63MPH

almost to the playa

2008-08-24T08:09:00.001-07:00

Well Amy and I are in Reno and it has been a trip. We drove the night before last until Elko Nevada from Reno with the Warning light popping on every20 minutes and the stop light coming on every 2-3 x of that. As soon aas i would stop they would go out and we could resume. I finally decided to stop and rest a spell and went into one of the casinos to gamble. I lost a bunch but the dealers were real cool and gave me back one of my bets where i semi-called my bets off but not really, it helps to tip. i went back to the RV to see how she was doing and the warning lights were on again so i decided to camp in a Wal-mart parking lot and get some sleep. After last years wal-mart experience i was a little nervous but this went smoothly.

We drove on in the morning with no warning lights until Winnemucca, where we said maybe now is a good time to do our shopping. So we we filled the RV with H20, fuel and propane and dumped everything at the truckstop then went to shop. Funny thing about Burning Man is you have to shop a lot. I don't know if it because you keep remembering things you forgot or if your scared you might not have something you need on the playa either way you stop like 20x to shop a little more.

We stopped again in Reno for contacts for Amy and the last supplies for the Hookah hut. We hit one last supermarket and a Kinko's to print out our early arrival passes. Then we had lunch at an AWESOME gourmet pizza place called Blue Moon Pizza, if you are ever in Reno try it out. Finally we decided to stay in a nice hotel the last night before the playa. I boooked a room with points at the Peppermill, one of the nicer hotels in Reno if not the nicest. We got there thouroughly exhausted and in need of rest and a nice room and Amanda the front desk girl hooked us up with a wedding suite. It was definitely a nice room but there was no jacuzzi bath or even a bath tub at all, which for a wedding suite i think should be a must. We decided to go to the pool which closed right when we got there, making us think our luck wasn't getting better. But being the addict i am i decided to try gambling after a long shower. We had a great night i won a couple of hundred and Amy and i had a blast and got hammered.

Well now its up early and off to the playa....thanks for reading I'll have tons of stories to post after and tons off pics.

Hey boobooMineral Springs and waterslide park

2008-08-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today was by far the nicest day of the trip. It started with Ames and I going to the mineral springs and waterpark. It was a smll park and we only spent a few hours. The park had 2 slides a tube slide and a longer open slide. Amy liked the open and i Liked the tube. It's crazy to slide in hot mineral water but it was fun.

This was followed up by some quick action in the RV and lunch at taco Johns. Then it was to the road again.

The drive was unbelievably beautiful. We drove through Wyoming and Yellowstone. We saw old faithful and weren't overly impressed but at least now we can check it off the list. We met a nice couple who were traveling from alaska to louisiana so the guy could report for duty and we made many jokes about geyesers that were not PG. The sky at sunset was spectacular all purples and oranges. What you may not know is that old faithful is only one of many many geyesers in the park and others were actually more spectacular. It's odd i often find when i see somehting i have heard about all my life in person i am often dissapointed because my imagination makes it largr than life.

The drive was pretty smooth except my brakes went mush for a bit before we got to the geyser, which when going through the mountains is quitee scary especially when you add in the fact that the high winds are constantly buffetting you.

Finally we made it to our campground which thankfully had a hot tub and pool and is very nice. In the hot tub we met a really cool russian guy named daniel and made a new friend. On the way back you could see the entire night sky which was so bright, vivid and free from light pollution you could actually see the milky way.

By far today was my favorite.

Go West Young Man

2008-08-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

We spent a great evenng in Met a potential new friend, Alli, at the Keg, a little dive bar with GREAT food. They have a mixed berry salad that is world famous and rightly so. Alli told us how awesome Manitou and Colorado in general is to live in. I haven't met one person who lives in Colorado who isn't a big fan of it. I am looking forward to moving here. We even met a hippie kid who was stranded there that day after a girl who was traveling with him tried to attack him an even he said he didn't know what it was but manitou felt like home.

With that in mind we went to check on the house that we bid on and meet with our realtor. She informed us that the lawyers who are in charge of the estate that is in bankruptcy can't go below a certain level and that our offer was below it. Our agent was very knowledgeable but she flip lops first the place wasn't worth it and we should buy a much more expensive one but then now we should spend the extra $25k and buy this one. She is just out for the sale and perhaps not our best interest. It was a real turn-off. Funny thing is we didn't have a car to go look at the property and she only had a scooter that she uses around town so she called out a friend Nate to take us up there. We hit it off with Nate and he warned us against going higher on price and took us through some other places een though he si not an agent. So we made a 2nd friend in manitou. He also taught us that manitou is the God of the Animal gods for several native american cultures. We left Manitou reluctantly and headed to Boulder to check it out.

Boulder is a really cute college town and it was a perfect day to sit and people watch as kids played in the public fountain. It had a good energy but it was certainly no Manitou. After that we took the drive to Flaming Gorge Recreation Area. The drive was pretty uneventful until we were about 1 mile from the destination where there was a lot of construction. One of the construction signs looked like it was in the road and i skidded to avoid it almost killing us in the process. I luckily managed to safely avoid it and get back on the road with only a major shifting of contents and a lot of adrenaline pumping.

Well now the open road calls and Amy and i are headed to Thermopolis probably the World's largest mineral hot spring... good times.

2 days of rest and one nonstop drive...

2008-08-18T17:44:00.001-07:00

Our propane troubles continued into the morning of Friday, which meant only dash AC and no fridge until we met Sam at Camping World who took 10 minutes and got both our propane and our fridge working. Afterward we drove to Baton Rouge and stopped into a restaurant owned by one of Amy's family friends called Luis D'angelos It was great food. but sadly we didn't get to see any of her friends. To complicate things we also found out we were going to be hit by a hurricane... and not be home to manage it. Right after this the water in the fuel light came on and I had to get drenched in diesle fuel and take and outdoor hose shower at a truckstop to get it to go out. As you can see the troubles on this trip have been numerous but surmountable.

Then it was on to Austin, if this sounds like a lot of driving, thats because it is. Texas is a BIG state. The major bonus however was Sonic burger, man that place is good. Try the Island fire burger. That Habenero sauce is the best. We got in too late to see my dad and i was exhausted as i pulled up next to his house. So exhausted that i scraped the new wrap on either a bush or the mailbox which i didnt see till later. That will have to be fixed when i get back. Amy and i popped open the slide turned on the Olympics and promptly fell asleep.

Saturday we went to see my dad in the hospital. For the record he is doing GREAT a complete 180 from where he was when i was in Austin 2 weeks ago. He is walking and talking and should be ready to go home this week. After visiting my dad amy and i did some shopping and ran some errands, nothing exciting and then went back to spend time with my dad and watch barrack Obama speak on religion. Later we were slated to meet up with another of Amy's family friends, the sister in the D'angelo family. On our way we stopped and grabbed some awesome Vietnamese food, Pho rocks!

Austin has an awesome music scene an a weird style to it Daniel, Amy's, friend knew a friend who was playing a gig at a vintage western wear store (that's Austin) but when we got there it was pouring and most of the venue was outside with all the covered seats taken... I wound up getting rained on, which by this point was par for the course of the trip. Finally we got some covered seats and could enjoy the show which wasn't bad the singer was Noelle Hampton, not bad in a rockabilly sort of way. Afterwards Amy and Daniel caught up and we talked with a friend of Daniel's who was christian even though she believes the hindus have it right... Religion goes deep in texas...

Both Friday and Saturday i woke up in the middle of the night to generator problems. i still haven't figured them out but I will. I think it's a short in the system. Regardless I have yet to get a full nights sleep.

Sunday we woke up and visited my dad and the order of the day was Schlitterbahn. Schlietterbanh has been rated the best waterpark in the US and for good reason. It was awesome and Amy and i had the first real fun in our trip. We really enjoyed ourselves. And i even went headfirst down a speed slide. I lost my sunglasses and went to lost and found to upgrade but they actually found my real glasses so i took them.

We wound up rushing back to meet my friend Kenda and her family at the Oasis for dinner and drinks, which by the time we had gotten there they were done with. The Oasis is known for it's views of Lake Travis and the sunset, we had a view of a deluge. Kenda and her family left sshortly fter we got there and then the slick waiter tried to stick us with a second bill even though we saw them pay, thought you were slick didn't you Bryce?!? Douchebag.

After Oasis the plan was to take a nap and then drive through the night to Manitou, our future home in Colorado. After napping for 2 hours i drove pretty much 18 hours to get us here. The main problems on this leg were the mirrors which are essential and the people who did the wrap completely fucked up. I had to stop like 10x to fix them or do without them for 50 mile stretches. Alas we are here in beautiful Manitou, and i am going to eat and pass out. I am sure there are things iforgot but i haven't really slept in 2 days.

Danger WIll Robinson DANGER!!

2008-08-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday we got off about noon and headed to Orlando with no problems. I stopped by the EBG office and saw all the growth that has happened since i left. It actually hit me pretty hard. It's sort of like a baby... when it's born it needs you so much and you have to be at it's beck and call. then it grows a little and you only need to be there 85% of the time like a toddler. As it grows it becomes like a teenager and eventually an adult. EBG has fully matured past my initial parenting and it just really struck me when i visited. We got to spend some time with Dante which is always nice and then we left to meet up with my step dad, Dave.

On the way to meet Dave, we had some time so we decided to pick up some propane for the generator, which is currently like the Chanukah oil and has gone on for 8 days! We stopped at U-haul to get the propane and when the lady went to fill it the hose popped off spraying propne everywhere, the pop was so loud Amy and i took off running. She tried 4 more times and was unable to get it to work so we left without propane. On the way to Dave a red warning light went on and then brakes went a little mushy. We pulled into the parking lot and had dinner and i had Dave come look at it, when he returned with us it was fine. It remained so until 3 hours later when it came on again, i pulled over and it went off, it's playing peekaboo with me. i will have it checked when we stop longer in Austin.

So after all this i stop for some diesel and I realize the people who wrapped the RV have wrapped and sealed the gas tank door shut... a trusty pocket knife use later and we were filling up, only to have my credit card declined. It is always so embarrassing when you have to assure the counter clerk that you haven't over extended yourself. I called the credit card company and they said
declined it because it was a large high risk gas purchase. After arguing for 10 minutes they assured me the rest of the trip would have no problems...we shall see.

So that leads us to today... Jeff and I in an effort to haul all of our bikes and originally 3 more we had a platform made to accommodate them all. After initial testing we knew that it wouldnt hold the weight of all of them so we decided against the 3 on the bike rack on the rear s there was no way it would hold the weight. We were so right .... today while driving to have my bikes tuned by their creator the whole platform broke at the weld and we dragged it for about 20 meters. The oddest part was when i called Dan the bike builder and told him where we were he told me it was across the street from the coffee house he owns... weird small world. Dan came out with his friend Ira and rescued us and now here we sit waiting for all the repairs. Dan is making the platform stronger by adding welds and said the first weld was crap to begin with and i still think that guy over charged us... Jeff you should get our money back! Hopefully we will be back on the road in an hour... then we are on to Baton Rouge and Austin. N'awlins will be for the return trip.

More Hiccups

2008-08-12T23:08:00.001-07:00

The problem with going bigger and better is often you don't have more infrastructure to do so. Jeff and i had a special platform built for the back of the RV and our bikes it was costly and may not even make the trip. We were up till 2 testing the thing out and finally decided we were unable to take our bikes plus 4 others so we had to leave 3 behind. During our late evening work we had the cops show up and ask us if we were stealing the bikes. We told them that thieves always put the bikes back on a trailer when they are stealing. They sat around chatting for like an hour then took off in a hurry, so much for taxpayer money... we leave in the morning.

The Wrap

2008-08-12T08:51:00.001-07:00

Well it's been a crazy time getting ready. On the way to get the RV wrapped with the Premium Seats USA logo the transmission light came on and I thought uh oh this trip is in trouble. After much fretting and alternative planning it turned out to be the batteries and alternator, $2000 later we were back in business and on the way to get it wrapped. After being promised that it would be done over the weekend and then again Monday night it finally got here this morning at 11. The wrap looks AMAZING. Now for the loading to begin.

Getting Ready for the Burn

2008-08-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

This year has been exceptionally busy. We built a 20x20 hookah tent for our theme camp at Burning Man which is Hookah Homestead. Aung made a movie Hitler Plans Burning Man that got picked up by Boing Boing. Jeff built his mad crazy Pirate bike which is awesome. I have my Triclops bike with pedicab, Amy built an elmo bike. We have been preparing for awhile but we are near ready to go only 2 days left.

I B texting

2007-08-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

Texting has become a theme for me this trip. One hand on the wheel, one eye on the road, the others on the phone.

The first full day

2007-08-20T01:43:00.000-07:00

After receiving last night’s visitor, needless to say (why do people say that then say what was needless to say anyway), I didn’t sleep well. I was a bit shaken, a bit angry and a bit confused mostly I felt a little impotent because my circumstance had kept me from acting and I am used to taking charge and doing things in any situation. By the time I finally fell back asleep and woke up like 3-4 hours had passed, this too would become a theme.

I woke up and woke up the wonder twins in the back and we all went into WalMart for what was supposed to be a quick shopping trip for a few of the things we missed on our list and bicycles. 3 hours later , many bicycle laps around the store and a confrontation with a wal-tard we were checking out and loading up the RV with our finds being sure to dump the trash at Wal-Mart so as to have more room.

It was a 4 hour cruise up to Sean’s Mom’s place up in Live Oak out in the Rural deep south of Northern Florida, it’s funny that if you live in South Florida you have to drive North to get to the Deep South! Sean called his Mom to say we were close and she tried to give us directions, whereupon Sean says “mom we have2 iPhones, a Satellite Nav system and an atlas I think we can find it”. Which of course means I pass the place and had to do flip a bitch in a 34’ RV on some hillbilly’s land who might shoot me for it…Exciting times? Anyway we pulled up and his mom was waiting out front (we saw her when we passed the place too but I was cruising too fast to stop, the GPS said I had another 450 feet till we got there(oh well). We got the Sean’s mom’s place and there were 3 cats that were totally cute and lovable one looked as if it had a mustache, I called her Adolf. Jackie (Sean’s mom) was like a second mom to me as much as I was over her house growing up and it was good to see her again. She made us a chicken casserole and Ambrosia salad which I heartily consumed. We caught up and Sean showed her pictures of some of our previous escapades. We decided to drive through the night to make up some time from our extended Wal-Mart trip. I went and napped for a bit in the RV then came in and showered for our drive. We decided to have a quick hookah break and met Girl, Jackie's dog who has definitely seen better days. Super sweet but the dog was shot and walks on 3 legs and is missing an eye. Beautiful but scarred dog. We also met Eddy, very nice guy who has 20 acres and fixes cars, from Fort Lauderdale and then there is Pat , Jackie’s Kato Kaylin, afriend of her late husband who regaled us with his stories of DUI and flipped over golf carts. He kept asking me if I needed a ringer (drink) for the road lol. I politely declined (shocker I know). He graciously turned on some country music and we jetted shortly thereafter.

Back on the road it wasn’t long before the dynamic duo decided to get into the krispy treats!!! Which means it wasn’t long before they were back in the back sleeping. I took some gogo juice cocktail (Rockstar and 5 hour energy) and waas zoomin to the whee hours. It’s interesting how loopy you get on little to no sleep. I was singin and dancing I even had some “just for me” time all while driving. It was fun. I drove until the sun came up and beyond, I refused to stop until we were out of Florida. I decided as soon as we hit Alabammy that I was going to sleep. I promptly did so and slept for a solid 3 hours (read 3 -1 hour naps)…but tomorrow (or today is a new day)

The First Night

2007-08-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Now as anyone who has been on a road trip knows it isn't what goes right on a road trip that makes it, it is what goes wrong. The adversity is the stories that live on the stories you tell to your grand kids. The first night was a story to tell to anyone who will listen, and as many of you know, i already have.

We drove up to Orlando and I agreed to meet Jimmy in Port Saint Lucie so we could show the RV to his Brother-In-Law. I also knew there was a flying J there where we could get some Diesel and propane for the generator. So we headed for the flying J. Sean and Adrian hadn't slept all the night before so they were sleeping in the back whilst i was driving, this i would learn ,would be a theme for our trip. More on that later. We got to the plaza around 10:00 and I spent 10 minutes trying to pull the rig in the right position for diesel as i am backing i see a person go flying from my bumper in the back-up camera i immediately shriek and scream holy fuck, then i realize this person is jimmy, who knew exactly where to be for me to not see him play this joke on me. We get the diesel and propane and are back on the road an hour later.

My plan is to park in my Orlando office's parking lot overnight and be back on the road in the morning. We pull into the parking lot and it is full. I don't know where to go. I had heard that Wal-Mart allowed trucks and RVs to stay overnight as a standing rule in their parking lots. I knew they had just opend one by my old Orlando office and headed for it.

We pull in to one of the largest Wal-Marts i have ever seen, it is truly a small city. I aask the security guard through pantomime if i can sleep here the night, he mimes back that it is ok to park over in the corner. We pull in to a spot pop out the slide and i am zonked, it is now like 2:15 am i am zonked as i havent slept but like 4 hours the night before. I am out and sleeping within a few minutes. I am sound asleep when an urgent and incessant knock is rat-a-tat-tatting on the door. I am very groggy and tired. The word fuzzy headed comes to mind. I look out and it is a dark skinned man who looks like he may be a security guard or something saying something and pointing. I am tired and don't hear him well with the air and generators on, so naturally i open the door to hear him better. He jumps in with a mask and brandishes a knife, I didn't see this as the door is curtained for privacy over the window. He shouts "gimme your fucking money this is a robbery, i will fucking stab you. " I am like what the fuck is this a joke! I think he senses this and says " I am not joking i will stab you", it is aat this point I notice that he is A- not proficient with holding a knife and B) smaller than I am. Here is where i have an internal debate...here are the facts: I can probably get the knife away from him, though i might get stabbed, he seems nervous too, I don't want cops coming to the scene to poke around my RV, I can talk my way into or out of anything. Those are the thoughts going through my mind. I say calmly " I don't have any money". The funny thing is i have $2000 in my back pocket at that very moment he says " if you don't give me money i will stab you, where is your wallet", i say it's over there and half turn to table to grab it, i pick it up. In the wallet is $80.00 i taake it out and hand it to him. HE asks me for the wallet, I say " no, i need my ID and don't want to have to go get another", he buys this, though my CCs are there too, he says "gimme your cell phone" to which i reply ,"I don't have a cell phone". The irony here is that my iPhone is at his feet charging in plain site. He and i look at each other for a second. I again debate just jumping him but think about the personal dangers, I am tired, scared and just want him out. He grants my wish and takes off out the door and jumps into a white Toyota and takes off out of the parking lot at high speed. I lock the door immediately and see the security guard walk over. He speaks to me with his broken english asking me what happenned. I half believe the fucker was in on it. I tell him I don't need him to call the cops, go in and wake Sean and Adrian who had slept through the whole incident. Me i sleep lightly all night and resolve to get a bat the next morning from said Wal-Mart.

Burning Man Prep

2007-08-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

I have been preparing mentally for a long time to go to Burning Man, a week in the middle of the desert with nothing but what you bring with you and/or can barter for. This presents a lot of logistics problems and infrastructure problems. Luckily for us the new rig solved much of that problem. But it had needs of it's own.

My original goal was to have everything set up and ready to go for Burning Man and be completely green. Run the rig off BioDiesel and use solar panels to cut down on the generator use. But the lenders had other plans. Since the loan took so long to close and clear I didn't have the rig until the Monday before the Saturday we were supposed to leave. So as time was limited and I didn't know how it would run on BioD, that was the first thing nixxed, however it will eventually be converted. BioDiesel, it's good stuff!!!

With only a few days to get the work done I headed up to Lake City to meet with Jon palmer of Palmer Energy Systems. This guy was so damn interesting. They live on 500 acres and live off the grid, solar and generator only, even their water is hauled in. We sat down and he took me on an electric golf cart tour of the property and then handed me the outline he had for the rig. $8500 ! Ouch, having just shelled out to buy it and have it insured and registered this wasn't an option. He ran the numbers for me and showed me how long it would be before the solar panels earned their keep, unless i ws boondocking it a lot. I knew it needed batteries right away so I opted for those some rewiring and an electrical management system ( think of an RV surge protector). Next we will do inverter then solar. Oh yes we will go solar!

It took me 2 days camping out in the RV to get that completed and I drove all eve Wednesday to get home. I was beat. Driving the new rig was physically demanding till you get the hang of it. Not to mention nerve wracking. When i got home all i wanted to do was sleep, so I did.

The next few days were a blur, mostly me buying stuff I didn't need and trying to make an appointment to get the il changed on the RV. I don't understand why you need to drop it off for 2 days for a 45 minute oil change. I finally found a place that would take it in for only a day to have it serviced. Shoudouts to Kadina and Kat for driving me and picking me up from there. Friday night I had it bacvk and was ready to start loading things, but did I... NO i went to Jordan's BBQ. Saturday though I was up early (which for me is 8 AM) and packing
prepping and loading you can check out my organization skills on our other blog http://burningmantrip.blogspot.com

or right here:

Sean and Adrian finally arrived and we compared our lists. Flashlightss...check, Grbage Bags...Check, duct tape... check, Zip ties...check, Shade structure...check, 50' rope 1 copper piece... check. The rest we knew we had to head to the various stores to pick up in order to have our on the playa and on the trip. Bikes, respirators, Space age bubble wrap, you know the essentials. we didn't have nearly enough time to get everything we needed and get out by the arbitrary time of 6:00 PM. So instead we both didn't get out on time and didn't get all the items on our lists, naturally. It's par for the course. We finally got out around 8ish and were on the road to O-town for the night

Getting the RV

2007-08-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I had known my whole life that I wanted an RV. It has been a lifelong goal of mine to have the ability to pack up everything I own and take it with me, or at least the essentials. The ultimate back up plan, if you will.

I started looking on Craig's list and Rvtrader.com and found nothing. One day i checked it and there it was:

I called the owner Steve and he was more than helpful and it only confirmed what i already knew, I had found my new rig! I spoke to Jimmy, my business partner in http://www.premiumseatsusa.com , and we agreed that we could use it for business purposes (i.e. tail-gates, mobile command center, etc) to, so I now i had a plan in place and would have my home for Burning Man and other various adventures.

I spoke to my lender and got it all taken care of from finance end and I negotiated a fair price with Steve and asked him to hold the rig until I could come up to Bradenton and take a look. He kindly did so. I was up a week later. I drove up with Lola and we met Steve and his wife Martha.

An aside here: Steve and Martha are former personal trainers turned Artists and used the rig to go to art shows you can check out their work at http://the3sisters.com , very neat stuff. The rig's name was Olyve and it usually pulled a jeep named Popaye, which was the screen names of Steve and Martha on aol when they met, Olyve Oil and Popaye and now they live happily ever after, and aare now my lifelong friends too.

Back to the story: Steve is meticulous in his care of Olyve had every document receipt etc, i hope to be at least 1/2 that diligent in my care of it. He knew every sound every bump every trick to it, i however did not. I was so nervous driving home i thought that maybe i shouldn't do it. I called up Jimmy and he said the choice was mine. I thought about it long and hard, placed a call to Steve and decided I was still game, that I could do it. Now we were just waiting on the lender, so with a few more weeks of delay in the financing (thanks escrow company) we had a deal set and Jimmy and I were set to head up there to take a final lesson and pick her up. We picked her up on Monday 8/13 and i drove her for the next step in the process.....