Thursday, September 22, 2005

Welding and Duct Tape

My supervisor at work has a welder so I asked if I could borrow it since I needed some welding done on my Beetle. The biggest problem was that I have never welded before - well my Grandpa helped me weld when I was 12, but all I remember is not being able to see anything through the mask. Fortunately my supervisor's welder was a MIG welder which is apparently the easiest type of welding to do. I practiced welding washers onto one of my old fenders until I could consistently get them to stick. Then came the welding of the fender nuts to the beetle body. First I had to figure out how to get them to stick in place while I welded them on. You can't easily hold them there while you weld, so I thought, hey duct tape is sticky, let's try if that works. And it did, it melted a little, but that's no big deal. So I got all the nuts welded on, but the welds don't look very nice at all - its a good thing that when I put the fenders back on you can't see the welds.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

September Surfing Safari – September 3 to 5

A tale of two skinny white guys, a homeless Colombian dude, and Mr. “The water’s not cold I’ll wear my shorty.”

Chapter 1: Decisions
There were a few decisions that needed to be made this morning, some more critical than others. Take for instance the question “Where are we going?” compared with “The Unitent or not the Unitent?” At first some seemed skeptical of the Unitent, or perhaps it was because they were just not too enthused with the name. In the end, after some brief deliberation, the answers to the questions resolved themselves as “Westport” and “The Unitent.”



Chapter 2: Free Milk
Arriving in Aberdeen we stopped to buy some vegetables and fruit to supplement our meals for the weekend. As tempting as it was to buy 5 gallons of milk and get one free gallon, we decided against it.



Chapter 3: Lost wallets, lost Frisbees
The first thing to do in Westport was to check out the surf at Westhaven State Park. We were all quite impressed with it, as it was much better than we expected. The waves came in along the jetty in nice sets and broke fairly consistently. The Colombian dude tried to wrangle a deal at the surf shop for a board and wetsuit rental, but with no luck. Camp was established at Kila Hana after an escapade with a lost wallet and a lost Frisbee. Both the Frisbee and the wallet were difficult to get back as the swamp grass devoured the Frisbee, and the guy who found the wallet didn’t want to give it back, until the Park Rangers told him he didn’t have a choice.



Chapter 4: What time is it?
The Unitent was even bigger than I imagined – we could have comfortably moved the picnic table inside of it. After dinner we hit the town of Westport, only to discover we had missed the seafood festival. To think we could have been enjoying fresh seafood instead of our posh sidekicks. The aroma of fresh waffle cones wafted amongst the smell of fish, finally leading us to an ice cream shop, which by the time we arrived we no longer felt like ice cream. Returning to Kila Hana and the Unitent we played scum while eating cookies in the candlelight as the minutes crawled by. Sleep finally was allowed shortly after 10.





Chapter 5: The South Jetty
Morning brought a brief downpour, and patches of blue sky promised sunny weather to come. The surf was just as good as when we scouted it yesterday so we all got in some good rides. A downfall of being skinny white guys was rediscovered while sitting on the beach shivering despite the sun.



Chapter 6: Grilled Bananas
The next destination was Ocean Shores on the other side of the bay, a couple kms across the water, but about 70km by car. We set up camp, ate dinner, took it easy and had some hot showers. The Quinalt Casino promised surf, sand and slots, but we were more concerned with finding cheap food at 10pm. Instead we ended up grilling bananas, bagels and cheese smokies on the grill over the fire.

Chapter 7: The North Jetty
Morning #2 brought the discovery of the lack of breakfast food, so we drove into Ocean Shores to attempt to find breakfast at a diner or something. Again no luck with the food, so we picked up some oatmeal and went to check the surf. Why is everyone going so slow on this road? Skinny white guy #1 “I’m going 15mph over the 35mph speed limit.”
The surf report: perfect off shore wind, the waves break a little close to shore, and there’s a walrus sized dead seal on the beach (later determined to be a sea lion).

Chapter 8: Seals
By the time we had cleaned camp and got back to the North Jetty, the wind was in the process of changing from off-shore to on-shore. The waves were definitely not worth comparing to the South Jetty, but with the pummeling and trying to surf the shore break, it was a great time. There was even a seal or two in the water investigating us – the only ones surfing.



Chapter 9: Free Showers and Not Free Air
After surfing we enjoyed some free showers, compliments of the campers across from us who had left us 18 shower tokens. Unfortunately air was more expensive than showers everywhere in Aberdeen, so we drove until Seattle where we found some air that was free with fuel purchase.

Chapter 10: In the End
Arrived safe.