Curse of Coalinga

And it makes sense for Apartheid to go on in Davis since Davis is ethnically made up of 25% people of German and English heritage - historically two very oppressive cultures. I guess it is just in this town's genes. -RobRoy (in "Davis Apartheid")

The Journey Home - a 25 hour odyssey
I. Relatively Distracting
   I finally set off from Davis for Orange County around 5pm, Sunday. First I got gas and stopped by my aunt and uncle, Ben & Bev's place because I wanted to drop off some honey for them. Arriving there however, I find that not only are Ben & Bev there, but two other aunts/uncles (Jim & Donna and Mike & Sherry) and the four associated childrens.
   They offered me dinner but I valiantly resisted. Then I had Mike help me figure out how high the oil was on the oil-checking-thing, and he thought he smelled gas. We dismissed the concerns however and finally I set off.
II. Pleasantvilleton
   Next I drivemobiled myself down to Pleasanton, about an hour and a half south, where Miss Kristy Heidenberger was with her family. Had dinner there, Kristy made a sumptuous dessert, and I ended up spending the night on the couch there.
III. The Curse of Coalinga
   Monday (yesterday) I left there around 10am, having waited for morning traffic to disperse, and commenced driving down the central valley. As previously mentioned, the gas gauge does not work, nor does the temperature gauge, and the speedometer and odometer are not visible in the dark as their light went out...
   But it was pleasant. It remained overcast nearly the whole time, which I appreciated, and everything was green. Additionally, Kristy packed me sandwiches for lunch because she's strong sauce like that.
   Then a mile or two from Coalinga, the car died. It just kind of stopped accelerating - it decelerated at the same right regardless of whether or not my foot was on the gas. I pulled over right in front of an onramp, let it chillax for a minute or two, and then successfully reversed it up the onramp (this is in the middle of nowhere mind you, onramp leads to a two lane road with no cars on it). This being relatively successful I drove about the road up there and the car seemed to have no problems. I got back on the freeway and proceeded to Coalinga.
   Pulled in to the same station as last time and filled up with gas. Hamid, the mechanic that removed the rock from Kristy's break, thus averting our fiery death, was there, but fairly busy.
   The gas tank also appeared to be leaking (while I was at the service station talking to mum on the phone, a puddle formed under the car's gas tank), but it wasn't empty and that appears to be an unrelated problem. Recall smell of gas earlier.
   And that wasn't even the first time the car broke down there either. Once before it broke down at Coalinga with Tobin in it. Or maybe it was the other car, but either way, Coalinga appears to be cursed.
   So I set off again and aside from getting mired in rush hour traffic in LA, I arrived without further incident.
IV. Homecoming
   After being in transit for 25 hours, driving for 8, and in miserable traffic for the previous 2, I arrived home around 6pm to find no one home and all the doors locked.
   Fifteen minutes later they returned (they all scampered off to get something noterized?!), with a mushroom and olive (and other stuff) pizza. I hate olives. I loathe mushrooms.
V. Postlogue: More Crashing to Come
   Reportedly, younger brother Eric applied his vehicle to the freeway median an hour or two ago. No further word on the effects of this. Developing...


Related
   Mother's Entry on today.

The Chancellor Discusses Cow Tipping

   The following is an actual interchange of emails between Kris Fricke and UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef:

From Kris Fricke to Chancellor Vanderhoef:
Chancellor Vanderhoef,

During my four years here at UC Davis I have been under the impression that "cow tipping" was an expellable offense here at UC Davis. Recently it has come to my attention that a respectable website (wikipedia.org) states that cow tipping is not physically feasible and the possibility of doing so is actually an urban legend. In light of this I wanted to confirm whether or not such a rule exists here at UC Davis. If this rule does exist I'd like to note it on Daviswiki.org as well, a site rising quickly in relevancy to the entire Davis community.

I am sure that there are other officers of UC Davis that are probably more specifically qualified to answer this question, but not knowing who they were I thought the most efficient thing might be to have your staff (whomever processes your email) send this down the hierarchy in the appropriate direction.

Kris Fricke
Chief Justice, ASUCD Court


From Chancellor Vanderhoef to Kris Fricke:
Dear Kris:

Student Affairs Vice Chancellor Judy Sakaki will be following up on this and get back to you. In the meantime, so far as I know there is no "cow tipping" policy or rule on campus. At least I have not run across it during my twenty years here. An urban legend...?

Larry N. Vanderhoef