2022 esCarpade Day -2 - Morayfield to Parkes

 The time had finally arrived for the boys to get up at stupid o'clock and head to the 2022 Camp Quality esCarpade...

Retro Rock-It was ready and raring to go...

Damian's lovely wife Tricia got up early to see him off and get some action shots of Retro Rock-It heading up the driveway...

And heading off up the street at around 3:45am...

It was pretty dark as Damian headed off...

Stopping by to collect Jason from his house...

Before hitting the road towards Parkes...  Funnily enough, as they headed through Brisbane they came across Sharky and Jim in the Pineapple car, before getting separated a short time later as Jim turned right following his GPS, and Damian turned left following his prior knowledge of the way to the Western Freeway...

The boys got to see a lovely sunrise...

Before heading up through Cunningham's Gap...

And down the other side where they found a foggy morning waiting for them...

They were the last car to sneak past this wide load on the way in to Warwick...  Sharky and Jim in the Pineapple car got stuck behind it!

The lovely church going through Warwick...

And there's always time for a selfie!!

Lots of interesting vehicles out and about on the trip...

Painted silos in Yelarbon...

The roads were open, but there was still plenty of water along the sides of the roads!

Arriving at Goondiwindi, Retro Rock-It found Purple People Eater had already arrived...

After the others caught up and had some breakfast and a coffee, it was time to cross the bridge into NSW...

And straight into some roadworks!

Jason found some Retro party mix... figured it was a good omen!

A water crossing on the highway... the photo doesn't do it justice - the water on the left was pretty deep, and immediately after it was a MASSIVE pothole...  good times!

An old train bridge (still in use, of course).

Stopped at more roadworks seemed like a great time for a photo of Purple People Eater out the back window!

Fuelling up in Narrabri...

Hitting the road again, Damian took over the tail-end-Charlie position...

More wide loads...

Every highway should have a T intersection!

Found one half of Saturn...

No stopping at Coonabarabran... not after the last time!

Jason had a quick snooze while Damian kept the wheels turning...

And past the other half of Saturn!

Regular blog readers would recognise that this is where Damian and Angus had trouble with the busted pulley and serpentine belt... no such issues this year!

Mowing...

Across the old bridge...

Past the pink pub...

Through Dubbo...

And eventually arriving in Parkes...  

Time for a refreshing beverage...

And of course, a group selfie!

Everyone was pretty tired after a huge day of driving... after dinner, it was time for an early night.  Tomorrow will see the boys drive the remaining 500km or so to get to Albury, where they'll settle in for the evening and then head to scrutineering first thing Saturday morning!

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Four days to go... Packing time!

Retro Rock-It was quietly kicking back in the shed chatting to Booger Mobile about the upcoming esCarpade...

Damian decided that the tyres might as well be nice and shiny for the first day of the trip, so he shined them with some instant-shine-in-a-can!

With just four days to go until Damian and Jason head off to the 2022 Camp Quality esCarpade, it was time to start getting the boot packed with the various spares and tools that hopefully won't be required on the trip!

There seems to be an awful lot of room in this boot... a combination of Damian removing some of the items he used to pack in "just in case" (meaning naturally this year he will wish that he had them), and the fact that the boot is about twice the size of Booger Mobile's boot (maybe even bigger)!

Cover up the greasy stuff, and the boot is ready for the boys to put their bags in on Thursday morning.

Damian's friends Paul and Catherine also dropped around during the afternoon, bringing with them a container filled with notes and coins - Paul, Catherine and Catherine's mother Denise's donation towards Retro Rock-It's fuel costs during esCarpade.

Damian stacked and counted the money, which came to the fabulous total of $402.60!  Thanks to Paul, Catherine and Denise, that's probably 2-3 tanks of fuel for Retro Rock-It... it should get the boys to the starting line!

Damian now has three days of work to go, then a quick nap before heading off in the early hours of Thursday morning...  Buckle up people, the blog posts are about to increase!

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One week to go... better find stuff!

One week until the boys will be heading off to the 2022 Camp Quality esCarpade... as a matter of fact, by this time next week, they will hopefully have arrived safe and sound in Parkes or thereabouts, having a well-earned break from driving overnight!

Damian headed up to the shed to collect up tools and spare parts, but first, thought that he'd have a bit of a crack at some highlighting on the Retro part of the bonnet graffiti... Probably shouldn't have!

Well, how about the boot lid instead?

That's not too bad...

What about the driver's side of the rooftop pod?

Tough to tell much difference...

But of course, the driver's side has been done, so Damian had better do the passenger side also...

Tadaaaaaaaa!

Not content with the black outline, Damian attacked the spoiler with the gold paint pen...

Thought about doing some touch ups on Giggle's rocket ship, but decided against it!

Instead, he started collecting up the tools, safety items and spare parts that are all part and parcel of an esCarpade adventure...

Box of spares, and some spare oil, coolant, brake fluid etc...

And of course, the obligatory second spare tyre!  (The first spare tyre is in the tyre well in the boot where it belongs!)

The time is slipping away, and the excitement is mounting... all the boys have to do is avoid getting sick *touches wood* and they will be away on their esCarpade adventure next week!

There have been some amazing donations over the past few days, bringing the fundraising total to 

$13884

A great total so far, but if you can help the boys raise even more money, that would be excellent! 

You can donate to Camp Quality through this secure link:  

https://fundraise.campquality.org.au/fundraisers/RetroRock-It/camp-quality-escarpade-2021

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Graffiti Touch Up

The shed hasn't got any tidier, but esCarpade has now gotten closer!  With only 10 days to go until the boys head off, Damian thought it was time to do something about the bonnet graffiti...

The original graffiti has faded significantly over the years, making the word Retro a little difficult to read from a distance...

After initially considering some paint and a steady hand, Damian figured that an obnoxiously large indelible marker would do the trick!

And here's the end result...  There might be another couple of touch ups, particularly on the R between the T and O (which goes over a bend in the bonnet), but it's definitely much easier to read now!

Nearly time to head to esCarpade, but there's still time to make a donation to Camp Quality if you want to!!  The fundraising total currently stands at just over $13500!!

Click that big, yellow DONATE NOW button... go on... you know you want to!

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Fuel Up and Fiddly Bits

With the esCarpade approaching rapidly, and fuel prices going absolutely crazy, Damian ducked out to fuel up the completely empty Retro Rock-It at the bargain price of $1.999 per litre...

Once back home, it was time for a bit of a static safety light and sponsor shot walk around...  From the back...

Driver's side...

From the front... 

Passenger side...

Stashing the spare fuel in the rooftop pod...

Merlin was supervising Damian doing a snappy bit of soldering on the driver's side rear amber flasher... it only had 2 LED's flashing, but now has the full complement of 5!

After taking these photos, Damian realised that the flashy-blinky settings of the LED's were reset when the battery was disconnected...

After resetting them, Damian followed the current trend and did a walkaround video... enjoy!

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What's going on?

Regular blog readers might be wondering why the radio silence?  Well, Covid lockdowns put pay to the esCarpade being held in its regular October timeslot in 2021, and there's also been a small change in the team since the last blog post.

Let's put things in some semblance of order...

Firstly, the 2021/2022 esCarpade is now to be held from 2 - 9 April 2022.  The route is remaining mostly the same, starting in Albury, finishing in Coffs Harbour with Mudgee as the halfway point and well earned lay-day...  The only change noted in the details was the shift from Tamworth to Manilla (a town slightly north of Tamworth) for lunch on Day 6 (Friday 8 April).  Anyone keen to see the map, you can check it out below!

Next up - team changes.  Unfortunately, Hoges is a bit unwell, so has made the disappointing decision not to attend the 2021/2022 esCarpade, but is keen to come along next year instead!  Joining Damian this year will be his brother Jason, for his second esCarpade experience (a decade since his first one). 

Retro Rock-It's fundraising tally stands at an impressive $11112

That said, the boys are still looking to raise more, so click that big yellow button and help Retro Rock-It bring a smile to the face of kids living with cancer!

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