On The Road Denver Edition: Just For thejeepjunkie and the Bus

Dateline Denver, Colorado: August 15, 2011

As you can surmise, this olelongrooffan is still in the Mile High City and spotted something today I know thejeepjunkie and the Bus would appreciate.



Frequent Counters may probably remember a post I did way back in January about a couple of trailers thejeepjunkie had acquired through somewhat dubious means.



The intent of thejeepjunkie was to restore that old U-Haul trailer and tow it behind his yellow CJ2a when he takes his family to the beach on Sundays. It will work great once it is done and all of his beach cr*p will fit in it nicely.

However today, while out and about near the big box retailer that likes Chad Knauss so much, this olelongrooffan spotted a much more appropriate one to be used behind that 2a.



To bad I can't fit this in my checked baggage on my flight home. FYI jeepjunkie, it is at Mile High Jeep Rebuilders on Federal Avenue near downtown Denver.



Spotting that toy trailer and the fact drywall is finally being installed at my project house is an excellent way this olelongrooffan can

Celebrate Life.

The Glass Is Still More Than Half Full

This weekend, this olelongrooffan made the six hour trip down to FantasyLand to substitute for TheGoodAttorney in the presentation of a Construction Continuing Education Course.  (He's a new Godfather and attended a Baptism on Saturday afternoon, on the beach, in flip flops. This is Florida afterall.)

On the way out of town, I spotted this almost used up longroof and had to stop and get a few images of it for an upcoming blog.

And just down the street from it, I spotted this now rare Porsche 924.

Once this olelongrooffan had gotten down the Eisenhower Interstate System's 95 and headed east on its 75, nature took its course.  I stopped at a boat launch facility out there in the Everglades and had a meeting with Mother Nature.

While there, I captured this grainy image of Florida's other main attraction, an alligator.  That is it, just off the other bank of this canal, about 40 feet from this longrooffan.

After doing that class in Naples, I headed up to Sarasota to teach another one on Sunday.  Although this longrooffan did not have a specific motel to stay in, once I saw this one on US 41, I had no choice but to stay there. 

Hey, I'm the longrooffan, not Rockefeller!!

Anyway, as I was strolling down the Tamiami Trail find a restaurant, I looked in the parking lot adjacent and saw this image. 

Well, I am certain those of you Counting Along With Me know that this olelongrooffan was in that parking lot in an instant!

According to one of the drivers of these classic Model "A"s, the Orlando Model "A" club had ventured over to Sarasota to visit the Sarasota Auto Museum and I happened to catch them at their motel of choice this weekend.

I even spotted, what I believe to be, a 34 Ford four door ragtop.  It was beautiful.

The location where the Sarasota class was is directly across the street from the weekly swap meet the city puts on and during one of the many breaks in this class, this olelongrooffan ventured over and

picked up the three Tonka Corvettes in the above image.  These were included with a Tonka car hauler back in 60's and should bring a few bucks for Happy Hour offerings to the Taj Mahal.  No, Bus, that Chevy Stake Truck from TomP (RIP) is not leaving the Taj Mahal any time soon!!

But even better, I also picked up, from the same seller during that $20 negotiation process, these three vintage Japanese tin cars.  All of the self propelled motors work on them and other than some cosmetic issues are in great shape.  Ebay, here this olelongrooffan comes!

Now this olelongrooffan can hear all ya'll commenting the glass seems a lot more than 1/2 full.  A couple relatively lucrative days teaching those classes, a night in the Cadillac motel, scoring some easily sold toys on ebay.....Hell longroof what's up with that 1/2 full cr*p?

Well Counters, when this olelongrooffan turned off the ignition of my Comanche at my chosen place of rest that Saturday,

this usually bulletproof mechanical starter relay under the hood of that 25 year old means of transportation decided it had had enough and refused to allow this olelongrooffan to start that ride up again. 

Well, after tinkering around for an hour or so, thejeepjunkie was summoned on my massive, high tech communications system.  We strategized about the problem for another hour or so, with no success.

So, here this olelongrooffan is, 192 miles from home, unable to start my primary means of transportation and no idea what the h*ll is wrong with it.

And even though all of that above statement is true,

This is the welcome sight this olelongrooffan saw after teaching that class all morning and early afternoon long. 

That's right Counters, thejeepjunkie and TheGoodAttorney made the fire burning SUV sighting  on I-75 and the tuner car fatal accident on I-4 round trip to rescue this olelongrooffan.  Plus, thejeepjunkie was able to source the needed part at 5:30 on a Sunday afternoon and get my old Indian back on the road so this olelongrooffan can get my sorry *ss to work on time tomorrow.

That, Counters, is why the Glass Is Half Full and this olelongrooffan can still

Celebrate Life.

thejeepjunkie's New Toy, Revisited

Last fall, September 6 to be exact, this olelongrooffan did a post about a beat-up old flatbed trailer thejeepjunkie had traded two match sticks and a case of Natty Light to acquire. You can see that post here.

Well, subsequent to that post this olelongrooffan has seen the progression of the refurbishment of that old flatbed, even gotten images of it at various stages.  I stumbled across them while organizing some images on my trusty olelaptop this past weekend and thought you might enjoy them.

When we left this trailer in early September, thejeepjunkie had taken it by thesungoddess's house and her first comment was "When are you going to stop hauling home rusty old junk?" To which thejeepjunkie responded, "Well, I ain't dead yet!"

We rendeavoused over at a buddy's place and proceeded to remove the wood from the floor of that trailer.

The next time this olelongrooffan spotted thejeepjunkie's new toy, he had removed the bent crossmembers and our buddy was pressure washing all of the old paint and rust off it.  You alert Counters will note the shiny wheel and new tires in the following image.



This image is actually a before shot of the frame.



As is the one below.

Well, this olelongrooffan didn't see that toy for quite awhile although I was responsible for picking up the new fenders for it at a marine supply house down in South Daytona one afternoon.  In typical Lee fashion, I drove the twenty or so minutes south to that supply house and the two women working there were just wonderful.  They wanted to know if it was going to be run through thejeepjunkie's shop and I replied no, I have cash.  Yeah, one of them said, if we write it up through his shop, you can still pay cash and not have to pay any sales tax.  Yeah, that was a tough decision.  So anyway, we loaded those fenders and skirts up in the back of thejeepjunkie's new ride and this olelongrooffan beat it back up US 1 to thejeepjunkie's shop. As I backed into the parking spot reserved for thejeepjunkie, I sat in his ride listening to some story on NPR that I found interesting at the time. 

thejeepjunkie comes out and checks out his latest acquisitions and states, "The skirts are the wrong size."  I immediately fire up his new ride and head back on down to those wonderful ladies and their marine shop. 

Upon entry, they both looked up in surprise.  I mentioned thejeepjunkie's observation and one of them grabbed a tape measure, unsure if it was the skirts or the fenders that were wrong.  It turns out it was the fenders that were stored away in the wrong location in the warehouse and we simply swapped them out with both of them apologizing the whole time.  "Don't worry about it," I said, "I know you did it on purpose just so you could see me again!"  They both cracked up laughing and this olelongrooffan bid "ta-ta."

Now, last month this olelongrooffan got to see thejeepjunkie's new toy up close and in person but as it was after dark, no images were able to be captured by my less than perfect image taker.  But know this Counters, it is beautiful.  Dark metallic blue with those black wheels and a shiny new hitchhead.  The lights work all the way around and thejeepjunkie tells me it pulls straight on down the road.

"So jeepjunkie," I asked him, "now that you have this is it kind of like when you got your 2A and the dog who caught the car?  I mean what are you going to do with it?"

"Well, longroof, tomorrow I am going to go pick up my newest toy!"

And he did.

thejeepjunkie had found this cool old U-Haul trailer in the same field he found that beat up flatbed in and talked the owner out of it.

This nice thing about this one is it is perfect to haul behind his yellow CJ2A on the beach trips he makes with thesungoddess, the Kid and the Kid's sister.

Plus, he doesn't need a new tongue for this one!

And knowing thejeepjunkie is such a wheeler dealer and some of that has rubbed off on this olelongrooffan really lets me

Celebrate Life.

thejeepjunkie's New Toy

This olelongrooffan spent a thoroughly enjoyable Saturday afternoon this Labor Day weekend working with thesungoddess and thejeepjunkie painting and replacing some rotten exterior siding on thesungoddess's abode.

At the crack of dawn-thirty Sunday morning the massive communication system lights up at the Taj Mahal. Surprisingly this olelongrooffan was awake and waiting for that summons from thejeepjunkie to meet him at a previously determined location so we could hook up and take one vehicle to pick up his new toy.

We started out heading up Old Dixie Highway which around these parts looks like this. It is very tranquill with marshes and wetlands surrounding a good portion of it. We are cruising along in the Kid's Big Black Beauty, about 20 minutes into a 25 minute drive, when suddenly a series of loud cuss words eminates from thejeepjunkie. "Sh*t, I forgot the god*mn tire."
Part of this transaction involved the exchange of this spare tire for one of the seller's trailers. It has been resting quietly in the bed of thejeepjunkie's little white truck for two weeks and he had forgotten to transfer it to the Kid's Big Black Beauty.

Oh well, as this olelongrooffan commented, "Just more blog fodder."

thejeepjunkie just started laughing and mentioned that everything was blog fodder for me.

It's true. Whether interested or not, you Counters are going to hear about it.

So now we are running a bit late and thejeepjunkie decides to hit the Eisenhower Interstate System and head up to our destination.
By the way, "Life Is A Highway" by Rascal Flatts in playing on the enormous stereo system at the Taj Mahal at this moment! (See I told ya!)

Anyway, that is TheGentleman Farmer's old hat which now belongs to thejeepjunkie. This olelongrooffan used to own it but thejeepjunkie expressed such an interest in it that ownership was transferred. At least it is being used for more than garage wall art. It is not the hat seen here.

Now, I would suspect you Counters are wondering what thejeepjunkie's new toy is. Well wonder no longer as thejeepjunkie was able to acquire this
flatbed trailer. He was able to acquire it for the princely sum of one Benjamin, the aforementioned spare tire and a case of Natty Light!
Now it's not in the best of shape but who can beat the price. thejeepjunkie got from one of the guys who drives a black and tan car and that trooper is in the process of liquidating some things from his father's estate.
After we retrieved it from that field, with the help of a nice little four wheel drive tractor, we headed over to the seller's ranchette, aired up the still in great shape tires and thejeepjunkie did a little impromptu body work on that new toy.
We then took off for theracedude's house to work on his newest acquisition. This trailer was used by the trooper's dad to transport boats down south to sell at auction, hence the trailer hitch ball mounted on the front of the bed. Once, while headed back from Fort Lauderdale, he was rear ended by a pickup truck and the trailer was totalled.
As you can see, the front of it is slightly off kilter.
And the rear is way screwed up. In fact, the entire trailer is 3 inches out of square. This olelongrooffan, with the assistance of thejeepjunkie, determined this by measuring corner to corner each way on the bed of that trailer. Sometimes an oleunemployedconstructionworker's knowledge can help to determine something!
So, thejeepjunkie breaks out the trusty ole sawzall TheGoodAttorney scored for forty sawbucks on ebay and commenced to getting that bent to h*ll rear frame rail removed.
Once that mission was accomplished, he and theracedude took a break to admire thejeepjunkie's new flatbed while discussing the merits of having thepaintdude straighten that trailer up on the frame straightening machine he has at his shop. This olelongrooffan mentioned it would be a much easier job to do if the wood was removed from that trailer. They agree and thejeepjunkie gets to work removing that trailer hitch ball attired front frame rail.
Once that was done, the wood was relegated to a temporary resting place in theracedude's side yard.
You Counters can see in the above image just how tweaked this trailer is. But, as the saying goes around here, "It's not what you know, it's who I know," I am confident this trailer will be in top notch form in no time at all.

And it is knowing thejeepjunkie now doesn't have to borrow a trailer next time this or this happens that really allows this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.

Not For The Faint Of Heart

I found this over here. It is a pretty cool site and full of off road videos.

And finding this site sure helps this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.

Camping Australia Style

Hey, Got 4 Minutes Of Hoon Time?

Yeah, I've Been Busy Too

Just a short post of some of the events of this past coupla weeks.

thejeepjunkie called me to assist him on a "project".


Since his truck didn't meet the desires of thejeepjunkie, he contacted a FHP buddy to see if a trailer was available.

Yes, it was and the transportation of that Rover was complete.

Then a happy hour at the Kid's garage attached to the sungoddess's house with TheGoodAttorney and thejeepjunkie.

But on the way, this olelongrooffan spotted this early 70's Chevelle atop that car hauling rig.

Then, later in the week,thejeepjunkie calls this olelongrooffan to help him rescue the Kid's CJ.

Seems the Kid went over those CSX railroad tracks at their intersection with US 1 and the float in the carb jumped up and got stuck, rendering the carb useless in the propelaration (sp) of that ole Jeep.

Well, know this olelongrooffan and the jeepjunkie got the Kid's CJ home safely.

By The Way, jeepjunkie, where are the hubcaps on that ole CJ?

And knowing this olelongrooffan realizes those hubcaps are missing lets me

Celebrate Life.

The 9.5 And The Rover

A few weeks back, this olelongrooffan did a blog for you Counters about thejeepjunkie's ninth and a half Jeep CJ.

After that event filled weekend, thejeepjunkie had me put the 9.5 on Craigslist for sale with verbage provided by him.

And I did.

And got no response for a month.

thejeepjunkie was discouraged and so was I.

I then thought up an idea to list in on Craigslist, Sl-Ocala edition. It is described as a Woods Jeep after all.

Well, a week or so goes by and nothing.

Again, thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan are pretty disappointed.

Then, I get an email from a dude up in Georgia asking if I would be interested in trading thejeepjunkie's woods Jeep for a Rover Compact Utility Vehicle.

I forwarded the images thewoodsdude sent to me of that CUV to thejeepjunkie and we had a short chat about it over the cellular airwaves we frequent these days.

It was decided to go ahead with a straight up trade.

This morning, thewoodsdude, thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan got together to consumate this trade.

It was an extremely chilly 42 degrees when we hooked up with that Georgia dude. thejeepjunkie and this olelongrooffan were bundled up in sweatshirts, gloves, socks, ball caps and, in the case of this olelongrooffan, longjohns purchased this morning at my local Family Dollar store for $4.50!

Yeah, Cold.

You can see in the above image the two vehicles subject to trade this brisk Sunday morning.

Now you can tell thewoodsdude is not from these here parts as all he was wearing was a golf shirt with a denin shirt over it.

As we were standing around shooting the bull, thejeepjunkie says the only thing wrong with this Jeep is

The gas tank is full!

We all got a chuckle out of that.

Below thejeepjunkie is examining a the ubiquitous bunch of parts that always go in a trade such as this.

Good-bye 9.5.

Hello Rover.

Now this baby is resting quietly next to theracedude's garage

and will be on Craigslist, Daytona Beach edition, in about an hour.

With its tilt bed and knobby tires

this 2003 4x2 Rover Compact Utility Vehicle should go pretty quickly

with its full top and a pricetag of $2,500.

And just being a part of thejeepjunkie's latest acquisition, even though it is not another CJ, lets this olelongrooffan

Celebrate Life.