Avast ye bricks!

So it's Sunday Night and I'm posting a weekend report for the previous weekend.
Onwards with the general faffing! :D

Saturday Sep. 19th was International Talk Like A Pirate Day, so I wore my one pirate-themed t-shirt.
I took care of some stuff, then headed down to Vista, CA, for the big combined Lego user group meeting.
Vista is East of Oceanside, which is itself south of Camp Pendleton, the big-ass US Marines base.
So yeah, it's a bit of a drive. I think it took me about two hours to get there.
I filled up the F(n)ord (St)Ranger at the cheap Arco near my ex-work, reset the tripometer, then did the
La Cienega boogie to rejoin the 405 and bypass the pre-LAX madness. Then I followed the 405 down down
down to the 5 and hit the usual patch of slowdown. Argh!
It eventually cleared up and everybody was doing 80 past the San Onofre nuclear power plant.
The meeting started at 1pm and I got there at 2pm. So, pretty much my usual arrival time for these things.
There was a lot of people there. I estimate about 40 people at one time.
The meeting had attendees from both LUGOLA (my group) and SANDLUG (the Sand Diego Lego user group).
There were some nifty MOCs on display, but I didn't take any photos, because Tim blocked my box with all
his stuff and I couldn't get to my camera. He brought this huge military Hummvee that was too stubby.
One guy had some "Crimson Skies" inspired airplanes. I want to build some airplanes like that.
I brought along the SCAP strike package, Weapon M, a flying sub I built from an Agents set last month,
and a new mothership with detachable fighters MOC I had finished that week. I also brought Space Carrier
Saratoga, the big ugly blocky thing I built from the Mega Bloks contained in The Tub.
Few people seemed to notice it was Mega Bloks. I overhead a couple of guys talking about it though:

Guy 1: "Hey, that's Mega Bloks."
Guy 2: "What, the boat?"
G1: "Yeah."
G2: "Who the hell brings a Mega Bloks MOC to a LUG meeting?"
G1: "Probably some kid."
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

There was the usual club activities, along with plenty to eat and drink. I met a lot of new people whom
I'm probably not gonna see again because they're SANDLUG members and I don't attend their meetings.
I got a phone call from Jean-Louis, who alerted me that his cousin was ready to lend us the boat to take
care of Pascal's ashes this weekend. Since I was out of town, we agreed on Sunday afternoon.
It was really hot in there, so I slipped out and went to sit outside on the lawn. It was cooler outside.
There were already people there too. :)
As people started leaving, things got a little silly. I grabbed Space Carrier Saratoga and started gently
poking random people with it, saying "oh nooooooo, it's Mega Bloks. It's touching YOU! The horror!".
It was all in good fun. And I was the biggest and tallest guy there, so no one dared try anything! :D
The meeting lasted a good long while, eventually breaking up around 6pm.
I packed my stuff and started the long drive home, which was faster than the drive in, of course.
It was getting to be dinner time, and I was famished, having only nibbled on a few things at the meeting.
So I stopped at the Inglewood Blvd. In-N-Out Burgers, which is, like, right next to the freeway.
I mean, seriously! You get off the 405 and you're in the In-N-Out parking lot! CONVENIENT! :D
I had a couple of Double-Doubles, fries, and a drink and it was the most delicious meal of the week!
Eventually, I got home and plotzed.


Sunday Sep. 20th: I drove to Malibu to meet Jean-Louis at his cousin's house. We took the boat out and
committed Pascal's ashes to the Ocean. All the details are in the next post, which is friends-only.
The post contains many photos and is of a personal nature, hence the friends-only lock.


So yeah, there was a lot of driving that weekend. Much of it was freeway driving.
This explains why I've squeezed the most miles out of a tank of gas EVAR!
I normally get somewhere between 220 and 250 miles on one tank.
Check THIS out:



That's what the tripometer and gas gauge looked like Sunday Night, after I got back from Malibu.
287.7 miles! And the gas gauge needle is barely touching the edge of the red area.
When I refilled the (St)Ranger the next day, the tripometer was reading 295.5 miles.
Trip out!
My old '94 Ford Explorer (Simba) had a similar engine and gas tank and it never gave more than 240 miles.