Unabomber

Wasn't sure where to put this, but this is an article I wrote about my visit to Faslane, Scotland a couple years ago. I just submitted it to the car website Jalopnik so I might become a writer for them. Please take a look as it also gets me a vote! http://jalopnik.com/5653937/an-americans-perspective-of-scottish-subaru-owners Ron

Copy/paste from the above link: Dear Alison, There are no words to express our sorrow for the loss of Colin and Johnny. Colin was an inspiration to us all. He was a good man, a great husband, and a wonderful father. Colin entertained and awed us with his passion for racing, which made him one of the most talented drivers this world has known. We were all touched by Colin's life through his determination behind the wheel, through his mentoring of future stars, but most importantly, through his charitable work. He truly was a great man, and was loved by us all, most of which wouldn't be behind the wheel of a Subaru if it weren't for him. From our family to yours, we offer you this donation. We hope that the thought of how much Colin was truly loved and admired will keep his memory alive for generations to come. Thank you for sharing him and his unwavering passion with us. In loving memory, your friends at NASIOC Nick Catalfamo Owner, NASIOC.com nick@nasioc.com Sorry about the England part....I just copy/pasted from our schedule and apparently the officers on this ship don't know the difference.

Thought I'd give you folks an update to what we are doing over on www.nasioc.com in memory of Colin McRae. We sent off a check for $12,500 to the McRae family to go towards their charities. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/attachment...mp;d=1222024355 is the letter our site founder Nick sent though I'm not 100% sure this link will work. We are now advertising the auctions of memorobilia that Prodrive is sponsoring, so hopefully American bids will drive the prices high. If you folks are interested in saying thanks for supporting us, you might pop over to NASIOC on the general forum http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=68 and saying hello. On a personal front, those who met and so graciously hosted me while my ship was in Faslane, I'll be returning again. My ship pulls into Faslane and Leath, England in the early spring. I'll chat a bit with you folks more about that later this year. Ron

We received confirmation today that we will be going back to Faslane in February 2009. That may change though as I'm currently on a cruise in Mediterranean and have visited Spain, France, Greece, Turkey, and Israel so far. We are in Djibouti right now (joy!). I did manage to meet up with Subaru owners in France, Greece, and Israel though. My Israeli friend is still waiting on his car and showed me around. Nothing special as a Mazda 6 isn't exactly a sports car. France and Greece on the other hand.... The French people know how to drive! We spent about 20 minutes racing a sport bike up the side of a mountain! I had a wonderful time. The Greeks....what can I say? Mind you I had more time with them than the French, but let's just say I got drunk as hell. Wonderful people, the Greeks. I also notice how similar they were to the fine Scottish people I met. Though everyone I've met over the last year is 100% different, everyone is the same and any Scottish Subaru owner I met would be replaceable and happy with the French or Greeks. I'm really convinced that it's the car that makes us all the same. In a future episode, I should be detailing my visit to the French and Greek Subaru owners, but if some of you haven't seen it yet, www.themonkeystrunk.com in their current issue has my article about my visit to Scotland. Miss you guys! Ron

Neither one of us tasted haggis, we were both scared. I love Scotland, but you can keep your damn haggis. No hill climbs in America other than a few ones out in the west. There are just too many legal and insurance issues in America for us to have that much fun. Lawyers in America ruin the 50% that McDonalds and WalMart hasn't ruined already. The restaurant in Boston where Kenny works at is called Ocean City East or East Ocean City and I can never remember which is the proper name. I remember going there the first day with Kenny and ordering prawn and broccoli with black pepper sauce. The next Sunday, I took a friend off the ship there for another visit. Well apparently, on Sunday, Chinese restaurants in Boston (maybe all over?) are designed for family dining. This means when you eat and order food on Sunday, it comes out in a HUGE platter, so one order is really 4 orders and designed for families to pass around and sample. Well Ron here got a huge platter all to himself and I ate every damn bite! The waiters there were very impressed though they thought I was odd. They just had no clue how much I loved it and it wasn't that I was terribly hungry, but the taste made me eat it all. The next day I was stuck on the ship and Kenny, bless his heart, brought some more to the ship especially for me. So when I die, Kenny will get my wagon. P.S. When you come to Boston, don't forget my wheels buddy!

As I said, please contact me. Kenny is one of my dear, dear friends now as he's the one that works at the Chinese restaurant in Boston. The black pepper sauce they make there is so good, it makes me want to go home and smack my mother. Sadly, it's one of those recipes that they make by sight and feel so I cannot reproduce it at home. I plan on going there in late June this year and I will eat prawn and broccoli with black pepper sauce until I am sick. And their hot and sour soup......I hate that stuff everywhere else, but I will eat a gallon of it from his place. Kenny is a wagon owner, so you KNOW he's good people. They all speak with a heavy Boston accent over there, so good luck with that! I will say this about your restaurant though....I absolutely HATE sweet and sour sauce...can't stand that stuff. But, your restaurant has the best tasting sweet and sour sauce I've ever had in my life! Loved that stuff. Can you email a recipe to schunckr@ddg58.navy.mil or is it like the black pepper sauce where you throw a little of this and that into a pan with no real recipe? Ron

Ethan and myself would like to sincerely thank you wonderful people for the time we had in Faslane. I cannot describe to the other people on the ship adequately what we experienced due to your courtesy. 90% of the people on the ship never left Helensburgh and the few that caught the train to Glasgow didn't seem to have a good time. When people asked Ethan and I what we did in Scotland, they always get pissed off. Here's how it happens: Me: What did you do in Scotland? Someone else: I went shopping, got drunk, and came back to the ship. What did you do? Me: Well, we drove about 50 miles to a hill climb event where cars raced up a hillside at over 100 MPH, then we went to the William Wallace monument..... Someone else: You are a ****er.....and then they walk away without hearing the rest of the story. To each person we met, we would like to say thanks. I tried my best to spend time with each person, and each person told me their story, their experiences, and their knowledge of the countryside and Scottish life and history. Needless to say, Ethan and I have a wonderful impression of your country, culture, and history. We learned that we were both fat Americans who love McDonalds and we embraced this stereotype by eating there twice and winning the eating battle of Scotland vs. American against my new nemesis Clyde. Clyde went down.....but he did win the war of Scotland vs. America in the joke battles. I won't reveal the surprise, but when I return to the United States, I will be sending Graeme a package with presents to distribute to the folks that met up with us. I promise the presents are not chrome chain link license plate frames, but authentic USDM products that are neat and have a little bling for your cars. I won't return for a month or so and then it's up to the slow people with huge bumps on their hand like Brian at the Royal Post Office to send it along to Graeme. So, consider this our ultimate thanks and if any of you fine folk are ever going to visit anywhere in America, please feel free to contact me. No matter where you go in America, I will set you up with the local owners and they will treat you maybe 1/2 as well as you treated us. Thank you very much and we love you folks! Ron and Ethan

Got the word finally. I will be leaving the ship around 10:15 a.m. this morning. Prior to my leaving the ship, I will give Graeme a bell on his mobile to let him know I will meet him outside Gate 2 on the base. I'd guess we'll be outside Gate 2 by 10:30 or thereabouts. Unless some crazy stuff happens on the ship that is unforseen, that is the plan right now. Ron

Anyone have the weather forcast for this weekend? Out to sea wherever we are at it is foggy as hell and slightly cold, maybe high 50s or low 60s F. We are currently topping off our fuel bunkers via the USNS Big Horn, a giant resupply ship. After that, we start our main drive into Scotland. Latest I heard and this changes by the minute, we should pull in around noon. I'm just wondering if I should bring my umbrella or not as I have a small compact one that I could slip into my jacket pocket. My buddy Ethan and I are very much looking forward to meeting you folks and I cannot thank you enough in advance for setting us up right! I hope to have a wonderful time meeting you all this weekend.

Definately both days. Hillclimb + AWD on Saturday and whatever on Sunday. I'm not scared, so show me a good time!

I am totally free both Saturday and Sunday. I will also be bringing my buddy Ethan with me who is into Subarus as well. To be honest, both of us are 100% at your folks' disposal, so whatever you folks agree to do, we are agreeable. We'll just be glad to be off the boat and around sensible people. Everyone else on the ship will be golfing at St. Andrews (I hate golf), drinking in a pub all day, or standing in a 2 hour line for a castle tour. Call me crazy, but I'd rather see a Subaru and chat with you folks than do any of that. So the AWD event, Hillclimb, going to a favorite spot to eat, or just about anything if fine with us. My sincere thanks for being so agreeable to meet as well. I had the chance to travel to Boston earlier this year and the Boston Subaru folks came out in full force to meet me there as well. Wonderful group of people who made my trip there terribly enjoyable and I got the chance to reciprocate with one of them who stayed at my house for several days while he was in Virginia Beach. That's what gave me the idea to say hello on this forum, my experience with those folks. Our next port of call is Germany. Sadly, I posted on a German Subaru forum and it would seem the Germans don't have a strong Subaru following as I got no responses. Through the American forum on NASIOC, I've gotten to know several Greeks. I hope we pull into Greece on our upcoming Mediterranean deployment as the Greek Subaru owners run THICK and promise to cover the pier when I arrive. Ron P.S. A good friend of mine and rally driver from Washington State in America collects Subaru brochures. If you folks have any from the dealers and you can part with them, please bring any that you have so that I might give them to her when I get back in the States. You might have heard of her before, www.subiegal.com is her site if I'm not mistaken.

According to the latest schedule, I will now be able to leave the ship on Saturday and Sunday. They moved the duty sections (duty is where you have to stay on the ship for 24 hours) around and now the day we pull in on Friday, I have to be stuck on the ship that whole day. So, if anyone wants to meet up, it will have to be on Saturday or Sunday. If anyone would like to help this poor Subaru owner meet some people or sponsor me for a little tour of your country, please send me your mobile number to schunckr@ddg58.navy.mil and I'll give you a bell when I'm free. So far Graeme sent me his number and said he was going to try to set something up for Friday, but that day has to change as I can no longer leave the ship on friday. Ron

We are participants in a exercise with the Royal Navy called Neptune Warrior. I guess it's hosted and held several times a year by the Royal Navy. Hopefully I'll see you folks sometime on Friday. The arrival time is 100% unsure as I've heard an early morning arrival and I've heard us arriving as late as 5 p.m., so I'm not sure when I'll be there. I guess there is also a tree-hugger group there called Faslane 365 that holds regular protests over nuclear weapons. If those idiots come out and make a mess, we probably won't pull in at all. So I guess we'll have to play it by ear as to when/if I pull in or not. A banner with my username on it would probably not go over well. I'd think it was funny, but man would that cause a stir. Ron

Thank you for checking for me, but I need the 15010aa270 or the 15010aa310 model which is the rare 12mm unit. The part numbers mentioned are for the 10mm unit. The reason I need one is for a friend of mine that will be running a built 2.5L motor. He's a little nutty.....he has probably the only running twin turbo Subaru in America.

If you haven't gone there yet, can you see if they can order it if it's not in stock? Not sure how dealers are there, but in the United States they can order and receive anything from the warehouse and if you don't want the part, they just send it back to the warehouse and no one is out anything for doing so. That's really helpful when you want to have a dealer with a part in stock just in case you screw something up during an install. Not that I have done that or anything.......