Throughout the road trip one of the main concerns people had after viewing the truck was that it was far too clean. While we were in Santa Cruz we tossed a bit of local soil onto the truck but sadly it was washed away in the Northern Californian mists.
Today a few of us ventured to Gum Grove Park in Seal Beach to add a bit of much needed dirt to the truck’s exterior. After a few coats of dirt and refining our mud throwing techniques we have made some progress on truck’s weathered look.
Besides the well worn look of the truck we are currently in the process of refining other details. We have removed the carpeted compartments from the cargo bay, added a tennis ball and slowly added trash (we have a bit of design work ahead of us for that – more on that later). Other areas that need work are the cockpit, which is quite safe due to our restraining harnesses, and the camper shell itself. We’ll be posting an overview of our list of improvements as soon as we can.
We’ll be taking more cruises around the area as we inch closer to our departure date. We’re also in the process of sifting through a long list of roadside attractions and points of interest as well as making sure our camera equipment is ready for the road trip ahead.
A first for today! Daytime driving! Christiana and I took a quick drive to Seal Beach Main Street. Not too much to report besides being stared at while we were at a red light by several pedestrians. Once we parked a few blocks away from Main Street we visited Mac-Fusion in Seal Beach and enjoyed the wonderful clear weather. We’ll be stopping by there again as soon as they finish with stocking the store.
We also performed a quick oil refill as well as a bit of TLC to the truck and a spare tire is on it’s way from the high desert. We intend to take more day cruises over the next few weeks.
The blog is going to get quiet for the next week or so as we work behind the scenes for a bit. But don’t worry we shall return in full force as soon as possible.
This past Friday we took part in the 33rd Annual Seal Beach Christmas Parade, which was quite exciting. We lined up early to ensure that everything on the truck was set up and working properly, which included: Various Christmas lights, the sound system, Buzz’s harness, and so on.
We were one of the last entries to go (being 102nd of 107) and our truck was wedged between some pee-wee cheerleaders and some folks from Pavillion’s. Not too far ahead was a massive big rig that would honk its horn from time to time. We would respond with our feeble little horn which sounded like a hungover Road Runner.
Throughout the parade route people recognized the truck, kids would notice Woody and Buzz first and then their parents would lean over and explain where the truck was from (at least that’s what it looked like). We also had a few excited reactions from adults too, some hopped out of their strategically placed lawn chairs and followed us down the street to snap a picture. Along the way we encountered three parade announcers each of whom would read the description of the truck in increasingly perplexed tones. There was perfect balance between unadulterated excitement and complete bewilderment.
After the parade finished we pulled into an alley to pack up the decorations. Shortly after parking under a “No Parking” sign the police rolled up, but they were only ticketing those who had parked in the lot a few feet away. Although they didn’t give us a ticket they did direct any traffic from that lot towards our crookedly parked truck.
Once we removed all the trimmings it was time to head out, but the truck had different plans. It began to make a shuddering noise we hadn’t heard before and didn’t start (the truck tends to make various scary noises not unlike the furnace from Home Alone). Thankfully there were two residents down the alley who heard our truck’s distressing noises and walked over to help out. We assumed it was a dead battery since all of the lights and the sound system we hooked directly into the battery. One fellow suggested we attempt a push start, the other said, “I think I may have something” and walked into his garage. A few moments later he emerged with a a ridiculously long extension cord and battery charger.
Here our battery is registering a two on when it should have been at least ten according to our battery charging friends. A few minutes later the truck started up better than usual and we were off.
So far it’s been a rather epic December and we’re only a week in. For now we’ll be planning our itinerary for the final trip, I may take a trip up to San Francisco soon, and the truck will be doing a few mini road trips around the local area. Pizza anyone?
The product of some Pre-Black Friday hardware store sale.
After approximately five hours of work, including a quick drive to pick up some electrical hardware, organizing the decorations, securing the decorations, and testing how well these decorations held up at parade speeds, the truck is almost ready for Friday.
On Friday December 2nd we’re going to take part in the 33rd Annual Seal Beach Christmas Parade. We’re currently in the process of decorating the truck for the occasion and have a few surprises up our sleeves. The truck is one of the last entries in the parade, but we recommend that you arrive early for parking purposes. Hope to see some of you along the route and afterwards too since we’ll organize something fun in the local area.
We’ve been a bit busy for the past week dealing with a few things behind the scenes. Don’t worry though, a phone call is going to be made to our team of rocket scientists…
