On the way to Batavia

[Reatta Man]

Man,

YOU GUYS are TRUE Buick lovers! Thanks for the stories. Hope they make it into the Bugle.

As long as no one was hurt, the stories are great fun to read. Almost makes me glad I had to work last week.

Thansk for sharing your adventures.

Joe

[Guest imported_MrEarl]

A bad day broke down on the road in a Buick is better than a good day at work.

[Bill Stoneberg]

I made it home in my Ford rent a car. 2300 miles in 33.5 hours of actual driving. Worked out for an average of ~63 mph. That includes time spent in time in line at Burger King.

I too caught rain all day yesterday not so much today. After driving through Kentucky and Tennesee, the Gulf coast of Texas sure is flat.

Dee said she knew we were close to home when we stopped for Tex Mex for dinner and we smelled a dead skunk on the road.

We had a great time and enjoyed our "adventure". I wish the 47 would have made it but going to the show was well worth the trouble. Dee says our garage is lonesome though.

Now 2 out of 3 of us are home, still waiting on Willie. We will see if he updates the thread later with his adventures.

[imported_buick5563]

I thought maybe Old Tank would have logged on last night. I wanted to keep some of you guys posted.

I talked to Willie yesterday and he said he finally got the correct axle shaft and got back out on the road. He made it 500 miles to just north of Little Rock yesterday. It'll be a long day but I bet he makes it home today. I can't make the story any more interesting than that, sorry.

Mike

[old-tank]

Wedneday 13 July: Finally on the road again. The first axle shaft was wrong, so it was this am before the final assembly. We left Cincinnati (actually just south in KY) at 10:00 am and pulled into Forrest city AR at 7:00pm with no new issues(535 miles). (this is like a car race: boring until a big wreck...I'll try to keep it boring for now) Maybe home tomorrow or at least close. Still having fun. (may have to post this later since it appears that the internet service at this motel is non-functional?)

Thursday 14 July: Home at last (656 miles) Left Forrest city AR at 8:00 am and pulled into Seguin, TX at 9:00 pm. 90 miles from home we were detoured from IH 35 due to a wreck and hazmat cleanup.

Friday 15 July: 3,600 miles. Cleanup and service day (car and me).Looking forward to the next road trip.

Some observations:

1) Batavia was a loooong way!

2) How do you prepare for a burned rotor and broken axle?

3) Trucks were driving slower this year. Still some jerks out there (car and truck drivers). Most courteous was Schneider Trucking (orange

trucks)

4) Gas purchased in a metro area dispensed with the funky nozzles always gave poor fuel ecomomy and driveablility.

5) It costs more to pay for repairs than doing it yourself.

6) Car got 15.6 mpg overall (you do the math if you need to know how much it cost). Gas cost 15 cents more per gallon on the return trip. Price range that I paid was $1.92-$1.34.

7) Glad I got to hookup with Bill Stoneberg as much as I did: he can ALWAYS find the best food and well poured booze and beer!

8) I was happier that Mike...Buick5563 recieved a gold/senior on a driver than if I had received it myself.

9) Some axle pics:

Looks like it was trying to break for a long time.

Willie

[55PackardGuy]

That shaft looks awfully familiar. As soon as I heard yours broke, I was thinking of asking if it was rusted on part of the break. One of the few problems we had with our '69 Electra was a broken axle shaft, and it had rust on much of the break like yours does. It seems it was cracked for a long time. It sure looked like it could have been a defective axle from new. The car had about 120,000 on it. Maybe they all look this way when they finally break, I dunno. Your picture is worth 100,000 words!