ATR Video #3

ATR Video #2

All The Rods at Biff Burger 1

All The Rods....including the really old ones!

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All The Rods Show #2 is now up!

https://soundcloud.com/allthegoods/atr-show-2

You can find it at the above link.

Thanks for listening!

All The Rods Podcast Show #2 is now up!

https://soundcloud.com/allthegoods/atr-show-2

You can click the above link and that will bring you right to it. Thanks in advance for listening!

Adventure on the high seas aka going where few have been....the Sean Merritt interview

(Dolphins playing in the ocean-Azores. Source tellegraph.co.uk via Google images)

This is the interview that I'd been hinting at in the last few blogs/podcasts. Sean Merritt  is someone I know that's had a rather interesting life and one big part of it is that he's made a Transatlantic voyage by boat and I'm not talking cruise ship either. It takes a special sort of person with a special sort of courage not to mention adventure to even want to take on such an undertaking. But he didn't do it alone as you will soon discover but that doesn't make his tale any less interesting.

ATG-What made you decide to do this? Or was this a job to transport someone's boat from Point A to Point B?

SM-The opportunity came about by being at the right place at the right time, as I ran the kitchen at an infamous Irish bar in St. Pete and I knew the captain's daughter.

ATG-What sort of boat and how big/long was it?

SM-The 'Murphy's Law' is a 62' motor-vessel with a 18' beam and has a 9' draft; that's how deep it sat in the water.

ATG-How big was the crew?

SM-There were four of us: the captain and his wife, the first mate and I was the purser and ran the galley.

ATG-When did you do this?

SM-We left late Spring of 1990.

ATG-Which port did you sail from and what was your destination?

SM-We cruised out under the old Skyway intending to circumnavigate the world.

ATG-How long did it take you to do this?

SM-Our trip lasted just over a year and we had to come home (USA) because of the first Gulf War to free Kuwait.

ATG-What were your ports of call?

SM-In order-Key West; Ft. Lauderdale; Bermuda; Azores;Portugal; Spain; Gibraltar and the Balearic Islands. My side trips included France; Germany; England; Morocco and on the way back Madeira and the Canary Islands before landing back in Puerto Rico.

ATG-Did you hit any inclement weather such as hurricanes, typhoons, etc?

SM- We had a bad patch between Bermuda and The Azores that made us deal with a tropical storm that caused 15' to 20' seas that were double stacking behind us as high as 40'. This following sea caused us to have the stern (the back of the boat) to lift up first and drive our bow (the front) deep into the bottom of the waves. As you can imagine, this is very dangerous.

ATG-Were there any instances where you were scared to death?

SM-This caused one of the stabilizers to break off and we had to fix this in driving rain and to be off the side of the boat to do this. As the waves would cover over half my body, this was the closest to death I've ever felt. We fixed the problem and soon came out of the bad weather.

ATG-What kind of animals did you see out there, i.e. whales, sharks, etc?

SM-Many days saw porpoise playing in our bow wake and we saw two different sperm whales near The Azores.

                                                    (Atlantic Ocean. Source-Wikipedia)

ATG-Did you keep a log or some sort of journal?

SM-I kept a journal on the way over but didn't keep it up on the trip back.

ATG-Are there any interesting things that stood out for you? (Amusing stories, etc).

SM-Too many to recount here with this first installment to your blog.

ATG-What was the best cure for seasickness and did you suffer from this?

SM-Just puking your guts out and getting it out of your system. I did so on the first day and then didn't have any more trouble with it.

ATG-How did you deal with 'sea legs'?

SM-You develop them over the time when you are constantly moving 24 hours a day and it takes a couple of days to lose them when you''re back on land.

ATG-Do you have advice for someone who might wish to take this on?

SM-Pick up some of the trade journals or Sailing magazine or know someone in the maritime trade

ATG-What did you learn by having this experience? Any good life lessons?

SM-That travel is the greatest educator in the world and nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it and commit to it. Going to sea was an easy way to commit to it as there's nowhere to go once you leave shore. Once home, I realized no other thing I've ever done left me feeling as empowered as going to sea and making it back safe and sound.

ATG-Would you do this again?

SM-Absolutely! There's always a little voice in the back of my head calling me back, sirens maybe.

ATG-Do you have a website that I could refer people to where they can learn more?

SM-No website but if I do get one, I will let you know.

Many thanks to Sean Merritt for doing this interview with me.

VW Beach BASH Video 5

All The Rods VW Beach BASH Video 4

All The Rods Beach BASH Video 3

All The Rods VW Beach BASH Video 2

All The Rods VW Beach BASH Video 1

All The Rods checks out the Tesla Model S!

All The Rods Cars & Coffee Video 1 9-21-13

All The Rods and a Tesla too!

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A little Tesla overview! Consumer Reports sez this is the 'best car ever', garnering a 99 out of a score of 100. It's fully electric.

All The Rods and Aston Martins and more!

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Footage from this morning!

All The Rods...Vettes and Stangs! Oh my!

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From the Quaker Steak and Lube cars show in Pinellas Park, FL.

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Jim+Carroll+&+his+1983+Delorean

Jim Carroll talks up his 1983 Delorean 'Time Machine'.

All The Rods,. including Deloreans!

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Enjoy this look at an old classic, if you will...the 1983 Delorean. just like in 'Back To The Future'. Interview with Jim Carroll, owner of this great cars. He'd painstakingly put this together and the result is nothing short of amazing!

All the Goods Show #2 is up!

https://soundcloud.com/allthegoods/atg-show-2

https://soundcloud.com/allthegoods/atg-show-2-pt-2

Had to do 2 parts because Part 1 of 2 cut off abruptly. This show is about great podcasts and those that host them! Enjoy and as always, thanks for the support!

All The Rods 1st Podcast is up!

Yes! All the Rods' 1st podcast is here! Hurray! Come one, come all and listen here https://soundcloud.com/allthegoods/atr-all-the-rods-show-1

Thanks in advance!

Also I attended the show at Timeout Bar & Grill this past Saturday. It was hotter than Hades and I didn't last long but before I skedaddled, I managed to get some good video, including a very loud Camaro as it rolled into the parking lot. You can see that video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5KFgvBA_yM

Here's a video of more of what was going on in the parking lot on Saturday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Vki62eyfs . For my being there such a short time, I did manage to get some fairly good video.

This week's podcast, however, features the event known as Cars and Coffee which was started by Paul DuPont, who owns the DuPont Registry. (See also www.dupontregistry.com and also CarsandCoffee on Facebook). There are other Cars and Coffee events in the US but this one in particular is local to the Tampa Bay area. This event is held every 3rd Saturday of the month at the DuPont Registry (3051 Tech Drive, St. Petersburg, FL) and it runs from the very early morning hour of 7am until 9am. (This would be before it gets scorching hot outside.)

The Viper photo above was taken at the June 2012 Cars and Coffee event that I attended. Not only do you see beauties like those above but others as well such as all years of Mustang, Camaro, Maserati, Lamborghini, Tesla, Fisker and all sorts of things in between. Not only are the cars at Cars and Coffee magnificent looking but the ones on the road leading into the event as just as amazing.

Last year, when I went I took probably 100 pictures or more. If you love to take photos of cars, this is definitely the place to go for that.

Oh by the way, before I wrap it up...you can find me in other places, under Facebook Groups, a new All The Goods group was started and I created a new Twitter account which is @allthegoods13

All The Rods checks out the Time Out show 9-14-13

Time Out show 9 14 2013 An All The Rods production!

All The Goods radio is up now!

Yes, indeedy, after so many months, so many decisions, the time has come! Just uploaded the very first All The Goods Show #1 via Soundcloud.

You can find it here https://soundcloud.com/allthegoods/all-the-goods-show-1

Thanks for your support and for listening! (I promise, it's going to get better. Just had a few glitches, that's all!)

I will still be writing here and shooting video when I can.

Upcoming print interview is going to be with the very interesting Sean Merritt, in which we shall discuss at length his adventures on the high seas. Why is he 'the very interesting' you may wonder...well, he is the first person I've ever met who's crossed the world halfway twice. When I heard him talk about it, I just knew that there was a story just dying to get out.

Hoping to do a story and/or video this weekend of a local carshow and there's huge event coming next Saturday as well, called Cars & Coffee. Stay tuned for pictures and possible video!

5th Annual VW Beach BASH, 9/1/2013

5th Annual VW Beach BASH, 9/1/2013

All The Rods-All VW today!

And the air was alive with the sound of air-cooled engines. So many cars, so many vans, so much to see, be inspired by, people to chat with...my, my. my. What an amazing day! The event was the 5th Annual VW Beach BASH held in Pass-A-Grille Beach which is part of St. Pete Beach. Yes, it was hotter than Hades out there today, probably a heat index of close to 100 degrees if not more. All The Rods was determined to stick it out for as long as we could. I was there for about 3 hours and it was long enough to get what I needed to and then some.

As you can see, there were a lot of really cool cars down there today. The majority of the vehicles were the VW Bugs, closely followed by the always personable VW Buses. There were old beaten up cars with a lot of character, long journeys and untold stories and there were some cars that were works of art in their beauty.

There seemed to be quite a lot of the VW van-to-truck conversions in attendance today.

Another Van Truck conversion

What an absolute beauty! Fully restored VW bus. 

The lone Herbie. I was really surprised to not see any full-sized Herbies. This one was a remote-control car.

All Van, All The Time!

How could you not love a face like this one?


In the three hours I spent at the event today, I took photos, some video and shook a few hands, while passing out business cards promoting All The Rods/All The Goods. I am also going to veer off for a moment to talk about some of the really cool people I met today.

First, I chatted with Johnny Jalopy. He does some of the best car drawings I have ever seen. The one below is case in point as to what he does-

You can find out more about Johnny Jalopy by going to his Facebook page. Just look for Johnny Jalopy and you'll find him. You can also contact him at Johnnyjalopyllc@gmail.com.

I also had the pleasure of chatting with Paula Crossley who owns Crackerhill Arts and Crafts. She does some of the most unique VW crafts I have ever seen. Below are some examples of her craft-

She makes stained glass VWs as well as needlepoint. But the thing that caught my eye were these adorable and very cool windchimes-

Such a cool idea! Whenever I see anything like this, the wheels begin to turn in my own mind as to what sort of things I could come up with. If you like these cool little VW items, you can get in touch with Paula here crackerhill1950@hotmail.com. 

Another person I spent a few moments talking to was Aaron Joslin, who is a photographer. He runs a site called VDub Prints/Photography and his specialty here is Vintage Automobile Photography. Or as I love to say...'Awesome!' Below shows a display he had today-

I always have an admiration for those who can take amazing photos of cars. You can find out more about this artist by visiting these places-www.vdubprints.com and Facebook.com/Vdubprints. You can also check out Aaron's other work by going here-www.aaronjoslinphotography.com and facebook.com/aaronjoslinphotos

All in all, this is an event that I would attend again without a doubt. I am proud to promote such a great event. 

If you're interested in seeing the rest of my photo album, feel free to go to www.facebook.com/AllTheGoods?ref=hl