Wait! Were not finished. We have one last destination to report before we end this travel page. Andrew and been fans of a pretty popular and successful Discovery Channel show called Fast and Loud filmed in Dallas. It features the very small business Gas Monkey Garage and its two biggest characters. Richard Rawlings and Aaron Kaufman. Richard is the money man and slick sales guy while Aaron is the true master mechanic of the show. Each episode features the crew finding some old car and the Gas Monkeys fixing it up to be sold. Andrew and I have been joking around that it would be pretty cool to end the trip at the Gas Monkey Garage and try to get a picture with some of the show personalities. I have come to find out that this is near impossible as the entire complex is fenced in now with razor wire on top. Further more, the only area you can get into is the retail gift store where college age kids work are pretty much trained to turn any fan trying to get more access away. Late Monday afternoon I called Lori and asked if she could call the Gas Monkey store and see if she could get me in to see the crew and maybe take a picture. She just laughed knowing that this was not going to be possible but said she would try anyway. Right then, she called the Gas Monkey Garage only to find that their phone system will not transfer you to any human and your only choice was to leave a message. Lori did so but was pretty sure that this was a lost cause. If you know Lori, you know she is tenacious to say the least. Lori got on the web, looked up the Discovery Channel and started looking for any contact that might be connected with the show. I have no idea the chain of events that let her to this person but she got a hold of a producer or some other big wig for the show and told that person about me, my cancer, just getting out of the hospital, driving on this Route 66 trip with Andrew, a little about the adventure and our desire to end the trip at the Gas Monkey Garage on Wednesday. The Discovery person simply said that they would make a few calls and see what they could do. Honestly, we didnt think we would hear back from them and had not heard anything until this afternoon As Andrew and I were heading to Dallas to see if we could talk our way in, Lori received a call from the Discovery Channel saying that they had everything setup. I was supposed to simply show up in the Gift Shop, Tell them my name and they would take care of the rest. No Way!!! Lori is simply unbelievable. She truly accomplished the impossible. Andrew and I stopped quickly at a gas station and car wash. We cleaned the Cheetos bags, kleenexes and other travel trash from the truck and made everything look better. We ran into the Bathroom to wash our faces as we looked like we had been in a car for 4 days they hosed the truck down. Going through a Texas town today, we were splashed by a ton of muddy water and there was mud all over the truck. After all, we couldnt see the Gas Monkeys with a dirty truck! We headed to the Gas Monkey garage where we quickly learned that they were filming and there were a bunch of on-lookers peering through the fence to see the crew. Andrew and I walked into the Gift Shop and were met by the COO of the Gas Monkey Garage who was SUPER nice and told us he would be giving us a tour of the whole shop and offered to take pictures of us as we wandered the place. There were a ton of cars in the shop in various states of build or repair. We recognized a few from previous episodes and were shown others that were currently being filmed for future episodes. VERY FUN. We got to watch the Discovery people as they filmed the Gas Monkey crew doing their thing. We were told that Richard Rawlings wouldnt be here but Aaron was. We watched them film for a while then went outside to see other projects and cars on their lot. This was just cool car heaven. Classic Impalas, Bellaires, T-Buckets, 69 Jags, 50s Cadillacs and more. We even were shown a car from Dodge that doesnt exist yet. They even put Andrew to work moving a 69 Jag in position to be photographed. (I was staged in that other shot.) Our COO guide/photographer said, Why dont you get your truck and pull it in here and we will position it beneath the Gas Monkey Logo and take some pictures. Soon, it seemed the entire team of Gas Monkeys were gathering around Andrews truck for a big group Shot. Wow! Aaron and a couple of others stayed and talked truck with Andrew and me. I think we earned Aarons Seal of Approval as he had very nice things to say about the truck. We talked and played for quite a while when a dark SUV drove in carrying Richard Rawlings. He, like all the Gas Monkey crew was extremely nice and very easy to talk to. We were able to get pictures with Richard as well when Aaron came back up. We talked truck for a while longer before Andrew and I had to leave. We were given some T-shirts, hats and stickers on our way out. It was great fun. Andrew and I drove the 68 Ford out feeling like stars as the on-lookers had to move out of the way to let us out. We love our fans! Thanks so much to my awesome wife. You engineered a super fun ending to an already awesome adventure. She doesnt take no for an answer and can flat get things done. I love you, Sweetie! Here are a bunch of pictures from our time at the Gas Monkey Garage.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 02:31:58 +0000
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