View new posts | View your posts Ecto Across America - The Road to PKE Surge 2009

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With DragonCon's PKE Surge 2009 only a week away its hard to believe that people are getting ready to leave now for the trip, but that is just what a few Ghostbusters Fans are doing. Driving a grueling 4200 miles and stopping at 9 Major US Cities over the course of 7 days are the Denver Ghostbusters in the Ecto-2k.

Ghostbusters Fans is giving you the chance to ride along with the Ecto-2k in an awesome online event. Starting on Monday you will be able to follow the Ecto-2k as it drives from Colorado to New York to Atlanta and back.

http://www.gbfans.com/ecto-across-america/

For more information please see this post here.

Update: The car's engine seized in Ohio and the car is down. The road trip has been cancelled and unfortunately will not make it to PKE Surge in Atlanta. The car now needs to be shipped back, and passengers flown home. We are seeking donations to help pay for it, help out if you can. Donation link here.

It is with no small amount of excitement that I get to announce the latest project in the Denver Ghostbusters' neverending quest to have way more fun than anyone else. Friends and forum members, I give you:



Many of you already know that our group recently finished a brand-new ectomobile replica. You've all read about and seen how it was made, but only a select few know why we made it. The Ecto-2k is a vehicle built with a single purpose, to destroy the world of Men. Okay, not really. It was built for the purpose of launching the largest aerial battle in the history of Mankind. Allright allright, I'm done.

From the start of the project back in February, our intent was to build a replica that would surpass all expectations in quality, and would be capable of making a trip across the continental United States. The idea of taking our first car to New York City was one that occurred early on, though we never had the money or the vacation time to tackle such a trip, let alone an ecto that would be able to make the drive efficiently and comfortably. The 2K has changed all that.

By late spring we had decided to set taking the car to New York City for the release of the game as our goal. The fact that nothing really notable was set to happen for the release in NY, in addition to the announcement of the PKE Surge convention event in Atlanta made things more complicated. Taking the car to New York in June and then to Atlanta in September would require taking too much time from work, and would be financially unfeasible. So we decided to combine the trips into one massive week-long event of awesomeness.

THE CAR

We will be taking the Ecto-2k the entire way. The car proved itself reliable, durable, and efficient enough for long-distance trips when we took it to San Diego in July. To the best of my knowledge, it will be only the second replica ectomobile to travel more than a thousand miles under its own power to visit New York, the other being Sean Bishop's car (correct me if I am wrong). Certainly it will be a sight to behold sitting in front of the fire house and 55 Central Park West. Again, this vehicle is the king of illegal parking. We're prepared for interstate travel both mechanically and legally, lightbars and satellite dish won't be a problem. I plan to spend time in each sleep station city tooling around the local nightlife hotspots in the ecto, and anyone who can attend is invited. I also expect everyone at PKE Surge to take at least one lap around the con it in with us!

THE CREW
Our team of wacky racers consists of myself and my two closest friends, essentially the entire creative group that crafted our ecto replica.




THE ROUTE

The journey begins on Monday morning, bright and early, as we leave Denver and drive across the plains through Omaha and Des Moines to Chicago and on to Indianapolis for our first sleep station. Borzou has been kind enough to provide his flat in downtown Indy as a place for us to roll out our sleeping bags and rest up. There will, of course, be drinks and ectoing before we hit the hay. Oh and there is at least an 80% chance mozzarella sticks and/or bacon.

The next leg of our travels will take us through Ohio and Pennsylvania. We will be making a midafternoon stop in a small town you may have heard of, Centralia. It is most widely-known for being the inspiration for Silent Hill. The town was once a thriving coal rural community until an underground coal fire caused the area to become uninhabitable. After a firey chasm 185 feet deep opened up below a small boy, the inhabitants moved out and the government bought up all the land. What was once a town of several thousand citizens is now home to maybe ten individuals. Steam and poisonous fumes constantly vent from ominous fissures in the ground... and we're going to play tourist with the ghostmoectocar!

After taking pictures and developing respiratory problems we will drive the rest of the way to our hotel in Newark, New Jersey. After dropping off our stuff, our adventure in the Big Apple begins! We'll probably pick up Will in Astoria and pop over to Times Square for a late dinner at Planet Hollywood.

Wednesday will be a pretty big day. Up early to hit all the original filming locations, I can't imagine we'll be parked legally anywhere. 55 Central Park West, the firehouse, the *ahem* 5th Ave Apple store... so on and so forth. Expect HUGE pictures.

Sadly, Thursday morning will be end of the trip for Richie. His presence is needed back in Colorado to officiate a wedding over the weekend, and we will bid farewell at LaGuardia. The Ecto then departs New York and heads south, stopping in Philadelphia for some quick fun with the local GBs and probably some cheesesteak. We arrive in Washington D.C. mid-afternoon, where we will visit the Uvdar Hazy Center and finally get to know the space shuttle Enterpriseand the SR-71 Blackbird. After that, if we have time, we'll see how close we can get to the White House in the car, which will be covered in radiation warning labels and antennas. Yahoo!

We'll continue on our way south after our brief stay below the J. Edgar Hoover building, meeting up with Chris (Some_Guy) in Raleigh, North Carolina. He'll provide lodging for Kris and I, in exchange for a lift to Atlanta. That's right! Friday morning Chris will load his stuff into the Ecto and we'll head to Atlanta.

We arrive in Atlanta in mid-afternoon. Unloading our stuff and joining the GBfans staff and members in what is sure to be one of the most amazing weekends in the history of the fandom. The 2k will lead off our portion of the parade, and will probably provide logistics between the con and the Big Night Out for many. Our lodging in Atlanta is still undecided, but we're not too concerned. This ain't our first ro-de-o, cowboys! We'll probably roost in a motel across town and commute to the con. Unless some locals have a cozy floor to sleep on, that is...

Sunday morning we leave Atlanta for the trip home, stopping in Jackson, Tennessee to ogle Rusty's car collection. We spend the night in Kansas City, or St. Louis, depending on our options and timetable.

Labor Day will mark our final trek back to Colorado, arriving home in late afternoon or in the evening.

WHERE YOU COME IN
One of the little things I wanted to provide during this trip was a way for you here in the community to experience a small slice of it for yourselves. To that end, AJ has devised an awesome little utility in conjunction with GoogleMaps that will provide live, up-to-the-minute location services on the Ecto. You'll be able to see us chugging down the highway (when we are in range of high-speed connections), and you will be in full communication with us on the road. Want us to take a picture of the road ahead? Want to see the van full of high school volleyball players absolutely freaking out next to us? We can upload stuff like that. Hopefully it will become a chatroom on wheels, with dial-in phone conversations!

The EAA map page can be found here: http://www.gbfans.com/ecto-across-america/

This trip is all well and great by itself, but part of the reason we are doing this is to get out and interact with the community. We're already meeting up with many members in Atlanta, and we plan to see a few here and there along the way, but there are going to be at least six lunches while we're on the road and we plan on meeting as many of you as we can! Take a moment to look over the map and post in this thread if you think we'll be passing through your town, or reasonably close to it.

We are also looking for a floor to sleep on somewhere in the midwest, St. Louis or Kansas City area. I know there are franchises and proppers out there, so let's hear from you! Yeah, that's about it for now. Prepare to be amazed, and PLEASE take part in this if you have the chance!

Sounds awesome. Hopefully I'll be one of the lucky people to see your car when you roll into Philly.

One thing though . . .



Sean Bishop shipped his 1959 Superior Ecto-1 to Boston, then drove it down to NYC and back to Boston, which is only about a 500 mile round trip. Close, but no cigar.

I was talking to him about it last night in the chat room

Anyway, good luck on your trip!

Can't wait for it man! Good Luck on the Trip here, and the trip home on Sunday!

So that uh, that puts us up for longest trip in an ecto, ever, eh? I'm cool with that!

What ahppens if you have severe car problems in Iowa. Do you seriously feel safe being stuck in Iowa?? I hardly feel safe being NORTH of Iowa. Maybe you should change the course a bit, and go through southern Minnesota...much safer.

Go man, go! This is very very cool. Good luck, it's a shame we wont be able to convoy, but I'll be looking foward to seeing you guys at PKE Surge.

Have fun!

I just gotta say.. on Monday you guys will be about 3-1/2 hours away from me while passing through Iowa.

Maybe I should make a little road trip of my own!

Also.. this new Ecto Tracking page is online: http://www.gbfans.com/ecto-across-america/

You can track the current location of the Ecto-2k (see it there in Denver right now..) and Twitter posts will be fed right into the system.

aside from the fact you can set your CLUB and cruse controle and nap till you hit the mississippi whats wrong with Iowa
I plan on beeimg nere by in Des Moines if you need any help. I defenetly would like to see you do you have an ETA on Des Moines.
By the way there is some construction just before you get to Davenport, You will have to take 280 in to Moline Il. unless is has been finished, but I doute it.

If the NYPD pulls yer ass over i am not paying bail money.

where can I see you guys in NYC? id really make the 4 hour trip

well seeing you won't be going through MS I might not be able to come see you guys on the trip. would take me over 5 hours to get close to where your route is. Well guess I will cya at NDK and I will be following you online.

Do you guys have an itinerary of filming locations arranged yet? If your hotel is downtown, then it makes sense to work your way uptown, or vice versa, and would then give New York based fans a chance to catch up if you're planning to be at a specific point at a particular time of the day.

You're gonna be coming right through SCGB territory.

That ectomobile is slick! Do you have any more pics?

Nope, sorry.

i love it! i cannot wait to see you guys in new york cityyy!!!!

If venkman71 did it, I'm sure Boomer can get away with it too, haha.

I'd like to see the ecto once you stay here in kansas city, let me know where you guys are staying once you find out. Thanks.

Since you going on a long trip, I think it's a good idea to make a car cover for the car to make sure no one mess around with your car especially the stuff on top of your car.

While I could make a cover for the car, I don't quite think it would be necessary to make the cover a car cover. Maybe a top cover to cover the top? The cars top should be covered, but there are many ways to do that without resorting to a car-covering car cover or a top cover that covers the top.

A dickey highway patrolman might give you crap about having the blue police lights on top.. maybe take some bungie cords, and some sheets or a tarp to cover them up just in case?

<--- been doing this for three years. As I said in the OP, this isn't our first rodeo. We are planned for all legal and mechanical contingencies.

If anyone has any suggestions on cool things to visit along the way, or places to stop and eat, suggestions are totally welcome!

Hmm, it'd require a slightly longer course which'd be more North-Westernly before going due East, but if you're looking for interesting things to pass as you make your way out of Colorado, there's always The Stanley Hotel.

An hour north of Spartanburg is Chimney rock park, and Lake Lure. Both were featured in last of the mohicans, and dirty dancing.

Google Chimney Rock or lake lure to get an idea what they are like.

Quite a bit out of the way, actually. I'd say it's only an hour outside of Denver (and a half hour from my old stomping grounds of Fort Collins), but the Stanley is something we've actually visited a lot. In fact, going up to the Stanley was the very idea that inspired me to build the original car. Very nice place, though they do not take kindly to Ghostbusters.

It occurred to me to visit Lakehurst, NJ, the site of the Hindenburg crash and home to the remaining two airship hangars. St. Louis arch is a must. The Rocky steps in Philly, definitely. I've been to most of the very well-known places in New York, and most of the cool filming locations for GB and many other films, but the midwest (especially Illinois, Indianapolis and Ohio) are mysteries to me.

Oh GOD, how close am I going to be to the USAF museum? .... Very close. That might have to happen.

You guys will be just an hour and a half south of me on I-80 when you go through Davenport, IA and Moline, IL. If I knew when you would be going through there, I'd come meet ya. Oh, by the way, you might want to maybe call the Iowa/Illinois DOT cause I know I-80 through there was pretty messed up with constrution. Not sure if it still is or not. But send me a pm, maybe me and my buddy, the other half of Galena Ghostbusters, can meet up with ya somewhere.

You're driving through Dayton (well, about 15 miles north) on 70, and that puts you right at Wright-Patterson AFB. I've been there MANY MANY times and each time I see something new. Definitely need to go!