rworegon

Chef, now that sounds like an advennnnntuuuure! Good luck.

aviator

Good luck Mark... have a safe trip...

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Thanks, guys.....

Well, ......this is really not going well, already..... Sigh, lol. Let's just say, he's not wanting to be here and he's being pretty manic.... Not to mention, he's hardly able to stand today, let alone walk. Oh well, ......... I'll try to make the best of a pretty sad situation, what else can I do, right?

BTW, no real adventures will be had.... I'm needed here full time, so I can't get away for anything more than an hour here or there(IF I can rely on some other family, .... which is not very likely and I wouldn't expect it, ya know?). HOPEFULLY, I'll get at least a couple good pics of my Cuz in her dress, etc. (OH, PS: I'm not in my rig.... I'm in the CRV, they can't climb into old Roja! lol)

Have a good weekend, guys!

rworegon

Chef, my reference to adventure was related to traveling with a medically fragile person. No small task just to do the simple things. Hope day two goes better. :-)

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Hopefully your trip gets a little better. I was hoping you would get to take your Runner, always nice to take one that you built. Had an uncle that lived there. I always liked visiting there. Summers get a little toasty.

RMP8080

Yea but it's a dry heat

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Oh, sorry, lol.... I wasn't snappin bout it, promise hahaha..... Just misunderstood Thanks for the well wish'n, .... it's greatly appreciated! I will explain how everything's gone at the end, hahah.

I would have LOVED to have taken the Ruby Red, lol.... Alas, it's just a project/DD/long time possession that I seem to be less and less likely to enjoy the fruits of the labor therefrom, ya know? hahaha.... Oh well..... things can change, and they will, I know. Either way, it's not been a waste of my efforts... it's been WELL worth it, every turn of the wrench! I lived here for College, 97-2000.... Hottest summers in 30 years, at the time(IIRC),...... and in fact, the DAY I moved into my single with my wife, we finished at 3am........ and it was 118*F!!!!! lol. The next day was 124*F! Oddly enough, while I was there was the only time It'd snowed in decades as well....YEP, 19th AVE and Dunlap, North Phoenix...... snowed for 10 minutes. I would wake up that winter with iced windsheilds on my Cressida.... 30*F and BONE chilling 'desert winter' cold, ya know? Thanks, Terry, ... hope you're well!

Hahaahahhaahahaha.... The oldest line in the country, regarding "Weather"! hahahaha. I DID, in fact, get 'fairly' used to it.... I spent 10 summers, or so, in Needles and Kingman, AZ. I also lived in Spokane, WA for 2 years..... 1984-1985.... 12 FEET of snow in our driveway.... hahaha. We had a TUNNEL dug out in the Driveway like an ice cave! haha... Another one of my extreme weather life experiences in that it was one of the "coldest winters" there in decades, lol..... EAST VALLEY HIGH, GREEN POWER! hahahaha

*************************************************

Yeah, it's really up and down with Ervin.... He had a good day, yesterday(good for him).... But WITH THAT "good day", like many others, he feels better, so HE DOES NOT want help, direction or otherwise.... and to be honest, get's pretty nasty/mean/hurtful. (Trust me, .....a couple on here know all the details, personally... I'm not one to berate ANYONE, at least I try my best.... But they also know what I mean when I say "Nasty-Mean"..... It can be REALLY diffucult to take, trust me, lol)..... Anyway, the trip, thus far?; It's pretty much like I told my mom it would be..... "He's going to take ALL of your time and energy, .... you're not going to sleep, ..... and then when you try to go with them, without him.... WOE! Watch out!" lol.... Pretty much exactly what I said, and...... more, lol.

The secondary bummer has been, well, 'unforeseen' and 'frustrating' happenstances like; They messed up our rooms and gave both Handicapped rooms away....and BARELY, just a day before, managed to talk two rooms occupants into taking other, non-handicapped rooms. Then, after I'd had EVERYTHING set up for my aunt and uncle to just 'walk up and show ID, get the key and take a nap'... They were held up for over and hour and eventually had to have me call on the phone and give them my info/conf. #, etc. TOTAL pain before I even got here. THEN, I get to the room, where I KNOW I'll be spending a bit of time, caring for Ervin, etc..... and the internet is not working properly!!!! lol... YEP, for 2 days now, I've had the net working for a total of 30 minutes! Couldn't watch my Netflix watch instantly(which is why I didn't bring DVD's or HD stored movies)..... Couldn't hang with my homies at Yotatech, etc! lol..... Not only that, but I spent 2 hours, 2 different days, on the phone and in person with staff and ISP people, trying to help them figure it out. Then,(yes, "but waitttt, there's more") hahahaa..... THEN, the room has a CONSTANT 'PINGGGGG', every 4-10 seconds, of something in the walls, all night, all day, AC on or off, doesn't matter.... IT'S BEEN A BIT TRYING, and it's supposed to at LEAST be a LITTLE bit relaxing, right? ahahaha. BUT, most importantly, my beautiful cousin had a beautiful wedding and the party afterward was WONDERFUL! Got to dance with her and slip her some money, etc..... It was great! Also, I went to the desk and she gave me A BUNCH of Candy, Popcorn, Movie passes, Waters, and more... RIGHT after giving me 50% off the entire stay's charge.... AND offered us free room service dinner tonight! lol

I really feel bad for whining on here...... I'm honestly a very grateful person... I'm just a bit overwhelmed, and I don't deal very well with UBER negativity, ya know? DANG, it might be rubbing off on me hahahaha.

Hope everyone is having a GREAT weekend!

PS> I WISH I had more opportunity to take some pics while here.... It's spring training for baseball in PHX and ...... THE HOTTIES? OMGOSH! lol. Had no idea there were so many 'baseball groupies' hahaha.

rworegon

Hmmm Chef, sounds like it's time to pop the eyeballs back into the forehead! lol

As for the rest of it....take a few deep breaths...... Have a safe drive back to Cali.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Hahahaha.... Yeah, ... true-nuff! lol. I should have worded that differently, hahaha. It's just amazing to me, .... it's like a spring break kinda atmosphere around here, lol. I would have done some pool time, but it's SO FREAK'N CROWDED! lol.... Might try to hit the Jacuzzi tonight though... just want to loosen up before the drive back.... He's resisting to much now when trying to help him when sitting down, etc., that my back is TOAST for the time being ....... Lil 'soak' might help, ya know?

aviator

Little soak... maybe one [or two] of the cactus league groupies will be there and will give you a nice back rub... hey a man can dream right?...

don't mind the sharing and blowing off steam that's what we're here for buddy...

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

Thinking of getting into baseball now?lol..Hope you have a great trip home or that it is bearable. If I remember right that is about a 6 hour drive. Maybe you can cut it to 4 1/2 to 5 hours. Just keep moving.

RMP8080

I did not know 4 1/2 to 5 hours in a CRV? Oh it's down hill all the way...........

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Hahahaha... TOTALLY threw me into a flashback, right there! THIS IS NOT something I would find funny if guys were doing it to my daughters at 12.... But for some reason, I still laugh about it... When I was 12, I was, full on, racing for the mammoth mountain ski team. One trip, we stayed in a Condo that was HUGE and had like 6 Jacuzzi's on each floor(community).... Snow all piled up 10 FT high, all around them..... Well, my friend and I were chilling out there, running in and out of the snow/back into the hot tub(that burnnnnnnn, wow, still remember it! lol).... These super hot 20-something girls came in and were REALLY loving our antics, etc.(stunts, etc.)..... and then they started giving us ALL WE COULD DRINK MARGARITA'S! hahaha.... I KNOW, I know, ... that was REALLY not cool for them to do.... but for me, at the time? I THOUGHT IT WAS VERY COOL! lol. We paid, BIG TIME, the next day, with huge hangovers! lol. (The REALLY unfunny part is that, well, after that, not too long after, I became an alcoholic for the next 20 years! lol. Oh well, .... s'all good now ) Thanks, btw, for the second commentary.... I appreciate you guys letting me blow off steam! lol. I know, many have probably left my thread for good because of it... But I can't help it..... if I don't vent, I'll BLOW! lol. I'm slowly getting the plan together to finish the fuse block, aux outlet, dome lights/rear light, roof rack, etc. I'm doing what I can when I have time... I'll post up some pics, asap

5 hours flat, Terry..... It's 75MPH speed limit most of the way through the Dessert in CA and then on into AZ.... There was some road stuff on the way there, but still did it in 5.5hrs.... The way back? .... Well, let's just say, raining so hard one couldn't see didn't help the speed of traffic... But I still made it home in 6 flat, with 2 STOPS! woot! lol.

2003 CRV...... Honestly? VERY much on the 'plenty of power' end. The motors before that? not so much........ But this one, ... I did 27mpg/hwy at 75-82 or so the entire way! NO WAY IN HECK I could pull that off with the Yota, ya know? hahaha. RBX can as soon as he drops that SICKKKKKKKKK diesel in there... but yeah... I'm lucky to get 21mpg HWY with the Runner(Loaded or not). That CRV is a great car.... 100K and not a single issue, other than the Oil Pressure Sending unit. But the cool thing about these OBD2 cars? They have shut off's and warnings for EVERYTHING! Not sure if you know/dealt with this with other cars, yourselves, but; When it was leaking really bad from the OPSUnit seal..... it would SHUT THE MOTOR OFF AND ON INTERMITTENTLY, in order to develop enough oil pressure to prevent damage. On my way to the garage that pointed it out to me/let me fix it there.... it shut down and back on around 30 times. The SECOND we put oil in it to see where the leak was coming from... "PURR".. then back to that starvation mode thingy it does... just trippy, to me anyway, that's all, lol. One thing I HATE about that and other newer Honda's and even Toyotas? THE SEATS! they KILL ME on the Bolsters and even the rump, where my broken tailbone injury, years ago, still gives me issues on long trips on hard foam seats. My back is FRIED, usually, so I've brought that green foam I used on my truck, each time I use that car, .... IT'S ENOUGH, ... not great, but enough to lessen the pain, ya know?

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

The 'ETC.' part of the Trip;

I gotta tell ya, guys...... His situation/conditions/selfish and MEAN attitude made that trip almost IMPOSSIBLE to enjoy for even 15 minutes. He was an HOUR past a handful, trust me.... And VERY much a danger to himself... Including trying to get up and mess with the bedding, etc., at 3AM,..... which caused him to fall, 2 times, once that almost caused the breaking of his nose! That's just the tip of the iceberg... But I'll save the rest of it for personal conversations.. It's just that it's becoming VERY apparent that this is wearing my mother down, FAST! I'm going to have to start making some hard decisions, soon... I can tell.

As I've always said, .... IT WILL work out.... Just possibly not as 'everyone' involved would like... Usually pretty rare that it happens that way, anyhow, ya know? lol.....

THANKFULLY, I did get to hang with my cousins, quite a bit, while there... They were VERY generous in offering a hand, in any way that I or my mother needed. VERY grateful for that........ Here's some pics......

Left to right; Jade(Daughter of my Cousin on the far right), Carole(Aunt/Wife of my Mothers Brother, Jackie), Mom, "Cookie"(Mom's younger sis), Karma(Aunt Cookie's Youngest), Amber(Aunt Cookies Oldest)


My Uncle Craig, walking my cousin, Sara, down the isle....


Sara and her Husband Ricky, first dance.......


Uncle Jackie, Aunt Carol, Aunt Dyann, Aunt Cookie, Mom


Jade with Cousin, MacKayden
[IMG]http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee199/imachefbrotha/Saras%20Wedding%20Phoenix/011.jpg[/IMG

Newlywed girl, Sara, and my Auntie Dyann...


With my Mom and Uncle


This is largely what it was largely about.... Mom with her Brother and Sisters...


2 Cuz's and a Niece on the left.....


Jade, Amber and my Cousin Jared's wife


My Cousins, Jared (2nd from right), Justin (Far right)


Cuz, Justin, dancing with his daughter, MacKayden..


Just chillin with my Aunt Carol...

aviator

Looks like it was a great party... glad to hear everyone made it home safe... and sane... sort of... a little camomile tea might help that nasty twitch in the corner of your eye... since an Irish Martini [or Margarita] is out of the question that is...
heh heh heh... the thing to do is go to your kitchen... take out a side of brisket... get out your mallet and tenderize the snot out of it... it will make you feel better and the meat easier to digest for the customers... a total win win...

rworegon

Chef, glad you made it home ok and the party looks like a good time!

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

You got some great looking pictures from family to settings. The way things are now families are so spread out it can be years before you get to see them. One regret I have in life is not enough pictures. Your pics always turn out great.

92 TOY

no such thing as just popping in and reading through your thread quickly. no such thing.

wishing you and your mom and family lots of strength and patience.

hope things are well for you buddy.

ChefYota4x4

iTrader: (5)

Hahaha... Well, ..............Pork Shoulder Stew with Cabbage will have to do....... Nothing to smash on the counter/work bench, lol..... But TASTY you can be sure! :drool: lol.

It was the best time of the 4 days.....I'll leave it at that, for now, lol...

True, true! And thanks, I try, even when using a Nikon Coolpix(Left my Canon-D in the suite(just can't carry it and roll him around, and HE WILL NOT hold anything... he keeps trying to hand it back or put it down, whatever it is... so meh, forget it, ya know? lol...

Yeah, I'm sorry man... just seems to be my only outlet right now, hahaha. Thanks so much for the thoughts! Things are ok, Jerry.... I press on and in

92 TOY

back at ya.