Long Live The Van

This post luckily wouldn’t land in the obituary section of the paper, but it would probably only be a section or two away.

Our 1993 Eurovan has been quite a trooper over the last three months. It carried us along never breaking down, except for the the self-induced dead battery that we found after a long day of climbing at Smith Rock… I had pulled my signature move of leaving the lights on ‘for safety’ as we dubbed it over the course of the trip. We got the help of another fellow climber. His truck and our jumper cables got us back on the road. Beauty!

After a few days back home we finally made the 35 mile trip West to my old college town, Lawrence, home of the Jayhawks! We spent the day with some good friends and then spend the night in Lawrence. After a cold night and waking up to temperatures in the single-digits we were barely able to break into our frozen sealed van. We managed, only to feel a very odd slump in our van. I rocked it back and forth a few times thinking the snow had built up around the tires and was temporarily holding it prisoner. Up and away we went but the strange sensation from the rear left tire did not go away. I stopped a few blocks later and took a walk around the van. It was sure frigid outside, and I couldn’t see anything that gave away what was wrong. I started to realized it felt like the brakes. I couldn’t explain it yet, but that’s what it felt like. I pumped the foot break a couple times to no avail. At least the place I had in mind for breakfast was only a short drive away.

Wheat Fields has a warm place in my heart. It’s where I learned what good bread really tastes like, what the inside of a ciabatta is supposed to look and taste like. It’s a nationally acclaimed bakery that serves up artisan breads, pastries, breakfast, and lunch. Definitely a Lawrence trademark. Kristine even opted for a rich and spicy chocolate truffle.

I then had promised Kristine I’d take her to buy some warm clothes and what better place than Target. We drove to the sprawling strip-malls of Lawrence. It was there that we realized our rear back tire was seized and we’d been dragging it since we left the house that morning. We were fortunate that the snow and ice on the road had facilitate dragging our gimp wheel around town, but it certainly wasn’t doing our van any good. After some very cold minutes jacking up the van and scouting underneath it I realized it was the emergency brake that had somehow seized overnight. In retrospect I would not have applied the e-brake, but it’s such a habit with driving manual transmissions. It looked like a leak in the line had allowed water in while driving it around the day before, which had then frozen overnight when the temperature dropped.

We bought a repair kit at Target, which included a tire iron, a hair drier, an extension cord, and a power adapter for our cigarette lighter to an outlet for our hair drier. The plan was to warm up the line enough to loosen the seized brake line. This is what happened: We blew the fuss on our cigarette lighter since it takes a lot more wattage to run a hair drier than what the AC power can put out. We dragged our van around to find a outlet we could use. We parked across some handicap parking in front of Cutler’s Custard and I began blow drying the underside of our van. Realizing the futile nature of what I was doing I called to be rescued by the Road Side Assistance that Kristine and I had smartly added to our insurance coverage before the trip. With the streets clearing up we had become stranded driving only on the melting snow patches that remained. Getting towed home was the best option.

An hour later we were home, the van was dropped off and sat in the back of our friend’s house. I’d give it a day before attempting to fix it, plus the following day looked like it would be a little warmer than that day. So we perched up for the day at my friends house. Here’s Kristine cozied up and reading–a picture straight out of Dwell.

I succeeded in fixing the frozen emergency brake. It developed a funny noise since then that I imagine was caused by all the dragging around we did that day. It’s still something I need to look into. Along with getting a replacement rear right bumper, which apparently fell off while driving around yesterday, or maybe someone really desperate stole it. Either way it’s gone.

But the van lives on!

Reunion in Tucson

We left Red Rocks and headed South, straight to Tucson. The drive proved to be a pretty long day made longer by a delay due to construction at the Hoover Dam. We drove stopping only to make a quick soup for a late lunch. We arrived in Tucson late in the evening but our friends had waited to have dinner with us. Kim and Keith’s new pad was really nice. It was exciting to hear them talk about all the plans they already had for their new home. Benny was also there making a guest appearance for a couple days, and so we all sat down to some delicious homemade lasagna–Thank You Kim!

It felt a bit like we had arrived at home. Good friends and good food always make you feel that way but especially so for Kristine and I who welcomed the lost comforts we had left in Seattle.

We ended up spending a few days in Tucson. We went climbing at a crag on Mt. Lemon the day after we arrived–Kristine will have more on this. It’s the only time that pictures were taken of our time in Tucson, which is regrettable since the city was so nice and the desert was so beautiful but Kristine will try to recapture the lure of the desert in a future post.

Keith took off early the morning after climbing on Mt. Lemon. He’s on his way back to apply the finishing touches on his masters degree in Salt Lake, as well as lick as much frosting off the climbing and myriad of outdoor opportunities in Utah before he moves down to Tucson in the Spring. Benny also took off that same morning. He had taken care of some maintenance that his motorcycle needed and was ready to get back on the road. I think his destination had something to do with many ‘soaks’ at hot springs, backroads, and adventures. I can’t even begin to concoct the kind of stories I’ll hear when we share a drink together at Free State in Lawrence this Christmas. I just wish him safe and happy travels!

Kristine and I stayed another day and a half after those two boys had left. We stayed long enough for Kim to get us hooked on sitcom that’s now off the air, but has an apparently rising cult-like following that’s growing. The show is Arrested Development. Kristine called it ‘stupid humor’. And I quietly thought to myself how stupid I must be because of how funny I thought it was. It was definitely quirky. In the short time we were there we polished off 2/3 of the first season and Kim sent us packing with the last dvd for the season, which we finished the next day. Should we be looking up the number to ADAA (Arrested Development Addicted Anonymous)?

We hit the road for Cochise Stronghold. A fairly new area that has a bunch of old school climbers constantly putting up new routes on the beautiful pink granite. We were stoked!

Here’s a few of the ‘best of’ pictures of our friends while on Mt. Lemon:

Kristine and Benny sharing a moment while Kristine takes her shoes off after climbing.

Two tough-guy faces.

Kim lovin’ on Keith a bit.

The gang!

A picture I snapped when we got back to the car and everyone got caught staring off in a similar direction.