All was going well until we drove the van to the airport to pick Danny up from his flight. The transmission started refusing to shift on the 20mi drive to the airport, and literally when I got to the arrivals terminal, it stopped shifting at all. Permanent neutral. In the arrivals driveway with traffic everywhere... Danny called to let us he was ready at the terminal. "Well, good news and bad news Danny: we're here... but we're not going anywhere for a while." We called a tow truck which took a good 2 hours and by this time (1AM) Robert had also arrived. Thankfully the transmission was STILL under warranty (best decision yet to buy that warranty) so it wouldn't cost us a dime. We were worried about time tho, since last time AAMCO took about 2 weeks to rebuild it. We split a hotel room (a lot more reasonable split 4 ways but still expensive) and decided to figure it out in the morning. The original plan was to drive up to Vancouver with Alex until the weekend, so we just took the bus instead which worked out fine.
Here's a related aside about customs. The Canadian customs agents going into Canada from Washington State are very mean. When we drove the van in the first time, a woman who looked like Angela from the Office and had a heart of ice searched our van for 45 minutes. This time was no better on the bus. Here's a bit of an exchange I had with the customs officer:
Officer: Why are you going to Vancouver?
Me: Well, I've never been there before and I wanted to check it out.
Officer: Where are you staying in Vancouver?
Me: Hmm, I haven't figured that out yet, I guess I'll find a motel or something when I get there.
Officer: But you have NO reservations!?
Me: Nope, just kind of flying by the seat of my pants...
Officer: How long will you be there?
Me: 2 or 3 days probably.
Officer: What do you do for a living?
Me: I just travel around, I don't have a job.
Officer: Then how do you get money!?
Me: I don't. I had some saved up.
Officer: How much cash do you have?
Me: I have about $80 US and $5 Australian on me...
Officer: THAT'S IT!?!?
Me: Well I have debit cards and credit cards too, I just didn't feel like walking around with thousands of dollars in my pocket...
Officer: How much do you have access to?
Me: I'm not exactly sure what that means but at least about $10,000.
Officer: Well, what do you plan to do in case of an emergency?
Me: I don't understand how a job would help me in an emergency...
Officer: Well if you need money what will you do?
Me: I have money; if there's an emergency that somehow requires me to have more than $10,000 I guess I'm screwed.
Officer: When will you return to Virginia then?
Me: I don't really know, maybe when I run out of money, or maybe next year, or maybe not at all.
Officer: I see you don't have a return ticket on the bus. How do I know you'll come back to the US? Am I supposed to just take your WORD? (more than a hint of sarcasm here...)
Me: Uh... I guess so (and besides that Canada has nothing to offer me)
Then he confiscated my apple and let me in. I guess I answered all his questions wrong: I'm young, have no concrete plans, I'm dirty, wearing a big backpack, and have no job, so I'm instantly a national security threat. Customs agents make you feel like you've committed a terrible crime just for wanting to cross the border. Like I have to have some very explainable reason for going wherever I'm going. Since I never do, it's kind of a sticky situation. Interestingly enough, the US border agents were actually very friendy, interested in our trip, and said things like "welcome home!" I'd have thought they'd be more suspicious and ask more questions, but they didn't.
Vancouver was lots of fun, our guest drifters were out all night every night since this was their one week there. The bums there are very persistant too, "are you SURE that's all the change you have? Turn out your pockets I don't believe you." all while following you down the street. They accepted American change. Near Vancouver they have this mountain called Grouse Mountain and a 2.8km trail that climbs 2800ft up to the top called the Grouse Grind. I wish I'd timed myself running up it, but the world record is about 25 minutes for less than 2mi... it's steep. Erin took part in a lumberjack competition at the top and then we headed back down and out of Vancouver the next day.
Since the van was left outside in AAMCO's parking lot, we pulled some camping stuff out of it like a tent and a stove and rented a car for the weekend to go over to the Olympic Peninsula. We saw mountains and a rainforest and built a bonfire on the beach with some a Canadian dental student and his dad, among other things, and then came back to Seattle Monday. We had met some of Dan's UMD friends who were in Seattle and hung out with them for a day or two.
Seattle was great, I'm pretty sure I'd have been happy with it if I had moved there right after school for the other job offer. We went to a jazz/funk night and a MLS soccer game and almost forgot about the van until it was fully outfitted with a factory rebuilt transmission, ready to drive to Burning Man. We're in Reno now, after stocking up on costumes and booze and food and water and paint for the van's soon-to-be new paint job... An expensive shopping trip for sure (Robert lost his wallet in WA somewhere so I've been having to pay for everything), but I hope to be able to re-use a lot of leftover supplies. About as ready for Burning Man as I can be, and still not at all sure what to expect besides a bizarre good time.
Day 121
17,765mi
Transmission #3
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