BULLRUN II (SPEED): Racing through the Streets of San Fran!

This week I had one of the best Thursdays of my life. I got to spend sometime with people who enjoy parties and driving as much as me. You see Team Saab had a great idea to get friends of Bullrun together and do a video blog in San Fran. That is a little over 8 hours from my home. I thought WTF and decided to make the trip. 

The trip in itself was intense from getting pulled over by the California State Troopers to running down a flock of wild turkeys. Let me start at the beginning and go from there.  I started out of Eugene about 6 a.m. wanted to leave about 5 a.m. but that just wasn't in the card. The weather couldn't have been nicer I would have to say about 68 degrees the entire trip. I took Vader (my SuperCrew F150) down as Mister Happy was still getting its new clothes. That was fine it is a much more comfortable driver than the bug.  I started down I-5 toward Cali and wasn't 150 miles and BAMM! A flock of about 15 birds standing in the middle of the road! (They are really stupid birds, I have to say.) I hit a couple going about 55 mph and they still didn't move! I for one was shocked that the damage to the truck was a slight as it was. In fact I played it up with Elvis a few hours later.

This trip still wasn't over you see I entered California and set the cruz control. Tickets being what they are I didn't want to get one while in the golden state. But I did set the cruz to 69 mph 4 miles an hour over the posted limit. Not a problem, Right? Seems I was wrong. They pulled me over in the Shasta portion of I-5. What! I couldn't believe my luck this cop just wanted to see my truck! He was a big fan of Vader and wanted a closer look. He had me open up my doors to get a better look at the custom interior and the show quality video system before he would let me go. Once the poe poe was happy he let my go. 30 minutes of chatting with this cop about my truck I think was plenty. From that point on the trip was like any other road trip a little music and getting a grease patty at a small town drive-up. 


I pulled into San Fran about 5:30 p.m. at the Travel lodge. The place was right down town and Team Saab was only .5 miles from the Cracktel. When I pulled up I had to rub my eyes there was Team Strange's Vet seems Elvis had just arrived also and I could see him checking in through the lobbies windows. I blocked his vet and walked into the hotel and told him his car had rolled back into my truck! He didn't buy it, he knew just who I was and we both laughed. He had hear I was going to be staying here and thought he would as well. I checked in and had a "up-graded' room. Elvis on the other hand was given the most horrible room ever! That is a statement of fact, I offered Elvis a chance to trade rooms but he stayed in his crack den. Let me give you a little idea just what this room looked like. First thing you notice is that the carpet is missing from the floor and the beds sheets are stapled over the windows. The walls are painted a bright peach and the brown floor tiles are looking like rejects from the meth den around the corner.   

 I had gotten ready first and walked over to Elvis room and we talked about the show and a few other odd items while he tried to decide on what black shirt he was going to wear that evening. I told him that I had worn my Team Avi shirt just for him tonight. He laughed. Then we bolted to the viewing party that Team Saab had put together. Elvis asked if I would like to take his vet. "YA!" I said grinning like a Cheshire cat. Lets just say that he didn't disappoint. He can drive I give him that. Its been four days and I still can't wipe this grin off my face.

We met Jason and his lovely lady and they were most gracious hosts. We drank a couple beers and ate a feast that they had set up for all the attendees. Team P-Titty showed up about the same time as us and really had a great time together watching the show and talking about the program. The show was fantastic and seeing the bus get the boot sucked, but we knew that this challenge wasn't their cup of tea. Still they did do a fantastic job. With the show over we all headed over to Jason's "bar" and really had the run of the place. What fun I got to ride in Team P-Titty's GTO and I do have to say that is a really sweet car that is able to move! (Thanks for the ride.)

 

Now at some point in the evening I was getting a little freaked that my truck was back at the Cracktel and Elvis let us take the vet back over to get the Vader. I never thought about how I was going to get it back as I planned on drinking my fill that night. Oh, I did consume and just when I thought that I had plenty Jason and I drank a few more shots of Irish brew. I was !@#$ faced and Jason's lady wanted to drive my truck. She LOVED it! and in fact I later found out that she can drive. We have closed the bar and had a great time there and all headed in a pack back to the house. I of course was blasted and had her Jason's lady drive again.  Somehow it turned into a race and we flew through the streets of San Fran. At one point I was hanging out the moon roof as we drove the !@#$ out of our rigs. I can tell you that I wish we had a video camera for that drive. It was one of the best things I have ever done in a passenger seat.  

Once I did get back to the Cracktel I couldn't sleep and walked around for a while. It was a trip seeing my first crackhead. I did get to bed about 4 a.m. and was awakened by a phone call telling me I needed to get home ASAP. So I went MIA for the remainder of the event. SUCKS! Team Saab had some really cool things lined up for us later in the day. By the time I was told everything was cool it was to late for me to turn back...