It’s good to be home from vacation. My week of sleeping on couches is over. I slept on three different couches in two different states. Remarkably, all were different, yet all were comfortable. Unlike our last road trip through the same parts (see previous post), the road trip with Charles was also very different and very comfortable. The 1991 road trip was all about racing across the country at top speed on cramped sport bikes, sleeplessly running from demons and tornadoes, all fueled by alcohol and youthful stupidity. This trip was about two middle-aged men in a Suburban, talking a lot and eating from a bag of carrot sticks. Frankly, there is not much more to tell.
On Monday, I drove to Dallas and met Charles at the airport, where I left my car for the return trip. Charles had brought a surprise gift for me – a very special pair of loudspeakers. Charles had remembered my fascination with these speakers when we were young. I loved their unique design, but at $500 a pair in 1986, they were beyond my reach. Twenty years later, Charles was reading letters that I sent to him while I was in the Air Force and came across one in which I mentioned these. So, he found a pair on eBay, refurbished them for me and that is how I came to be the proud new owner of a pair of Design Acoustic PS-10s.
What makes the speakers unique is that they have a small form factor (about a 1′ cube), but the main cabinet is held over a built-in stand by about an inch, which allows for a downward-firing 10″ woofer. I only just now noticed that DA called this the “Bass Base.” LOL. I found an obscure little forum that concerns itself with old Design Acoustic speakers here and they had posted some original literature, which I reposted on my flickr page for posterity.
Click the brochure for more information about the PS-10 loudspeakers.
This is boring Jimmy. Get back to the road trip.
Well, that’s the thing, you see. This is very representative of our road trip. After meeting his family of girls and spending the night at his house (specifically in his media room on couch #1), Charles and I woke-up at 5:30 AM on Tuesday and spent the next 15 hours talking about stuff like stereos, cars (lots about cars), our history, our other road trips, and the awesome new 80 MPH speed limit in West Texas, as well as other, more lightweight subjects like religion and politics. We checked into the hotel, got some sleep (couch #2), woke-up and then talked some more. We didn’t do much of anything.
On Wednesday, we did a recce of the bicycle course, Charles went for a brief ride and run, and then we had an awesome lunch at Med Fresh Grill, a Turkish restaurant that we found near the ASU campus (thanks to Shawn Olsen for the tip).
We caught a showing of Quantum of Solace (my second) and then we went back to the campus area, where I barely got the last order of fish and chips before the kitchen closed at a traditional Irish Pub, Rúla Búla. No, it is really an Irish pub, built in Ireland and then shipped over here. Like a kit, I guess. Anyway, it seemed authentic enough to me, until the loud hip hop started playing on the patio, where we were seated. I asked the impossibly young, impossibly perky waitress about it (is that a smiley face she drew on my ticket?) and she said that was normal after 9 PM. Ugh. The pint of Guinness Extra Stout on draft made it all better, though.
I flew back to Dallas the next day. I stayed with David Sylvester and his family for a couple of days (couch #3) before driving home. I had a good visit with Dave and also got to spend some quality time with my goddaughter. Melynda has an awesome imagination, so without missing a beat, she and I worked-out a scenario during her play time in which I sat in her restaurant and she served me a meal. I didn’t like the food, so I walked the check. She called the police and I was thrown in jail, after which I was tried and sentenced to community service, which of course involved me working in her restaurant as a kitchen porter washing dishes and such. I wasn’t able to complete the rags-to-riches story by working my way up to head chef before Melynda had to go to bed. So I read a mystery to her, before tucking her into bed. I really need to see her more often; she makes me a better person.
Melynda and Meryn.
Oh, Charles met his personal goal and finished the Ironman. Cheers, mate!
A couple of bonus photos and details about the trip are on my Facebook profile here. I think Facebook is wrecking my already bad blogging habits, but we’ll talk more about that later…on Facebook. D’oh!
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