carwreck.com: around Boston harbor...

My brother and I headed to the Green Mountain State this weekend to celebrate the joining of two minds (NYTimes login required) at The Equinox in Manchester, VT. The wedding was beautiful as was everything I saw up in Vermont. On Sunday after the wedding events had concluded we continued heading north to explore Burlington and the surrounding areas. Aaron is considering moving to Burlington and was looking for some acknoledgement and/or appproval of the area. I approve and agree that it's a wonderful area and feel that most anyone could make a good life for themselves in the Burlington area.

Doesn't everyone carry a spare propeller around with them?

Although this was taken through the front windows of the pilot boat, it still captures some of the magic that is sea smoke. This is just before sunset as I'm heading in the North Channel towards Deer Island.

I'm sure you all saw the great photo on the cover of the Boston Globe the other day of the Coast Guard cutter nearly dissapearing in the sea smoke. Here's my own version of that picture but with an airport water taxi...

Salt water makes some strange ice. You can't really see it in this photo, but it doesn't freeze as solidly as freshwater does. And with the wind whipping things around some strangely shaped icicles form too.

Waited three days for instructions as to where I could work on my car.

Fired up a borrowed diesel heater at 3am and crawled under the car to start working.

Trailer beams were in the way so I rolled the car off the trailer and jacked up on big blocks.

Discovered that the oil pan was far more damaged than I realized.

Discovered that the steering rack also took part of the hit and may need replacing.

Had trouble getting to all the bolts holding the pan in place.

Diesel heater ran out of...

Too cold and too angry to continue.

Spent next half-hour winching car back onto trailer.

I guess I'm heading to the shop first thing Monday morning.

So, I made it back to Boston in one piece the other night although I was pretty far off from my estimated 2100 arrival. I should have expected as much. I hadn't accounted for the hour I would spend chatting at the european car shop where my trailer is stored, nor did I consider the hour or so it would take me to get the trailer lights to work with my brother's car. I also didn't think about the TWO hours I would spend at my friend's office catching up and waiting to see if the snow would stop. I also didn't think about the mad, zigzagging course I would have to take from Lakeville, CT to Westbrook on ice covered roads. Once I arrived in Westbrook, and explained to the curious CT state trooper why I was loading a car on a trailer in the middle of nowhere, I winched the car onto the trailer and headed back to Boston. Instead of spending extra time unloading my car in East Boston and picking up my things at home in Charlestown, I parked the car/trailer/car combo on the street headed straight to bed in JP. Arrival time: 0300 the following morning. What an arduous day!

Life feels pretty good when it's regimented. Not to say that I want it like this all the time but for right now I'll enjoy sticking to the plan:

Wake at 0500
Drive brother to airport at 0600
Arrive for work at 0700
Leave work for New York at 1400 (approx. 3 hour drive)
Arrive NY and get my trailer at 1700
Drive to Westbrook, CT to rescue my car (approx 2 hour)
Arrive Westbrook and load car 1900
Drive back to Boston (approx 2 hour)
Arrive Boston 2100, unload car
Call it a night

Hopefully I'll have this whole thing taken care of by 10pm tomorrow night although it doesn't take into consideration that loading and unloading the car may take a while. Wish me luck.

This sure is a funny place for a guy to painting. That's the bow of the Stolt Creativity which was anchored in Boston Harbor last week waiting to offload cargo at the Exxon terminal in Everett.

Today I headed down to Westbrook, CT for my friend's "New Year's Drive" which he organizes every year. I first went two years ago but missed last year so I was happy to be able to get down there for this one. The idea of the day os a fun, exciting, and speedy drive through the backroads of the Connecticut River Valley with other car enthusiasts. Phil prepares the route in advance and distributes printouts with the all of the turns and detailed mileages. Arriving for the event were: three Subaru Impreza WRXs, two Hondas, one Merc CL 230, a VW Jetta, a VW Passat 4matic, and my BMW 325e.

Unfortunately, about five miles from the end of the route I hit a rock protruding out of the center of the small dirt road we were traveling on at about 40mph. The car immediately dumped all of its oil and now that I'm back in Boston this is all I have to show of my car. Tomorrow I will probably head back to CT with a trailer to retrieve the rest of the car.

I have to admit that this is a small price to pay to have fun on the back roads in the woods... I'll never stop enjoying driving - and breaking - cars.