On the road again

And by "again" I mean for the first time--excluding my epic 22km journey to Albany (northern suburd of Auckland) a couple of weeks ago.

After installing a third new second-hand engine, the garage finally got my Chariot back in working order. The first engine was the wrong kind. Oops. The second had a stuck ring on one of the cylinders that, despite all efforts, absolutely refused to budge. Try again. Well, third time's a charm I guess.

Loaded up this afternoon and said goodbye to my most gracious hosts: Andrew (the guy I did some work for a few weeks ago); his domestic partner, Andres; and their English Bull Terrier, Martha. Hit the road by 5:00pm, destination Taupo, some 320km away. Would the Rattler (still my Chariot's name even though she's sans rattle now) make it all the way? Hell, would the Rattler make it 5km? She performed like a champ I'm happy to say. We cruised along at a leisurely 100 and enjoyed the drive. And what a drive it was--WOW! Absolutely gorgeous! Prettiest drive I've ever done. Even prettier than Highway 149 in Colorado, which, until today had been my favorite stretch of road. And to top off the evening, when I arrived in Taupo and stopped in for dinner and a beer at a local bar, The Everley Brothers were playing on the juke box. I smiled inwardly (and outwardly, for that matter) that the first music I heard on my first NZ road trip (The Rattler has no radio) was the defacto soundtrack from EVERY roadtrip my family took to Colorado when I was a kid. "He's a dog. Oh what a dog." Great memories. Love you, Mom!

Some of the things I saw on my drive:

-The actual end of a rainbow. Alas, no pot of gold.
-My father's name all over the place, relatively speaking. I'll explain. My dad's name is Leighton. Not a very common name to be sure, and it's not often one comes across it. Well, how about three times in 24 hrs? Not four blocks from Andrew and Andres' house I crossed Leighton Street. Then, not twenty minutes later, I passed a road construction contractor truck with the name Leighton Works written right on the side. These two sightings came on the heels of meeting an actual Leighton (one of the Auckland Harbour Bridge Climb guides) not 24 hrs before. Weird huh? Love you too, Dad!
-More pine trees than I've ever seen in East Texas.
-A cemetary built on the side of a hill--coolest looking cemetary ever. Hundreds of headstones dotting a pretty steep incline.
-Beautiful rolling hills that only lacked Julie Andrews spinning through them.
-A town, Tirau, that prides itself on being the Corrugated Metal Capital of Central North Island. I'm not making that up. They have a sign that proudly proclaims that very thing at the entrance to their little burg. Burg? Berg? Burgh? I don't know.
-And just a rough estimate, but about 47,582 dairy cows.

Looking forward to an equally leisurely, and hopefully as beautiful, drive tomorrow. Destination: Wellington.

Cheers!

100kph is only 62mph for those of you thinking I was lead-footing it down the highway.