21 hours ago, Mike W said:

Site  ---

You bring up a very good point.  I'm the events coordinator for the Austin Z club and so have been very involved in the planning of this event for next year.  As it turns out, a number of us brought up this same suggestion for basically the same reason (heat) and we did consider doing something both earlier as well as later in the year.  A couple of reasons drove the decision to host it in June.  First, it was felt that doing it outside of summer would significantly impact the level of attendance that we would get as that tends to be a time when people take vacations from work.  Second, June in Austin is typically very nice and not like Memphis.  I was at the Memphis event and it was brutal especially given the high levels of humidity.  Typically Austin is not like this especially in June.  Over the last few years we have had great weather in June with temps in the 80's and 90's but with very low humidity.  I agree that July would have been closer to a Memphis experience (without the high humidity) and so that's why we targeted June. 

 

In any case, hope that helps to explain the thought process that went into this.

 

Hope to see a lot of you there next year.  It should be a fantastic event.

 

Mike.

That makes sense Mike, thank you.  I never think about kids being in school in the spring and fall and the difficulty of planning around that.  I had to get my Mom to stay at my house so I could go to Memphis and not worry about my dog. 

It's not like I'm not going to come down because of the heat, I'm used to it here, it may determine the car I drive but I'll be there with a smile.  I may do what Captain Obvious did last year and fly into DFW?  Thanks again!

 

"Zero rust and I wouldn't hesitate driving it to Zcon in Canada. "

Austin is 100 miles closer to you than Toronto was Cliff.   I vote you plan to take the blue 280z.   Zup & I will meet you in Shreveport to drive the rest of the way to Austin 

2 minutes ago, S30Driver said:

"Zero rust and I wouldn't hesitate driving it to Zcon in Canada. "

Austin is 100 miles closer to you than Toronto was Cliff.   I vote you plan to take the blue 280z.   Zup & I will meet you in Shreveport to drive the rest of the way to Austin 

That's the one I thought about taking.  It's the ugliest but has factory air I could get going a lot quicker and cheaper than my orange 240.  Maybe a good idea!  I'd bet I could catch on to the Atlanta guy's "Z Train" coming down I-20?

Got home safe last night. It's going to take me some time to catch up, but I wanted to get some pics posted. Here's my travel report:

Started the trip by performing a high tech metric conversion on my speedo:

As I mentioned before, we stayed the first night in Niagara Falls. Went to the Taps Brewery for a great dinner and a beer and then the next morning we drove down to the falls to meet up with Nikola Tesla:

Here's he is, looking admiringly down on some Datsun Z paraphernalia:

At the risk of arrest and/or driving violation, with the execution of a well timed plan, here's a shot of my car at Horseshoe Falls:

Went to The Flying Saucer for breakfast before finishing the trip to Toronto:

Made it to the Toronto where I met up with one of my Fiero buddies. He brought his beautiful car over to the convention hotel:

Sitting up on our deck overlooking the pool. Farthest to closest are my traveling partner GGRIII, my Fiero buddy Adam, Blue, and yours truly Cap O:

That evening was the Distillery District social event and a bunch of us got together for dinner at Mill Creek Brewing. An international collection of enthusiasts:

Here's the mischievous Blue "adjusting" the beer selection menu while the rest of responsible people tried hard to stop him:

Next morning went to visit Grannyknot. We hiked through miles of wilderness to view one of his Z car projects:

Mr. and Ms. Blue left early to do some additional sightseeing in the area, but Granny treated GGR and I to a fantastic Canadian surf-n-turf!!

After leaving grannyknots, GGR and I went to Muddy York Brewing Company. Great microbrewery not far from the hotel. Here's a shot of the operation:

Next morning was the Peoples Choice show and we tried to gather the ClassicZ forum guys for a picture. There were more of us at the show, but couldn't get in touch. We were able to gather about ten of us:

Here's our ClassicZ table at the closing banquet:

Next morning was the trek home and (other than the Toronto traffic) this was the only real bummer... Driving through the hotel parking lot to head home, we hear this click-click-click from one of my rear tires. Stopped for a quick look only to find a screw stuck in the tire. After trying to pull it out and verifying that it was in fact punctured all the way through, we drove to a local Canadian Tire where they pulled the rear wheel off to patch the tire:

And here's my souvenir. My "screwvenir":

Thankfully after that time consuming and frustratingly expensive false start, the rest of the trip was uneventful. Got to stop at Bullfrogs Brewery in Williamsport, PA, where I got to sample this:

So I'm home, tired, poorer, and trying to catch up on the forum and other things. Great meeting new friends. Getting together with past friends, and missing all you that couldn't make it.

1 hour ago, siteunseen said:

That's the one I thought about taking.  It's the ugliest but has factory air I could get going a lot quicker and cheaper than my orange 240.  Maybe a good idea!  I'd bet I could catch on to the Atlanta guy's "Z Train" coming down I-20?

Did they ever re-pave I-20 through Louisiana? I last went that route in 2009, and it about rattled my fillings loose in a car with a comfortable suspension. If I was driving the Z on a road in that condition, I would need a kidney transplant at the end.

Alas, even if I had the funds for Austin, I would need to put that money into a rebuild on the 260Z. I hate stopping at gas stations to check the gas and fill the oil. However, the cloud behind me does deter tailgating.

I've only been to New Orleans on I-10, I flew to Austin, it was so bad I spilt my beers so it looked like I peed myself.  The very first time I went on a GSXR-750, I rented a U-Haul to come back home. It was horrible. 

That's something to think about Steve. I'm too old to be uncomfortable for 10 hours when I can fly. We have plenty of time to decide fortunately. 8^)

4 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

Next morning was the trek home and (other than the Toronto traffic) this was the only real bummer... Driving through the hotel parking lot to head home, we hear this click-click-click from one of my rear tires. Stopped for a quick look only to find a screw stuck in the tire. After trying to pull it out and verifying that it was in fact punctured all the way through, we drove to a local Canadian Tire where they pulled the rear wheel off to patch the tire:

And here's my souvenir. My "screwvenir":

Thankfully after that time consuming and frustratingly expensive false start, the rest of the trip was uneventful. Got to stop at Bullfrogs Brewery in Williamsport, PA, where I got to sample this:

So I'm home, tired, poorer, and trying to catch up on the forum and other things. Great meeting new friends. Getting together with past friends, and missing all you that couldn't make it.

We have drastically different meanings of "screwvenirs"

 

 

 

Thanks for the pictures & story Captain O.   Looks like a great adventure, glad you made it back safe.

Car looks great!

How did you like the Captain Drinkable ?

Captain, is your screwvenir a Philips or a Robertson?

11 hours ago, Namerow said:

It was good to meet you and the other CZCC-er's at Z-Fest on Saturday.  Hope everyone arrives home safely.  Don't forget to post the group photo when you get a chance.

CZCC Gang