Vegas, Van-xiety and heading home . . . in that order.

Las Vegas!! Kevin and I drove over to Vegas from LA and met my friend Scott, who was literally one of the first people I met in college, and Grant a great friend from Intel for 2 fantastic nights of gambling, eating and drinking. Losing money to the casinos is a drag, however when you are sitting at a blackjack table for 6 hours straight with 3 of your closest friends, it is money well spent. As always, we left never wanting to go back to Vegas again, but had a fun weekend experience that you could only have in Vegas.


Vegas was the terminus of the road trip and it was time to turn the van around and point it back to Tacoma. Grant and Scott joined me from LA back to the Bay area along highway 1 which took us about 3 days with stops in Ventura, Pismo Beach and Captitola. We played a lot of $1 Molkky on the beach and I made more money off of Grant and Scott than I did in Vegas for sure. We also completed the Capitola bar hop one night which I can't claim I remember 100% of but luckily or unluckily we have pictures to prove we completed it. I will spare you all from posting any of these pictures. . . . .


After dropping off Grant and Scott at the San Jose airport, the van told me it was time to go home by breaking down 3 times in one day. After a month and 3500 miles of good luck, it was time to get the full VW expereince.

 




VAN-XIETY!!

After 4000 miles, 4 states, in 30 days, we (Me and the Van- did I mention we were both born in 1974?) made it back to Tacoma. However, as you could imagine traveling that many miles in a car that is almost 40 years old there are going to be "experiences", some bad, some good with both being equally memorable.

• Who really needs a car that goes in reverse anyways? After mile 1500 or so, I couldn't get the van into reverse anymore, which really redefined the meaning of a "good parking spot".
• California has new crazy gas nozzles. Evidently the EPA does not require backwards compatibility of the new nozzle design with 40 year old technology. Many gallons of gas were spilled throughout gas stations across california. Ooops, sorry environment, it really was not my fault.
• Only needed my van pushed twice. First time was I couldn't back into a campsite, and secondly when it died waiting at a contruction zone because of my stupid fuel pump. Thanks to Grant and Scott for pushing!
• What is worse than working 3 hours under a hot engine, in a Redding, California McDonalds parking lot, when it is 110 degrees outside, replacing a fuel pump you ask? Answer: Doing it when you are completely hungover (thanks to Grant and Scott) without access to a shower afterwards.  That sucked, but got it back running and got it back home!
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• I figure my van is in about 30 peoples vacation photo albums from Germany to Colorado. It was fun to drive down highway 1 and see cameras pop out of sunroofs from oncoming traffic to snap a shot of the orange van.
• The drive was a large portion of the enjoyment for this adventure. From Cannon Beach to LA, I only traveled about 30 miles on I-5. The rest was along the coast or on picturesque 2 lane roads through Southern Oregon and Northern California.