Friday, July 20, 2001
I left work early Friday and picked up Mauvaise at her chur…er…office in Phoenix. When she got in the truck, it turned out she’d left Shayna’s phone number and directions to her house at home. However, she did have the directions memorized, buuuut we decided it would be best to stop by Mauvaise’s place and pick those things up, just in case. Leaving before rush hour, we figured on a quick ride to LA, but as we entered I-10 from Hwy 51, we were momentarily discouraged by the traffic resulting from the confluence of I-10, the 202, 51, and the Jersey Turnpike. Fortunately the traffic quickly dispersed and we were on our way.
It is a boring stretch of desert road between Phoenix and LA. Fortunately we had some good tunes to listen to: swing, blues, Scottish and English folk tunes, bluegrass, and other miscellaneous styles. Thank God the speed limit is 75 mph in AZ and 70 mph in CA. I can’t imagine making that trip while having to worry about a 55 speed limit.
We finally pulled up to Shayna’s place about 5.5 hours after leaving Phoenix. It was great to meet Shayna and Scotti in person. Scotti seemed quiet at first (although every bit as nice as I expected), but got to talking more as the night went on. One thing I noticed is that I was surrounded by redheads. A dream come true, but better not piss anyone off! 
After unloading my truck, we went for a walk along Redondo Beach. It was a beautiful night–cool, but not too chilly. We discussed a number of stirring topics, such as pesky testicles.
After we got back from our walk, Shayna blew up her air mattress (Vroom! Vroom!). We chatted for a while longer, posted a little bit, and went to sleep at about 1:30 AM.
Saturday, July 21, 2001**
At about 6:15AM, I woke up on the couch to Shayna’s nudging me and asking me if I was going to go running. Reluctantly, I decided to go ahead and do so since it’s not often that I get to run on the beach. I ran down to the pier then noticed that I was out of beach (dammit, I had gone the wrong way), so I kept running down the street to the marina and back.
I hopped into the shower when I got back and discovered that Shayna has a very high-pressure shower head. This is great for rinsing the shampoo out of your hair, but you really need to watch your weiner while rinsing your front side (I think I was the only one there who noticed this).
After we got ready and packed, we went to pick up Mercutio. He rode with me, so that Mauvaise could ride with Shayna and smoke (smoking is not allowed in the Straingermobile, although Mauvaise was thoughtful enough to assume this to be the case before we embarked on our trip). I learned during our conversation on the way up that Mercutio is a very intelligent kid, especially for a ten-year-old. I was a pretty smart kid when I was ten too, but not nearly that smart.
At one point, we noticed Shayna trying to run us off the road. We rolled down the window to ask what was up, and she informed us that she needed to use the restroom. Merc and I shook our heads “no” and proceeded to laugh at her mockingly. After a minute or so, I started to feel guilty so I pulled off at the next exit and let her go.
One thing I should mention at this point is that, when thinksnow was lamenting the absence of Stroh in his OP, I thought he was refering to the cheap domestic beer, Stroh’s, and was just too drunk to type that final “'s” (“What the hell does he want Stroh’s so bad for?”) The next morning Mauvaise informed me that he was refering to a type of rum, which makes my reply post either smartass on a different level, or idiotic; I can’t decide which. Anyway, on the way up I tried at two different places to either buy a bottle or six-pack of Stroh’s. I was going to peel off the final “'s” and give it to ts when I reached SLO and say something like, “Here. Here’s your Stroh.” Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any Stroh’s in CA either, so my attempt at a practical joke was thwarted.
We got up to SLO and ran into Demo and psycat at our hotel. After unloading, we met up with slackergirl and most of the rest of the Dopers at the IHOP next to the Madonna. We ate lunch and went back to the Pick and Shovel room at the Madonna, where we successfully prevented boli, Sea Diver, and ValerieBlaise from taking a nap.
It was great to sit down and talk to a number of Dopers who I’ve wanted to meet for a long time (like, since April '99 when I registered), including Demo, Doobie, psycat, pat, and Kyla. There were also a number of other Dopers who I didn’t know as well from the boards, but was damn pleased to met nonetheless.
Had a great dinner at the Mission Grill. Excellent choice, and very accomodating to our large group.
We soon got back to the Madonna, and the partying ensued. Demo has reported it quite well, and I see that my post is getting just friggin’ long. One thing I will note is that the walls outside the rooms of the Madonna would be great rock-climbing walls, if they weren’t so damn short. I had a blast talking with everyone there and getting to know them in person.
The post-Madonna partying was a blast too. I haven’t partied like that (crammed under the shell of a pickup, out to the dance club, almost arrested on the beach, crammed onto a double bed with eight other people) in about ten years, when I was in college.
I apologize to my roommates at Los Padres for my rude entrance at 3:30AM. The doorknob coming off caught me off guard, especially when it almost landed on my foot and went bouncing across the tile floor. Also, I’ll try not to growl so loudly next time.
Sunday, July 22, 2001
I woke up to discover exactly who I was sharing a room with (Virtee, Rasa, Monster104, and zyzyva) and how much racket I had made when I came in, and even after I’d gone to sleep.
We all got cleaned up, packed, and checked out and went to IHOP for a final farewell breakfast. Mauvaise and I ordered first so we could get moving. After eating, we said our goodbyes and hit the road.
For the most part, the trip was all right, except for the fact that I ran into four frigging traffic jams before I got out of the LA area. The rest of the trip went rather smoothly, however. I couldn’t believe the number of traffic cops who were out yesterday, both in CA and AZ. I kept it under 100 just to be safe.
I had a blast this weekend. Many thanks to Pat, Doob, and slackergirl for setting it all up. It was great to meet everyone live and in color. Now I’m missing everyone and wishing we all didn’t live so far away from each other. 
Looking forward to getting out there again sometime!
Kyla thanks for filling me in on Yiddish versus Hebrew words (oy!) Woody, No. Seadiver, nice panties 
Scotti is such a lovely woman and I’m very glad she made it down from Washington. She was even nice about my waking her up when I got cold and decided I wanted to cuddle.