Ahhhh what a buff sleep. I needed that more than I realized! A nice lie in perfumed with two lovely Skype calls. Mr Joni Marsden exclaiming his admiration for my Adventures and my blog. And then the lovely Abbey Stapleton expressing her jealousy for being in her bed. A lovely morning and I felt very relaxed and ready for anything. Then my nose was greeted by a very unfamiliar smell. The glorious smell that is toast! I headed down and had a nice cup of tea and a good breakfast. Steve had already gone off to work but I had said bye and thanks previously last night. We chatted more over tea and then I had to get moving, as did Jane. Jane kept offering everything udder the sun bless her but I was all set and ready to venture on. Not before insisting that they both leave a little mark on my van. So I took them outside to marvel at the beauty and get doodling. Jane did a cute little doodle of the nearby ski resort mountain on which Alex had worked as a ski instructor. And Alex very appropriately drew a yin yang which i thought was very fitting for the trip I was on and then brilliantly he drew a union jack! An important symbol of where I am from.
After some fond goodbyes and discussing the possibility of coinciding their visit to LA to see Ellie and how long it would take me to reach LA I got in the van and drove off as they waved from the doorstep. It's always a nice feeling that isn't. Its nice to have people wave you off. Gives you a good feeling. Starts the trip off well. So off i went directly to the gas station to put in the last of my cash. 40 bucks went in and that had to get me to Portland. My first surfing town! Exciting stuff! I had still got the dollar I saved for a treat. Yet to treat myself though. I felt the 12 hours at the Stapletons was treat enough for now.
So I set off and got under way. It was 300 km to Portland and a further 215 to Newport from there. Newport is actually the beach town but I heard Portland was a bit of a surf town too. So 500k and a bit more to go. Not likely on 40 bucks. But better get started anyway. I got back on the road that I had taken to get me in to Seattle and it was easy enough. Although the scenery was dull now and there was a lot of traffic. It was like being on the M25 just bigger. It was not enjoyable driving and you can't just zone out when there is lots of traffic around you to concentrate on. The driving was far from economical to say the least, there was lots of stopping and starting. And to tell you the truth the van wasn't sounding great at all. This worried me some what. To explain my worry I think I must take you back to when I purchased the van in mid April. I got the thing for no more, no less than 400 Canadian dollars. That works out at about 266 English pounds. Not a lot I think you will agree. So when you purchase a mode of transport for a song you expect there to be some problems with it. Just to look at it. The driver door didn't open, the front windscreen was cracked severely and it was covered in rust. Apart from that it was good to go. Now I drove it back from Calgary to Banff after I got it. That is 200k. So by my rules it was pretty sound. In order to insure the van I have to have a safety check though so I took it to the garage and payed a pretty penny to have it checked over. No surprises there it was fucked! It had about 2000 dollars worth of work needed. Now this was ok for 2 reasons. 1. All the work needed was bad but didn't affect the engine. It still had a good motor so as far as I'm concerned if it's going to get me from a to b I'm satisfied. Now obviously the mechanics don't share my outlook. So it didn't pass. 2. This is ok because the insurance company give me 30 days to get a safety check, then a further 30 to fix what is wrong with it, and a further 30 before the insurance is void. Anyone who can do a bit of maths with a pinch of general knowledge will see this adds up to 90 days which is as long as I can be in the U.S before they kick me out. Pretty perfect I think. So my point is its a heap of junk that needs 2000 bucks worth of work on it. Thus my worry is justified. However just because I am puttering along, putter putter and listening to the engine and thinking each putt is going to be its last does not mean I can do anything about it. What am I going to do? Pull over, pop the hood and stare vacantly at the engine and pretend I know what I am looking at? It might as well be a human brain for all I know. It's one of those things that I and most males would like to pretend I know a little about, like wine or the economy when really the sad reality of the fact is I know sweet fuck all about almost everything! So anyway I continued on just hoping and praying it was going to last out! It was then I happened across my first traffic jam. Not good for fuel consumption! It moved on quite fast but the gas was depleting rapidly! I didn't like the look of it so I pulled over. It had managed to get me 200k so a fair distance for 40 bucks. At a rough estimate that means I am doing 22-25k to the gallon. I don't think that is good but for a 17 year old van it could be worse! Now as you may remember a few days ago I decided to withdraw all my money even though I wasn't sure about it. This was because I spent 40 bucks on petrol and it had been a week and still nothing had come out. So I took the risk. I took all I could out and even then there was 11 pounds left in there to spare. So I thought get that money out or pay on card and that will get me the remainder to Portland and I can park up there for a while and maybe earn a few bucks somehow. Alas it had come back to bite me in the arse like it always does. Gone!
So this leaves me at a rest stop in Castle Rock with a few drips of gas left and a dollar in cash. Not the end of the world by any means, plenty shops etc around I wasn't going to be bored but it looks like here is the place for the night. See what the morning brings. Times like these it's quite annoying. And I kind of just wish I didn't have all this stuff and I could hitch. But that might be too easy! I parked up outside subway and decided I will just sit in the van and have a chilled one. Watch a few movies. I might even sneak into the woods later and make a fire to cook some pasta. See how lazy I feel.
Of course I'm too lazy to go and make a fire for a bit of plain pasta! It's 9 o'clock for goodness sake! I would sooner eat the butter I have by itself! Maybe tomorrow I will cook.
Thought the van was looking pretty cool in this spot so got a quick snap.
Kilometers Traveled Today: 209
Kilometers Traveled Total: 1494
Funds: $1 U.S
Petrol: Nearly Empty
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