Lei

Engine Failure

The road curved and twisted as I sped through it as fast I could. I needed to get to the chalet to meet the gang on time. The cars in my rear view mirror were getting smaller and smaller when my truck let out a small bang and began to sputter unevenly. I released the gas pedal and without hesitation, pulled the truck off the road onto some gravel.

I quickly got out of the truck and walked around to look for any signs of failure. None of the tires were flat so I started wondering if I blew a radiator hose or something like that. Looking underneath the truck and the ground which I drove over and back to the highway, I couldn't see anything leaking from my truck. I then got back into the truck and tried starting it again. It coughed and sputtered and was not able to idle without me having to give it some gas.

I pulled on the remote switch for the hood latch and popped it open. Scanning the engine compartment, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. No steam or sprayed liquid except for one thing, the number one spark plug was dangling in the air held by the spark plug wire assembly. I couldn't believe it. For the past two hours of driving, the spark plug had slowly been working itself free until there finally wasn't any more thread for the engine to hold onto. And all that time, I had not noticed any sort of change in the engines operation. I temporarily breathed a sigh of relief. This could be fixed if I had the proper tools and was way better than a blown gasket or tube.

I stood there wondering how I was going to fix it. I didn't have BCAA and I didn't want to call someone way back in vancouver or even squamish for a tow truck. Plus, now there was no way that I was going to make it in time to go mountain biking with my friends. I didn't have my spark plug socket wrench with me but instead, I thought of something else. I taped the one spark plug to the end of a smaller socket tool with some electrical tape. I had my small toolbox with me. The plug was not broken and could still be used. I inserted my makeshift socket tool with the plug into cylinder head and screwed it in until the tape was too weak to turn the plug against the engine. It was good enough. My fingers alone could not have held the plug as it was still really hot. I attached the spark plug wire back on and packed my small toolbox away. The hood fell down closed and I got in the truck.

With a turn of the key in the ignition, the engine came to life as normal. I waited for an opening before pulling back out onto the road. The road curved to the right and to the left before the first sifns of Whistler showed up. A large sign and some houses and buildings. I was surprised realizing that I was so close to Whistler and only ten minutes away from the chalet where my friends were. They were supposed to go riding around ten or eleven in the morning. It was now almost half past noon. When I found the place, some other people had also just gotten there as well. The people that were already there were still just getting up or eating breafast.

After I unloaded my luggage and gear, people finally started getting ready to go for the ride. It wasn't until two in the afternoon that we were on our way to the trailhead. Some people didn't ride and stayed at the chalet to keep an eye on the turkey. There was approximately twenty of us crammed into this one three bedroom chalet which we rented for the weekend. And tonight, we were going to have an after Thanksgiving turkey dinner in addition to celebrating three birthdays.

Next episode: A River Runs Through It.

House Hopping

We made the all night dash from Vancouver to my friends place in Tracey in about 16 hours. The co-occupants of the vehicle are all relatives of my friend so this trip was kind of like a family reunion for them. For the cousins that is. Four other people flew in from New Orleans and Wisconsin for the weekend.
On the first saturday, we walked along the pier, the beach and finally to the golden gate bridge. I think it was about 13 miles in total and along the way, there were many things to see. Sea lions on the marina, the air show farther down and the many local or american exhibits on display in tents for the Columbus day holidays. The army included. It was a great surprise to see the canadian snow birds flying squadron perform their precision maneuvres. I found them to be more impressive than the americans blue angels display of simple patterns. Though the sound of the engines of the american air force plane was awe inspiring as well.

The next day we packed two vehicles and drove through Yosemite stopping along the way for some shot of various lakes and mountains. Half dome was within site at one point but our destination was INYO national park. At 8800 feet, we set up camp here where it was freezing. Minus seven degrees celsius to be exact. All year my friends have been trying to get me out into the woods camping so I finally gave in. Everyone tried to tie up their mummy bags as tight as possible except that I didn't have one. One friend did give me her puffy down jacket - thank god.

The next two days we stayed at another friends house in San Jose. A nice couple with four dogs. They were really cute except for Sam. Sam is a large chocolate coloured or cocoa dog and liked to hump everyone. I can't remember what breed he was.

We went to the aquarium in Monteray as well as did some shopping at the Gilroy factory outlets. Lots of stores and some good sales. Then we returned to Tracey for one final day with my friend again. On the way there we stopped and had dinner with LifeRaft and his wife at a great indonesian restaurant in downtown San Francisco. Parking was horrible on a Thursday night but the food and the company was worth it. Our last day in the San Francisco area was spent driving away to Pinnacle national park. Here we hiked and rock climbed a bit. Large natural rock formations were everywhere. We found pine cones almost as big as a regulation sized football.

On the return trip, we decided against another all nighter and stayed at my friends place in Portland, Oregon. It was a good chance to see him and his family again. Their twenty-two month old baby daughter had grown at least a few inches since the first time I saw her around May. Back then she found the greatest pleasure in just crawling up and down the stairs on her butt. Now she can practically walk up and down those same stairs. The older daughter is taking horse back riding lessons. Previously, she had a leg cast on.

The backyard has been covered in bark mulch and there are also some small fruit trees and flowers. They had tried to find a grafted dwarf fruit tree which I think I told them about before but couldn't find one with the asian apple pears. My brother had managed to find one and planted it in his backyard last year.

Pictures will be added to this blog later. With sixteen rolls of film developed yesterday, there's a lot of editing to do. Some turned out good, and some will go into the garbage bin. I never found the digital camera I wanted so I'm still stuck with my 35mm point n shoot. It took some more beating on this trip as the case is only made of plastic. Sooner or later, the body will probably crumble into tiny little pieces.

The past month or so has been rather hectic with all the travelling and some quiet time will be good. Now back to work...

A Quick Break

Could this be a re-enactment of the Titanic? The Ms Oosterdam looked similar and before leaving port we find ourselves practising escape drills.

You can't quit tell in this photo but our group was pretty much the only young people there as this cruise was more like the geriatrics cruise. We joked about entering all the physical sports activities and beating all the old people.

Soon we would be on our way for three days of glutinous eating. And I mean a lot of food. On one evening, my friend Clint and I managed to sneak away to the Lido deck and get something to hold us over until dinner. We ate a rib eye steak with green beans and shrimp cocktail. An hour later, we would be dressed in formal attire for the real dinner where many of us ordered multiple entrees. Lamb medallions, Spinach and cheese ravioli, caviar, etc.

We were on the highest cabin deck. The only levels above us were the restaurants and the sundeck. I had the only room facing out the rear(starboard?) of the ship and because of that, I also ended up with the largest patio. On the first evening, I could lounge on the furniture and just enjoy the view.

Yes, that there be a bottle of Jack Daniels. A previous passenger left it hidden in the cabinets.

My friends made great models to shoot pictures of the whole trip. Not that I'm a fashion photographer or that sort. But they became some of my favourite pics as when they're happy, I'm happy. You can't help but have it rub off on you. and on the flip side, when they're not, I have to try not to absorb there energy. It can be quite draining.

I was darn lucky to get some of these pics as they were all taken free hand without using the viewfinder while on the Alice in Wonderland tea cup ride and the roller coaster ride. In the tea cup ride, we could barely get our legs into those cups since they weren't exactly made for three adults. And at the roller coaster, I had lost hold of my camera but because we were heading into a loop-d-loop, the camera just floated in my hand. Thank god I had my strap on.

Halloween is coming...

The symbols of Mickey Mouse can be found everywhere. You just have to look.

And of course, still weighing on my mind is the email from before. Which is why I took a shot of this display in the Hollywood Backlot section of California/Disneyland.

Upon my return, I became really ill. I threw up multiples times in two countries starting at the LAX airport, on the airplane, and finally at YVR in Vancouver. Unfortunately these pictures didn't turn out but I can say this. Those barf bags on the airplane really do work. Both of them!

Feel free to browse through the rest of the photos. I went a bit crazy with the camera bringing back twice as much film as I brought there. My other friends took around 1200 pics on their digital camera too.

My time is in short supply as I recover from the sickness and prepare for the road trip on thursday. All the while wondering if I should make the phone call.