Part 4: The Long Journey Home
11/15/07
When we last left our merry band of miscreants, they had just witnessed El Camino Nitrouso's first burnout. Engine builder Bill Weckman was behind the wheel. The rationale was that if he broke it he had to fix it, which certainly made sense to the Burkster (who was bankrolling the project).
After the burnout/shake-down, it was time for Burk to take Nitrouso on the 60-mile cruise from Weckman’s Granite City, Illinois, shop to the Burkster's garage in O'Fallon, Missouri. The band of gypsies loaded up the Dodge Caravan with a few hand tools, put a Canned Heat tape in the eight-track, grabbed a flare gun, several coolers stocked with emergency cocktails, and a map of Missouri. In the meantime, Burk and Chris Martin (AKA The dysfunctional Duo) had the oil changed and the gas tank filled, checked the air in the tires, and kicked them to make sure. We were ready for adventure.
That's when the first glitch occurred. The gas gauge was in-op and the windshield wipers didn't work. Oh well, the sky was clear and besides, the crew had those coolers filled with
emergency rations.
The Dysfunctional Duo pulled the El Camino's seat belts tight and pulled out, followed by Dad Burk and son-in-law Adolfo Araiza in the aptly named Dodge Caravan. As the convoy headed west, I could swear I heard Ward Bond hollering "Wagons Ho!" It must have been that corned beef we had at O'Donnell's Pub just before leaving.
The trip was relatively uneventful, except for stalling out in the tollbooth crossing into Missouri when I accidentally hit the nitrous button. Fortunately, the bottle was turned off, but the gasoline solenoids were still working and flooded the engine. Made a note to fix that.
