Junkyard

I wonder if there's a human equivalent to a junkyard. Maybe an organ transplant facility. That's probably dramatic. I spent some time in my local junkyard today. I was looking for a rear wiper motor for my trusty '03 Subaru Legacy. I found it within 1 minute of walking through the gates. You almost never want it to be that easy. You know what I mean? It takes the fun out of the experience. So I walked on to the other Subaru's farther back in the lot just to explore and see what else was hiding.

The other rule about scrounging in a yard is that you almost never come home with just the thing you set out to get.I'm always looking for cool badges or interior goodies. One time I even found an old cellphone that still worked. Today I found an '04 Forester with a mint interior. I grabbed the leather shift boot. Only $3!

After I couldn't find another wiper motor I decided to turn back to the Legacy in the front. The hatch turned out to be locked so I had to compete with the fuel tank and myriad of toddler toys for space. A few acrobatic stunts later and the motor was out. That meant I had plenty of time to look around for oddballs.

I'm not sure what the deal is with this particular junkyard. There always seems to be a Fiat 124/2000 Spider laying around. Today there were two parked next to each other, rotting. They were both rough and picked to bits. I know Fiat sold them for over a decade but it just seems peculiar that I can always find one there. I wonder if a Fiat collector lives in the area and picks them for parts then ditches the CARcass.

Anyways that was my little trip today. Moral of the story, instead of paying $80.00 for a new wiper motor, I found one good as new for $13 and learned something. Good deal, no?

The More The Merrier(?)

It's greed. It has to be.

When I try to justify it I get so close and then I think to myself,"this is silly."

"But Alex, you need one for every occasion, just like a nice suit or timepiece. If you can think of the right occasion you NEED it."

I'm talking about cars. I get these impulsive waves to buy buy buy. Luckily I never follow through with my ideas. You know what I mean? I see a car and I imagine myself driving it to a particular song or in a particular part of town and feeling great and then I'm hooked. I think this wave of feverish dreams was spurred on by 2 factors. Firstly, the weather is finally starting to get warmer and I've been able to wrench outside comfortably. Secondly, my friend is trying to buy a Porsche and he has been sending me a lot of ads. No way could I afford a Porsche but maybe a beat up little Fiat 500? Possibly.

When I catch myself day dreaming or scanning car ads, which is exactly what I was doing before I started to write, I'll catch myself justifying why I need a new car. It's ridiculous. Right now the gap I'm trying to fill is the period of time where the weather is too poor to drive my '66 Coronet but nice enough where there's no salt on the roads. Think late fall and early spring. I'd like something somewhat modern, maybe from the 80's or 90's that's fuel injected and has a functioning heater. Makes sense right?

I also just want another toy to fiddle around with. I just want something that has major aftermarket support. Bolt on parts, lots of forum info, also an "enthusiast" type of car. I found a nice '95 BMW 318ti in my town but even that I think is priced too high. I've been cruising for projects on my personal favorite website; Bring A Trailer, Japanese Classics LLC, Autotrader, and Facebook Marketplace. I ask myself nervously, "Is Miata the answer?" 

My daily driven/winter beater 2003 Legacy Wagon is just about to cross the 200,000 mile mark which also adds to my anxiety about the situation. Last summer I drove it 15 hours straight to the Outer Banks and it was a champ. How long will it last? She's been my trusty steed for almost 6 years now and I really love it and don't want to part with it but if something catastrophic happens I can't justify keeping it. Then I have to sack up and decide to buy something new or just another well used treasure.

I guess all I can do is keep saving and searching. Happy hunting.

-Alex

Best Road Trip Snacks

Essential Road Trip Snacks

These are the best road trip snacks, backed by science (kind of). Road trips are already stressful so why add cheese dust and greasy fingers to the mix? With this list of essential snacks you'll be sure to keep the miles (and smiles) rolling for hours.

As someone, who for 22 years only exclusively traveled on the ground, I've had plenty of time to deliberate on what the perfect grouping of gas station snacks are. This list covers the essentials, proteins, carbs, sugar, caffeine, and cheese.

If you're like me road trips are usually reserved for summer time and destinations are typically somewhere warm. Why not start your morning with a cold caffeinated beverage? Monster, the company that hydrates local Kyles and Chads has a line of canned coffee. Caffe Monster (has a luxurious ring to it, no?) offers a rather extensive selection of flavors. You'll find most stores only sell 2; Mean Bean and Loca Moca. Either one is a good choice but I recommend getting one of each. For coffee lovers, they're a little bitter, for skeptics, they're plenty sweet and chocolaty. Yeah you could get other kinds of ice coffee but can you honestly say you'd look cooler with any other brand in your hand? No way (tahaha sick bro). These coffees will have you full, no need for breakfast.

A few hours pass, your stomach starts to rumble and you reach for the chips, the Cheetos, no. You reach for the Combos. This is where the science come into play. Tell me what other snack is more structurally stable than a Combo? Impossible. They are dense thanks to their pretzel and cracker exterior. I (as well as many Nobel Prize-winning scientists) maintain that there is no cleaner snack. They don't crumble or shed cheese dust and you won't be sticky. They fly under the radar but did you know that Charles Francis Richter, inventor of the Richter Scale, deemed Combos the only snack that can hold up to earthquakes. The standard cheese flavor is good but if you want to achieve greatness, go with the pizza flavor.

Absolutely no trip is worth taking if you don't have some some sort of beef jerky. Literally ANY beef jerky is fine. I'm talking in a bag, sticks, links, cubed, shredded. Any will do. It's really not that greasy (unless its in stick form, Slim Jim, I'm talking about you). The only drawback is price, something I hoped Bernie Sanders could remedy. A standard bag of beef jerky runs you $8.00+ almost anywhere I go. If you're balling on a budget, stick with Slim Jims.

Can you guess the last snack? Colorful, sweet, great commercials, shares a name with a rap artist? Back in 1941 I know the Mars Company was looking forward to being a prestigious list such as this. The last essential snack, M&M's. There is delicious candy and there is candy that won't melt in your hand. M&M's combine those two factors. They have flavors for everyone, I've even had jalapeno peanut M&M's and they blew my mind. These, like the Combos, are scientifically superior. M&M's have been to space, astronauts have been eating them above our heads for years. That brings a lot of clout to the table, more so than something like a jellybean or Skittles could ever have. I'm not including Skittles because they are dangerous, they can rip out a filling.

This list will save your drive. Please let me know what other snack items you think should've made it on the list and I'll tell you why you're wrong.