Bottle Rockets Pissing Energy Drinks and America

1,728 Miles

Look at that number, there. It really doesn’t seem like much when you are trying to plan a road trip but it really becomes a serious number after a few hours in the car with THIS
And MONSTER HEAVY METAL

But more on that later.

So this trip was taken on complete whim, based on some casual flakey promises made sometime around Sunday evening. Which is actually a completely normal thing.

My roommate had a week free from three foot terrorists ( Elementary schoolies ) so he proposed taking his bosses car and driving to Lancaster to see my grandparents.

So we packed up the Passat. It was nice because with flying you cant really lug around a 4x5 mammoth, along with whatever other practical cameras you want to use, but with a car you can really get your nerd on.





We ran into some Lesbians on the road that had a No Ka Oi sticker on their car, which is a straight Hawaiian shout out. We got into some awkward territory with them when we tried to throw some shakas to get their attention and they didn't even look. Then we tried again and they reciprocated. Then we tried to show our licenses in efforts to be loved and not to look like some mainlanders trying to get down, but they didnt even look. To avoid any more awkward situations I decided to just bolt ahead of them.



Oh well.

At Bluewater trading post. (One of my favorite places in the world for THIS reason.)
We ran into this character who was 11 days into a bike ride across America. He started in San Diego, and this was his 3rd time going coast to coast on his bicycle. He introduced himself as cowboy and I asked if he would be down to shoot some photos. He was into it. Too bad the light was so whack.



We bought some illegal fireworks and got back on the road. Probably not the best idea to transport these things across state lines. Especially when agriculture went through our fruit in California which happened to be in the back seat right next to bottle rockets and other explosives. Surprisingly no harshing happened.

I was so lazy when we got to California. I was parked and rather than get out of the car and read the drive thru menu. I took a picture and tried to zoom in on it so see what they had.
evidence of my laziness:



We killed approximately half a billion bugs. Rambo would have grinned at that fact of shear carnage. Bugs would vaporize when hitting the window. It was the closest I have ever been to realizing my one and only dream: the firing of a death ray.



We went pretty fast. *Note: This was before Sau found out driving more than 30 over could get you in serious trouble*



Then you run into clusterfucks and go 30 mph for 10 miles.



We arrived in California with minimal sugar overdoses and Sau got his first taste of Del Taco for the first time in his life in Victorville. He was pretty pumped on it.





The next day we drove to LA to see Max and pick up my mom and sister at LAX after they decided to fly from Hawaii the night before.

Max's Ching-On was having problems starting.





Then back to Lancaster after driving in the madness of merges and freeway loops in LA.







My grandpa is pretty much the smartest old man I think that I have come across. I am pretty sure he is more computer literate that I am and 90 percent of the people I know. He is really into digital photography at 81 years old. Pretty banging.



Then we began the trip back. LOTS of energy drinks and launching of fireworks.





Which meant lots of pulling over to water the lawn.



At one point we realized the car was dragging something on the ground. SHIIIT just what you need right? So we looked under the car and a large chunk of the plastic undercarriage for some reason decided it should break and drag. I looked in the back for a flathead screwdriver but to no avail. So I managed to unscrew the undercarriage with a dime.
after doing so I felt pretty MACHO.