California Dreaming

Southern California, what was I getting myself into, I didn’t know till I arrived. Cruising on the 15 through Baker, and Barstow, I for the first time hit historic route 66 as I rocketed west at 85 miles an hour towards Pasadena and Cal Tech where I was to pick Amy up for lunch.
The ride was far from smooth, but the bumpy road finally let me figure out why my car was making weird plastic vibrating noises, my glove box is apparently rather loose, knowing this I worry much less about something being drastically wrong now.
TO be rather up front, southern California traffic is NOT that bad, I was able to easily navigate my way to Pasadena to meet Amy and her co workers for lunch at this wonderful little Mexican place which was oh so good after not eating since I left Las Vegas several hours before.
The weather in Southern California was absolutely amazing, seriously, how can someone go wrong with someplace that is typically 75 and sunny outside? The climate is seriously to die for.
Seeing Amy as always made me incredibly happy as I instantly had a huge smile on my face that stayed on my face till now, a day after I returned home from beautiful Costa Mesa California.
While in Orange County tons of fun was had, Disneyland was amazing, I’m glad I finally made it there as I had never been to southern California either. Overall it was amazing and I am so very glad that I went. I had so much fun with everything that I did. Disneyland, the Mighty Ducks game against Nashville with Amy, which also happened to be her first sportive event ever. Following the game we went to her favourite hang out the Goat Hill which is likely one of the coolest bars I have ever seen as we hung out nearly till closing time and I had the chance to meet several of her friends.
On the trip I also got to go to the Orange County marketplace which is a massive swap meet where I found all sorts of cool stuff.
I got to dine at all sorts of new and interesting places, well at least new and interesting to me, California Pizza Kitchen, The Chicken Coop, as well as drinks at Dave and Busters before going with Amy to watch an awesome movie V for Vendetta at the Irvine Spectrum. Speaking of Irvine I also got taken on a tour of The University of California, Irvine by Amy, as she graduated from there last year.
In a wrap, it was amazing, and I am a much better person for making the trip, as I am both a bit of a different person but also a hell of a lot happier now than I was before I left, mainly due to the fact that I absolutely love traveling but also because of Amy, who is my sweetheart, and an absolutely amazing girl who I care about more than anyone.
I lone I am leaving out parts of the trip, but it was all a blur. I must return as I loved it and I hope to soon.

There I Was, A Natural Street Freak. Eating Whatever Came By

Hockey was exactly what the doctor ordered to bring me around, a thrilling shootout victory by the Las Vegas Wranglers over the heated Alaska Aces. Following the game was hitting a favourite local eating establishment with my buddy Pete who I was staying with while in Vegas. The night was long, tiring, but a much needed stress reliever after hectic school time.

Sunday was to be a completely different story, I agreed to go to work with Pete so I could work on school related items such as a study guide, reading, and editing a paper I got part of this done which was better than none, but a 12 hour day on a Sunday watching someone work on computer aided drafting for a trade booth for the NHRA is far from exciting, but it was beneficial as I had ample time to work on things that needed to be done, but I still managed to piss away at least half the day.

Pissing away time was mainly what I did the next day as well except I managed to clean up a large part of the house as it was in shambles thanks to Pete’s other roommate who leaves the house in disarray and it is no help that Pete is rarely if ever there as he works most of the day goes out to dinner and then comes home only to pass out and start over again the next morning,. Overall Monday was a waste as I accomplished next to nothing but I vowed I would make up for it Tuesday.

Tuesday kicked off with going to a Mitsubishi dealership in search of the motor and regulator, which I lucked out on and found the last one in the city for a mere $156. The part was quickly purchased and placed in my trunk waiting for installation upon the eventual return to Reno.

Vegas had little left to offer me besides tossing money on the blackjack table that I realize I shouldn’t not have partaken in it was snowing again causing me to do a double take and pop on the heater as I cruised back to Pete’s to wind down the day and prepare for the next mornings departure to beautiful southern California. I had no idea what to expect but I was clearly looking for the best out of the trip and praying I don’t get lost on the way.

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

Part one of 3 of the Spring Break journey

Spring Break is a time to escape, and leave town for someplace new, different, and by far warmer than Reno is what it’s all about. The trip unfortunately was marred by problems before the departure time of Saturday morning even rolled around.

Friday evening on my way to Sparks to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on my way out there, I had my window down briefly and then as I went to put it up it moved roughly three inches upwards before a series of clicking noises emitted from my door. Thinking it was stuck I attempted to pull it up, when that caused nothing, I made an emergency call to a friend to see if she could look at the car and diagnose the problem.

Well the problem was that I somehow managed to strip the gear on the motor, which was yanked out of the car after about a hour of disassembling of the door leaving the entire inside panel of it in the trunk of my car. The window itself was then propped up by two pieces of wood between the window and the window seal in the door. What a rough way to end a week, and to kick off a trip that I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be taking.

Saturday morning< style=""> I left there much better, although without a motor. A new motor and regulator arm would only set me back $145, unfortunately it was on national back order and out of stock, and they recommended that I check the dealerships in Vegas, so I was soon on my way out of town and bound for Sin City.

The voyage to Las Vegas, was much like any other one, long and boring, although this one was filled with snow as it was damn hard to see anything when going into Tonopah and then once approaching Indian Springs the rain was pounding and thus seeping in the tiny crack between my window and the top of the seal at the top of my door. Upon arriving in Vegas though I was ready for what awaited me that evening, and that was hockey, what other way could I think of to bring my spirits up?

I'm a mess, what can I say

After last night, I can safely say I am an emotional mess. What with the present issues with Amy and her finding out that her grandfather is on the verge of death, as well as my own uncertainty about the whole situation with her, its been a rough night, to follow a rough day.

I know good and well this entry is nothing like the others, as it will have very little to do about travel and cars, except the fact mine is indeed costing me $330 to get new struts and an alignment, thank god it isn’t more.

I feel helpless as Amy is 500 some odd miles away and I can do absolutely nothing for her. I feel bad that I can’t do anything really to help cheer her up or make her feel better about the situation.

I’m even torn as to if everything will even work out between her and I. I know I shouldn’t have doubts, especially as crazy as we are for each other, but I honestly can’t help it. The distance will and has been quite rough, Its hard, it isn’t like I can drive to Southern California every weekend to visit, if I could, I certainly would, I love being with her. One thing that sets her apart from anyone else I have even thought of being involved with is her supportiveness. She’s all for my involvement with cars, even thought we both know they will end up being money pits, especially the Porsche, she’s actually looked in the Orange County area to see if there were any for sale at a reasonable price.

It’s very hard to believe that I would have doubts about someone who is so supportive me and is overall doing well in life as she graduated from the University of California, Irvine last year and now works at Cal Tech in their alumni department.

Things should become much clearer after I make my visit on spring break in which we are scheduled to go to Disneyland as well as a hockey game (her first sporting event ever) between the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the Nashville Predators. I think my found and a half days with her will say a lot and clear everything up between us, or make things much worse, time can only tell, I hope it makes things better, but I am a man of little hope as I am used to things never working out.

Anyways, that’s enough early morning rambling, over and out.

I can get behind anything...

I was just thinking earlier today that you the reader, well if there are any readers (hello out there to those of you who do read this) what the heck the title of Roadside Attraction was referring to.

The phrase Another Roadside Attraction comes from the slogan used by the Tragically Hip, a Canadian rock and roll band from Kingston, Ontario who called their summer tours the “Another Roadside Attraction Tour, etc.

Anyways, on to more important matters, I am now $400 stuck thanks to my crap car and it’s needing of new struts and two new tires before voyaging on spring break to all points south. The last thing I need is a wheel coming off or something between Las Vegas and Flagstaff, that would be a recipe for disaster, AAA can only bail someone out so much.

As for other cars, I am still in the market for something, something vintage, that’s pretty much the only requirement I have anymore. A Porsche would of course be nice, but would of course be an instant money pit, which wouldn’t be the best thing for me, but it would make me happy, and likely save me from blowing my money on other useless crap.

I am certainly looking forward to next weekend which will feature a trip to Oakland to hang out with Amy (the part-time girlfriend) and some of her friends which shall be exciting. Ill get my fist experience with Basque food so that should be interesting as well. Overall it should be a excellent time, well except for he drive on Friday night to get there, but that’s to be expected, rush hour is always the best time to travel at least for me because its a lot harder to get lost when you’re moving along at three miles an hour. Speaking of getting lost, what’s the deal with me being able to get lost practically anywhere? In Sacramento I ended up in pasture land north of town and away from everything. I also got lost finding a house that I knew where it was and had been there before. Even back in the Rose City I can get lost and I lived there for 20 years of my life. The one surprising thing is that in all my trips to Las Vegas, I have never been truly lost there, I have gotten turned around while going from the airport to the strip, but I have never gotten completely lost, which does indeed make me quite pleased.

Anyways, that’s it for tonight, I’m shot, tired, exhausted, and feel like I got hit by a small truck so I think its naptime for me.