"PatBateman" (PatBateman)
12/17/2016 at 23:06 • Filed to: Deer-Free Track
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"PatBateman" (PatBateman)
12/17/2016 at 23:06 • Filed to: Deer-Free Track | 5
| 13 |
I’m in Austin for the night with the kids visiting my family just west of town. Wife is back in Houston so she can go to the Texans game tomorrow. Had to run an errand, decided to take the most funnest detour I’ve ever taken. YEEEEEEHAAAAWWW!!!
So a year ago, I had to get a new (to me) car because !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I chose a 2008 Cadillac CTS with the 304 hp V6. It only had 63k on the odometer, and I got a great deal on it. Anywho, I’ve never had a chance to drive it to Austin (we always drive my wife’s Expedition here), take it on the hilly backroads west of Hippyville, and flog it.
Side Note: I was actually a volunteer firefighter out here from the time I was 16 (seriously) until I was 22. Holding that position means that you need to know the roads REALLY STINKING WELL. Where every corner is, every hill, where the hazards are, etc. Before today, I’ve only drive the roads in either my personal truck or a fire engine. Tonight, though, I got to PROPERLY drive the fun route.
Keeping the transmission in second while taking a hair corner turn at the base of a hill. Accelerating (cautiously) up a straight stretch before slinging into a dog leg right turn. Having to stop myself from giving it the gusto to catch air at that one hill right before Mike Dell’s old house/hilltop fortress. Oh the feelings!! Why have I never done this before?! Is this why my dad refused to allow me to own a fast car when I was 17 (he’s told me flat out it is)?! Holy hell!!!
Imagine a very fun six mile long technical track, and now add the changing elevation of a roller coaster. That’s what I drove tonight, right before this wicked ass cold front blew through (started the route at 65°, ended it at 54°). For clarification, and inb4 “TAKE IT TO THER TRERK”, I didn’t speed recklessly; you can’t actually speed too much on these roads because of both the abundance of corners, topography, and deer. But taking the corners and topography in a proper car, in a proper manner, was more than thrilling.
When the next time I’ll be able to do this run in the CTS is anyone’s guess. But I’m glad I finally did it.
Now to go buy a CTS-V.
The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
> PatBateman
12/17/2016 at 23:41 |
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The roads you drove as teen will always stick with you. I still know the side roads very well, on a map they look like grid paper.
EL_ULY
> PatBateman
12/17/2016 at 23:44 |
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Hopefully the cyclists didn’t get in the way too much
shop-teacher
> PatBateman
12/18/2016 at 00:01 |
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Sounds like a blast!
54 degree cold front, now that’s funny!
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PatBateman
> The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
12/18/2016 at 00:12 |
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On a map, my roads look like spaghetti. Seriously. I’ve been able to make my wife nauseated by driving normal in the Expedition on them. She would’ve puked if she was with me tonight.
Weird how they’re engrained in our memory like that, isn’t it?
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PatBateman
> EL_ULY
12/18/2016 at 00:14 |
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Only cyclists with death wishes DARE traverse the back roads. Loop 360 has ‘em plenty, though though they stay on the shoulder.
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PatBateman
> shop-teacher
12/18/2016 at 00:15 |
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It’s now 38. That was just the initial blow through.
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shop-teacher
> PatBateman
12/18/2016 at 00:19 |
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I’m hoping we see some high 30's again in the next couple weeks. That’s warm enough for me to work in the garage with the door closed. I have a bit more work to do to the RallyMetro before I can get it out of the garage and give the Roadmaster it’s spot back.
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PatBateman
> shop-teacher
12/18/2016 at 00:21 |
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Yeah. This is Texas. F*ck that shit.
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shop-teacher
> PatBateman
12/18/2016 at 00:30 |
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Hahaha!
You’ll get no sympathy from me. Wind chill here is going to be -28 tomorrow, with 3-7" of snow coming down over night.
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PatBateman
> shop-teacher
12/18/2016 at 00:36 |
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My wife has a lot of friends and family in Whiting/Hammond/Valpo. We won’t be visiting the area after Halloween.
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shop-teacher
> PatBateman
12/18/2016 at 00:39 |
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I wouldn’t recommend it, that’s for sure.
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PatBateman
> shop-teacher
12/18/2016 at 00:39 |
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Same reason why you don’t visit Houston between June and mid-September.
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shop-teacher
> PatBateman
12/18/2016 at 08:49 |
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Duly noted.