The delay in our trip is throwing us off, seasonally. Our original plan was to go south to escape the winter, now we'll likely have to go north to escape the summer before we get very far. Air-cooled cars and Alabama in June just don't mix, ask anyone. It's taken us so long that the amusement parks are opening. In fact, we went to one.

Opening day at King's Dominion is the time to go. No one realizes it's open in March, so there are hardly any lines, which is a requirement at an amusement park if you want to avoid murderous rage. It's enough to deal with the ghastly attire, behavior and hairstyles of the average patron without having to suffer 20,000 of them. It's really quite a freakshow.

Blanket condemnations notwithstanding, we had a good time. They have a new ride, the HyperSuperSonic XLTLS Ultra Blast Coaster or something, which rockets you from 0 - 80 mph in 1.8 seconds, which is about half the length of the entire ride. I was under the impression that people undertook years and years of rigorous training to withstand those kinds of G forces, but I suppose they must know what they're doing. We watched at least 30 people ride it ahead of us and none of them appeared dead at the end, only bewildered and mildly ill, so that was good enough for us. It was like having a bus driven into your sternum, a real treat! Highly recommended, unless you have had recent surgery, are pregnant or think you might ever want to be pregnant, or have an ounce of common sense.

We also went on a ride which simply dropped us from 305 feet in the air, up a giant orange pole, a genuine thrill, and were launched out of the mouth of a papier-mache volcano at something like 70 miles per hour. Good times.

We're still in Richmond. Many (okay, maybe four) have written or commented wondering if we were happily cruising along, so enthralled to be actually in motion that we had forgotten entirely about our little web site here. Well, rest comfortably little ones, we haven't forgotten.

The engine is running, that much is good. There are a few caveats though, to wit: It's leaking a bit (read: a lot) of oil out of the left valve cover. We got a new gasket for that and we'll put it in tomorrow. If that fixes the leak, we'll smile and move on to the next item, if not, stormy weather.

Nextly, due to some aforementioned transmission issues, we still can't do things with our gear shift that we'd like to be able to do before we leave, like, say, put it in first. We're waiting on a couple of parts to remedy this situation, they should be arriving Wednesday.

Lastly, we have a few electrical whatsits to hook up, the alarm, the second battery and a couple of gauges. Then we'll really be ready. Serious.

real, actual fear	this cost $5	A Dog Named Chief
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