Camping in Mendocino

Good times with the goober crew. Just some notes:

FRIDAY
Noon: Forgot my CD's and simply couldn't stand the idea of listening to garbage on the Radio so I swung by Amoeba Music in the Haight to pick up some Trance/Ambient. Walking into this place doesn't necessarily make me feel old, it more accurately makes me feel like a completely Un-Hip suburbanite. I'm soo out of the loop when it comes to music. I hit the info. desk and spoke to a nice guy with about 20 piercings on his face and he pointed me to another man in the "Trance/Progressive Trance" section. I walked up to a guy with a massive tattoo on his face but he said he didn't work there. A normal looking guy walked up and said he was an employee and would help me find what I was looking for. He asked me a few questions re. the style of Trance I'm into but I really couldn't answer in a way that would help him. He then said to park my ass in the listening station and he would grab stacks of CD's from different Ambient Genre's and have me listen to each of them until I found something I liked....cool.

12:30: The Amoeba employee had handed me a stack of stuff from the Orb, Future Sound of London, and a number of artist I hadn't even heard of...and more embarrassingly, from GENRE's I'd never even heard of! I settled on a hybrid Ambient and chose a CD from Flying Lotus...WOW, incredible stuff. Tribal rhythms merged with 808 frequency progressive house with highly synthesized trance melodies (or lack of melody at times). Grabbed some McNuggets and a Diet Coke next door and I was off to Mendocino.

2:00: I was really looking forward to the latter part of this drive, the 68 miles on highway 128 through the Anderson Valley. The 100 miles up 101 was uneventful and generally boring but turning onto 128 West gave me an anticipatory thrill...before the jaunt, I pulled into a truckers BBQ shack to use the facilities and tie everything down in my car. The next hour was pure bliss...the traffic was light and even the dozen or so times I had to overtake slower drivers was an exciting exercise in timing, power, and precision. The valley was hot and stuffy and the nearby fires choked the air with very heavy smoke.

3:00: Ran into the Prof. and NTT's Brain in the town of Mendocino as I was hitting up the ATM. We headed back to our campsite and I was really impressed by the beauty of the place; our site was nestled in a small valley with Redwoods running up both sides, a small brook gurgled to our left, and just ahead was the trail head. Anderson valley was 92 degrees, our campsite an hour later was 59...chilly.

4:00: Set up my little tent and bag and un-stowed my gear. Changed into my running clothes and took a run around the campgrounds. When I reached the Fern Trail head and stopped to read the sign about Mountain Lions and what to do if you meet up with one and that you should never hike solo...well, I looked around, saw that I was completely alone amid opportunities for a Puma to leap at me from behind, so, at that point I turned around and jogged the opposite direction toward the beach.

5:00: The Warden and Rave-boy and G-friend arrive and we prepared Dinner. The Warden and the GM are totally over the top with gear...they pretty much had everything most kitchens would have on hand. And we had more food than I AND NTT's Brain could eat...and that's saying alot. After gorging on steaks and meat then more steak and hot dogs then tri-tip, then someone busted out with brats, then busted out with cake and ice-cream (yes ICE-CREAM) and marshmallows then more ice-cream and beer...I was full.

8:00: The Prof is a fricken pyro. We had made a circle of chairs around our ridiculously huge fire which the Prof. would every so often douse with magnesium shavings. He would warn us not to look but I never heeded his warnings and my rods and cones were blown out with the intensity of the white light flash. We had soo much fire wood that he felt it necessary to utilize it all in one evening.

11:00: After several hours of chatting and noshing even more, we all decided to hit the hay. Being inside my tent and under the covers listening to the brook and the toads "hurmf'ing" away was really pleasant and reminds of why I love to camp. Despite my non-existent back support and lack of pillow, I fell asleep within minutes.

SATURDAY
5:00 AM I remember the sounds of rummaging and then the Wardens voice outside. Then Rave-boy joined in and it sounded as if they were getting ready to prepare breakfast. I got angry...I did NOT want to get out of bed this early so I resisted temptation to eat and buried myself further into my sleeping bag.

7:45: I woke up to the Warden finishing up cooking a four course breakfast which included pancakes with fresh strawberries, a huge omelet with several kinds of fresh veggies, bacon, and a sausage veggie hash. They had juice and a fresh pot of coffee brewed. Despite my head still being in a complete post-slumber haze, I sat down to enjoy more grub.

9:00: The Warden and I were suffering from post food binge coma and took a nap while the Prof. and Rave-boy played some miniature games and the rest of the crew hit the trail head to hike the Fern Trail loop. Rave-boy suggested I sleep in his tent, a huge 8 person tent with a frickin Aero bed and queen sized comforter. I was out in 10 minutes.

NOON: Got up to take a shower and the Prof. and I headed toward Big River Beach just south of Mendocino to build some sand sculptures. We brought 3 different shovels, a pail, and a cake icing tool. I decided earlier that I had wanted to build an Easter Island Moa but had not truly realized the amount of work involved. The Prof. and I spent a good 2 hours just building it up high enough to start sculpting. I swear, it was as big as my car...we must have shoveled a good 2 cubic yards worth of sand. The Prof. gave up toward the end fearing his further involvement would only ruin the project. After another 2 hours, it was built. The rest of the crew swung by to take pics.




5:00: Headed back to camp, changed and prepared dinner. Tonight we would have a feast to remember...and it was. Needless to say, some 3 hours later, I was again stuffed...it started with marinated tri-tip, then more tri-tip, then a cheese-burger, then a slice of lamb chop, then some rice, then more steak, then more rice, then I found a can of SPAM and ate the entire can (save a small slice that the Prof. used in a Marshmallow sandwich). We sat around the massive fire, gamed a bit, then hit the hay at around 11:00.

SUNDAY
7:00: Got up with a massive back ache. The guys were already clearing camp. They helped me out, tidied up, had some coffee and cake and orange. After our goodbye's, I hit the road at close to 11:00 and destroyed Highway 128 exploding past slower drivers in the opposite lane as if they were standing still. A black Jetta tried to keep up for 3 turns but eventually gave way considering I was a car length form his rear bumper. The ride back was even quicker the the ride up. By the time I reached 101, I was nearly out of gas.

2:00: Arrived at home, smelly, tired, and with a serious lower back ache.

All in all, I had a wonderful time. I really appreciated the fellow goobs and their generosity with all their gear and food. I'll be re-paying them in kind at my BBQ in a few weeks.

Later

Car Update...I'm getting closer...

...to getting it to run decently at WOT. Man its been a long road. Nearly 10K miles since the motor pull and all the damn work and I'm still working out kinks every week. Here's the latest:

1. Oil change, 7 1/2 qts. of Mobil OW-40 and Mobil Oil Filter.

2. Sent a sample of the oil to Blackstone Laboratories for a full analysis of its composition.

3. Finally received delivery of the Uber boost gauge from AWE Tuning:

Reads vacuum as well as boost to 30 psi. Completely bad-ass and needed for any diagnosis of trouble with forced induction motors. The thing about installation is that when the instructions say 2 hours, its safe to times that by 3. After nearly 5 hours of finagling, its in....looks great and works perfectly.

4. The problem is that after I romped on it during a 4th gear rip, I immediately realized, upon looking at the gauge, that the turbos are over-boosting...big time at that. At stage I, my old turbos at stock configuration spiked at 8 psi. At Stage II, the old turbos spiked at 15. At Stage II+, spiked at 16. At Stage III, they should spike at 21 and taper to 19. It spiked to 27 psi!!!!...then tripped the CEL (check engine light) and dumbed down the boost/air/fuel map to a 10 to 12 psi flutter. Very very bad. Immediately called my mechanic. He was dumb-founded..."you have super-turbos...they should not be able to do that..." and asked me to come in to do some work.

5. I downloaded the GIAC AWE TUNING Manual Boost Controller (MBC) software on my laptop and went into Dynospot to have them download a new adjustable tune from AWE in Pennsylvania. He decided to bring it down by 20% and I readily agreed. I took it for a spin and saw that the MBC surely DID reduce the boost spike to 23-24 psi, still quite high. The taper is now a nice 20 psi but that too has to get lowered.

6. Its like a checklist with the last issue being the boost flutter...flutters between 10-12 psi at part-throttle. I'll be logging and tracking that issue down next.

Anywayz, I'm off to do some camping this weekend with my goober friends...we're heading up to gorgeous Mendicino.

Last three blog entries have pictures now.

Just got home. Very tired, sunburned, the house smells of cat puke and shit. The little guys are alive and well. They had disbelief in their eyes as we walked in. Taking the whole day to clean up the house and yard. I'm glad to be home.

Vacation Update:

1. American tourists look ridiculous. We try very hard not to look or act like most of them. The locals in Manhattan, especially the women, look like they've just walked off a fashion runway...not to mention (and I've gotten clearance to say this) that most of the women look Amazing!

2. Haiku:

It is hot, humid
I'm sweating everyday
But my tan looks great!

3. Took the long bus ride from New York Port Authority to Doylestown. Borrowed my father-in-law's car, a Prelude SH-Type with a 5-speed manual (peppy, high-revving, nice handling), and drove to a Philly suburb to stay with my wife's sister's family; a 2 year-old niece and 4 year-old nephew. They are a complete riot and our weekend stay was loads of fun.

4. Picked up a rental car from Enterprise. My mother-in-law had a bad-ass 50% off coupon (never see those) and with a free upgrade picked up a VW GTI 2.5 with a automatic manual tranny...this car rocks! Great handling, super-smooth tranny, nice pep. Made the long drive to Rehoboth Beach, a resort beach town in Delaware.

My in-laws have a condo here. We've been here for three days now...fantastic little town. Miles of pristine beach/coast, super quaint and cute shopping, a plethora of great restaurants, and a few miles from dozens of Outlet Malls. Our days are wonderfully lazy and generally:

- Start with a morning work-out (ran yesterday) on the mile-long pier.
- 2-3 hours of lounging on the beach. Today I built a huge screaming head from sand, about 6 feet long. Had alot of passersby giving me props.

- Lunch at home (basic sandwich/salad), shower.
- Hit the outlets, purchased some new work slacks today from Banana Republic Outlet, saved 50% and Delaware has no sales tax to boot!
- Go to a swanky restaurant for dinner.
- Walk the pier at night, play some Skee-Ball and Wack-a-Mole at FUNLAND.
- Pick up some ice-cream then head home.

Beach life rocks, I can do this everyday.

Gotto get some sleep. Later....

Gotham Heat

Temp: 96 Humidity: 88%

I somewhat expected New York to make less of an impression this time around...I was wrong. This city completely lives up to every single one of your expectations and as you'd expect, I am still utterly overwhelmed by its size and scale.

We spent an entire day and night strolling through Chelsea, Greenwich Village, the West Village, and SoHo, several miles of walking.



We would stop from time to time to enjoy an ice-cold beverage or stop at one of the many little parks to cool down. BTW, I very much want to live in Greenwich Village...the West Village and the surrounding neighborhoods are some 300 sq. blocks of quaint tree-lines streets, gorgeous ivy covered Brownstones, and Federal-style townhomes. Down every street you'll find boutique store-fronts, hip and trendy restaurants and clubs, loud cafes spilling out onto the sidewalks, and people EVERYWHERE. I'm sure the weather had something to do with it but the balmy evenings made for an incredible night-life; locals and tourist alike mingling and enjoying drinks and side-walk dining. SF might have a street or two of quaint shops and restaurants but my goodness, multiply that by 100 and you'll get the idea.

Highlights of Greenwich:
- Gelato in Tribeca (where we stayed)
- Tapas and Sangria in Chelsea with a friend
- Ran into Uma Thurman and Minnie Driver in the West Village

- Washington Square Park and NYU stroll
- Porcini Pasta at Greenwich

- Margaritas in SoHo

Tues. June 10th:

5:30am: Cab ride to Oakland International.

6:00am: Checked bags, thru security lickety split.

6:55am: Boarded Jet Blue to JFK.

3:30pm: Arrived JFK early

Heat Index: 106

3:45pm: Scrambled with baggage and boarded air-train to Jamaica Queens subway station.

4:15pm: More baggage scrambling, took the "E" train to Queens. We've experienced several subways throughout the world but the NY subway, of course, takes the "cake" not only with regard to its obvious size and overwhelming complexity but more so in how it completely lives up to the reputation developed over generations of film, song, and TV...YES, its scary as hell at night, YES, its loud and the lights flicker, YES, its positively sweltering on hot days like this one, YES the stations look and feel exactly as portrayed in the "WARRIORS", etc. etc.

4:45pm: Arrived at the Queensboro Bridge station. Called the Hotel Ravel's shuttle and checked in by 5:00. Scary neighborhood, but one cool thing of note: remember the final scene in "Highlander", the sword fighting scene on top of that building with the large neon sign "Silvercup"?...well it's right outside our building.



6:00pm: Dropped off our bags, freshened up, shook my fist at god regarding the heat and humidity, and headed for Times Square via the #7 line.

6:30pm: Times Square station is an underground city. Emerged onto 42nd Street and Broadway. Ran to the TKTS ticket booth, juking like half-backs through throngs of tourists, and raced to see what remains of last minute show tickets. We were in luck and picked up a pair of Mary Poppins...what child did not love Julie Andrews and Disney!! Good seats, Mezzanine, otherwise sold-out, and 50% off.

7:15pm: Raced up Broadway with 30 minutes to eat. Dropped into a busy pizzeria and quickly enjoyed a Stromboli, pizza pie, and diet coke.



8:00pm: Watched the show. Fantastic set, extremely entertaining, ridiculously talented actors, and Mary Poppins IS Mary Poppins. She is a frickin MARVEL. Several songs brought back some great childhood memories.

11:00pm: Picked up a couple of hot sausage dogs from a street vendor when we emerged. The streets were still packed with tourists and the night gave little relief from the heat. We entered the subway to Queens.

11:30pm: Emerged into unincorporated Queens, gathered our bearings and began our 8 block trek. I imagined a black hearse rolling by with some lunatic clicking bottles from his fingertips chanting "Warriors, come out and play-yeah!" Had my sure-fire in hand and we made short work of the walk.

Temp: 86 Humidity 90%

12 midnight: Finally got to bed.

Blogging fatigue...

Sorry its been a while. Haven't had the desire to blog. Some future items.

1. Heading out to New York tomorrow. Still trying to book a cheap hotel!!...near impossible. Crazy cause we managed to purchase a room in Dec./Jan. for 135 a night and found a dozen other very nice Hotels selling rooms at around 160 to 170 a night. The SAME DAMN ROOMS are going for 600 to 800 a night!! We're looking at upscale HOSTELS now. Figure we have alot of experience in "down-scale" properties with limited amenities (as in no hot water, no AC, rooms as big as the bed, no elevators with a room on the fifth floor, etc. etc.) that we'd be okay with what amounts to as a "whole in the wall". I'm targeting Hell's Kitchen.

2. We're gonna try to get tickets for the Conan O'Brien show and definitely catch a Broadway Musical, maybe Spam-a-lot or Wicked. Having dinner with a fried of my wife's in Alphabet City, and we're touring Greenwich Village and possibly SoHo and Ground Zero if we have time.

3. Spending a weekend with my niece and nephew. Very cute kids.

4. Then spending a week at a beach condo in Rohobeth Beach. Really looking forward to some beach relaxation. We're gonna try to get a few good runs in, weather provided. They're having a heat wave right now, not OUR kind of heat wave but the 100 degree 95 percent humidity energy sapping weather I'm not in any way accustomed to.

5. The cats are in good hands with a professional cat sitter. She is your total Earth Mother, Dr. Dolittle archetype.

6. When we return, I'll be heading off to the Mendocino Coast to do some beach camping with a group of supergoobs. I'm looking forward to the drive up just as much as the camping...last long drive with the S4.

Anywayz, that's it for now. I'll try to blog on the east coast. I'll post text and then when I return, I'll be uploading images so you'll have to check back at the old posts for new pictures.

See you all soon!