Drive one and then tell me you don't want one.

 

Drat and double drat......does this mean I'll have to study up on some arcane activity that is done on a green field with the hide of a dead animal?? Hum, can we change it to mixed drinks and dead bear heads? Speaking of which I didn't steal it, too big

Alicia don't even give it a second thought about your driving level. Some folks choose to take it easy so they can see something other than the yellow line flying by. I use the Dragons to improve my skills. I can't be the passenger (I'll get sick) so I do all the driving, got to say it breaks my heart.................NOT!
In an attempt to have my husband get time behind the wheel, the whole group slowed down today so that I could make it through the Dragon on our way home, pretty nice crowd. Except Scott he isn't nice
Vince I think of all the drivers running with you has been the most interesting and fun. You're right the cars seemed to "match" up very well. I'd like to get a group of us with manuals together to see if we all drive the same. I bet we would, next we could see if we can do it without using our brakes.....it could work.

 

James, you should have posted the pictures of those turkeys crossing the dragon.

Drive back was almost an exact reverse of my drive there, rain hit in PA and continued into NJ. Battery survived the trip!

Loved the weekend! Great people, great weather and loved that one run I did where 75% of it was all clear ahead of me and I got to really drive the Dragon... I knew all those hours on the PS3 was good for something, it's actually so much easier when you can feel the Gs.

Great work Gary and Dan!!!

 

Made it home about 7:30cst and unpacked all the stuff from the car.
I'll sum up the weekend tomorrow in a separate post and upload all my pics.
I'm dead tired after a weekend of very little sleep, tons of fun and a 12 hour trip home.
Thanks everyone for coming and making this GTG the biggest and best ever !!

Gary

 

Great stories guys!!!

Keep 'em coming!

 

...I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks video games can be beneficial. Hahaha.

Sorry I couldn't make the drive down with you, but if you want to grab a drink sometime and talk cars I'm available. Just shoot me a PM and we'll figure something out. I don't think Essex County is to far from Morris County.

 

I left there Sunday morning at 11:am got to my house in Jax beach at 6:30 pm,, 7 hours for 528 miles ,, spent the night, Sunday night then left at 10 to go to My daughter's house in Melborne fl. Jax to Melborne 2hr 10 min,, staied there a few hours then Melborne to Ft Lauderdale in 2hr and 30 min,, got home around 5:30 pm,
Rob, Rudy, & Paul You guys are just what i expcted, well except rudy he"s funny,, I really injoyed meeting you guys,, Mike your hood is the best. Paul your car is :"ne plus ultra": Rudy what a job you did.. if mercedies only knew they would hire you for 6 figures a year.. had a great time everyone was so nice. what a group. even if you all did tell me to start at the end of the line,,, Rob showed me how to do the dragon tail,, i just couldn't find any stright lines,, it was fun,, i was slow and that wes too fast for me, We rob and I only went maybe half way on the dragon tail up and back and that took 2 1/2 hours,, I could go over 10 mph those turns were turns why don't they make a stright away of 1/4 mile so i could win. as long as i don't race paul. grear time thanks to everyone,, Gary my three hot dogs were great, thanks to all and to all good night. jim

 

We got home a little before 7 pm after an easy drive home, we were not in any hurry. Took some final pictures in the Dragon but didn't get any of the turkeys we saw crossing the Dragon. We were passed in Tenn\ Kentucky by a black roadster with Kentucky plates and followed them for a while, cruise was set at 75.

 

Many thanks to all of you that made this Dragon the best one ever!!!!

The zip-lining on Friday, the wonderful drive on Saturday (even with the couple of glitches) with 32 Crossfires all in a group.....that has to be a record for that many staying together in line......, and the white water rafting on Sunday made for some great memories/laughs. I was still laughing on my way to work this morning, just thinking of "Bob" falling out of the raft, not once, but three times!!! But OMG am I sore and exhausted....I need a week at work to recover.

 

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?????

 

John (BoilerUpXFire) is alright but let's leave this alone until he gets a chance to post.

 

Yes, agreed. Let us let him sort it out.

It is his story to tell

The good news is that he is OK.

franc

 

Highlights from the Dragon?!?! That is hard to say .... the entire time was AWESOME. The only sad thing about the trip is that I have to sleep at some point - I don't want the fun to stop. I think the best thing about this trip in general is the lack of "boring time." There are so many people to talk to & things to do that you can't find yourself standing around with nothing to do.

My two favorite moments had to be an early morning solo run thru the Dragon & white water rafting.

Dragon run was perfect .... 49F (car loves the cold), heat on (Kim doesn't love the cold), classic rock playing, singing at the top of my lungs thru Hellbender - a lot more concentration on the Dragon, no LEO's, no one in front, no one behind and almost no one on the other side of the road. I hit it so hard that I was shaking at the other end ..... turned around & hit it even harder going back to the lodge. I saw a bunch of other XF's crossing the bridge on Hellbender, but I was already on my way back to go white water rafting.

I loved the white water rafting!!! I went with Nick, Dan, Jane, Troy & Megan. We had an amazing guide named Ryan. How amazing you ask? Well he pulled Nick out of the water 3x & Troy 1x. He kept asking us if we wanted to try things that sounded fun like a "tube dip" or a "boulder roll". We are a bunch of adventure loving souls so of course the answer was a very loud YES!!! Nick actually set a new record for the most times that the same person has had to be rescued on the same trip for that river .... GOOOOOOO NICK!!! Or as we now call him "Bob the human cork." We took Ryan & another guide Gumby (he was 6'7" and about 180lbs) to lunch. We were nice enough to let them ride with Nick & Jane in their SRT's. We figured the guides showed us their adventure now it was up to us to show them ours!!! Super nice guys & a great time was had by all. Don't believe Nick when he tells you how cold the water was .... it was chilly but we were in wet suits & he wasn't even shivering after 3 dunkings. Everyone will have to try it next Dragon!!!

Great trip, great times, great friends .... what more can a girl ask for?!?!

 

As it turns out, Crumpy got to come home last night. We trugged in about 2:00 AM dog tired and collapsed in bed.

Despite having my butt in the seat of my Crossie for the better part of the last five days, I couldn't wait to drive it this morning again.

Except for that work thing. Much rather be in Fontana.

As far as we could tell, Crumpy and I were the last Crossfires to leave. LaDonna and Scott were staying for a few more days or so. Still it felt incredibly sad to be the last one out closing the door.

Fall Dragon 2011 is a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way off.

Resevations made, see ya'll then if not sooner.


roadster with a stick

 

These dragon meets just get better & better !! Gary and gang I can't thank you enough. Its great to see old friends and make new ones. I hope everyone hits the fall 2011 dragon and talks a few more Crossfire owners to come along for the fun too. Gary our ride on saturday was fun, even though you almost punted that red corvette off the mountain! I couldn't believe he wouldn't pull over will all that pressure you were giving him. The tire screaming run through the dragon where we checked out from the others was a great end to a great day. I know there was a few (john in the perfectly lowered white coupe for one) that wish they were with us but got held up. Gene thanks for the "tune up" run on the dragon Friday, it was fun to run with you again. Can't wait for the local GTG with our NC,SC,GA friends. Hope to see you all next year !!! Tom & Deb

 

Beat Gary back to Chicago by about an hour. Face still hurts from all the grinning during the runs. Took the dragon out on Monday at a slow and leisurely pace. The copilot is not a speed fan and certainly does not want to hear the tires talking. Anyway, the slow pace allowed me to see the scenery for the first time. It's a real pretty run. Passed 3 flocks of turkeys. Glad I didn't see them at speed. The squirrels seemed to believe they were bullet proof. Must be the crotch rockets that keep them scared away during the day.

I am always amazed by the locals driving any old thing fast through the twisties. Who would have guessed that a pickup with a canoe strapped on the roof could go that fast? Then there was the huge truck towing a big trailer pushing us down 28.

 

Franc, on a side-note, Kim has been quoting you since we've returned. She had a blast meeting everyone that attended and wanted me to say thanks to all of you for making her feel so "welcomed". Erzer cracked her up with his "free-heartedness" of beverages (More?!?! hahahaha) Needless to say, we're already planning on the Fall '11 run.

 

Boy, tell me about it! I was wanting to push the limits, but I had no choice but to respect the guy in front of me. He drove all the way from Canada, so I wanted him to enjoy his run (even though it DID appear I was tied to his rear bumper, hahahaha).

Kim loved hanging with you and your lovely Saturday night at the lodge. You did some mean driving that day, I was impressed!

Cheers,

 

I will deny all of it in court.


roadster with a stick

 

Sorry if that was me dude!!!

I had a blast, and am probably lucky my wife Lynda was there or I may have tried to run way past my abilaty, we don't have roads near that tight in my neck of the woods, maybe after several more attempts, already booked for next year.

Angelo - V2addict