1 Comment
Well, I spent a little more than a week in San Diego with my sis. We played lots and lots of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and played with my nephew. So, in San Diego, I spent time with my nephew, bro in law, sis, mom and spent some great time with -k in L.A.
While in L.A. we drove through Compton, took pictures in Santa Monica, saw an Interpol concert, chilled at a bar, and drank a bit too much.
Then it was onto San Bernadino for my nephews 1st birthday. Wee, little baby made a mess of a chocolate cake. Got a whole bunch of toys that make noise to annoy mommy and daddy. hehe.
After the birthday party, it was back to San Diego for a free room with -k at a Residence Inn. The room was really nice: fireplace, full kitchen, couch… We watched some TV and ordered some pizza. Ahh, relaxing.
The time with -k was much too short, it was back to Chicago for her. One more day of Grand Theft Auto with my bro on Monday, then off to Oregon with him via the Pacific Coast Hwy on Tuesday. This is where I realized how large California is. We saw some great sights of the Pacific Ocean.
One spot of HWY 1 was closed due to a rock slide, but we ignored the closed signs and drove thru/around the rocks. No big deal… it saved us from back tracking over 60 miles. We didnt even make it to San Fransisco by sun down.
Snapped a few pics of the Golden Gate bridge and continued on to Oregon. Our route took us over 17 hours to get thru California. We slept a few hours at a rest area, after back tracking about 50 miles to find an open gas station in Oregon.
Woke up today to finish our trip to Eugene OR after a stop at Arbys for brunch. Finally, we are at Lees. Im gonna put up some more pics soon from the trip thus far.
Well, I made it out of Vegas. Stuck with a weird car noise (grinding noises in the gears…) and found a PepBoys. The drain plug for the gears (manual transmission) was missing and so was all the gear oil. hmm, maybe a problem? Gears need oil, especially when rotating at 3000-4000 RPMs for 12 hours straight?
Got the problem jimmy rigged and done for free in Vegas. They didnt charge me for two reasons: 1. They didnt want to take responsibility for the ‘work’ and 2. They had already closed out the registers (haha). So i left and paid the dude five bucks as a tip. The jimmy rigged work lasted and I got to San Diego with no problems or noises (other than my music).
Just a few more days until -k comes here :) mm -k
Well, Mr. Mob is currently stranded in Las Vegas. Yes, his new(ish) car is a piece of metal that doesn’t appear to run smoothly. Hmm. What is he going to do, you ask? He is going to drive it anyway. Tee hee. Hopefully I don’t get a call in the middle of the night saying,”come pick me up in Barstow.” We shall see, and I am sure Mob will write more when he gets the chance.
Well, I left Fort Carson Colorado yesterday afternoon. All my friends were working, and I also felt unwelcome in the barracks (technically I shouldnt have been there). I drove a good 10 hours or so Through Colorado.
I travelled down RTE 160. On the map it says that this is the scenic route. I think the highest point I dove was around 10000 ft above sea level. The snow was falling up at that level. Had to stay in 2nd gear as to not fly down the mountain and over a cliff in a speeding sled of a car. I was safe, even though there was a huge line of cars behind me… I didnt want to crash.
I wanted to see the four corners (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado) but the monument was closed. What kind of nonsense is that? Its just a concrete slab with the 4 states names on it. haha. The hours are from 8:00am til 5:00 pm. Fine, I didnt want to see the Four Corners anyways.
Now I am in a Holiday Inn in Kayenta Arizona. I am about to go eat the Free continental breakfast, then drive to see the Grand Canyon. Then from there, we will see… maybe Vegas, maybe not. Ill know later when I am there.
bye for now.
“You won’t go far wrong in life if you assume that no one understands a word you say or has a clue what you’re doing. Most people can’t see the wood for the trees. Of the trees they can see, they normally bark up the wrong one. And even when they finally find the right tree, they get the wrong end of the stick.
At any given moment, less than 30% of human activity is properly understood, even by those doing it. Generally, people listen to what you say, but don’t know what you mean. That’s because they can only hear the stuff they already understand. Anything that doesn’t immediately make sense is labelled gibberish and composted. Later, when you’re arguing, all this compost has to be dug up and re-examined for hidden meaning.
Never make the mistake of thinking what you say is what people hear. “I love you”, say, can be heard as “I want to marry you”, “I’d like some nookie” or “Please don’t give me a parking ticket”. You can only judge the received meaning of what you said by the response you get, from ring to slap to ticket.
Communication is about closing the yawning chasm of incomprehension between people. That’s why two people who understand each other perfectly don’t generally say much or, if they do, say the same thing at the same time. However, passionate relationships are often based on complete and mutual misunderstanding: everything you say is happily and wilfully misinterpreted by the other person, as long as the sex is good.
Only teenagers want to be understood. Everyone older than a teenager understands just what they’re going through. Teenagers are confused because they understand neither themselves nor adults nor children. No wonder they stay in their rooms.
Besides, it’s not always a good thing to be easily understood. When people think they understand you, they generally lose interest in you. Men who claim that their wives don’t understand them generally have wives who understand them all too well.
Occasionally, you think you’ve understood something only to discover later that you understand it at a much deeper level. Sometimes you then discover an even deeper meaning that is remarkably similar to your initial understanding. This probably tells us that being superficial can actually save a lot of time and effort. If you get my drift.” - G Browning.
I will pay you $20 a day to come and wash my dishes. Thank you Lord, for the dishwasher that is installed in our soon to be new home. Until we move there though, all these D@*# dishes will sit on the counter top. Dirty. Stinky. And full of bugs. Did I mention that I hate doing dishes?
Yesterday I left Fort Hood Texas and started my drive west and north towards Fort Carson CO. My exit time out of the gate was about 5:45am or so Central time. I drove down the multilane local highways pretty much the entire way from Texas to Colorado. This way the view was a bit more exiting to keep me awake. I went through some sleepy towns that looked like they would be hard to live in. A majority of the towns I traveled through had anywhere between 1000+ people to 9000+ people… very small in my standards.
I went up the panhandle of Texas, through the little pice of Oaklahoma, and up the east/central part of Colorado. Overall the trip took me 15 hours or so. Including the Pizza Hut stop and all the refuelings (both vehicle and self).
On this trip I realized that Ive never seen cotton fields. At first I thought it was weird snow… but then realized that the white puffs were sticking only to the plants. Ah, cotton plants. Some of the fields were already harvested, so some of the cotton was not collected and had blown all over the place… including the roads and all surrounding areas the wind blew. In most of Texas, there seemed to be an abundance of skunk chunks. Dead skunks and dead skunk body parts all over the road for hours. Skunk Chunks.
Near the border of Texas is where the snow had begun. On into Colorado is where the snowing and ice had begun. It started out being a bit nipply, then went on to being quite cold indeed. Thats ok, my heater worked. Most of the time traveling I didnt have phone service. Roaming for almost the whole trip. Radio stations were quite scarce as well. At one point, I listened to one station (the only one available)… their call sign was 96.1 The One. Is it the one because there is no number two in their broadcast area? Oh well.
The trip was uneventful in the way of drama but I saw a lot of cool sights. Pics to come… Now I am at Fort Carson Colorado with Lord Ratboy and Coney. Pizza was first on the agenda as well as a possible snowboarding trip over the upcoming weekend. We will see.
