I heard from Jack_Crow

KC2IXE

Flashaholic*
Joined
Apr 21, 2001
Messages
2,237
Location
New York City
Hi Gang,
Many of you probably remember Jack_Crow from here on the boards. I emailed him today to see how he is doing, and it turns out he has problems logging in, but has given me permission to post an update. He's back in the Mideast - in particular, Kuwait - as he says, a lot better than Bagdad or Scania ever were

Anyway, here is what he wrote - BTW he just got back to Kuwait from 18 days of R&R

The R and R so far….

Hi all,
It's been a wild few days. Here are the details.

I fly home from Kuwait on the 4th. A long dam trip. Kuwait to Frankfort, Frankfort
to O'Hare, and O'Hare to BWI. My sister picks me up at BWI and we drive back to her
home in Maryland. At that point I take my truck that's been at Tina's and head home in
Virginia traffic. What a nice thing to see, a highway full of cars who's drivers don't
have some kind of head dress on. I'm home, and there is a shortage of local hajjis.

Face it; any home coming is going to have issues. Got a few issues to deal with.

Like the back left tail light on my truck ain't working. The bulbs look ok, and
after I finish putting it back together, the tool bit (Torx) takes an instant powder
and I can't find it anyplace. Had to go back to the auto parts store and buy another
bit. Anyhow, the tail light works for a good 15 min, then quits again. Suspect either a
failed ground or the flex circuit from the connector to the bulbs has failed. Heck, I'm
due for new tail lights anyway; it's just money and a trip to the dealer to solve.

Speaking of dealers. When you get to my age, we start having our 'mid life crises'.
The way I see it, if I'm going to have one, then it better be a good one. MG Mike "aka
226" is casually looking for an old vett for me, consider it mechanical Viagra. That is
not the only choice. I've always been fascinated with superchargers ever since my old
man explained their use on aircraft engines of WWII. The idea of having 200 hp under my
right food is better than any blue pill.

Went looking for a super charger kit for my Contour and didn't have a whole lot of
luck.

Chevrolet has a car out with a factory super charger, the Cobalt. Before I left for
Iraq, went looking for one of those, and the dealership had no clue. Seems they don't
read car magazines there. Anyhow, went looking before this R and R cycle and found some
on the lot, but the dealer was closed Sunday. What kind of nonsense is that, closed on
Sunday? Anyhow, the sticker for this little gem was about 25G's. No matter how you
slice it, that's a lot of money for not much car, no mater how fast it goes.

(Got to try one of these puppies. Wow, too damm fast for me and I only got the boost
gauge to read +4, the lit says it's limited to +12 psi, a land rocket)

Back to thinking.

This makes the used Vett sound dirt cheap. Even if I have to buy a crate engine and
transmission. There are also any number of factory hot rods available. Police pack
Mustangs, or Chevrolets. Got a few months to work on this, so no rush.

Anyhow…….
The R and R event. I wanted to treat the wife and self well this time around. We
flew to Las Vegas, rented a very nice '05 Mustang convertible from Budget. Since I'm
traveling on my own nickel, I don't have to do what the company policy says. This time
I purchased the expensive insurance, as the lady at the counter says, "Bring it back on
a flat bed, and it won't cost you a thing". It's a ***** when hind sight is 20 20.

Spent a few days at the Luxor hotel there. It's the one shaped like a huge pyramid.
Egyptian themed. What's wrong with me? I was trying to get away from Islam Land and
rented space in this thing. Fortunately the old Egyptians had very little to do with
modern Islam except share the same real-estate at different times. The Luxor is a
truly impressive place. 35 floors of hotel rooms on the outside and a space inside big
enough to fly aircraft.

After Vegas, the wife wanted to see "Hollywood" or as you guys know it as
Hollyweird. The best part of the trip is I didn't have to physically assault a 'frosted
flake'.

(A 'frosted flake' is my term for someone how has not done much real with their
lives and have an outlook that is just short of bizzare in my book. I fear the day when
one such idiot trys to tell me things I know are shear bs. I see a bail bondsman in my
future)

We did take a 'tour of the stars homes' and one of the 'high lights' was we got to
see Peter Falk's Range Rover, with a "Bush Chaney" bumper sticker on it. So the trip
was not a total joke.

Due to the limits of 'on line booking' with the travel service, we flew into and out
of Las Vegas airport. So we had to drive back, and that's when things went from
"Hollyweird" to suddenly stupid.

Sunday we are driving out of LA heading to Vegas and little did we know just how
exciting some freeways are. It was a great day for a top down drive. Sun, wind, and
traffic.

In a nut shell, CHIP' (Calfornia Highway Patrol) s calls their lanes 1,2,3, and 4.
Lane one is the fast or left lane and the slower ones are the higher numbers.

We are moving along in rubber banding traffic in lane two.

There is a Greyhound bus in Lane one for reasons that have never been explained.

I'm keeping good interval with traffic in lane two, and then this bus slides in
front of me, then begins to break hard in front of us.

So I break hard as well. I don't want to hit this bus.

Seems the guy in the mini van behind me is not paying a huge amount of attention.

He hits us like a queue ball, and knocks us into the bus, since we were already
breaking hard, the Mustang's bumper goes under the bumper of the bus, and the sheet
metal bashes all the way back to the front tire. Well ain't this exciting. All this
damage happens in about .3 seconds. Boom, yelp, crunch, and grind to a halt.

We get the vehicles off the road and in my case onto the center divider. Shortly
there after elements of the Burbank Police and California Highway Patrol show up, get
us off the highway and onto a side street. Now the fun begins.

It seems Mr. Mini Van also managed to tag a Jag going sideways after he hits us, so
now there are four vehicles involved, and a bus load of passengers.

So there we are on this side walk, talking to the cops and trying to figure out what
happened. The one thing we all agreed on was the bus had no business in the fast lane,
and had no good reason to slow down in front of us. In the Mini Van's eyes, we hit the
bus first and then he hits us, but the physics of damage don't look like that. Either
way it's of no major event.

I gather the bus driver now has issues. Seems he was handed a bunch of papers by law
enforcement. We have to assume they were not for some exotic LA services, unless you
think traffic court is a massage parlor. Mr. Jag, Mr. Minivan, and I are free to go w/o
any kind of invitations to court.

The police were wondering why I was not a little more angry or hyper about the
events. Guess they suspected I might be on drugs. I told them after getting shot at in
Iraq, a traffic accident not all that big a deal. And folks it isn't. Expensive in
terms of time and money, but I refuse to loose my cool at a nasty twist of fate.

At the end of the side walk events, the cops were finishing up; I gave the CHP
trooper my last Saddam Dinar as a token of thanks for his help (w/o a hint of bribe).

Anyhow it takes the police over an hour to write the report, and about two more for
the tow agency Budget hires to pick up the wreck of our rented Mustang. The tow company
takes us to the Budget Burbank office where we unload the car, and off it goes into the
suburban traffic. We were told wrecks go to their LAX terminal. We bid our formerly
fair steed a good bye and wish it a quick recovery.

The people at Budget were good to us. They got us another car so we could make our
plane at Vegas. The rest of the trip was short on events; thank the powers that be for
small favors. Spent the rest of that day white knuckle driving.

You know..
I've never considered my self a gambler.
Perhaps five bucks on lotto here or there.
I think the wife and I spent less than fifty bucks on the various games of chance.
At one point we ducked into the Golden Nugget just to unload some pocket change,
left over from a coin laundry event.

This year I've won large.
Played Baghdad Mortar Keno and lived.
Bet $14.95 a day on extended insurance and didn't get a thirty thousand dollar car
charged to my Discover card.

So if Mayor Eastwood asks me "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
I can answer with a straight face.
"Yes your honor, I do feel lucky, how about you?"

Later guys
Mike in Upstate New York
Not going Hollywood.




"You are, what you do, when it counts"
........................

Hi to the CPF,
Hi again, sorry Ive been out of touch, but this contract has us a tad busy. 12 hour
days seven days a week. Been fixing Army stuff since I got bounced out of Baghdad on a
medical.

I don't miss Baghdad. Getting mortared four times a week ain't real healty.

Feel free to do the e mail thing.

Later kids
Jack Crow in Kuwait


"You are, what you do, when it counts"
The Masso
 

KevinL

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
5,866
Location
At World's End
Wow, great to hear that he's ok! May the powers that be watch over him and light his way.. he needs it!
 
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