Recent Events

 I've had a few inquiries on Facebook and Discord of people asking where I've been since release day of the CNW AC44. I'm gonna go over everything in this post and discuss what's going on from here.

 For starters, there was a massive cold snap where I live for a few days. The average wind chill never got above -7°F. I had to work through all of that and frankly, it blew. Being outside in that plus being at work didn't help. My car struggled to start every morning/evening (which I originally thought the CCA rating of the battery was to blame). This brings me to my next part.

 

My 2003 Honda Accord is officially dead. I was doing 75 down the highway and my electronics failed on the car. I had no gauges (RPM, speed, engine temp, or fuel level), the radio straight up stopped working, and some of the indicator lights are on. Below is the pic right after they all failed.

 

I was on my way to St. Louis, MO and broke down in a small town called Lebanon. Some family friends rescued me and took me to their place that night (it was 18°F outside). 

The room I stayed in was nice and cozy and I slept in warmth that night. My guardian angels were working overtime that night.

 The scene I woke up to in the morning was absolutely gorgeous.

 The next part of the plan was towing the car home. Well, a tow bill would've been near $1,000.00. This is not something I wanted to pay for. I called my coworker and she said she'd rescue me at 7 that night. The problem is that the highway is pretty bendy and taking it at night wouldn't be an ideal thing to do. I kept on brainstorming while working on a PC.

I had a plan put together at this point. I would rent a U-Haul and load the car on a car hauler. Boom. $300. Much cheaper than a tow (keep in mind I was 150 miles away from home and insurance wouldn't cover it).

I started my three and a half hour trip back home. Max speed on these trailers is 55. Keep in mind - the highway is extremely curvy. I didn't want to lose my car. I pulled into a town and got something to eat about 100 miles in.

I got home at around 7 or so. It's pitch black outside at this point. I unloaded my car into my backyard. It hasn't moved since.

I needed a new car at this point. Given how often I commute, it's not justifiable to use someone else's car. I'm also pretty stingy on borrowing vehicles (the U-Haul was an exception to this). If it's not my vehicle, I get very nervous behind the wheel.

I started my new vehicle shopping venture and landed a major upgrade from the ol' Honda. I bought the new car on Saturday and it's been a pretty sweet ride ever since.

Enter: 2013 Buick LaCrosse

Call it a grandpa car - this thing has some serious get up and go. Plus the whole feature package is insane. Things are on this car that I never knew existed. Since when were cooling seats a thing? Well, this thing has them. It also has light-adaptive dimmers on the mirrors. Gone are the days of being blinded with high-beams.

 Plus the 41 call-ins at work today. That was fun.

  Anyway, I'm trying to ease back into the whole train simulator thing right now. I can hardly keep focused on anything at the moment. LP has been hammering out some sweet stuff with the new Reppo AEM-7. I'd love to hop on board and get some stuff going on it myself.

I was also sent some pictures from him of the SD70. He put it up against the old RSC model and wow... How far this has come.

That's all I've got for tonight. Keep a lookout on the TSC Discord, Train Simulation Fans, or my personal profile (if you follow that for some reason) for future project stuff. I want to crank some more GE's out.