Dale peeled off the back of our procession a few miles later, with Darren following him, and they headed up a side road. I assumed it was just time to dump in one of the fuel jugs he uses to extend his range on the road, and they would be along shortly. Opal sent me a text to ask if I wanted to stop, and I sent back a simple "No" in response. Even that attempt awarded me with a sidelong, unapproving glance from Aaron. Texting while driving is inherently dangerous; but me, with my ancient flip phone, while driving the Valiant, that takes it to a whole new level!
One of the enjoyable parts to this leg of the trip was, that since we got on the road at a decent hour, and were making good progress, we were actually traveling with, and crossing paths with, a much larger group of our fellow competitors than our nocturnal treks usually allow. As such, our first gas stop was fairly busy and crowded with fellow Drag Weekers, and we took the time to chat with quite a few of them as we shuffled cars around the available pumps. I made it through the bathroom line, topped off the Valiant with fuel, then made myself comfortable in the passenger's side seat.
Aaron came out of the convenience store with an armload of drinks and snacks heading directly for the right door, then stopped mid-stride and gave me a weird look.
"I've had enough", I motioned towards the other seat, "You can take us the rest of the way!"
He climbed in, and we arranged all our stuff accordingly. "You need my smart phone", he asked as he handed me the route sheet.
"No, no...this route looks pretty easy...I think I can handle the navigation duties!"
We went over the switches, gauges, and shifter one more time. He had been paying attention the whole trip, but I wanted to make sure he was comfortable before we pulled out on the road.
"What if one of us bumps the trans-brake button while we are driving down the road", Aaron asked.
"I...don't...know, honestly", I shrugged, "let's agree not to do that, I'm not sure we want to find out!"
He fired up the small block, and we led our small contingent back out onto US67.
Aaron looked over at me a couple miles later and commented, "the car pulls a little towards the center line all the time, even on these crowned two lane roads."
"Yeah, the rear suspension isn't square..it's on the list", I replied.
"The same list as the passenger seat belts?"
"That's the one, along with fixing the trunk rods and key, and twenty other nagging problems."
"What about this throttle pedal? Is it on the list as well? The feel is so light on it, it makes it difficult to hold it at a steady speed!"
"Not on this list! Boone complained about it, Dad complained about it...and now you. I had a solid rod throttle installed in 2008, and the leverage point is wrong, so even with two return springs on the carb it feels really light. I've thought about adding another spring on the opposite side of the bell crank, but I'm so used to it after all these years, I just go with it."
Once Aaron settled in, I settled in, it was nice to just sit back and enjoy the scenery for once...then the phone started going off again.