Hojo Mojo

Yesterday I woke up at 5AM and realized that the truck mechanic had not called, so I called him.  I found out that they really had no idea what the problem could be, and further, they didn't even have the proper equipment to run engine diagnostics on the GMC.  Had they told me this up front like most logical thinkers would have, we probably would have gone back to Omaha.  I was pretty much fed up with the whole situation, so I told him to replace the fuel filter and we'd be on our way regardless of whether or not the truck was fixed.

We sat around in the morning and ate some breakfast while waiting for the part to get to the shop from Omaha, and it was disorienting to step outside with all the fog.  I also took the time to finish the last 40 pages of The Kite Runner.  I don't know if a book has ever brought tears to my eyes before, but this one did.  It's deserving of the praise it's gotten, and I'd say it's a must-read for pretty much everyone.

We ended up at the repair shop about noon waiting for them to finish installing the fuel filter.  While our truck was having issues, at least we never reached this point:

Then we hit the road.  We'd planned for a very long day of driving, but getting started at 12:30 didn't help that much.  I tried to Priceline a hotel at the 700 mile mark (Rock Springs, WY), but had no luck.  Really the only option in the area was a hundred miles further on.  A one star Howard Johnson.  We decided to take it, given that it would only be a short night to get some sleep.  Besides, my personal hotel star ranking index wouldn't be complete without a 1 star to reference.  Now all that's left is the elusive 5 star.

We drove, and drove, and drove.  Plans nearly changed when we heard that the other truck had ALSO broken down several hundred miles up the road.  Luckily they were able to get it back on the road after a brief wait.  Otherwise we would have had to switch trucks and wait again so Nate could scramble to make his flight out of Salt Lake City.

We drove well past dark, and arrived at our destination just after midnight.  The rooms were tiny, the TV was fuzzy, and I had to do some repair work on the shower before it would work.  The bed was surprisingly comfortable though, which coincidentally was the most important part.

We got up and on the road fairly early this morning, and after a brief stop in Park City to grab my bike from the other truck in hopes of actually using it a bit this week, we're on the road to Reno.  Last night's hotel stay should be made up for by the fact that I just snagged a 4 star resort/casino/hotel in Reno for a mere $55 a night.  Right now we're on the road just West of Salt lake City.  The drive between here and Reno will be a new stretch of road for me.

More to Follow.

P.S. In case you didn't figure it out, the truck is fixed.  After a misdiagnosis at one shop and a clueless second shop, our original guess at what was wrong was dead on.  A fuel filter needing replacement.  Had the first shop listened to what we thought it might be, both trucks would have been back on the road within an hour.

One of Those Days. Only Worse and with a Side of "What the Hell?"

Today was destined to be a rough day from the start. Not just any rough day, mind you. More like the type that kicks you, then kicks you when you're down, then chews you up and spits you out and jumps up and down on your groin for a while.

It got to the point where Lyndsay and I couldn't really do anything but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

It all started off innocently enough... some continental breakfast with an appetizing waffle covered in strawberries and whipped cream. I should have known it was too good to be true.

About 15 miles into our 600+ mile drive for the day, Nate was following behind me when suddenly I looked back and he was gone. I knew as soon as I heard "engine troubles" that the day's original plan had just gone out the window. I knew as soon as I heard we were stopping at a truck center for service I was going to be staying behind with the truck, even before anyone else did.



So we sat for the better part of an hour and waited on a prognosis.



"Bad fuel injectors" was the confident answer to what was wrong, followed by "6 to 8 hours to fix it." Well, Nate had plans to meet his parents and is on a time schedule to fly out of Salt Lake City, so obviously he had to keep going, and Molly just got lucky or tricked us into staying or something, but Lyndsay and I ended up switching trucks and stayed behind with the hobbled truck.

Lyndsay and I got some lunch and ended up sitting around in the Holiday Inn Express lobby since we couldn't find anything better to do within walking distance. I came close to finishing The Kite Runner but stopped short, as this miserable excuse for a day wasn't deserving of such a good book.



Then, a pleasant surprise. Little more than three hours later, the truck was ready to go. Good as new. A stroke of luck. Then with unfailing certainty, 15 miles back on the road and the truck lost power again. And again. We babied the truck along hoping to make it to Lincoln, Nebraska. Our hopes of catching up with Nate and Molly were pretty much shot. To add insult to injury and reinforce my feelings that something was very, very wrong with the day, a semi nearly broadsided me as it went to change lanes right alongside me.

And then after fueling up having made it to Lincoln, a sure sign that it was time to be done driving for the day. I was waiting at a stale green to turn left. The light went yellow, but something told me to not proceed through the intersection. I watched as a red SUV a good 5 seconds from the intersection with plenty of time to stop, start again, and then stop again before reaching the intersection cruised right through a ridiculously red light right about where the truck would have been had I decided to turn.

I laid on the horn for good measure, and watched in horror as I saw that a red truck had decided to make a u-turn from directly behind me and couldn't see the oncoming red light offender because as you might imagine our truck is anything but transparent. I'm not particularly the swearing type, but a loud "oh shit" definitely came out at that point.

I don't know how there wasn't a collision, but I definitely had a slow-motion moment watching the SUV weave hard straight at a light pole, launching itself violently over the curb, somehow missing the red truck by mere inches and the light pole by even less. The SUV returned to the roadway and drove on, pretending nothing had happened.

This was about the point in the day where I started just shaking my head and wondering what would come next.

Well, next was truck service center #2. The weather seemed to fit. Dark and ominous.



The truck got left at the service center, with our reassurance of a solution being "we'll hopefully get to it by midnight." It's 11:00 right now, and no call yet.

We got a hotel, got to the hotel via cab, and check in went fairly smoothly other than the high schooler checking us in while on the phone with her mom talking about court dates.

We decided heading downtown for some food and a movie might help unwind and would be a fairly fail-safe way to make sure we didn't bring about our untimely deaths by something absurd like being charged by a rhinoceros (had it happened, I don't think I would have been the least bit surprised). 7:30 Movie, so I called a cab at 6:00. "10 to 20 minutes" was the dispatcher's reply. After waiting for half an hour, I called back. "They're on their way" was the reply. An hour after the original call, I called back "Our monitor shows that cab is in route and should only be minutes away." At 7:22, I calmly called back, ready to tell the dispatcher to cancel the cab, that his business practices were a disgrace, and I expected to have our cab ride back to the truck shop comped. And I probably would have thrown a mom joke in too. Except that at 7:22:15, the cab showed up.

With no time left for dinner, we hurried to the movie. We watched My Best Friend's Girl, which I expected to be fairly light-hearted and funny. It was funny, but it was funny like watching someone get punched in the gut is funny. It was so off the wall, I couldn't help but smack my forehead as the next bad sex joke was unveiled. Oh, and for some reason the filming style was more like an art film than a comedy.

After the movie we scramled to eat at Applebees before 10:00 when our cab was scheduled to pick us up (we thought pre-scheduling might give us a better chance of being on time, which amazingly enough it did).

Look Nate, sangria!



Then the cab ride back. A Prius pulls up. We get in. A fairly young woman is our driver. "Where are you guys from? What brings you to Lincoln? You don't want to get stuck here long. I hate this place. I wish I wasn't here. I'm from Annapolis. I came here because I'm broke. Lincoln is a good place to be broke. You work for Crocs? I have an idea for the owner of Starbucks, but I'm not telling him until he signs paperwork. Oh, they should sell Crocs at Starbucks. Where do they make Crocs now?"

"Uh, all over really. China, Mexico..."

"Yes, but where do they make them? Like where are the factories? Where do they get that rubber stuff? Or plastic? Whatever. Do Crocs make flip flops? I want to see them when you get out. Most people pay with vouchers, not cash. And they don't tip. People around here are like that. Bad tippers and cheapskates. Don't forget your reciept!"

Whew. We made it. Under normal circumstances I would feel safe in my hotel room from the absurdity that is today, but I'm not letting down my guard yet.

Tonight I completely expect a phone call in the middle of the night determining our fate of whether or not we'll be able to get back on the road tomorrow.

Tomorrow can't get here soon enough.

Bookworm

We drove 670 miles today, and that's pretty much all we did. Besides the time spent driving, for the most part I just read.

First I finished off the last couple hundred pages of Total Control, the David Baldacci book I've been reading. It was a fast-paced read with lots of action.

Then I read the first half of The Kite Runner. Stephen read it first and passed it off to Molly, and now it's my turn. It's a great read so far, and Hosseini puts it very well when he writes, "sad stories make good books."

Tomorrow, I expect to finish that book and perhaps start on the next one.

A side note: The new Bond film coming out in November looks to be really good based on the trailer.

Catching Up

Yes, I know it's been three days since I've posted, and no, I don't have a good excuse.  That said, my excuse is twofold - I didn't have internet in the hotel room, and I was busy.  Take the time to read the whole post since you've saved some time in the last few days by having nothing new to read.

Overall, Philly was fun, but the city itself left a little to be desired.  There just wasn't a whole lot to see or do once we got the basic touristy stuff out of the way.

THURSDAY

After trying a cheese steak Wednesday downtown, Nate and I decided we needed to try Tony Luke's since they're famous for their cheese steaks.  The long line was encouraging, and the cheese steaks were indeed good, though not necessarily a full step above the competition.

Then we went to set up for the expo in downtown, where we quickly realized that it would be a "hurry up and wait" sort of affair due to having to deal with union labor unloading the trucks.  We sat on the ramp parked waiting for a spot to unload and manpower for at least an hour (or about as long as it would have taken us to unload ourselves).

Once we got our stuff inside, we spent more time sitting while watching our hanging sign being lifted at an abnormally slow pace.

Four hours later, we had completed a job that is normally done in two or less.

For dinner Nate and I went to Maggiano's Little Italy, where my meal came served in what was pretty much a casserole dish.  I couldn't finish it all, and my plan was to make sure Molly didn't find out about it (I have a reputation to uphold, after all).  Nate didn't help me on that one.  He was much to anxious to share the news.

FRIDAY

The expo occurred.  It was miserably slow.  So slow that we ended up playing some Rock Band (video game) at the Saturn booth for a while.  We got very into it in a brief period, and we were able to borrow their set-up for the night to play in the hotel room.  We wanted it badly enough that having to carry a 40 inch TV probably close to half a mile didn't deter us.

The five of us (Nate, Molly, Lyndsay, Stephen, and myself) crammed into a room and proceeded to rock out for the better part of three hours.  It was tons of fun, and my personal highlight was watching Nate and Stephen unknowingly pick a 10 minute song and struggle just to keep going until the end.  Molly announcing that she was going to get her act together on the drums and then almost immediately dropping a drumstick comes in a close second.

SATURDAY

The expo got busier.  There was a line for our survey for a good chunk of the day, which is both good and bad.  When you're trying to get people through the survey quickly, the monotony of the job sets in and you often find yourself getting into such a routine that you start making mistakes in what you're saying.  Like handing someone a free shipping flyer and telling them it's an iPod armband when the iPod armband is obviously in your other hand.

Stephen's shoe shipment ended up being sent to the wrong hotel, so after the expo I took him to go pick it up.  The only place to temporarily park at the downtown hotel was in a back-alley that was mostly blocked by an obscene number of cars waiting to be valet parked, so I did the logical thing and drove straight over the sidewalk approximately where these friendly looking people are standing (they were not there at the time).

It's surprising how often you find yourself violating conventional rules of the road while in these big trucks.  Not anything illegal, mind you, but things like driving on non-road surfaces and parking in traffic lanes with the hazard lights on become second nature.

SUNDAY

So I forgot to mention that on Saturday Stephen convinced me to sign up and do the event (The Philadelphia Distance Run - a half marathon).  I never really got nervous before the race, but I really had no idea what to expect given that my longest run ever was only 12 miles and had occurred last winter when I got myself lost in Portland.  Prior to the race, I did an easy 8 mile run with Stephen last week, but other than that I'm certainly not trained to be doing distance running.

The start/finish area was right in front of the Museum of Art made famous by Rocky running up the front steps at some point or another in one of the movies.  I guess I need to see the movies now.

The Rocky statue originally stood at the top of the steps, but apparently someone decided it wasn't particularly art and moved it down into some trees near the Museum.

Anyway, the race.  I set a goal for myself of 1:45, or approximately 8 minute miles.  I knew I could do that kind of pace for 5-6 miles, so I figured I might be able to hold that for close to 13.1 but was ready to accept the fact that I could very well blow up and fall off that pace.

The race course was surprisingly beautiful.  After a short loop through downtown past the Liberty Bell, the course headed northwest along a river through various parks and under concrete and brick arched bridges before crossing the river and returning along the opposite side.

I learned a lot about myself today, and even more about what distance running is all about.  The first five miles were spent enjoying the scenery and the massive (15,000 participants) group of runners I was with.  Miles 5-8 were spent noticing how my body hurt more with every step and watching people around me start to crack and fall off their pace.  Miles 9-13 I found my stride, the mental game kicked in, and I surprised myself.  The race was rather emotional.  It's a little bit of an overwhelming event in some ways, and I definitely got teary-eyed a little bit at one point.  My cycling background certainly helped with the mental aspect, as I'm not an experienced enough runner to know how to push myself to the extremes that I can on a bike.

I ran a 1:39:12, or an average of 7:35 miles.  I ran the first few miles at about a 7:45 pace and realized I could potentially adjust my goal to sub-1:40 if I could maintain my pace and not blow up.  I had Stephen's heart rate monitor, which helped me regulate my body immensely.  I ran a negative split (got faster as the race went on - apparently a good thing).  My 10K pace was 7:46, 10 mile pace was 7:42, and my overall average was 7:35 as mentioned above.  At mile 10 my heart rate was creeping up and I knew 1:40 was still in reach, so as the pain increased I pushed myself harder and actually got faster.  The final mile I put everything I had left into going faster and actually ran about a 7:00 mile.  My heart rate hit 214 just before the finish, and while I knew I have an insane max heart rate, I'd never seen it get higher than 213.

I'm really pleasantly surprised how well I did.  I'm definitely sore after, but given how hard I pushed myself that's to be expected.

Yeah, I know that picture is sideways.  I might fix it later if I get a chance.  Or I'll just leave it that way and encourage you to get a good sideways neck stretch in.

Right now we're driving the trucks towards Cleveland, Ohio with our ultimate destination for the next event being San Jose, California.

The only frustrating part of the day was having my race bag disappear from our booth during take-down (we presume stolen).  The good news: I'd taken everything irreplaceable and of major value out (credit cards and IDs, iPhone, race medal and number, keys).  The bad news, I had $200 worth of running gear (shoes, jacket, shirt, shorts, etc.) and Stephen's heart rate monitor in there.  I'll get over the missing running gear but I feel really bad about losing stuff that's not mine, namely the heart rate monitor.  The things people will do for sweaty running gear...

That's not the most upbeat way to end a post, so here's a thought:  I've done three events now on this tour (Peachtree 10K, Copper Triangle Cycling Event, Philadephia Distance Run) and I've gotten PAID to do all three.  You can't beat that.

Happy Constitution Day!

You probably didn't know yesterday was Constitution Day did you? We didn't either. More on that later.

First up, Philly chese steaks! The real kind. With Cheez Whiz.



Then we wandered around downtown and saw some interesting stuff. Not sure what to make of this...



But it seems like someone has a fake pet spotted leopard.



Yes, but do they sell BEER?

As interesting as this next picture is, no picture could really capture the enormous amount of random objects crammed into one large garden of artwork. If you can call it that.



The rest of the afternoon was spent reliving part of my history, part of national history, and part of the movie National Treasure.



We unwittingly took a tour of Independence Hall at 3:30PM - and found out while standing in the hall at 4:00PM that the Constitution signing had occurred 221 years ago at 4:00PM. Really kind of an overwhelming thought to be standing there at that time.



Nate had been reliving moments from the movie National Treasure all afternoon while Molly and I struggled to remember the scenes he was describing in vivid detail, so Nate got the movie and we decided it needed to be watched.



We didn't want to have to cram around a laptop, so I ended up in the back of the truck in the dark digging for our DVD player we use at events. It looked something like this:



After the movie and getting to see numerous scenes shot where we had just been in Philly (and in DC for that matter), I went for some night geocaching with Stephen.



We only went 1 for 3 on caches, but it was fun to wander around in a park in the dark.

Orange Coloured Sky

I'm all up in my head and thinking much too deeply at the moment, so instead of actually writing anything of substance and consequence, I present a people pictorial:


A picture of Nate, Molly, and Lyndsay eating or about to eat crepes In Baltimore


A picture of Molly browsing the fruit selection at Reading Terminal Market in Philly


A picture of Molly taking a picture of Old City Hall


Another picture of Molly taking a picture of reflections in a window - or a bell. You decide.


A picture of Molly and Lyndsay not taking pictures


And of course, a picture of Molly taking a picture of Lyndsay taking a picture of the sunset

After arriving at our hotel in downtown Baltimore, we set out in the direction of lunch, and immediately went the wrong direction. Luckily, we stumbled upon some fantastic old architecture at Washington Square.



Baltimore seems to be a city of tall spires and cathedrals. One of the skyscrapers downtown even emulates the style. This old church was among the most notable ones we saw.



When we got oriented in the right direction, we ended up at Attman's, a famous Baltimore deli.



They are best known for their corned beef and authentic Jewish rye, so I had corned beef on rye. It was excellent.



After lunch Nate headed back to the hotel and Molly and I took a walk towards the waterfront. I hadn't spent much time pondering Baltimore architecture before arriving and was surprised by how many old buildings there ware, but I did know it is a big port town. The South Harbor is no longer used for shipping, but is now the museum/aquarium/park area of downtown.



Molly and I were both torn about the use of some of the older buildings. On one hand, reusing old factories is a really cool idea, but it just seems like one more example of consumer culture trumping real culture and history.



After the walk, I wrote the event recap from the weekend's event, waited very patiently for the snail-pace hotel internet to load pages, and watched some TV. I met up with Nate and Molly again for some Thai dinner, and then was going to go Geocaching with Stephen, but those plans got postponed until tomorrow morning. Instead, I spent an hour trying to get the internet to let me create and publish this blog post.