Green Shelltoes

I'm crap...

2009-01-17T10:21:00.000-08:00

at making posts here. they come few and far in between. i think my new ears thingie will be posting here more often. but the problem is, a) i'm disabled and dont do much interesting anymore and that what i do do (poopoo?) ends up on alex's blog (and she's taken control of all the cameras in the house). b) it's been a crap winter and there is not shit happening in the upper northwest (is that saying the same time twice?) . so, how about I will start posting this year, regularly, when it gets nice? is that ok? and alex just told me that 'it's not a shit winter, we have new friends and stuff!', which is true, but that's for nother post! (ps, I did all this without hitting the RETURN key once!) brockout

4x4 Caprice Impala SS?

2008-08-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

had to run down to the local minimart/deli which i still call the liquor store even though they don't (not even beer/wine as NONE in washington state do) to get some tortilla chips (to go with my standard lunch staple of frozen burros) and saw this fine ride!!!

it was so amazing that I drove home (2/5 mile uphill) to grab the camera.

feast your eyes on this:

can it off-road as well as a H2?

the body's got some ground clearance!

I've never seen a B-body impala with a 2.6 liter engine!

perhaps it's got half of a LT1.

I guess the old hotrod style of sticking the ass-end
up in the air is coming back!

pirelli scorpion zeros @ 295/30R26

I can't even imagine what this person paid,
most likely just because he though the
tiny yellow scorpion was HARD

there you have it. the most amazing thing I've seen
on the road in a whiles.

when I left, there were 9 young ghetto rats taking
pictures with their razrs and saying 'dude, my car is
going to look JUST like this!!! oh yeah!!'

5 months of putting it off...

2008-08-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

ok, today is the day!

a) I haven't posted since 5 months ago (exactly!!!), which is lame because I do lots of interesting things.

b) been telling people I'd post for at least 4.142857142857143 months

so, took the pictures from the last few months and quickly looked thru just one directory of them from the last few months, of which there are hundreds and hundreds, so I cut it down to 20.

Also in the mix are pictures from my 'rents first visit to pidgin point (where we live, a part of west seattle...it's all divided up in areas with goofy and not so goofy names).

onwards!

this is my wife! she is just as special as I am!

nah, she's cute, smart and even makes pie!

you can't beat that!

she even likes a disabled troll like me!

these are some people that were just there.

we drive around and hang out with people shorter then us.

on the back porch, looking pretty!
I think it was the first day of summer, which came
in july. how does that work?

mom, alex and I doing what all the tourists do,
take a picture looking like tools in front of
the first starbucks.

walking around the back end of the pike market, checking out some totem poles and the puget sound (probably watching the ferrys).

flying a M-21 (one of two A-12 or YF-12's built for the CIA (the early models of the plane that we know as the SR-71 or blackbird (also known as the baddest ass plane ever built)))

alex taking a picture of the potty in the air force one (the first 'jet' AF1 used, a VC-137 (flew Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon)) at the boeing museum of flight. her comment at the time was, just think of who weed and dookied here!

if you ever come to seattle, GO! it's one of the most amazing museums...I'll have to post more pictures from there. http://www.museumofflight.org

dexter, still with his winter coat on, in june.

alex and I acting as we usually act,

goofy,

at some cool scluptures by the worlds fair complex.

and proof that I not only have a wife, but parents too

who are just as goofy as i am!

------------------------------------------------

brockout.

in honor of Gary Gygax

2008-03-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

R.I.P.

GEEK LOVE

(and yes, I am on the left side of the diagram)

wtf?

2008-01-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

story to follow, going to have lunch with monica!

Hello!!!!

2007-12-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

we have moved!

and I've not posted since the road trip many months ago.

time to start again!

rather then make this big one, I'm going to post this one and 2 others.

..........

so, we've left southern california! Been there all of my 39 years, but my parents are escaping so we took the chance to also!

we now live in sunny (well, sometimes!) and rainy (well, sprinkley!) west seattle, washington.

where the hills are green, rather then brown!

and on a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain, overlooking the puget sound no less!

I call it 'los west silverlake feliz seattle', because west seattle is really the los feliz and silverlake of seattle. it does have it's echo parkey parts, but for the most part its upwardly mobile youngish people. there's a LOT of Subarus around these parts! :-P

I should even add santa monica in that mix, because of california ave SW, which is pretty much 3rd street promenade, with bars, restaurants and trendy shops.

here's some numbers for you.

153 feet above sea level, 823 feet from the water (down a biggie staircase), 1.2 miles from alki beach (which has real sand and expensive ass condos) and 2.2 miles from downtown. From the window next to my puter, I see the 'sound and 6 big shipping container loading cranes, which I call storks, because it wouldn't be as fun just calling them crains.

if we didn't live in an area that had green belt status, we could trim the trees a bit and have an AMAZING view of the downtown seattle skyline, with the space needle and all. but alas, we can't, even though the vines the city planted are killing the trees anyway.

there's lots more to say, but I'll just start with some pictures, then end!

(it's lunch time)

the flat:

this is the view from the computer/music room
(its kind of a hazy day, we just got done with a NASTY rain yesterday):

here's a picture of the cool train drawbridge you can see from the porch:

our stairway to the water:

and this is the view we'd have from our place if the trees weren't there:

on a clear day or night, this view is amazing.

0-0-0-0-000---0-0---000-000--00-0-0--

ok, that's about it for now.

but one more thing!!!

our landlords!

we've got so amazingly lucky!

the owners, ray and nancy...who are also our neighbors, are amazing!

Super nice, funny, witty and friendly (or is that same as nice?)

ray is a contractor and has a garage full of tools so i feel right at home!

we all share lots of common interests and loves

getting along smashingly!

alex and I both feel so lucky that we've found a nice place with
nice people (expecially after what happened to the last 2 places we rented)

over and brockout!

old and newked

2007-07-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

there is a good chance I'll never update the glog with the 2nd half of the trip home from cheese land.

sorry.

but now going on a new venture

the greater seattle area of wishingtom.

will update on this front!

if we don't die on the little plane taking us there.

over and brockout.

3 states...two museums

2007-06-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

Oklahoma to Texas to New Mexico!

I'm going to make it quick, mostly pics...cuz
we're going to bed soon to get up early!

it got even worse! some places were 50 @ night. :-(

I can't remember correctly,
but I think it was 'biggest cross in north america'.
only in texas!

I remember going here in the early 80's.
if you ate the 72 oz steak, it was free.
if you didn't finish, it was like $100+

KABUKI!!!!

then new mexico:

the first real 'mountain' i'd seen in over a week!!!

and it looked like a boob!

-----

they were hanging powerlines!
it was cool to see how they did it,
cuz we'd never though about it.

the UNSER racing museum.

I took a lot of pictures of old race cars, but I'm only giving you 2 now

then the J & R Vintage Auto Museum

a lot of very cool cars and a few trucks.
----------------
and now were aprox 16 miles from the NM/AZ border
tomorrow we're going to leave early and make a run
for phoenix, to go to the penske museum.
------------
last but not least, let me tell you about the city
we're in now. I can't memeber the name this second,
but it sucks.
Gallup - I just looked it up on googlemaps
we're at a motel with a spanish name.
we ate at a mexican restaurant tonight
that sucked so hard my dad gave the guy
7 minutes of what-for when paying.
'new mexican restaurant' is what the guy called it.
if 'new mexican' means ONLY ground beef in
every thing from burritos n tacos to enchiladas,
you can keep it! to make matters worse, when
waking across the street to the place, I thought
'I finally don't need to bring my tapatio!!'
(which I've been caring around for I don't know
how many states now)
I get my food and ask...WRONG.
they don't even know what any of the 3 major
hot sauces I named were.
complete puzzled look!
I'll take a picture of the place tomorrow and add it.
------
oh, and the motel!!!!
we open the door and find there's no table!
so we moved some stuff around and made one:

that's it for tonight. got to get some shuteye.
goodnight, from gallup, an indian reservation/army
munitions dump/new mexican city...

tuesday - 5 states

2007-06-19T20:40:00.001-07:00

started in Minnesota, then Iowa, Missouri , Kansas, and now Oklahoma!!!

a new record (for this trip), we drove 700 and
some miles (so I think)

-------------
here's a picture of a small silo in Missouri (look close!):

just before we crossed the Missouri river, which is
the Missouri / Kansas state line:

in the picture below, check out the red truck crossing
towards us:

it's a snowplow!

------

just after crossing the river, we came on this train yard!
massive!
-----

we stopped in kansas city, kansas at the
American Truck Historical Society

I don't have pictures cuz I was in the truck, cleaning, reading
and talking to my hunny.

we then stopped at a bbq place down the road:

and now we're in Guthrie Oklahoma, 70 miles from Oklahoma City.

in the thunder, lightning and rain.

in the next picture, all the blue is lightning (2 second exposure)

it's raining hard, but you can't see it because of the long shutter.

that's all you get now cuz I'm going to unplug the puter
so it doesn't get zapped.

until tomorrow!

brockout.

lagging...

2007-06-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

I've really got too much to say and show.

here's the short version:

on the 7th (thursday), we rolled into iowa. Went to the National Motorcycle Museum in amamosa. it was AMAZING...pictures to come!

then we drove to the worlds biggest truckstop, 'iowa 80'. they had an amazing truck museum, with so many cool trucks, I can't start to tell. the pictures will knock you out.

and last but not least, we rolled into moline illinois for the john deer pavilion!!!

lots of green wonderfulness, both new and old!

this day was the most amazing day of museums so far.

thursday night, we rolled into uncle bob and aunt kathy's in west allis (a south milwaukee suburb).

sleep, then hanging out until thursday afternoon, when we went and picked up alex and mom at ohare airport in chicago.

i'll tell you about the next 3 days soon.

this morning, we got up at 6am and drove up to northern Wisconsin.

we got to medford, where my dad was born and grew up (until 11th grade).

visited my grandparents grave.

drove around medford and saw lots of cool old places.

then we drove to someplace in upstate minisota and picked up a vintage flat track bike for my dads friend tom (and I'm going to put a picture up, since it's the 2nd to last picture on the camera):

and then we drove across minisota and ended up where we are now, at the super 8 motel in albert lea, minisota (10 miles from the iowa boarder).

we just had some interesting dinner, which I call 'taco bell in an alternate taco john's universe'!

believe it or not, it pretty much tasted like taco bell, but a little different (and not as good).

they did have a salsa stand though, which had pico de gallo, red salsa and some kicking hot salsa verde!!!

very UN taco bell.

Anyway, there's something in minisota that I'm allergic to and have been having a rough one.

just took one of the weird vanilla mint benadryl strips that sandy sent with me and am ready to crash.

good night.

brockout.

ps. dont yell at me if any of this post makes little or no sense. :-)

pps. next day...I woke up and my dad already had proofread it! and there were mistakes.

day #4 - state #7 to 9!

2007-06-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

started in Salinas, Kansas,

a wonderful place, 33 bucks for a single with wifi! (and very nice decor!)

then on this morning to Marquette, to 'kansas motorcycle museum'.

(I dont have a pic of the front, it's in dad's camera)

but first breakfast, with old people
(the only people up that early on main street):

then the museum when it opened.

this guys name is stan engidehl (or so) and he's an old flat track
racer from so far back, I couldn't tell ya. He's a harley guy,
tried and true (but when I say that, I mean racer, not hells angel!)

some wonderful old indians.

A harley ice racer (old as hell)

I'm going to stop talking about these bikes,
cuz I don't know what era they are.

This bike (sans the triumph sticker) is the same one as my first bike!

and here we have my last race bike, a '74 can-am mx1.

this is, stan sez, the first motorcycle dyno made.
by him, out of a tractor dyno.

harley sprint.

lots of dirt bikes, with old crusers (and some with motors)
hanging from the roof.

the story behind this bike was amazing.
it was a bike built from scratch from the machinests on uss saratoga,
a ww2 airplane carrier. stan told us how each part of it was made,
and what they used to make it.

some pictures of stan racing against modern flattrack bikes,
on his old '40s harley (I think). I'm not sure but
I think he said he was in his mid 60's when he did this race.

also, the bottom picture is of 2 guys in the same race
bailing in a lake/mudhole.

a russian bike.

yamaha gator, of which neither of us had ever seen or even heard about.

next door was a little shop full of old gas station signs and stuff!

my battery died when I was taking pictures in here.
I didn't go back to get pictures of the 'chicken poop' chapstick he
was selling there!
-----
and a block down, was a british bike museum...but it was closed today
so we just took some pictures of me goofing around.

we found the reason that buick is NOT ever going to be killed off!!!

The mid-west!!!

we saw lots of them, both brand new and less then 5 years old!

note where these two were parked in front of. :-)

another museum!

then down the highway, we ran upon this place!
it wasn't on our list.

kansas auto racing museum

I could write lots about this place, but it's after midnight
and we're getting up and rolling at 6am, to hit more museums
in Iowa tomorrow.

we were there for hours, the owner had so many stories to tell,
just like stan at the motorcycle museum.
my dad likes to talk even more then me!!! :-)

a few last pictures for today!!!

Missouri is kind of messed up, mainly because they have
mile markers every 2/10 of a mile!!!

This was some wierd thing for the truck scales, but I cant
member what the deal was.

had to snap a pickture of this mile marker.

this was a county road!
you know who i was thinking about!
:-D

last but not least, a crazy casino sign in iowa.

now we're in a motel 6 outside of de moins iowa.
snagging wifi from the Bosselman truck stop next door.

while driving thru the truck stop, I learned a new bit of
trucker speak!!

LOT LIZARD

the hookers/skanks that hang out around truckstops

we saw one walking between the motel and the lot behind
the truck stop where all the trucks are parked.

now you know it to, if you didn't!

until tomorrow!

(and I'm sorry if there are any typos or other
nastyness...I have to go to sleep now!)

day #3 - state #6!

2007-06-11T19:20:00.001-07:00

we'll start off with something cool , still in Colorado!

the shower in our motel 6

it worked very nicely!

this morning, we headed of to a car museum:

clive cussler is a famous author.

he happens to be a lover of cars too!!!

the other day, he sent my dad email asking why his museum wasn't
in his museum section of vft.org , so we came to check it out!

and boy was it a surprise!!!

here's just a few of my pics:

no, that's not my dad in a bathtub motorboat!

a Tatara, chek mob.el
one of the coolest cars there, IMHO. :-)
you now how I like small cars

a 1913 2 tone green cadillac sports phaeton!

crazy packard hood ornament
(the car was just as cool)

the red car is an allard.
(I think it had an american v8 engine)

pops with his first car!!!
a 46 ford coupe

seriously!
an 2 ton purple 1933 lincoln xb series v12

taking a wizz in the urinal

blower bentley!!!

look at the supercharger on this thing, hanging out the front!!!

next is the ugliest car there:

really, this 58 buick was just gross!

all in all, this was one of the most amazing car
museums either of us had ever seen.
it was full of lots of cars that weren't just beautiful,
but were milestone cars.
there was a whole line of amazing duesenbergs.
nuff said.

----------------------

next, it's on to kansas.

A quick pic on the road, lots of moving tanks/hummers/apc west:

we stopped at a bp after my nap and I saved another kid:

I think his name is rurrby, but I can't quite memeber cuz I'd just woken up.

92 miles later, we stopped of in a small town to check it out
and found an old school A&W drive in!

Sure the have sonics here, but they aren't anything compared to the OG!

a yeller hummer in a small town with brick roads!

the main street in this town..and check out the water tank!

In case you can't read it, it sez 'HOME OF BOB DOLE'!

maybe that's his hummer, or he just likes to get them.

another museum...oil well stuff!

Dericks, the horses and other cool stuff

and on the outskirts of town, a funky miniture golf course.

last but not least, a flatbed with a band new john deer harvester and a bug!

we're now in salina and going to go to a motorcycle museum tomorrow!

brockout.

day #2 - state #5!

2007-06-10T18:08:00.001-07:00

hello!

First off, I need to explain how this is getting to you!

As we are cheep, we are staying here, for $44.99.
But this means no frills like the ingernet.

but before we checked in, we drove around and found
exactly what rooms we would need so that we could steal wifi from:

Where the rooms were $89.99.
Notice the white pikuptruck and pops standing in the door of our room!
(is internet theft as bad as cable theft?)

Moving on! On our drive today, we ended up in a small town named Fruita, Colorado.

Their claim to fame is they've found LOADS of bones/fossils/other goodz in this area!

We stopped by the 'DINOSAUR JOURNEY MUSEUM'. Some pictures!

Earthquake simulator!!!
woofer makes noise, floor shakes, earth splits!! good fun!

A robot t-rex!!! it's got two joysticks (like robotron 2048!)
that you use to move it around and make it bite!

and of course, a raptor!!!
didn't realize how small they really were.
it was only about 3 foot long.

---------------

next was a 1/2 mile uphill hike to a cemetery in the hills of Glenwood Springs.

you'll never guess who we found up there!

back down the hill and it's nap time!
me in the pickup and dad in the park
w/ a furny pad and a popular mechanics. :-)

next back on the 70 folowing the colorado river and onwards to denver, where we are now!

tomorrow, we're going to go to some car museums in Denver and then head east.

that's it for today!

day #1 - state #4!

2007-06-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

shooting across the states!

we've gone from California to Nevada to Arizona to Utah!

dad talked about going all the way to Colorado, but we decided to chill and are in Richfield, Utah.

stopped in vegas and went to a truck show, here's some pictures!

check out the crazy truck lady with the look of a deer in the headlights!

There were a ton of cool trucks, including some low riders, but I only took a pictures of this one cuz it had the cheet on the hood. :-)

Here's a few pictures of the scenery in utah:

we got arrived at this sleepy little town got a nice room at some motel, with HIGH SPEED internet access (and the 2nd cheapest price in town!). pops checks in and comes out to the truck holding this little nylon bag. What is that, I ask. 'it's the internet!!!!'

here's a pic of the contents:

Low and behold, a CABLE MODEM!!!

the funny thing is, as we were searching for a motel, I had the laptop open and was searching for wifi connections. we go in the room, I hook up the modem and fire up the puter, test the speed of the modem and then the speed of the nearest unencriped wifi connection. It was faster then the cable modem and that's how I fly right now!

and last but not least, this is the view across the street from our motel!

this is where you buy your booze in utah! very 1984 looking!

Ok, I'm going to bed. Until the next time I find wifi, brockout.

ps. I'm not proofreading this cuz I'm tired from a day of driving.

going on a trip!

2007-06-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

June 15th, 2007 is my uncle bob and aunt kathy's (dads sister) 50th wedding anniversary!

The whole suter posse is going to cheese land!!

My dad and I are driving across the country in the pick'emup, stopping at lots of museums, truck shows, a race or two and even pick up a vintage flattrack bike along the way. Thursday (21st), mom, alex and amy are flying to Wisconsin to be picked up at O’Hare by us. I guess they’re going to be in the back of the pickup for a ride across the state line to Milwaukee.

I will update the blog with pictures of the trip as I go, that is if we stay at motels with either a phone line or wifi.

saturday is tomorrow and away we go!