Weekend Update from previous post.

So this past weekend I was supposed to have a really great photographic experience, I was excited by limiting my equipment and limiting myself with the single lens I chose. Prior to leaving on the trip I was told we were going to the beach on the morning on the day of the concert. That added to my excitement since I will have another location to photograph the band members. (Also I would have the chance to use my skimboard again!) We ran a bit late on the departure but we were still doing good on time since we left the day before. 10pm we finally get on the road down the 99 south towards Los Angeles.

The drive begins well, no obvious problems. Everyone is in a good mood, nothing can go wrong. We stop at a gas station about 20 miles north of Bakerfield to get more snack and goods. Here is where I finally got to see what this van looked like.

Old van, but it was still handling this trip like a champ so far. So after 20 minutes we decide to continue driving. We pass Bakersfield and finally get on the I-5. The Grapevine is now approaching. It struggles a bit, spinning the engine a bit high. This is with 7 passenger, weighing about 1,400lbs and a trailer carrying all of the bands equipment. Then the moment we were dreading hit us like a speeding train. The van loses power and it shuts off. AH! None of us could believe what had just happened. Still on the incline near Fort Tejon we pull over. Not knowing what is wrong, the van will not crank over whatsoever. We finally do get it to crank but it does not start. Everyone begins to slowly lose hope. "we're not gonna make it to the show". I have a bit of automotive knowledge and I suspect that we either ran out of fuel, or something in the ignition went out. Stranded on the I-5 isn't helping with the situation, since we have no tools nor extra fuel. After about an hour we finally gather money and find the cheapest tow to the closest gas station. This being at 2am.

We finally cough up $125 to pay for the tow that is less than 10 miles. We put some gas in and are now finally excited to get back on the road once more. Again, nothing. The van does not start, we think that the battery must be dead or too low to start. We ask everyone to see if they could do us the favor to give us a jump so we can charge up the battery a bit. The battery reaches the proper voltage, so says the volt meter in the dash. Still nothing happens. By this time it is already 4:30am and the sun is beginning to light up the sky in the east. We decide to get some rest and try and find some money for a shop to take a look at it later. The morning hours go by and the mechanic shop finally opens. They are very nice and tow us to the shop free of charge. Then about 30 minutes later during there tests, the van decides to start up. They didn't fix anything, it just so happened that the wonderful Dodge Ram Van decided to start. We paid the $85 for the hours labor and got on with the trip. Everyone just got in a good mood, even with having little to no sleep.

After about an hour of driving the van shuts it self off as we are driving. This really made everyone mad. We pull over, wait a bit and then try and start it. The great thing is that is did start, then we continue driving. the van the began to shut off about every 10 minutes. We decided to just give on the trip and go home, the freeway was too dangerous for us to keep pulling over every 10 minutes. After the last roadside stop we continued on the freeway for the closest exit.

We pulled into a Shell Gas station. Here we began to brainstorm on what we were going to do to get home. Here were the main points.
1. We didn't have tools.
2. We were all running low on cash.
3. The van as is would not make it back to the valley.
4. We wanted the easiest way home.

We thought of ditching the van somewhere in a neighborhood and having a friend come down to pick us up and just go home. We then figured that this may come back later to the owner. That idea was scratched out. Then the best idea was brought up. Sell the van! We would get rid of the pain in the ass this van has been and we'll get some cash. The only place that would buy this van is a junkyard. We called all of the nearby yards. We got lucky and found one that was open and only 15 minutes away. They offered $250, that was a bit low and they then agreed to give us $300. That sounded good, so we set off to the yard. On the way to the yard we dropped a friend off at a U-Haul which was also 10 minutes away.

We get to the tow yard, happy and sad about getting rid of the van. We had to wait for about 30 minutes for the U-Haul to get to the yard. The office lady would not hand the check over until we had the trailer off of the van. The time finally came, the van had been emptied and it was ready to continue its life in Sunny Valley's Pick your Part Junkyard. I'll admit, I was a bit sad on leaving this van. It had to happen and it did.

Overall this experience was a first for all of us that were there. It would have been great if we did make it to the show and had a good time at the beach and had some good shots of the band and the good times to show. Though this adventure was also fun in its own way. I don't regret going on the trip and I'm sure neither do the rest of the guys, including the band.