I would like to make it clear, that the choice of name for this blog wasn't mine. She Who Must Be Obeyed set it up for me, and voila! - I'm stuck with "MegaSteve".
Shouldn't have let her read the first post before posting it.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Get Your Motor Running...
“Get your motor running, Head out on the highway, Lookin' for adventure, In whatever comes our way” – Born to be Wild, Steppenwolf.
I’m being mocked. By my wife. By my brother. By my mother. My brother arrives tomorrow from England, haven’t seen him in a couple of years, then on Monday, me, him and my 5 year old daughter head out on a road trip – Austin to Colorado to Yellowstone. And preferably back again.
This is not our first road trip (well, for the 5-year old it is) – nine years ago, myself, my brother, and my then girlfriend (now wife) set out west from Austin. The trip started well, when on the first day she was pulled over for speeding. The second day brought us to the Grand Canyon, then we developed a brake problem with the Dodge Ram on our way to spend the night in Vegas. The next morning we managed to let the Dodge fall off the jack not once, but twice (fortunately no-one lost their fingers), while examining the back brake drum try to locate the problem, which turned out to be a warped front disk.
Day 3 saw us drive through Death Valley to LA, day 4 up the Pacific Coast Highway and across the Golden Gate. Day 5 was spent in Ansel Adams Yosemite. Day 6 saw a long drive, past Area 51 on the Extraterrestrial Highway – no UFO sightings unfortunately, but not sure about some of the locals – and into Utah (to a Motel that hadn’t updated it’s décor, or it’s rates, or it’s bedding, since the 50’s). Day 7 saw Bryce & Zion. Day 8, Arches National Park as the sun set. Day 9, Rocky Mountain National Park before turning south back towards Texas, and day 10 was the long burn back to Austin. 10 days, just over 5,000 miles, one set of severely warped front rotors, and some memories that will last a lifetime.
This time is going to be different. About 10 days again, but only about 3,500 miles planned. She Who Must Be Obeyed is not coming this time, she’s staying behind looking after the twins, but instead a 5 year old girl who I’ve never seen so excited is coming. We are not cramming into a pickup truck, this time a big Nissan Armada. However the biggest change, is somewhere along the line, I had the bright idea that camping might be fun, and may even save money.
My brother loves camping. He’s more than happy to go out hiking carrying everything he needs in a backpack and enjoy the weekend. Personally, I like the penthouse suite at the Rio in Vegas (nothing like having a two-floor suite with a 60 foot by 25 foot window with a view of the strip all to yourself). Don’t get me wrong, I like nature. Despite it’s distinct lack of air-conditioning. And bugs. I’ve managed to survive a full 37 years so far, without once spending a night in a tent. In a car, yes, but the thought of spending an un-air-conditioned night with just a thin sheet of material between me and a bear or buffalo is a little unnerving.
I have first hand experience of what a buffalo can do to a rental car during rutting season (which starts about the time we get to Yellowstone), and it wasn’t pretty. Although it was quiet amusing to turn and look at the wife in the passenger seat, with the car being rocked side to side by the buffalo, sitting there with her hands covering her tightly shut eyes, and asking her if that helped. My later efforts to locate a pair of “Peril Sensitive Sunglasses” that turn black at the first sign of danger (from the excellent The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
for the less informed) was fruitless.
This is the same woman that, upon being woken from a deep sleep by a screaming smoke detector at 3:00am, proceeded to search the bedroom for a gun in a sleepy daze, which may have taken a while, since the room didn’t contain one.
This is the same woman that, upon being awaken by the big earthquake in Hawaii a couple of years ago, feeling the building sway and hearing what sounded like hail against a window (turned out to be the glass TV stand flexing), and questioning whether we were about to be hit by a tornado, went to the window to look out and investigate.
So much for evolutionary survival traits.
This is the woman that is currently mocking me. It started with my first camping purchase – a rather comfortable looking SleepCell sleeping bag
, rated down to 18F, with a one-inch thick memory foam layer, and inflatable pillow (with additional memory foam). I thought it looked comfortable. She thought it look excessive. Especially when the memory foam expanded and I couldn’t roll it up and get it back in its rather large bag. It got worse when I got the SwissGear self-inflating mattress to put under it, which wasn’t quite long enough. The mocking continued when I tried to fit a 96” long sleeping bag in my 84” long Cabela’s tent that I bought as a joke for a previous mother-in-law visit. Then for her further amusement, returning home with a 13’ by 17’ SwissGear tent less than two hours later. But the mocking didn’t stop there – given the much bigger tent (complete with screened in porch), there was room for an inflatable Coleman Queen-Sized Quickbed
and monster mosquito net. I’ve been told if Scott of the Antarctic was this well prepared, he’d still be alive.
I guess other items, like the Coleman 100-Quart Xtreme Wheeled Cooler
, and supposedly can keep 132 cans cold in 90 degree weather for 5 days may have been slightly overkill. And possibly other items like the fan/nightlight for the tent may not be strictly necessary. My brother carries all his gear in a single backpack. I’d need Sherpa’s and packhorses. Of course I didn’t help myself, when out of concern about the sheer volume of stuff we would be taking, I bought and installed a Yakima MegaWarrior Cargo Rack
, complete with Yakima Megawarrior Extension
, to the top of the Armada.
Bets are currently being taken about if I’ll last more than a single night in a tent. Not betting on how many nights – just betting if I’ll last one. It’ll be more than one. Can’t let my little girl down.
T minus 5 days and counting…
This is not our first road trip (well, for the 5-year old it is) – nine years ago, myself, my brother, and my then girlfriend (now wife) set out west from Austin. The trip started well, when on the first day she was pulled over for speeding. The second day brought us to the Grand Canyon, then we developed a brake problem with the Dodge Ram on our way to spend the night in Vegas. The next morning we managed to let the Dodge fall off the jack not once, but twice (fortunately no-one lost their fingers), while examining the back brake drum try to locate the problem, which turned out to be a warped front disk.
Day 3 saw us drive through Death Valley to LA, day 4 up the Pacific Coast Highway and across the Golden Gate. Day 5 was spent in Ansel Adams Yosemite. Day 6 saw a long drive, past Area 51 on the Extraterrestrial Highway – no UFO sightings unfortunately, but not sure about some of the locals – and into Utah (to a Motel that hadn’t updated it’s décor, or it’s rates, or it’s bedding, since the 50’s). Day 7 saw Bryce & Zion. Day 8, Arches National Park as the sun set. Day 9, Rocky Mountain National Park before turning south back towards Texas, and day 10 was the long burn back to Austin. 10 days, just over 5,000 miles, one set of severely warped front rotors, and some memories that will last a lifetime.
This time is going to be different. About 10 days again, but only about 3,500 miles planned. She Who Must Be Obeyed is not coming this time, she’s staying behind looking after the twins, but instead a 5 year old girl who I’ve never seen so excited is coming. We are not cramming into a pickup truck, this time a big Nissan Armada. However the biggest change, is somewhere along the line, I had the bright idea that camping might be fun, and may even save money.
My brother loves camping. He’s more than happy to go out hiking carrying everything he needs in a backpack and enjoy the weekend. Personally, I like the penthouse suite at the Rio in Vegas (nothing like having a two-floor suite with a 60 foot by 25 foot window with a view of the strip all to yourself). Don’t get me wrong, I like nature. Despite it’s distinct lack of air-conditioning. And bugs. I’ve managed to survive a full 37 years so far, without once spending a night in a tent. In a car, yes, but the thought of spending an un-air-conditioned night with just a thin sheet of material between me and a bear or buffalo is a little unnerving.
I have first hand experience of what a buffalo can do to a rental car during rutting season (which starts about the time we get to Yellowstone), and it wasn’t pretty. Although it was quiet amusing to turn and look at the wife in the passenger seat, with the car being rocked side to side by the buffalo, sitting there with her hands covering her tightly shut eyes, and asking her if that helped. My later efforts to locate a pair of “Peril Sensitive Sunglasses” that turn black at the first sign of danger (from the excellent The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
for the less informed) was fruitless.This is the same woman that, upon being woken from a deep sleep by a screaming smoke detector at 3:00am, proceeded to search the bedroom for a gun in a sleepy daze, which may have taken a while, since the room didn’t contain one.
This is the same woman that, upon being awaken by the big earthquake in Hawaii a couple of years ago, feeling the building sway and hearing what sounded like hail against a window (turned out to be the glass TV stand flexing), and questioning whether we were about to be hit by a tornado, went to the window to look out and investigate.
So much for evolutionary survival traits.
This is the woman that is currently mocking me. It started with my first camping purchase – a rather comfortable looking SleepCell sleeping bag
, rated down to 18F, with a one-inch thick memory foam layer, and inflatable pillow (with additional memory foam). I thought it looked comfortable. She thought it look excessive. Especially when the memory foam expanded and I couldn’t roll it up and get it back in its rather large bag. It got worse when I got the SwissGear self-inflating mattress to put under it, which wasn’t quite long enough. The mocking continued when I tried to fit a 96” long sleeping bag in my 84” long Cabela’s tent that I bought as a joke for a previous mother-in-law visit. Then for her further amusement, returning home with a 13’ by 17’ SwissGear tent less than two hours later. But the mocking didn’t stop there – given the much bigger tent (complete with screened in porch), there was room for an inflatable Coleman Queen-Sized Quickbed and monster mosquito net. I’ve been told if Scott of the Antarctic was this well prepared, he’d still be alive.I guess other items, like the Coleman 100-Quart Xtreme Wheeled Cooler
, and supposedly can keep 132 cans cold in 90 degree weather for 5 days may have been slightly overkill. And possibly other items like the fan/nightlight for the tent may not be strictly necessary. My brother carries all his gear in a single backpack. I’d need Sherpa’s and packhorses. Of course I didn’t help myself, when out of concern about the sheer volume of stuff we would be taking, I bought and installed a Yakima MegaWarrior Cargo Rack, complete with Yakima Megawarrior Extension, to the top of the Armada.Bets are currently being taken about if I’ll last more than a single night in a tent. Not betting on how many nights – just betting if I’ll last one. It’ll be more than one. Can’t let my little girl down.
T minus 5 days and counting…
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