New Hobby...

She's yet to see the water...but she looks ready. We decided to take the plunge and purchase a tandem kayak to add to our arsenal of adventure van accoutrements. Found her on Craigslist up in Costa Mesa, CA. Saturday, I tossed all the girls into the van and we hit the road. Pretty smooth sailing only one bit of dog vomit...Which turned out to be a bit of a blessing. I learned scrubbing the van's carpet with a damp rag will remove all of the animal hair...It worked way better than our vacuum specially designed to remove pet hair...That didn't to a very good job of removing pet hair.

Vanning Pro Tip: Scrub carpet with a damp rag to remove pet hair.

We handed over the cash...Strapped her to the roof rack...Cruised over to the Newport Aquatic Center to check out all the people out kayaking and enjoying the day on the Upper Newport Bay. Then hightailed it to find some food and a cocktail...ASAP. We decided on Avila's El Ranchito in Costa Mesa...Dog Friendly on the patio...Awesome Mango Margaritas and some of the best salsa I have ever had...and I have had a lot of salsa. That was just the starters...The main courses were pretty freaking solid too. I'd go back.

Hopefully I'll have an update with the kayak actually in the water and not just in the grass or on the roof rack...Soooon...Hopefully...

Racked Up...Finally...

After much runaround from the gentlemen at Off Road Unlimited they finally got me my Defender roof rack. When I ordered it I was told 4 weeks till I would receive it. Every week or so after the initial month I would call and ask how the rack was coming along. Aaaand I would get..."Oh yea buddy it is at powder coat right now"...then I would get..."Oh yea it's almost ready we are just waiting on center sections".

After about 4 months of and lame excuses and them just telling me what I wanted to hear and telling me "not to worry they were going to throw some stuff in and hook me up"...I got transferred over to the owner of the company. Right of the bat he gave me...The previous "It's at powder coat" excuse, Twice..."Powder coaters were closed for the holidays"..."They couldn't pick it up from powder coat because of the weather(They are in SoCal)"...and then my favorite..."The powder coater is out of their special signature black powder coat". After all of those gems and 6 months the damn thing arrived.

All of those excuses I would have been fine with...Except for the fact that I got the "It's at the powder coaters" excuse 5 times and the "waiting on center sections" excuse 3 times...

It's here now...water under the bridge. Next step getting my lights mounted and calling ORU and asking where my "Hook-Up" is that they promised to throw in for making me wait so long. Imagine that...It wasn't included with my shipment. I am pretty sure they are going to tell me it is at the powder coaters.

A Girl and Her Van...

Meggy doing what she does...Vannin' to the Max.

Painted Wheels...

My two weeks of comp time is rapidly coming to an end...I squeezed in some quality events...but it always comes to an end so fast.

One of my goals was to work on the Bug...I knocked out the rest of the Dynamat and tore out the old dash...got the new one placed in there...and it's looking good! Started dismantling some of the wiring and that is scary...it used to work...here goes nothing.

My other goal was to paint the wheels on the van...keep the center caps silver and paint the main wheel black...kinda cop style. It took me a few tries to get my system down but once I got it down I knocked them out...I am stoked on the end result. I'll post a full profile shot soon. I still get cutoff every where I drive...but it's starting to look a little more menacing...slow and steady.

The Newest Member...

Of REIGNSonerlandia's super fuel efficient, super conservative fleet of vehicles...I am honored to introduce to you...The Passenger Van!

I traded in the Titan last night for her...It was sad to see her go...but time to move on. I think the best reaction so far has been my brothers...It went something like this.

Me: Yo dude traded in the Titan
Bro: Oh yea what did you get?
Me: A 2006 E-150 Passenger Van
Bro: WHAT THE F*CK!?!?!

Then I gave him the run down of my master scheme...and he was on board. Or he just said that to me so I would stop talking about it while he was thinking to himself...I am glad I am not as crazy as my brother!

I got it home, gave Meggy the tour and then we gave it our best to try and fog up all the windows...but we weren't successful. There must be some anti-fog sealant on all the windows...Don't worry we are going to give it another shot tonight!

I am super stoked...I have always wanted a van and I have big plans in my head. Hopefully they all come to see the light of day. Keep an eye out on your city's streets...if there is a white van Ford passenger van on your tail...it probably isn't me...but someday...it just might be!

Plants and a Van...

Read this article this morning...TreeHugger.com - Air Filtering Plants

I don't have any of those...but it inspired an update on my plants. The orchid is going off...my plant...not the station on Lost. The Uncarnia Roeoesliana has some new growth looks like a new branch starting off at the base...such a weird plant...awesome when it blooms. And we bought some cat grass for Murph...Stash it in a dark cabinet for 2 days let it sprout and throw it in the sun...BAM!...Cat grass! We'll see in a few days if he likes it or not. I need a yard...aaaand a bigger garage...big like warehouse big. I say that becaaaaaause...







Ryan sent me a link to a '64 Econoline for sale on craigslist here in SD. For those of you that don't know I have a Van problem...I'm not scared to admit it. I freaking love em...it's an itch I am going to have to scratch someday...hopefully soon. It would match the bug wonderfully...and it would match my Death's Boogie Van print! St. Valentine's Day is coming up...Hmmm...Hmmm?!