Ta-da!!!.. A Jeep!

It is with great excitement that I begin this post. Last Thursday Traci and I acquired a new car, well new to us. The car is old enough to be a collector's vehicle, it's a 1979 Jeep Cherokee Chief S. Surprisingly this car has already made it in my blog, (Archives: "Only in a Jeep") except now we are the proud owners of the car. Traci and I took a few pictures of the car two summers ago when we saw it parked in Walla Walla. We saw it in Craigslist this past November and after test driving it, we decided it would be best to not purchase the car. Nevertheless, knowing how rare these Jeeps are, my days were filled with sorrow and regret over letting this opportunity go by. So it was very exciting to see the vehicle return to craigslist again a couple a weeks ago. Not willing to let the opportunity slip by again, we contacted the owner and sealed the deal. So another offroading rig? Not really, I'm taking care of this one. Here are a few pictures of the newest family member.









In other news. We finally got everything ready to outfit the Plymouth with it's new whitewall tires. It's too sad that the Plymouth has to sit in the snow, but hopefully we can find a nice warm garage for it soon.







"Black-wall tires, they blend into the pavement, but these white-wall tires, they say look at me, here I am, love me." As said by Luigi from the movie Cars.

A Day with Janelle

I received a phone on Friday from Janelle, her message was short and simple, "I'm going to be in Walla Walla for 24 hrs." So with that in mind, you know it was going to be a great weekend.

The goal then for the next 24 hours was to simply have fun. Since snow is a foreign word in the Southern California vocabulary, I knew I had to take her sledding. It turned out to be a good size group, Jimmy, Adrienne, Mark, Kevin, Janelle, Traci and I to be exact. The weather was sunny and warm, however, most of the snow was fairly icy up in the mountains. Kevin brought his enormously large inner tube that he claims it's from his motorcycle, although I have my doubts. On one of the runs, Jimmy thought it would be a good idea to go off a jump in the huge inner tube by myself and somehow, I believed him. As it turns out it wasn't a great idea and now I've got a wound to prove it. The good news is that I'm the only one that got injured from the group.

Once we arrived back to the car, Traci took out the hot chocolate and we drank our sorrows away. It was great. To complete the day, we took Janelle contra dancing so she can obtain the complete Walla Walla experience. I didn't have plans to participate but after taking 600 milligrams of Ibuprofen, I was good to go for about two songs.

You know, I'm not sure why I tend to laugh when I cry or when I'm in pain. Regardless of the reason, I took my pain like a man but deep inside I cried like a little girl.

Hudson dealership?

Last night Traci and I went to take pictures of this old house that caught on fire last summer. The house is in the middle of a neighborhood so I was afraid to get too close and make the neighbors call the cops. (It has happened before and I didn't want to deal with them again) On our way back home I decided to take a picture of a fade Hudson sign in downtown Walla Walla. I'm not sure if this building was ever a Hudson dealership or if it was even related to the automobile. Nevertheless, it's pretty neat.

New Tires for the 48 Plymouth

Once the snow melted, Traci and I noticed that the left rear tire on the Plymouth was completely flat. I attempted to put air in it but it was to no use, the tire is way too old. We don't want the car resting on the rim and they don't exactly mass produce these tires anymore. So after discussing our options, we've decided to get a set of 4 new ply polyester white wall tires. We have also figured that since we are going to paint the rims in the future, this would be the ideal time.

Luckily the rain and wind died down today, so I took the opportunity to place the car on jack stands and remove the tires. (a common site in the Los Angeles area) I was actually quite lucky because it began to rain as soon as I took the last tire off. This weather, so unpredictable.

I am happy to be doing this in the winter because it would be a different story in the summer when all the bugs and insects are living large. It would be a pretty creepy site. Anyway, the plan is to have the rims sandblasted and then painted black just as they were when the car rolled out of the factory. Once we get the rims finished, we'll mount the new set of white wall tires on. Quite exciting.

I should point out that the screws on these older cars have a "R" and a "L" stamped on it. That stands for the direction that the screw tightens. The term, "Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosy" does not apply on these cars.

Christmas Break

This Christmas Traci and I made plans to spend the Holidays here in town with my mom and sister. To make it official, we packed our bags and traveled the whole 1.2 miles across town and stayed at my mom's place for several nights.

We began Christmas Day by opening presents and Mushu (our cat) did not hesitate in opening his presents before everyone else. After opening presents and having a good meal, we decided to go sledding at the foothills since it was quite a nice sunny day. I was dumb not to take any pictures once we got up to the hills because I don't I will ever see the valley as white as I did that day.

Even though all the snow made it a hassle to get to places, it sure was fun while it lasted. Man, having my Jeep makes a snowy environment twice as fun. Overall, it was a great break, especially with Traci's parents visiting for New Year's.