Yes, lots of camping

I like this comic for many reasons: it's from Married to the Sea and has a conversion van that looks eerily like Ms Vanpira herself. But, I have a feeling Tim and I are going to be sleeping in a lot more parking lots than woods...

Solar Panels

Tim's going to install a solar panel on the roof to power our various gadgets. We got it in the mail the other day!

Gigantic box that was hard to open

Yes, that's right. It's from BP (like the gas stations). What does BP stand for?

The panel must be four feet tall or so

Thumbs up for solar power!


OOOOOOOO it's also pretty

Barfles

Things Tim found in the van (Tim would like to clarify that these items were found in the WALLS of the van)

• Half-filled Milk Chug container
• HALF-FILLED MILK CHUG CONTAINER
• IT WAS HALF FILLED WITH CURDLED MILK
• MILK!
• MILK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Half-eaten Handi-Snacks melted into the fiberglass insulation
• Box of Dots (worst candy ever)
• One Chicken Bone
• Mysteriously empty BUT unopened can of Minute Maid Pink Lemonade
• Various soft drink cans (empty and opened)
• An alarming amount of Diego merchandise (the Diego of Dora the Explorer fame)
• Gummi items
• Raisins
• Plenty of crumpled and used Kleenexes
• Crumb-city

My hero Timmy cleared all of this out of the van, hooray! The seats are gone, the walls are ripped out, the insulation is in garbage bags, the seat belts are unbolted and/or cut off... The back of the van is all sheet metal and glue remnants...

Let the rebuild begin!

Sorry, no pictures, there's been a gigantic rain storm all day :( :( :(

Dr Tim at work

Do work, Tim, originally uploaded by mckiang.

Time is rapidly tick tick ticking away.

While the stuff I'm in charge of can be taken care of mostly on the road with very little prep work besides internet research, the stuff Tim is in charge of takes a lot of time and hard work. This is why I can sit on the couch and watch The Princess Bride while blogging and Tim has spent probably 10 or 12 hours over the past few days under / inside / swearing at the van.

He's taking out the seats, but the bolts were rusted, so more drastic measures had to be taken.

Our departure date is hovering around late May right now, and we're going to be in Greece for ten days, so Tim is quite motivated to rip apart Vanpira.

We still haven't come up with a better name for the old gal, sorry.

Fast Food USA (and Canada)

It's no secret that Tim and I are secret fatties. By that I mean, we aren't actually physically fat, but both of us have each eaten an entire 5 Buck Box from Taco Bell at one sitting. Let me have Sir Charles tell you more about it:



To clarify: I ate a Volcano Taco, Volcano Double Beef Burrito, Crunchy Taco, Cinnamon Twists and had a medium drink. Tim ate a Cheesy Gordita Crunch, Burrito Supreme, Crunchy Taco, Cinnamon Twists and a medium drink. WE BOTH FINISHED OUR BOXES (and spent only 10 dollars). We are not fast food amateurs. And we love Charles Barkley a lot. And we don't want to get dunked on by guys in dreadlocks. AND WE MEAN BUSINESS!

Our propensity for bad for you food is going to be taken to new, dizzying, barfy heights on this road trip.

A few things we want to cram into our gaping maws:

• Various regional hot dogs: this requires its own post, because I love hot dogs
• In-N-Out: Tim's never been there!
• Delicious BBQ from roadside stands
• Ten million slurpees and smoothies
  
• A million tacos: hopefully including the ones from Kogi
  
• A few thousand burritos
• A drive thru daquiri from Mississippi's Gulf Coast: as recommended by my old roommate
• Luna oysters from Santa Monica
• Hot Dog on a Stick: corndogs are the best
• Roast suckling pig: aka Lechón
• Bacon coffee: Anthony Bourdain told me this existed in SF and I must have it
• Poutine in Montreal
• A variety of delicious foods from fast food places we don't have here, even if they're not that great: Jack in the Box, Hardees/Carl Jrs, Whataburger, Sonic, White Castle, Jollibee, Steak N Shake...
  

That's all I can think of right now. My arteries have clogged up another 15% from just writing this entry. Do you have any suggestions for us so we can get as fat as possible on this trip?

Oh and to White Michelle re: my last post, our engine will NOT be doing any cock blocking. We don't hate, we facilitate.