Death Valley, 010408.
Photo by Kat.
Hello, Lovine.com
Wherever you go, there you are.
Death Valley, 010408.
Photo by Kat.
I'm back in Los Angeles. Flew in last week (Valentine's Day, nonetheless) at around 7pm, repacked some bags, and drove out to SF with the final destination of Lake Tahoe for President's Day weekend. Here is the baby boy on ice, photo by Kat:
Someone needs a haircut! Or a ponytail...
I still haven't been feeling well, cursed with a radioactive spell of coughing and a sore throat the past week. I feel like my throat is harboring a desert with one giant Saguaro cactus that has only one prick, a naughty little prick, that tickles the walls of my throat at his random whim and fancy. And I can imagine the douche having lots of fun at my expense as I succumb into an uncontrollable coughing spat as he once again pokes the insides of my throat. Sorry for the weird graphic.
I took the day off yesterday and spent it wallowing in bed, but decided this morning that a week of feeling like shit is ridiculously long so I decided to test my limits by pushing through with a short notice Big Bear trip with ex-coworker Peterphile. I have an amazing capacity to ditch common sense and choose the path with most resistance just for the fun of being able to do so. And so I did.
I must point out that in the span of 13 weeks since I first attempted to snowboard, I've gone 6 times. Which makes an average of almost every other week. Huwaw, Batman! It would be pathetic to discover that I haven't made any progress after so many trials and bruises on my ass, but in being true to my Leo-esque humble pie, I must admit that the past two sessions were bouyed by the help of better gear - a real snowboarding jacket (women's size M because I'll wear anything that fits me properly and I don't GAS), wrist guards, and Mizuno sponsored knee pads. So while I'm a far ways off in competing for the X-Games, I'll give my loser self some brownie points for persistence and admitting that I may possibly have an addictive personality.
Best of it all, I got upgraded this morning when the cashier asked how old I was. My obvious reply: "Really young." And so she rang me up as a "Youth Ticket" for a discounted price, which is less than half of what Peterphile paid for his lift ticket and rental gear. Poor schmuck.
Everyone always said that it's good to look young, and I always thought it would only count when we're all pushing our 40's. Well, apparently I don't have to wait to start reaping the benefits, hehehe.
So I guess the yearender story is long overdue. Original plans were to take Vanessa out to Death Valley two days after Christmas, with Nickel the boy wonder in tow. Fresh from the mechanic with a brand spanky new starter and solenoid, we had unwavering confidence that the veedub would roar into life bravely after each slumber, and putter along merrily into the depths of the desert. And for the first night, it did!
It is widely known that the design of the VW type-2 Bus is most conducive to fun paced slacking rather than picking up the slack against soccer moms with 205hp Porsche SUVs on the highway. So the Vanessa Adventure Team (Paul, Kat, Nickel) found themselves two hours late, with the waning winter sunlight, outside of the park and decided to camp it out at this place called Walker Pass. Elevation: 5,000 feet. Probably not a good idea, but for all not-so-good ideas, great adventures are to be made and unforgettable stories to be told!
Hunger was averted when we barely had enough propane/butane fuel to boil water just to make two cups of noodles. Not only due to the lack of fuel, but to the damn cold.
It was literally freezing! The morning after, we discover that our water turned into a solid block of ice. Nickel's water bowl was frozen solid. All our knees were shakin'!
The pit toilets were quite interesting too. The mens pit toilet told stories of an unfortunate camper's bout with explosive diarrhea. I was curious about the women's toilet, which I would've used if it were marginally cleaner. No dinero - some (most probably heavy-set) lady missed the hole and landed a massive chunk of brownie the size of a bigmac right on the toilet hinge. I kid you not, but I reeked for a full 15 minutes after subjecting myself for a mere 15 seconds in that hellhole. Imagine what that would smell like in the heat of summer? Yumm.
The next morning, we packed our gear as fast as we could to get the hell out of there. And so Vanessa tried to wake up. And tried. And stopped trying.
We spend another half hour waiting for the sun to come out and took turns underneath the car poking fun at the starter and solenoid for it to magically cough up its troubles and grant our wishes. And, just like the randomness of winning the lottery, the engine roared into life! Crawl underneath the bus count = 1. Start the bus count = 1. As long as the crawl count was equal to, or less than the start count, we were good.
Well, as the trip progressed we eventually came up to an impressive count of 5, 5, when we were dealt with a joker card. In the outskirts of Zabriskie Point, the fuel pump started coughing up and the engine would wheeze like a suffocating fish before finally shuddering into a dead heap of metal. To make the long story short, we again played our chances fiddling with the innards and at least got the engine fired up, and running. The bus would randomly shudder through the rest of the abort journey back home, but the crew was all brave and ignored our worst-case-scenario fears of engine explosion and "by the way the fire extinguisher is expired" thoughts. What a day! Saga will be continued...
At 3am, this is how the Christmas tree lights up. With the help of a camera, a piece of foam, and a very curious boy. You don't need Photoshop to have fun :)
The van has been at the mechanic lately, and I've been paying her frequent visits as I start procuring various parts (tuneup, and emission).
Some new gifts care of Diamond Auto Parts:
Spark plugs
Distributor
Points
Starter
Oil and air filters
Oil pressure switch
EGR valve
EGR filter
They start work on her tomorrow. I hope she starts to feel better, since we have a long exciting adventure waiting after Christmas :)
I've been on the road since Friday night, shuttling through different cities each day.
And so here she is, ladies and gentlemen. You can be assured that we will have more pictures of her to come :)
Yosemite National Park. Photo set is here.
Greetings, from Death Valley. Photo set is here.
