Sorry, No Images.

Today this olelongrooffan was driving home from work and crossing the Main Street drawbridge across the Halifax River/Intercoastal Waterway down in Daytona Beach. Just as I was approaching the the part of the drawbridge that actually draws, the barricade came down and the light turned red signaling to this olelongrooffan that, unless I was feeling like the Blues Brothers, I should probably stop the Comanche, midstream, as it were.

And I did.

Well Counters this olelongrooffan knew it was going to be a wait of considerable time as the huge sailboat the bridge had drawn for was under power via the jib out front and a brisk northerly wind.  I stepped out to stand on the sidewalk of that bridge and just watch it go on by. 

Sorry Counters, no pictures but it did happen. 

The pilot of that vessel as well as his first mate were in the open air portion of that boat and were bundled up in sweaters, jackets, windbreakers, hats and gloves.  They both looked at me as they passed and I gave them a big "thumbs up".  They broke into the same sh*t eating grin I was sporting and then they were gone.

And it made me realize something.

This olelongrooffan is one lucky sum beach.  And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

True, I am grossly underemployed and have pretty much blown through my life savings during my multiple years of un and under employment but those are the only two cr*ppy parts in the life of this olelongrooffan.  And while many would say those are pretty significant things, they are.  But as thejeepjunkie pointed out to this olelongrooffan a long time ago, "Don't worry longroof.  Something will come up for you.  It always does."  And I believe it will.

However, in the meantime, in my quest to Celebrate Life, I seem to find things that are pretty d*mn good for me.

Between my workplace and that drawbridge is the Salvation Army Center.  Today, there were a bunch of bundled up folks out front just waiting for a free meal and maybe a warm place to sleep.  And this olelongrooffan was not one of them.

And on just another, what could have been another mundane, work/home commute, this olelongrooffan got to see that adventurous couple on their beautiful sailboat and possessing their ability to Celebrate Life in the manner they see fit.  And Counters, when was the last time you saw a huge sailboat sailing in international waters with the entire world at their beck and call?

So, after seeing that couple and climbing back into my cool, at least I think so, rare, little pickup truck, as I was driving back to my little bungalow style condo two blocks from the Atlantic Ocean beach, this olelongrooffan got to thinking how great life is for me and about creating this blogpost to share my sense of satisfaction with you Counters, as well as the world in general.

I mean, this olelongrooffan has a roof over my head, a job, a cool means of transport, great friends, family I like a bunch living nearby or just an email or blogpost comment away.  I also have my health, the ability to scrape up a smoke and a coke when desired, and a great 88 year old neighbor who has taken to me like peanut butter and jelly.  Plus, I am a pretty d*mn good cook.

I'm becoming more tech savvy everyday and have the honor of you Counters being in my audience here at By The Numbers as well as my fellow Hoons over at Hooniverse.com. 

Yes, I got to thinking about all the great stuff this olelongrooffan has been able to experience on my quest to Celebrate Life, doing most of it is on a pretty tight budget.  And a couple times a year, I can scrape together a couple bucks to send my landlocked great nieces and nephews a Florida t-shirt.

If you have been Counting Along With Me, you know about all the cool car related cr*p I always get to enjoy and even find by accident.  I know that the "cars" tag here on By The Numbers is the most used one.  And you also will know how much those experiences are enjoyed by this old longrooffan!

Plus when I checked the mail over at that remote mail kiosk, there was a crisp twenty dollar bill inside a cool card from the Bus for a flatbed trailer I had purchased years ago, stored in thejeepjunkie's garage for so long he thought it was his and then stole it back from him to sell on ebay for $20, shipping included.  But the Bus found out it was in the possession of this olelongrooffan and bought before ebay and paypal could get their grubby paws on my sale.  Thanks Bus.

See?  Just another way to Celebrate Life.

Well, that's about it Counters.  Just wanted to share how fortunate I feel in life and this olelongrooffan looks forward to every day and the experiences tomorrow will bring.

This olelongrooffan hopes you Counters do the same and will continue to Count Along With Me as I

Celebrate Life.

For Your Reading Pleasure, Here Is Something I Posted This Over At Hooniverse

Sometimes even I can't believe the sh*t this olelongrooffan gets away with.

This weekend is The Roar Before The 24. It is a test session for the Grand-Am racing series out at the Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the Rolex24 Hours at Daytona the end of this month.

I wanted to head out to capture an image or two of some of the race car transporters, such as this privateer GT transporter below,

as they arrived and went through the NASCAR Turn 1 tunnel. It is shown below after the tumulteous rain storms we had in these here parts the summer before last, the summer before the infamous Daytona 500 pothole incident.

And I knew that without one of these,

there was no chance in hell this olelongrooffan was going to be in the garage area at the Daytona International Speedway this Chamber of Commerce weather bearing Thursday afternoon.

However,

Bert's Car

This olelongrooffan's neighbor here at the Taj Mahal is Bert Crow and he is 88 years young. The best part is that he is a retired fertilizer and animal feed salesman from The Ozark Mountains area. The day I met him is the day I came over from Slocala to inspect the Taj. The aforementioned career was disclosed and I mentioned my upbringing on Haven Lee Farm, Halltown Edition. This olelongrooffan was sure I was approved to move in as when I left his company, he said, "It'll be good to have another Missouri boy around."

He has been here for the 8 years since his wife went on to join Mom and TheGentlemanFarmer. Bert has been the defacto manager for the owner who lives down in South Florida. The first time the owner, after I moved in, drove the four hours one way to trim the bushes around the Taj Mahal, I told him I could, and would, take care of that duty. And slowly Bert's responsibility has been redelegated to this olelongrooffan.

A couple weeks ago, Bert had minor surgery and his daughter was lamenting his after surgery care. She commented that Bert was having difficulty stepping over the side of his tub and she asked me if there was kit to convert that tub to a shower. There is and they are around $400 but told her I could remove the tub and tile the area where the tub was so it would be, effectively, a walk in shower. She was elated! I mentioned to her I would talk to the owner and get his approval to do this. I had, after all, replaced Bert's water heater last year.

And yes, I ruined the twelve dollar heating element on that brand new water heater by turning on the power to it prior to bleeding the air out of it. Yeah, I know, Dumb*ss.

So anyway Bert went off to surgery and this olelongrooffan hooked up with Manuel Labor and commenced to tearing out that tub. I had mistakenly thought it was a case iron tub, the removal of which merely involves busting it up with a sledge hammer. Unfortunately, it was a metal tub and the extensive use of these were involved.

But it got done, turned out real nice and Bert is especially grateful and mentions to this olelongrooffan all the time how much he appreciates the things I do for him, you know stuff like get his mail from our remote mailbox station, pick him up some Preparation H, set out his recycle bin. Small stuff for this olelongrooffan but big stuff to 88 year old Bert Crow.

But as this olelongrooffan relates every time he mentions that, "Bert if we were neighbors on farms up in the Ozarks and you needed some help, I'd be doing the same thing."

Last winter, Bert decided to hang up his driving gloves and his rusty 1992 Toyota Corolla went off to his daughter's home for use by one of her sons. It recently developed a knock in the front end and she was going to have it hauled off, much like my olewreckedragtop.

Bert and I were chatting it up on the expansive veranda of the Taj Mahal last week and he mentioned his daughter was coming by to pick up he title for that transfer. This olelongrooffan mentioned that, "H*ll Bert, I'll give her a hundred bucks for it."

He responded with "You want that car?"

"Yes sir."

"Well John, it is yours and you are not giving us any money for it."

So now Counters, this olelongrooffan is the proud owner of a NUMMI built Toyota Corolla and that knock in the front end? A 40 dollar CV joint, as diagnosed by thejeepjunkie.

So, for 40 bucks and a couple hours labor I got this:

In the above shot, it looks pretty good.

thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan picked it up tonite after Happy Hour from the daughter's home about ten minutes north of the Taj Mahal, Beachside. We got it started and thejeepjunkie was driving down the street toward the Atlantic Coast trying to field diagnose that knock. He stopped at the end of the street at A1A and got out. "I'm pretty sure it is the CV joint. But hey longroof, if it dies and I pull off to the side of the road, we are not parking it, we are abandoning it."

But believe this Counters, it is definitely "pre-rusted."
Yeah, it is pretty bad all over.
The paint on the roof, much like the hair on the head of this olelongrooffan, is getting pretty thin.

The interior doesn't look to bad until
you look a little closer.
It is a one owner, one driver, adult driven 188,000 mile bearing olerustbucket.
Plus, it has the standard cracked dashboard for pretty much any car here in The Sunshine State over 15 years old.

And yes Counters, it will always, at least to this olelongrooffan, be known as "Bert's Car".

But it is knowing Bert is happy for finding a way to repay me and this olelongrooffan has a $500 Craigslisting just waiting to happen, allows me to

Celebrate Life.

Sometimes Good Sh*t Just Happens To This olelongroofan

So, Monday morning this olelongrooffan gets a call from thejeepjunkie sounding like he is on his death bed. It appears that he had pinched a muscle in his back and wanted to know if I could get him to a doctor.

You bet, be there in ten.

Got him to that doctor and delivered him safely back to the sungoddess's house, fixed him a sandwich and an icepack and headed back towards the Taj Mahal.

When I left the sungoddess's house, this olelongrooffan could hear the sounds of the Rolex series cars practicing out at the Daytona International Speedway.

And I yearned nostalgic for the good ole days when theracedude was able to get thejeepjunkie, the Kid and this olelongrooffan into that race, with excellent access to just about everywhere.

For free.

Well, I headed back to the Taj Mahal and proceeded to commence looking for any employment and just became more depressed.

This olelongrooffan realized I needed to do something other than just sit around feeling sorry for myself.

I then remembered those folks over at Motorsports Marketing, publishers of Grassroots Motorsports and Classic Motorsports were putting on a gig out at the track.

Last week when I was reorganizing the Taj Mahal, anything this olelongrooffan hadn't seen in a year was going on Craigslist. I sold some camping stuff and some old car parts and made just over a hundred bucks.

This olelongrooffan decided he was going to splurge and spend the $99 to get into the GRM Experience out at the track.

I placed a call to their local offices to purchase a ticket and was, sadly, informed by Scott that event is sold out.

Cr*p.

He then suggested I post on their forum of my desire to purchase a ticket on the off chance someone was unable to attend.

He didn't sound very optimistic.

But this olelongrooffan did follow his suggestion.

Lo and Behold, a little later that afternoon, an email arrives from fueltestguy stating that he had an extra ticket that he had purchased for a buddy who, ultimately, was unable to attend. He included his phone number and a call was immediately placed to that Pennsylvania based SCCA racing fuel tester.

We talked for over an hour and during our conversation, he disclosed that he was in email contact with another member about this ticket but had not heard from him in five days. He mentioned that he was going to give the guy until the end of the day on Monday to recontact him and if the dude didn't, the ticket was mine.

Needless to say this olelongrooffan was more nervous than Jimmy Johnson before Homestead last year!!

The next morning I jumped out of bed like a five year old on Christmas morning and checked my email.

There was one from the fueltestguy and I opened it with much appehension.

Seems the dude did not contact the fueltestguy and the ticket was mine!!

The fueltestdude was flying into the airport down in MickeyMouseLand on Wednesday and would give me a call when he got to his hotel.

Not only that, his hotel is just two blocks from the Taj Mahal.

This olelongrooffan was on pins and needles all day long on Wednesday waiting for that much desired phone call.

Just after Happy Hour started, a call arrives from the the fueltestguy to come get my ticket.

thejeepjunkie tosses the key to his new ride and tells me to go get it and, oh yeah, on the way back pick up some shop supplies.

And I do.

The fueltestguy was waiting for me in the parking lot of that hotel and we commenced to chatting it up.

He mentioned he was surprised I didn't drive my olestationbus. I commented I wanted to get there as soon as I could before he changed his mind! He just started laughing.

This is the prize I was searching like Indiana Jones for. A ticket to the hottest show in town. All four days and access to everywhere but the hot pits.

When the issue of the ticket came up, the fueltestguy pulled it out of an envelope and handed it to this olelongrooffan.

He mentioned he only received one parking pass and but he was keeping it though.

I was reaching for my wallet when he stopped me and says,

"I was talking with Todd (the original ticket holder) and we agreed, based on what is happening in your life right now, that we were going to give you this ticket for a much needed break from your life's reality.

I tried to protest but he wouldn't hear of it.

"Just drive that olestationbus out there so I can see it".

Much like this event, this olelongrooffan was floored.

It is all about karma and I guess this olelongrooffan has some, at times.

So on Thursday, the first day of this event, I drove on out to the track and when I pulled up to the entrance for access to the infield, I showed my ticket to the sweety working admissions and mentioned I would like to purchase a pass to drive into the infield.

She said, "Honey, that pass gets you and this cool old van in at no extra charge!

Hot D*mn!

So this olelongrooffan pulled my olestationbus through that tunnel that is as old as I am and drove right into the infield.

I headed over to the site of the GRM Experience and asked the sweet young thing if there were any parking passes left.

She mentioned the parking pass Queen was out getting some lunch and to check back later.

Well, this olelongrooffan headed out and about to see what was happening and checked back in later.

And I did and it is my great fortune I was able

to affix this highly desirable sticker on the windshield of my olestationbus, gratis!

And here is the olestationbus in that coordined off reserved parking area.

See that Budweiser chair next to my newlaptop?

This olelongrooffan is sitting in it at this very moment with fingers to the keyboard sharing my, surprising, good fortune with you.

Plus, it is around 70 degrees and mostly sunny down here at the Home Of The World's Most Famous Beach.

In other words, a great day for racing for both spectators and drivers.

And, finally, here is a brief video of the Koni Challenge cars in their race a bit earlier today.

And, Counters, it is this cool kind of sh*t happening to me that allows me to

Celebrate Life.