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.
Richie "Caedian" Gristak
Codename: White Smoke
Richie started the original "real" Denver Ghostbusters before I moved into
town and absorbed them. He's a bassist, a ladies' man, and 60% of his
righterous body is composed of pure sodium chloride. And bacon.
Kris "Crix" Marshall
Codename: Thunder Slap
Kris and I started hanging out last October, and since then we've become friends,
roommates, and neuro-linked drones of the Overmind. A master of RPGs and on-the-fly wit,
his level charm is +8, but his appetite hovers somewhere around or
over nine-thousand.
Watch yourself, he escalates quickly.
Kevin "Boomerjinks" Henry
Codename: Sandal Blaster
You all know me. I'm that guy I am.
Wallace "The Lobster" Lobster
Codename: History Whip
This is Wallace. He'll be coming with us. He's a lobster.
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!
- By tylergfoster
- By ccv66
- By The_Y33TER
- By mrmichaelt