I'm really about to drive 1200 miles for a shell...

....but. i would do two things first:

1.get a local forum member to lay eyes on if first. no sense having your spirit crushed if you arrive to some turd sight unseen.
2. paypal the guy a deposit to hold it until you can spend more time enjoying the trip. dont be so rushed. see some sights, eat some local food. you never ever show up..seller keeps your deposit. you show up, you pay the balance and drive home happy.

okay..3. buy that local forum member a beer. make a new friend.

 

Thanks for all the replies gents, I cancelled the trip. I may end up driving for it still depending on availability but I need more time for that trip. I may also just go the softopper route, about $100 cheaper and don't have to drive anywhere.

In the meantime I'll get my ecgs bushing installed Saturday.

 

When dying people were asked what they regretted in their life, some said it was the things they didn't do.

I wish I lived in the now

 

I didn't cancel it for good, only for this weekend lol. I'm still very interested in making the drive. I can't drive 36 hours straight and act like that's some sort of thing I can honestly say I regret not doing.

 

Define irony: You regret not doing something on your deathbed; so you do a 36hr push behind the wheel, alone, through some of the most boring-as-shit sections is out great land, would likely end up being exactly that place where you would be regretting things.

I spent much of my late teens into my early 30s behind the wheel as a profession. Despite better judgement, and desire, I was provided little choice but to drive through, and beyond, the point of exhaustion from time to time. In all those years, those preceding and those subsequent, I have fallen asleep behind the wheel exactly twice.

Once where the only thing in real danger was the desert flora and fauna that were in my path before coming to a abrupt stop, some 4mi after I remember closing my eyes on the road, when I came to meet a significant pile of rocks, we'll call it a mountain.

The other time was on my way home from a young lady friend's house. It was the night I got back from one of those camping trips in the woods where you get zero sleep for the week. This time it was the bottom of the ditch on the side of Highway 512 near Tacoma, at 65 or so mph, which snapped me to consciousnes. Between the horse shoe stuffed firmly up my ass and some pixie dust, I somehow managed to miss the rather large city/mileage sign on the shoulder. I did this by crossing the ditch climbing the other side, up over the backside of the sign, back through the ditch and up into the road. This series of actions took about as long as it did for you to read it. I then spent 3hr cleaning grass and mud from the bottom of my friends tuck at the coin-op.

This event alone has caused me to rethink any bad ideas of driving long distances with little to no sleep. I thought I was good, but in reality it could have resulted in my death.

Not to say I haven't done silly sleep deprived driving sessions sense, but I promise you there were done out of absolute necessity during situations where some risk was accepted.

It's a good call you decided against this trip in your proposed timeline. No topper is worth that effort for a $600 savings, let alone your life.

 

Bijick
I am a personal friend of this seller and I can vouch for him. Let me know if you need any more info.