Resolutions, my once-a-year 500 mile camping trip/truck show adventure in Blythe, California, is over.
Over for a whole year. In trying to recover from this realization, I figured the best thing to do would be to tell you how it went. I have to admit, I kind of shut down the two days before our 3-day adventure, feeling overwhelmed at all that "should" get done compared to what was actually getting done. However, I did have the truck aligned (the first time EVER!), and was able to clean it up a little and get it into kind-of-okay shape.
We got off to a somewhat late start Friday morning, about an hour later than we had hoped. Eventually, my packed-down S-10 and my brother's Toyota, snuggled on a trailer, hit open desert road, Reso-bound for yet another year. I soon realized that I had forgotten my CD's, but what's new?
At least this year I knew what to expect, so hitting the barren, isolated Fairgrounds that appeared to be nothing more than a desert oasis did not prompt me to think, "I did NOT drive 250 miles for THIS!"
Now thankfully, we had some runners ahead of us who had scoped out and saved a spot for us. There's nothing like arriving in darkness, only to park in someone else's marked territory (which you had no clue you were doing), and then explaining how you don't want to scrap or throw down or whatever the terms are. So this year, in order to compensate for other years where this had happened, WE put up OUR "DANGER" tape and became that marked territory. Perhaps next year we will build a wall of fire, or a fence, or a fortress of some sort, with peep holes to point our cannons out of.
We were up and ready to move the trucks into the show area at 7AM the next morning, only to find out the rest of the world wasn't quite this awake yet. During roll-in a few hours later, we were told, "Don't drag on the track" (which I had heard as "don't drink in the truck"), as we pulled into the show area for the day. Did you all notice the little spider webs that formed on all the vehicles throughout the day? For example, a door opened for just a few minutes would be draped with a spider web.
My favorite part was after the show, where we cruised the campsite route a few times. I especially liked how a few little girls were holding "drag it!" signs, and how they politely thanked you afterwards. After I had heard a few shouts of "lame" and "weak" aimed towards my truck's inadequacies, I headed back to camp to pass along the same comments to anything that passed by.
That night, the action barely settled down before sunrise. The Freaks of Nature had a fire you could probably see from space, as usual, and there were several fireworks throughout the night.
Can't wait until next year.