{"id":37612,"date":"2020-05-04T15:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T19:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=37612"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:59","slug":"the-mission-chapter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/showcase\/2020\/05\/the-mission-chapter-2.html","title":{"rendered":"The Mission – Chapter 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have an\nunexpected dreamlike reality in my hands, and 797 horses to reign \u2026 all the way\nto New York.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This HEMI\u00ae<\/sup>-powered journey has me flying down the PCH when the voice comes back on the radio and says\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not thinking of turning back now, are you? This is just\nthe beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m in. So in, that I literally say it out loud. Three times.\nThe voice answers, \u201cGood. Your destination is in 30 miles. Now drive.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, they can hear me. That\u2019s a new development. I\u2019ve got 30\nmiles and enough quick straightaways and ocean-hugging curves to get my mind right\nfor whatever comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn\u2019t even 60 seconds before my two favorite sounds have\nset the ultimate driving soundtrack \u2013 that perfectly tuned 6.2L supercharged HEMI\u00ae<\/sup>\nV8 engine and the hum of waves hugging the walls of the PCH. Balance and zen crash\ninto the roar of ramping RPMs. Let the beast wind up, add a note of wind and\nyou\u2019ve got perfect harmony, amplified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

10 miles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m on a covert mission to find who the hell knows what, and\nI\u2019ve got waves of endless possibility crashing all around me.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

20 miles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So enough holding back. I\u2019ve got plenty of horsepower in my\nhands, a killer stretch of highway and a seriously savage journey in front of\nme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m hitting mile 30 before I realize it when the voice interrupts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs you come up toward the Santa Monica Pier, turn right in\n100 yards and pull into the Viceroy Hotel parking lot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, I\u2019m parked. Now what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOpen the glove box, take out the contents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reach in and pull out the only thing inside \u2013 one antique\nDodge Brothers emblem keychain with a shiny locker key on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, I\u2019ve got the key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExit the vehicle and go to the blue building just past the\nhotel. Go in through the side door on the left. Find locker 426. Get the\ncontents, leave the building immediately and get back into the car. You don\u2019t\nhave time to waste.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walk toward the building, all I can hear is my\nheartbeat. Man, I miss those crashing waves and shifting gears that were\nsinging so beautifully to me earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I open the door to flashing lights and laughter filling a\nlong hallway lined with lockers. It takes me about 30 seconds to get oriented\nto this madness. As I inch forward, I realize the flashing lights is footage\nbeing projected on the wall. But it\u2019s no ordinary movie. I recognize that\nvoice, that laughter and that scenery. It\u2019s a home movie I haven\u2019t seen in\ndecades, and in front of me is my dad teaching me how to practice cutting a\ngood light in our driveway when I was barely old enough to drive. Suddenly, a flash\nand the wall changes scenes. I\u2019m watching clips from Roadkill<\/em> that I\u2019ve seen a thousand times, wishing I was in the\ndriver\u2019s seat. Yep, I\u2019m definitely being played with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking through this haze of memory, fantasy and bizarre\nreality, I arrive at locker 426. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insert key. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hold breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relief. No snakes or laughing clown faces, just a single invitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are our Roadkill VIP today and your presence is requested at 3 p.m. Directions are waiting in Uconnect\u00ae and your helmet is in the trunk. Now drive.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I check my watch. I’d better get moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The door slams shut behind me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My pace is hurried and excited heading back to my SRT Hellcat Redeye, but I stop dead in my tracks when I see\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous chapters:
The Mission – Chapter 1<\/a>
The Mission – Intro<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have an unexpected dreamlike reality in my hands, and 797 horses to reign \u2026 all the way to New York. This HEMI\u00ae-powered journey has me flying down the PCH when the voice comes back on the radio and says\u2026 \u201cYou\u2019re not thinking of turning back now, are you? This is just the beginning.\u201d I\u2019m in. So in, that I literally say it out loud. Three times. The voice answers, \u201cGood. Your destination is in 30 miles. Now drive.\u201d   What the? Okay, they can hear me. That\u2019s a new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":37614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-showcase"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/The-Mission-Chapter-2.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37612"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37748,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37612\/revisions\/37748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}