Happy Halloween

This was the motley crew for Saturday night. Jean on the left as the widow Terry Irwin, Angela as young Bindi "The Jungle Girl" Irwin, Matt as Steve's "Best Mate" Wes (although seen here with a butt rocker wig which was later discarded, Mike as the late great Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin, and of course Sara as a flying monkey from the Wizard of Oz. We headed out into the Mission District, hi-jinx and sculduggery ensued.

Life at 80 (mph)

I have made it. I think it cost me a few years off my life but I did it. The last push was brutal.

The drive to Prince George on Thursday was incredible. The road slices through the mountains and it is stunning to see the river down below. I couldn't look around too much though for fear of plummeting to my death. I think I did this part of the trip in 8 or 10 hours with lots of stops to check out the view. I found a decent roach motel as I pulled in around 10 pm, caught up on some Southpark episodes on cable and was soon snoring away. I brought Baptiste into the hotel room for fresh water but he didn't look too good. Floating sideways once again and his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. He kept using his right fin to scratch out a last will and testament in the gravel but he didn't even have the strength for that. Luckily he doesn't own more than a plastic statue and 2 plastic aquatic plants.

I left Prince George, BC at 10am Friday and headed for the good old US of A. I got to the border around 5pm and waited in line for a bit and then was told I didn't have proper documentation to make it through since my birth certificate was just a copy and my passport is expired. I gave the border guard the old Jedi Alaska mind trick and looked him straight in the eye and said, "my documents are in order, you will let me go through sir." And lo and behold that's just what he did. I shall next use the powers on the IRS. It made me chuckle to think he was about to send me back into Canada, talk about creating a terrorist threat- I would have strangled the simpleton before he could so much as reach for his radio. "In the future," he said, "bring more documentation." Whatever. Document this you overpaid pencil holder.

So I put the pedal to the metal and was soon in the bizarre world of freeway life in Seattle. The fog closed in and I found myself doing 80mph with about 10 feet of vis. Crazy. Soon the whole truck began to shake and I realized my lumber rack was trying to make the truck go airborn. I pulled over and yanked off the 4x8 sheet of plywood on top, threw it in the ditch, re-strapped my external gas tanks and continued on. I decided to go all the way to Corvallis, OR where my cousin lives. I grabbed a Wendy's burger and a gallon of coffee and raged on. Around 1 am I could feel the wall of unconsciousness approaching. Soon I saw herds of scorpions scuttling across the highway and all the dials in the truck went out of focus. Not a good sign. Just when I was about to throw in the towel Exit 34 West popped out of the fogged and I swung into Corvallis at 2am and hit the pillow. Here's the route, in kilometers because Google is communist.

I got up at 8am and hit the road by 10am Saturday, rocketing on at 80mph I was soon in Ashland, OR where I met a friend from Fairbanks for coffee. Then on again to SF and I pulled intoSausilito around 10pm to find Angela waiting with fresh Won Ton Soup. It was delicious and I fell into a most blissful sleep. It was one of the smaller mileage days but one of the more puckering drives due to the insane freeway speeds.

This morning we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to our apartment and unpacked the truck up 3 flights of stairs. Thankfully we stretched out before hand as per Willi Shrinx's video. What a lifesaver. Tonight we shall dine extravagantly and then tomorrow starts the job hunt.

Tune in to find out who thinks my time is worth their money!!

-John

Prince George

Here's what I did today, the highlight was a little town called Chetwynd where I saw endless piles of logs being turned into lumber and then dried in massive kilns. There was a thick fog of sawdust over the whole town- it was beautiful. Then I went screaming down through the mountains to Prince George which is both bigger and smaller than I thought, but now I must sleep,

In the words of Kim Jong Il, "Tomorrow, America!"

Bears and Bison

All is well, I'm in Fort Nelson now, this is how far I got today.

I started off just outside of Whitehorse after spending the night on top of the truck on a piece of plywood. It wasn't too comfortable so I only slept from about 12-3 am, then drove for a bit, then parked again and fell asleep in the cab until 8am. The problem with doing that is whenever I woke up I thought I had drifted off while driving and I would grab the wheel and start screaming at Mazzy to Hold On! She was not impressed. Then I would calm down, fall back asleep and do it all over again.

I hit Liard Hotsprings around 4pm and had the place all to myself. The hot water definitely helped my encroaching case of "truckers butt" where everything seems to settle and compact as the day wears on. I also have "truckers spine", "truckers elbow" and soon, "truckers gut."

Then I had dinner on the edge of Muncho Lake which was nice in a "Shining" sort of way. Then I drove on to Fort Nelson, which I was told was only 2 hours from the hot springs but it was more like 4. I also encountered scads of Bison, 4 moose, and at least 30 deer. Luckily I have bright fog lights so I saw all the critters well in advance. At 9 pm a grizzly darted out in front of me and ran for the trees. All I need now is a caribou and some Dall Sheep and I'll have the grand slam.

I'm in some little Motor Inn now with Mazzy sleeping happily at my feet. The temperature has dropped outside to about 30F so I brought Baptiste in and added water to the tank. I don't know if it was the Canadian water or the past 2 days of living a white water adventure but he doesn't look too good, unless he's practicing some new sideways float particular to Angel Fish. I'll know more in the morning. I dropped some Alka Selzer in the tank and left out some Pepto, maybe he just doesn't like 2 star accomodations. I'm hoping for the best...

Must sleep now and hope tomorrow goes as well as today,

J

On the Road Again

Here's what I did today and I may keep going once I get some good Klondike beer in my belly, driving at night is fun...

But here's what I have left... yikes... and I think the google computations are a bit off or they take a lot of speed when they drive...