Repairs in Austin and new greaseballers

Thursday 5th April

The Greaseballers got an early start to take the cars to get some crucial repairs before entering Mexico. Thanks to Daryl at Austin Vee Dub, a super cool auto shop on the outskirts of Austin, the Greasers were able to use the garage as a base for the day while Daryl and his crew fixed the vacuum pump on the brakes of Grease Lightening, which had been a worry since leaving Washington. Team Zero got a dubious ball joint and steering alignment repaired andVee Dub also bolted down the driver’s seat on Old Yeller which had become somewhat of a safety issue. Lars from the film crew made it worse a few days ago after trying to recline the seat en route to Dallas not realizing it had rusted in place circa 1980. Our seats were made back in them olden times, and the green shag pile covers only serve to hide the small piles of powdered horsehair that collect beneath as the seats disintegrate one spring at a time.

Bryan and Paul, the Greaseball logisticians, flew in especially from Denver to meet the Greasers and help with some last minute preparations. Bryan and Paul were two original members of the school bus team, Quantum Heap, until the bus died. (Perhaps next year boys?). With them they brought about 100 CLIFBARS which the Greaseball crew have been munching on ever since. Theresa, Ben’s cousin, also flew in from New York to join the rally for a couple of weeks – another Spanish speaker to help us through delicate situations.

Today we have 2 new greaseballers in the crew - Theresa who just flew in from New York and JP from Belgium. That makes 12 greasy greaseballs on the road heading south to Mexico tonight.

Leaving Austin around 6pm, we waved goodbye to Daryl and set out towards the border with Bryan and Paul in the back of the greasemobiles getting the full Greaseball experience. At San Antonio, the dynamic duo reclaimed their hire car and accelerated back to Austin to fly home.. We’ll see them again in Mexico City! Here we come…