On Monday I drove up to Seattle to attend Rolf Potts' first book event. It's slow going cruising up I-5 and the weather was rather inclement.
When stopped for gas in Albany, OR, the bus would stall every time I took the foot off the accelerator. It would start up again fine, but when I braked before pulling out the gas station, it stalled.
READ ON, there's plenty more...I took the BootBus in Springfield German Auto yesterday for an oil change and valve adjustment. With this done - the bus is back to every 3000 miles. This was the 1000 m,ile check-up on the new engine....which is working like a charms so far (knock on wood) - We can actually comfortably go 65 mpg now.
While I was waiting, I picked a guage so that our oil temperature reader would work as well as a new rubber for the sliding side door since our was trashed.
Other stuff - the bus is cold as Alaska so far this winter - the heat does eventually some - but at very low doses.
Coming up - End of January - BootBus in Seattle and Portland for Rolf Poots Book Tour.
The Campus Crawl continues today - Chris, Nick and I are driving up to Portland, Oregon in the BootBus for Thanksgiving (Ant is staying back in Eugene). On the way up this morning, we will stop by OSU and plaster flyers.
The Campus Crawl never ends!
On Sunday, Chris and I attempted to install the bench seat. It appears to bolt right in like most people said it would. But, we do not have a drill bit, so screwing into wood is very difficult to make them go in straight. This weekend we'll get our hands on one and give it a go again.
Ant, Chris, Nick and I will be taking the BootBus to Nick's Going Away Party tonight.
Yeah, its a little late, but here it is...
He is a tour guide and owner/operator of Extranomical Adventures - Previously, he worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers but decided to screw it all and started his own travel company - He bought a airport shuttle bus and currently does tours to Yosemite, Wine Country and Muir Woods. The way he has it organized, they stay in an Hostel - he is one may show, so he has to take orders on his cell phone - he told Nick that he has handed the phone to a customer for help more than once - nothing like a current customer having fun to help book your trip. He is also planning on writing a guide to Sonoma for BootsnAll - so stayed tuned...you'll hear more from Rodrigo.
Now that the Campus Crawl is over - Nick and I are back at the office, catching up on e-mail, preparing for 2003, and specifically BootsnAll's office in Bali. There are still more profiles to come.
We've just driven from Chico, home of the lovely Alex Brady and her sidekick Ashley, through Shasta back to Eugene. Sean and I shared the driving with me starting off in the daylight ( smart as my eyesight isn't the best at night ) and Sean guiding us through thick fog in northern Cal / Oregon.
I think we were both mentally winding down and reflecting on the trip on the drive and were rewarded with a brilliant sunset in the Shasta area. The fading light created a lovely array of colors.
Here are a few pics.
Sean driving and the sunset beyond him
Nick and I enjoyed a beatiful day on our drive from Chico State to Eugene, OR. We were going through Shasta National Forest at dusk and the light was sensational. During the 9 hour drive, Nick and I maybe talked for about 5 minutes of it. A peaceful drive it was and great to be back and welcomed on our arrival by Chris, Ant, Diane, Jen, and Lyndsey.
Joe E. found a mention of the BootBus on this website. Is there anything Joe E. does not read?
Yesterday afternoon at around 4.20pm Sean and I were getting ready to pack up when an Asian student named Jai appeared and asked us if we would like to speak at the East Asian house at 6pm. He told us that we could talk about certain travel related issues, health, ticket deals etc but could not hand out any promotional stuff.
So at 5pm we pack up and drive to the place at 5.30pm. THe house had a security system which meant we had to wait for other people to get in. After finding Jai's room we got to talk to him, he was napping and didn't bother to get up, telling us to hang out in the cafeteria. The evening's food was being prepared and not wanting to waste a good opportunity Sean approached the people in charge and said "Can we eat?" They were a bit nervous about this and Sean replied "We're speaking here and would like to eat. Is that okay?" After being told it's not really open to outsiders Sean persisted, "We'd like to eat, do you mind?" I was proud of him - he didn't give up and we walked away with a plate of fish and rice, pretty good.
6pm rolled around and people sat down to eat. Jai came in and ignored us, sitting at the table with several other Asian students. At about 6.20pm he comes over to me and says, "You can start now if you want". I asked where we would be and he told me to stand in front of the main table and go for it. Looking around I saw 20-25 young Asian students all getting into their dinner....is this kid crazy?
After a moment's discussion Sean and I made a speedy exit in the revamped Bootbus. Thanks for the fish.
This morning I'm thinking of going down to McDonalds, standing up in the middle of the place and start talking about independent travel, what do you think?
Nick and I are sitting here, and Nick just said,
"Can you believe we we'll be home tomorrow night?"
I said, "Yes" while knocking on wood.
Now that our last booth is complete, and we have one flyering engagement left, we feel a real, this is almost over feeling. The past few days Nick and I have been running through some of the funnier moments, and a day by day breakdown of what we just went through as well as ranking of the schools. We'll share some of this early next week...So stay tuned.
After a 12 hour day at Stanford, Nick and I arrived at the Brady's to Rib's from Misha's. Along with salad, potato salad, and corn bread, it was a real treat. Thanks so much!
We also got to watch a show called The Bachelor. After watching this show, we are gonna do something similiar at BootsnAll. Except the Bootboyz are the prize. We'll start taking applications for the girls shortly.
Stanford is the most tech savvy and secure school we have visited yet. This morning, we followed a maintainence truck underneath the gate so we could drive our bus next to the bookstore where our booth is today. This was only after trying every other way possible and coming up empty handed.
Just to get into the library, I had to register on this computer which automatically prints out a regio sheet so that I can enter. Very fancy, fast and efficient. I am impressed.
We have met a few students already and there seem to be a lot of folks that are way smarter than me. One guy was getting his masters in "Financial Mathematics" and was already wearing a Morgan Stanley (MS) t-shirt. I can see the MS folks drolling at the thought of this young man crunching numbers for them
A few days ago I thought I lost my hat, you know the black and blue warm one that I found on the bike path and smelt like a bum. It is very comfortable and I'd thought I'd seen it for the last time.
Luckily it was hiding in my pack so I'm all smiles on the hat front.
Jeff & Susan Brady are letting us into their lives for another short stay and it's so cool to be able to relax in time for our last shot at Stanford here today.
Susan kindly programmed the coffee machine to be ready at around 5.45am....our predicted coffee drinking time and I can smell it now.
We will be out of here and on our way to campus soon. Stanford is close to Redwood City and it's a pleasant campus.
Pictures will follow.
Nick and I have our last booth/table of the 2002 Fall Campus Crawl today at Stanford University. We are both a bit tired after having gotten to bed around midnight and up at 5:30 - surely we can hack it for one more day. Maybe we will meet some famous Stanford Alum - like Jerry Wang, that guy started Yahoo from his dorm or something. When I think of Stanford, I think of him, smart people, and how their swim team seems to win lots of NCAA titles. Hmmm.
Well, Marko and Paul from the buslab kicked some booty and stayed late to finish putting in our new motor. We finally drove away at around 8 p.m. and the bus drove like never before.
Before: Tough to put it into gear
Now: Easy to put in gear
Before: The engine screamed through the gears.
Now: We can barely hear it
Before: Clutch was sticky and a pain in the arse
Now: Smooth as silk
Basically, we don't have to sweat as much while driving this thing. I am happy and going to bed at the Brady's now. Very tired....Stanford tomorrow.
Here are some pictures of where we ended up before getting towed from the Gilroy area to Berkeley.
Our buddy David
The bus stopped
Oil slick
Another view of the oil slick
Sean under bus
Towing the bus
Towing shot another angle
Last night joe e and I went out for a few drinks and a feed. He took me to his Monday Night regular place - Nizza La Bella. We sat on the corner of the bar and talked for about 2 hours with Evelyne...
General Stuff about Evelyne: She is a partner/owner of this restaurant with Eleanor. Evelyne is the hostess and Eleanor is the Chef. The restaurant is located in Albany, CA - 825 San Pablo Avenue.
Other random stuff: She is french (born in) with a NY accent, and worked for Andy Warhol at one time.
Her Business: Eleanor and Evelyne (Double E's) started the restaurant 3 years ago just as the tech boom was ending. Business has been a bit slow since the meltdown, but they are still kickin' arse and taking names and shes says they will make it through this. In fact, many of her customers have been coming to her, looking for a job. That's how you know the local economy is bad.
Pizza Expert: Evelyne is an writer for the Magazine Pizza Today - this said, we got into it a bit over who's pizza is better - Chicago or NY (keep in mind that she is from NY) - We agreed that the best thin stuff is in NY, but she conceeded that the best thick stuff is in Chi-town. Yer baby! Victory feels great!
Yeah - so you might wonder, why is she the Pizza Expert?...well she wrote the book on it, litterally.
Pizza Book: Everything There Is to Know... by Evelyne Slomon.
Her Favorite Pizza: Well, the gentleman that made it, is now dead. But he was based on Coney Island and only opened on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and stayed open until the dough ran out.
How she judges the quality of a pizza: Evelyne said that the best way to test a pizza is to have a slice of sausage pizza. Too many ingrediants can over power the quality of the 'za (though she did say that she loves lots of ingrediants, just not in the eval process). With a sausage pizza, she can taste the quality of:
1 - Dough
2 - Cheese
3 - Tomato Sauce
4 - Sausage
Evelyne was a friendly (I know this is a recurring theme in these profiles - but it's true) and joe e and I felt great as we left the restaurant.