Our Future Van

Kyle:

This is bad-ass!

I hope they make these someday.

Phish Summer Tour Announced

Last week Phish announced their summer tour schedule. We know we won't be able to see nearly all the shows, but the prospect of getting to see any of these shows (as they are all located on the East Coast) is really exciting! Today they announced "Additional summer announcements will be coming. Following the Summer, the band has no touring plans for the remainder of the year." They have not released the 2nd leg of shows yet. Tickets go on sale next Friday for the first leg of shows. And the shows are (drum roll please):

PHISH 2011 SUMMER TOUR
5/27 - Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY
5/28 - Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY
5/29 - Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, Bethel, NY
5/31 - PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
6/01 - PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
6/03 - DTE Energy Music Theater, Clarkston, MI
6/04 - Blossom Music Center, Cleveland, OH
6/05 - Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, OH
6/07 - Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA
6/08 - Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, Darien Center, NY
6/10 - Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
6/11 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
6/12 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
6/14 - Verizon Wireless @ Encore Park, Alpharetta, GA
6/15 - Verizon Wireless @ Encore Park, Alpharetta, GA
6/17 - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre, Charlotte, NC
6/18 - Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion, Raleigh, NC
6/19 - Ntelos Pavilion at Harbor Center, Portsmouth, VA

Big Sur Daytripping

Jen: This weekend we took a day trip to Big Sur/Andrew Molera State Park and went for a pretty awesome hike. It was 5 miles round trip, 2.5 to the top and 1300 foot climb. The day was beautiful - sunny, crisp and cool - great hiking weather! It has snowed the night before at sea level and we still saw traces of it as we drove down the coast. Once we got to the top, it actually started snowing on us! "This is better than rain!" we said, as the tiny snow balls bounced off our clothes and landed on the ground. And then for the decent... you don't realize how hard you've worked your body until you start using those muscles to brase yourself as you go downhill. Within minutes of getting to our car there was a huge downpour of huge wet drops of rain! We made it back in the nic of time (as my mom would say)! We dried off and changed (in the van of course) and headed down the coast a bit further to have lunch at one of our favorite restaurants of all time - Napenthe! Two Ambroisa burgers please and a warm seat by the window! Gorgeous, vast ocean views, a glass of wine (or beer, in Kyle's case) and the feeling of accomplishment. On our way back we both were feeling full from lunch and warmed by our beverages, so we decided to park the van at a look out along the coast and take a nap! Yep, my first time sleeping in the van. I was a little sceptical that I would even fall asleep, with noise and distraction from the wind and passing cars on the road... but that didn't seem to be an issue.
Here are a few photos from our hike...

Our Summer Plans

Well it's official. We're going on the road this summer to tour the United States (and hopefully some of Canada)! Our plan is to start our travels between May and June and be gone for a few months. We're waiting to hear the summer tour schedules from Furthur and Phish before we decide where we are headed first but at the top of our list of things we want to do are:
1. See a show at Red Rocks Ampetheatre in Colorado
2. Go to a baseball game at Fenway Park
3. Visit historical sites in New England
4. Eat lobster in Maine
5. New York!
We also want to visit as many National Parks as possible (with our National Parks Pass of course!) - at the top of that list is Yellowstone, Glacier, Grand Tetons, Everglades, Grand Canyon & Zion.
I think the only place we don't want to go is Texas! I've driven through Texas before and it feels like it will never end. In New England you can drive through 5 states in a day... so I don't think Texas will purposely make the list (Sorry "W", guess we'll have to meet up another time :P)
We're anxious to be job free, although there will be hard work at the other end of a very nice break. We're both in the frame of mind that our vacation will be much needed and we will be more than ready to shell out the hard work required to re-establish ourselves in a new town when we return to California. It's all a little mind boggling at this point, but it's becoming more and more real every day. We're also so thankful for the support of our families. It wouldn't feel as right if we were doing all of this without their blessing.

A Mini Tour of the Van

In this photo you can see the new stereo deck Kyle installed as well as the upgraded lighter jack that we can now use to charge our phones (it previously had the old school lighter coil).

This is the upgraded rear view mirrors that Kyle installed.

The back of the van inside... You can see the cabinet in the far back corner the table that pulls out and cubbords below it, the fridge is in front of that near the floor, above the fridge is the stove and sink (covered in this picture by the top), in the forefront of the photo you can see the utensil drawer, & the bench seat in back has storage under it as well as it folds out to a bed!

This shot just turned out cool... Driving up 101 about King City... Great lighting.

LA Confidential

Jen:
I wouldn't call it a true trial run, because technically we weren't camping, but we did successfully drive the van down to LA and back without any hiccups & Kyle DID sleep in the van in the drive way at John and Amy's house (that sort of counts, right?). We went to LA to visit the newest edition to the Truesdell family (although technically she's a Maynard), our new born niece Hadley. We drove down Friday night, and were even able to make it to Go Westy in time before they closed and picked up a key to our glove box. We were hoping to get a key to our water tank (the guy we bought it from had neither), but they didn't have one that matched our lock. Needless to say we made it to John and Amy's house in one piece! Baby Hadley is adorable! She's got a Truesdell nose and dark hair. Big-sister Finley amazed me time and time again with all that she knows... from naming letters out of context to counting in Spanish, knowing directions to her house and going to the bathroom in a potty already at two and a half! I am sure I am biast, but she is amazingly smart! Finley and I bonded over coloring books and play dough and I really had the best time yet with her! She loved play driving in "Uncle Kyle's new van" and we took the opportunity for a photo op. It took us about 7 hours each way, which is a bit longer than usual, but the MCU doesn't go fast, espcially up grades... we're talking 40 miles/hour up big hills... but I keep thinking that is part of the essence of it - not being in a hurry. So I just kick back and enjoy the scenery, and what a beautiful drive it was up 101 along the coast it was an unusually hot November afternoon.

Maiden Voyage Adventure

Jen:
We knew we had an adventure ahead of us, however this was not quite what we had envisioned. Calling AAA from the Ralph's parking lot in Los Osos was not what I expected to be doing at 9:00 on Friday night, but as we keep saying, it could have been worse. For example, a super nice guy rolled up on us as Kyle was jacking up the car and removing the wheel, and not only called Auto Zone in Morro Bay, but he gave us a ride there once they confirmed they had what we needed! What are the odds of that? He had his 2 daughters with him and he had lots of stories of places he had surfed before. I think he could empathize with our situation and maybe had been there before once or twice. He definitely gave us a breath of hope in a shitty evening. He even gave us his cell number and told us to call if we needed more trouble. Big shout out to Mark in Los Osos and his two daughters, that was a super random act of kindness. Unfortunately once we got back to the car the drum had siezed to the spindle and it was impossible to remove. So we were forced to call AAA for a tow. Fortunately Jill was home and a total lifesaver! We had the MCU towed to Jill's and it was nice to end the evening on a good note with friends in a nice warm home. Today Kyle spent the better part of the day running around San Luis County getting parts for a mechanic who was open on a Saturday. In the end we got it fixed, but talk about a turn of events. We didn't get to try anything out... not the stove, the sink or the pop top bed. But we stayed in the moment and realized it for the adventure it was and felt thankful that we got it fixed in one day and didn't have to wait until Tuesday for the parts, like they originally told us. Also spending time with Jill and Robert was definitely a plus. I got to bond with Robert's dog, Killer and Jill's cat Rubie, who happens to be our cat, Jerry's sister... so I am technically her aunt... Ok, I am a crazy cat lady. I admit it. :) That's all for now... I hope to post a video of the adventure if I can figure out how to do it.