PNW Oppo Meet Recap: LeMay Museum

Having read CarsofFortLangley’s post about this has gotten me in the mood for some quick writing. I already had a tremendous amount of fun at the first BC Oppo Meet not too long ago, and when he asked if I was in for this one, I just had to say yes.

Started the day at 5:30am to meet up with CarsofFortLangley just south of the border in Blaine, WA. Crossing the border this early is always fun — even more so when you have to explain to the US Border Patrol that you are traveling down to meet up with a bunch of internet people.

Chuckanut Drive, viewed from my dash cam.

Our first stop was Chuckanut Drive near Burlington. As advertised, that road delivered plenty of fun in the 3rd and 4th gear range, complete with a good amount of corners. It was also quite narrow, which made me glad that I didn’t bring the much bigger and slower 635CSi — my summer ride. Instead, I showed up in my 2009 BMW 128i, with the cold weather package (apparently this is what you talk about at these meets). 

Got to the LeMay Museum at 10am, pretty much on the dot. This is after we’d gotten lost driving around the outskirts of Bellevue for a while, so talk about great planning! This is where we met the rest of the crew: Nkato, Zoidberg, Studystudystudy, just-a-scratch, Spaceball-Two & Gettingoldercarguy.

I got very excited at the sight of the IS300 wagon. Always badly wanted one of those.

The museum had a good amount - and a surprising variety - of cars. It was just a little odd to see so many Fast and Furious-type cars by the main floor. One of the staff (looks to be in her 60s) also helpfully explained to us what “hellaflush” meant while we were gazing at a MK 3 GTi with a Porsche Cayenne V6 swapped in. How incredibly helpful.

The good stuff though were hiding downstairs.

That was a pretty good way of spending a Saturday morning.

My day wasn’t over though — the previous night before the trip, I had scouted on Seattle Craigslist for potential parts purchases for my E24, as well as a seller who was willing to part with a brand new (albeit aftermarket) carbon fiber spoiler for $130 (which is much cheaper than how much you’d have to pay online). Thankfully, they were also free during the afternoon, so I came home with a brand new spoiler and a small amount of interior parts from a stripped-out 633CSi. Alas, as his car was an ‘82, I couldn’t find too many interior parts that were good for my ‘87.

The remains of the ‘82 633CSi I scavenged some parts from.

The gentleman parting out his E24 also had an amazing collection of Volvos out front. He even sold the parts to me for free, on the condition that I help ship a box of seasoning salts (I had to check to make sure that they were indeed seasoning salts, of course) to his relative in Calgary. “Shipping this stuff here will cost me $54,” he said. Shipping in Vancouver costed me $18. 

A straight up gorgeous shell of a Volvo P1800.

Followed by a pristine-looking Volvo P1800ES.

The new spoiler looks pretty darn good too. Not bad for $130.

Castle in the Sky: Colorado Road Trip Part 3

[Previously on the Thinkware Colorado Road Trip: I took a giant detour driving from Colorado Springs to Denver. It should've taken me about 2 and a half hours. I took 12.] 

After 2 days of exploration and (new-found) experience with extreme altitude, I felt considerably more prepared to drive up Mount Evans -- which cradles North America's highest paved road at 14,130 feet. Yes, it is higher than Pikes Peak.

I didn't do so well at Pikes Peak.

Before my trip to Mount Evans, I stocked up supplies in Denver to best prepare me for the drive up. I got snacks, plenty of water, and sunscreen (you are a lot easily sunburnt at 14,000 feet than at sea level, which is also one of the reasons why people get dehydrated easily, which leads to altitude sickness).

Interestingly, the local shops in Denver also offered pressurized oxygen canisters for an instant kick when you need it the most. I didn't think I needed it.

Alas, half way through my drive towards Mount Evans, I realized that I forgot one of my most important gear -- my trusty DSLR. So, most of the images on this blog will be pictures taken on my trusty iPhone 6.

So, off to the highest paved road in North America we go.

Top of the World: Colorado Road Trip Part 2

[Previously on the Thinkware Colorado Road Trip: I flew to Denver, CO so I can drive to Colorado Springs, CO so I can drive up Pikes Peak, CO in a soccer-family-special Ford Explorer. I also got altitude sickness.] 

After recovering from said altitude sickness, I looked at the map and pondered my options. I knew that I wanted to go to the Rockies, because a) it's the Rockies; and I knew that I wanted to spend my last portion of the trip driving up Mount Evans as well. However, the portion between Colorado Springs and the Rockies were very much still up in the air.

As far as I was concerned, I had two options:

1. I could either take the I-25 through Denver to the Rockies, which would be about 2 hours and 40 minutes of driving. We will call this the "boring" way;
2. Or, I could take a "slight" detour through the state highways, taking in the scenery, through Aspen, a world-class ski resort town, and eventually circle back to the Rockies, before stopping in Denver. This would take me about 12 hours. We will call this the "fun" route.

Guess which route I took?

The Only Way is Up: Colorado Road Trip Part 1

14,000 feet.

I repeat: 14,000 feet. That is 100 feet higher than your typical skydiving altitude. In fact, if you jump off a cliff at this height, you'll be freefalling for just about a minute. Not that you'd be able to, of course, as the tallest cliff in the world only clocks at a paltry 4,100 feet.

At this height, Oxygen becomes very thin (as I later found out). You will also see the curvature of the earth quite easily in the distance. Here, the boiling point of water is at 185 degrees.

In other words, 14,000 feet is quite high.

It is also the altitude you can find yourself at in Colorado. Colorado just happens to have 53 of those places above that altitude, known locally, as the fourteeners.

My goal is to drive up to two of those mountains -- Pikes Peak, and Mount Evans -- and see what the drive is like.

10 Best Driving Video Games

Any gearheads probably spent a considerable time in their childhood playing car racing video games. I certainly did: at the age of 6, one of my first interaction with Lamborghinis and Ferraris wasn't through a bedroom poster or a cut-out from a car magazine -- it was through my dad's old Windows 95 computer, driving around the country side while evading the cops, in a game called the Need for Speed.

It was glorious, and the game basically cemented me as a car person.

Since then, many more car racing games have been released, some are more arcade-ish games where you can shoot rockets out of a go-kart (or something), and some are more simulation-based games where you need to observe the proper racing lines in order to achieve the best lap.

As kids who have played a lot of those, here is our picks for the 10 best driving video games.