just general maintenance is needed. Thus they decided that this year, that cool ass Airstream would stay parked and they would hang in Rockaway Beach and do a little work on their equally as cool lake cabin.

So anyways, a whiles back Bus_Plunge and his Private RN were toting a small trailer of lumber down from the Queen City of the Ozarks behind a pretty sweet S10 4×4 4 door pickemup truck Bus_Plunge has in his fleet of bowtie trucks. As they were traversing some of those steep hills down in the Ozark Mountains of southwest Missouri, that sweet truck’s motor decided it has done enough work for its lifetime. Thus the “Whatcha Doin’ Brother?” phone call was placed to this olelongrooffan.

And my fellow Hoons, it was one of the best phone calls I have received in some time. Bus_Plunge needed an emergency helping hand and this olelongrooffan was able to fulfill that need for the Bus_Plunge and his Private RN for a change. See they had contacted a neighbor up in the Queen City to the north to hitch up that Big Blue Burban to Bus_Plunge’s flat bed and head on down to the rescue. He then called me to head up from the south and get that trailer to that cabin located in between.

So I headed on up to that church parking lot and Bus_Plunge commenced to hitching up that single axle open trailer, much like the ones this olelongrooffan used to schelp down Daytona way, to my longerroof while I grabbed my image taker to record this moment for posterity. Bus_Plunge looked up at me once and said, “Looks like you got a Hooniverse post.” Do you mind Bus?” “Hell no longroof, I like reading your stuff.” Yeah, he feeds this olelongrooffan’s ego from time to time.

Prior to the neighbor CigarSmokingJack arriving with that flatbed, Bus_Plunge assured me it would be okay if I headed out to perform my share of that rescue. Well, there was no way in hell I was going to leave without seeing that sweet 4×4 loaded on that flatbed and anyway, CigarSmokingJack arrived just a moment later.

Bus_Plunge climbed behind the wheel of that black beauty and rolled it downhill and up onto that oversized flatbed Bus_Plunge scored from thehorsefarmer when he moved to Florida a whiles back.

We then said our goodbyes to each other, hugs all around and we headed back to where we had come.
But don’t worry my fellow Hoons; Bus_Plunge is getting a crate mtor for it and this olelongrooffan spotted this on the way back to the office.

Yeah, once again my fellow Hoons, this olelongrooffan just can’t make this shit up.
Image Copyright Hooniverse 2016/longrooffan