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Back home from my vacation. 9 days, 7 states, 2300 miles. The CT6 performed flawlessly and proved to be a great road trip car. Got a lot of rest and relaxation, a lot of beach time. Enjoyed Myrtle Beach and Charleston, SC, loved the Outer Banks of NC. First pic is in Rodanthe in the Outer Banks after driving through torrential rain (AWD and traction control helped a lot), second pic is this morning in Maryland. Saw a lot of interesting places, lots of good food.

That is a gorgeous car and a wonderful trip, Highly jealous of both. This is incredible, and real!

On my vacation of the last week (9 days, 7 states, 2300 miles) I did see a variety of interesting cars. I saw a number of ‘tuner’ style Japanese sports cars/etc on the road an in parking lots the last few days in the Outer Banks of NC. Some slammed, some with cambered wheels, custom paint, giant wings. Acura NSX, 3 Mitsubishi 3000 GTs—incl a beige Spyder and a black RHD GTO, a couple Evos, a gray R32 Skyline GT-R, lots of Civics. Must have been some event going on. When I was in Myrtle Beach last week, I found out had been Mustang Week—-saw a bunch of sweet Mustangs of all eras on the way into town. Saw a white Ferrari Roma today, first I’d seen. Saw a minty gold ‘83 RX-7 on I-64 in VA (guessed it was an ‘83 because the plate said ‘FINE 83’. Also saw a couple nice 90s 993-era 911s in traffic. Saw a gorgeous white w/ turquoise interior '66 Eldorado convertible rolling top down in Murrell's Inlet SC. I did see a Bronco Outer Banks edition in that sweet green in, of all places, the Outer Banks (Corolla, to be specific). I also toured a car museum outside Myrtle Beach, 100 cars from a collection, heavy on the Mopars..several late 60s-early 70s Hemi cars. Some that stood out was a red '69 LeSabre convertible, an unrestored Verduro green '69 Grand Prix, and a turquoise '63 Catalina 2dr SD. 2300 miles of driving over 9 days and 7 states, alas most of the freeway traffic that I saw was pretty boring. I only saw 2 CT6s--both pre-facelift, one gray, one white. A few 2nd and 3rd generation CTSes (no Vs, coupes or wagons), a sharp dark blue ATS-V coupe, a light silver blue CT5-V, a couple regular CT5s. At a rest stop, a mint condition silver early '00s DTS pulled up beside me as I was getting out, older couple...I said 'Sharp Caddy' to the driver, he said the same to me about my CT6. Talk about stereotypes--I was walking on the beach at Myrtle Beach state park and came back to the lot and there were two C8 Corvettes parked side by side--a black convertible and bright blue coupe--both drivers looked north of 70 w/ white tennis shoes, jorts and polo shirts..they were chatting about their cars..

Before my vacation, I had created a playlist on Amazon Music with 12 hours of tracks from the 70s to today, mostly 80s New Wave, 80s pop and rock, '90s grunge/alternative...heard of a lot of my favorites..when I was in areas w/ poor cell coverage (no streaming) I listened to Sirius XM 80s and 90s channels or podcasts I had downloaded. Thinking I may need to subscribe to OnStar data so I can use the car as a wifi access point.

Hello Everyone, You have probably NOTICED that I have not been posting much and especially this summer have not been posting any auto news. That will change as I move into the fall and get back to my hobby of my passion for the auto industry. What have I been doing you might be wondering. I had a major yard project that consumed every day all my spare time. I installed a 33,000 lb commercial grade retaining wall and a new heavy duty 6ft fence on my back yard. Last winter storms took down my fence that was part of the house when I bought it in 1999. The yard was also on an angle from 5ft height to the east to ground level on the west. Since my wife and I have decided to eventually in 20 plus years retire here, I decided to level the yard, install a retaining wall and replace the fence. We love to garden so 1/3rd of the yard is at the higher level and the rest is ground level with the base of the house. After my company Trade Show, I came home on Friday May 24th 2024 and took delivery of 33,000 lbs of retaining wall stones, toppers and corner stones. As one can see, I did make a mistake in that I had them left double stacked and as such had to lift all the stones multiple times to get them down and stagged in the back yard. Each stone weights 90lbs, corner stones are 110lbs and the toppers are 45lbs. I also had 6 tree stumps to remove as these trees which where my neighbors had grown across the property line and would if left, over time rot and cause the wall to possibly shift and sink. I also ran into this huge green granite boulder which was buried again once I had removed the tree stumps. Here is a picture of the west side corner looking back, the excavation I did for prepping for 5/8th crushed rock bed and installation of the wall. With the crushed rock bed in place and packed down, I could also install the draining line and start to install the stones. From filling in the stones with crushed rock to building the corner, things progressed nicely I felt. To keep dirt from clogging the drain field behind the wall, I used commercial grade fabric that lets the water flow but holds the dirt back. Toppers are glued on after I cut them to give me a presentable corner. The green sticks you see is where I will have the galvanized fence post base installed into the wall with cement. Here is the section with the tree stumps removed and the wall built, dirt packed and all secure. Now comes the coring part to create the holes that will allow me to install the fence post bases. The toppers where the post go is not glued on yet. To do this, it takes a strong 18V drill, 5" core bit, water and strength. I used OZ-Posts bases which are great. Here is the upper section with them cemented in. The best thing about these is that in my lifetime I will never have to worry about having to replace them. If a tree falls and damages a section of the fence, easy to unscrew the posts and replace the section. Best part is I never have to worry about rotting as you install them up 1 inch to allow all water to run off the post and onto the topper and go away. With the bases installed and cured, I was able to install all the fence posts and start building. View from the neighbor's side of the finished wall/fence Finished view from my deck. I still have an interior wall to finish that will support the raised area where our garden will be and build an easy walk ramp up from the lower section. So, this is why you have not seen much posting from me or heard much from me over the last 5 months or so. Still have much to do, but at least the biggest part of getting the yard secured with a new wall / fence is done. I will be working on the rest of it over the fall/winter/spring. If ya have any questions hit me up, always happy to share my experience with ya. Yes, I lost 35lbs doing this project, nothing like a ton of manual labor to get into shape. ?