First night in the airstream.

 

This is my friend Mike.  He and I were best friends growing up in Valley Center, CA.  We were pretty much inseparable.  Mike lives with his family in Waco TX only about 70 miles were I bought the Airstream so we headed over to see him and his family. I hadn't seen Mike in at least 10 years.

Kim and I ended up boondocking my first night in his field, it was a lovely time.

Everybody I know is so caught up in their own lives, I was so overwhelmed with the in's and out's of the trailer that I don't think I realized how cool it was to be able to reconnect with my best friend from childhood. I wish I would have stayed a few more days, but we were on a countdown to get to Oregon and register the vehicles.

We found the truck!

Kim located a new 2015 Nissan Frontier King Cab 45 minutes away, for less money than I had been quoted in San Diego. It was even midnight blue, this plan is really coming together.


We went over to pick up the car, and on the way stopped in Mesquite TX for some bbq at
slabs bbq (top rated fast bbq in Mesquite).  

At Slabs BBQ we ended up making some friends behind the counter.
We ended up smoking mary jane out back with TV and his buddy Questlove and talking about what it's like to a black dude living in Mesquite, Texas.  Apparently MJ is hard to find in TX so I tossed him a jay before I left because he was one of the more chill persons we'd met in Texas. 

(Note: to TX police, TV and Questlove are names to project the identities, not their real names)

We found the airstream

Back in San Diego before we left I had found a new 2015 23D flying cloud that I had fallen in love with.  It had been on the lot for 8 months and just been discounted, it was perfect.  At the time I didn't think a new airstream made sense, I wanted a used one, but the resale on them was so high I couldn't find a good deal. Unfortunately that new Airstream in San Diego got sold one hour before I arrived to put down a deposit -- before putting down a deposit I had to find a truck to tow it (hence the  spontaneous roadtrip I was on). ..Kim and I had assumed we would look at airstreams a long the way and maybe find one that was similar.

In Texas we found a new 2016 23D flying cloud, it had several improvements that I didn't like, I wanted my 2015.  Chris the salesperson thought he might be able to find me a 2015 23D flying cloud from another dealer.

While Kim and I sat in the 2016 23D flying cloud kim realized how cool these little shiny twinkies are, we contemplated all the adventures we would have.  Both of us realized that it was a much better way to travel, and I lamented on how much more I liked the 2015 with the non-designer interior. Kim agreed the 2015 23 D in San Diego I had let slip through my fingers sounded awesome.


When Chris walked back in with a smile, he said he'd found one, and he'd do an even swap for his 2016, it would take a day to get here, and I'd need to put down a deposit and purchase it without seeing it.  It was more than a day away, and both dealers agreed to send their drivers to meet halfway.
I looked at Kim,  she looked at me, we both smiled and said "lets do this".

I didn't really appreciate our food choices in San Diego until I spent a few days in Texas. 

Kim wanted to stop and have breakfast at a waffle house, I'd never been to one and so I said "sure".  The server was very nice, and one of the cooks had auditioned on American Idol.  That was my first and last time at the waffle house.  The grits tasted like stale butter.   I don't get waffle house, I hope that was my last experience.

Later that night we stopped at Texas Gourmet, aka Dairy Queen, when I attempted to order a salad I just about got laughed out of the city. 

Kim and I started fighting again, I won't go through the details here.   She wants to stay at hotels, I'm trying to figure out if I can mentally live out of my car.

We drove a bit further and ended up camping on the side of the road near an oil field, it absolutely stunk.  We got up super early and went to a Flying J truck stop for a shower.  After showers were in a much better place.

The truck is a lie.

Kim and I had been driving through Texas on our way to a random Carmax in Virgina to buy a used  Nissan Frontier truck we hadn't seen a picture of.   I realize this probably seems impulsive, and it definitely was, but it was the exact model I wanted and it was such a good deal.  It turns out it wasn't the exact model I wanted but rather than turn around we decided to go visit Kims Uncle Rob in Texas and also check out a out an airstream dealer there.

On the road, the first night in the desert

Earlier in the night I had met Mr. T  (Tito) at a gas station outside of Yuma, we found ourselves in a friendly conversation.  It started with smalltalk, but in a few moments T was telling me his life story, asking me questions about the world and universe.  I had good answers to all his riddles. 

About 10 minutes into the conversation T dropped that  he had invented a game where he finds inventive ways to not talk to customers.  I laughed, because I thought it was a great way to pass the time.  He told me in 12 years of working nights in the desert I was only the third person who'd he'd actually talked to, the other two people were crazy and forced him to talk, I was the only customer he'd ever taken the time to talk to.  I don't think he was lying, and it setup the night for a surreal "desert adventure"

We got stopped in the middle of the desert, and a series of very unbelievable events transpired.
I have agreed not post the time events but suffice to say it was very super stressful.
It involves a bus full of escaped prison convicts, drug smugglers, the border patrol, a horrific accident, and doubling down on a series of poor choices. It was a terribly rough night for Kim, a abrupt lesson in "how fast bad shit happens".

The stress was too much for her, I had taken her out of her cozy La Costa bubble. We ended up having a huge fight.  She calls Jay in tears asking him to drive out to Arizona and pick her up.  Our father/daughter communication skills weren't passing the test. Fortunately we worked it out and ended up sleeping in the safety of the car, in the relatively unsafe desert. 

The adventure begins..

(retrospective)

I'd been enamored with tiny living for a while.  I decided to airstream and use it as a "mobile fortress of solidtude" while figuring out my relationship with my fiance Liz.

I called Kim (the most awesome daughter any dad could ask for) and explained that I wanted to go on a roadtrip to buy a truck, and maybe an airstream to go with the truck.  It was the perfect plan (literally, that was the entire plan, what could go wrong).

Kim agreed to go on a road trip since she'd decided to be a stay at home barista for her boyfriend Jay. She had spent that weekend at the defcon hacker convention in Las Vegas.  I was at the same hacker convention 20 years earlier.

At ~8pm on Monday we set out driving east.   We stopped at the albertsons in San Marcos, CA. and bought some supplies which consisted of gatorade, water, and a veggie snack platter, and some reduced fat chips ahoy.

Our last sunset as a couple

This was Sunday night, it was a weird night I'll never forget. 
Unless you've lived in my world for a while you wouldn't believe it anyway.
I won't post the emotional details of this night out of respect for the people involved, but it was such an odd night I'll never forget it.

In this picture Liz knew were going our separate ways, neither one of us knew what that meant.
She was my best friend and fiance and I had decided to leave her because of issues in our relationship which we had been unable to resolve in 5 years of dating.

This was taken at "our spot" on the boardwalk, we had a painting Liz had done of us sitting on a bench (not pictured).  We'd go to this place and watch the sunset at least a few times each week, and planned to have our engagement photos taken here. 

We both knew this would be our last time here as a couple.

Chill dog at CarMax

Little did I know while I was taking this picture trying to find a truck, the 2015 Airstream 23D at RV Solutions in San Diego was being sold. 

I was taking Gravy everywhere with me, Liz and I had officially declared we were splitting up and I knew I'd be heading on the road.  That was the first time we went into a subway and split a sandwich, gravy got all my meat, and I took a lot of his veggies.  We both had a good time, this might actually work! 

Getting a travel account

The relationship with Liz is getting akward, I need to get away.
Not sure which trip I'm going to take. I opened a new travel bank account today so if I wanted to go to Europe I'd already have a chip+pin compatible card ready to go.

I picked up some cash to pay Alfredo my awesome BMW mechanic.  Alfredo has a daughter named Megan roughly the same age as Kim.  I had always wanted to know Alfredo personally, he just seemed like a fun and great guy.  I knew I'd most likely be selling my BMW in the near future for a truck and if we wanted to hang out this would possibly be our last chance.

We ended up going to "Ignite" and drinking quite a few shots of tequila, had some food, and then headed to a winery in the Cedros district of Del Mar.  I met a man there who was attempting to join the travelers century club (http://travelerscenturyclub.org/).   This man had travelled around the world and lived in 70 countries and still needed 30 before he would be allowed admission.  To me this group seemed like the league of extraordinary gentleman, I thought was full of shit at first until he ripped out his passport.  With my tail between my legs I resolved at that moment to someday join the century club. 

This man (who's name I will not publish) was a Shadow Banker and had imported his porsche and raced it on the F1 track in Abu Dabi, he had run with the bulls in spain (and gave me some tips which might save my life someday), he was full of rich and colorful stories.  He was one of several random strangers who would tell me in no uncertain terms that travel was the right choice.