25 Feb 2017 - Using Rental Cars for a Muscle Car fix

I like muscle cars. I have my father to thank for that. When I was younger we would often go to car shows (such as the annual Atwood Lake Fall Fest). He would tell me of his glory days in the 60's and 70's and share all kinds of stories about the various cars we would see. For the longest time he had a dream to own a 1969 Dodge RT Charger. However, the years moved on and so did his dream.

I am still not ready to buy a car again, but I did need to run some errands to some stores that would be much easier in a vehicle. Most muscle and sport cars are way too fuel inefficient and expensive on insurance to actually be a practical daily driver. A few years ago I realized I could at least "get my fix" by just renting one for a day or two.

So I walked over to the John Wayne airport and asked my Hertz Gold rep what they could do for me. Here is what they had for me.

The Good - A convertible is almost always a fun choice for the California sun
The Bad - a V6 just doesn't have the horse power or sound that I desire, but the fuel economy is slightly better (when I returned on Sunday, they said I just missed out on the Shelby GT)

I ended up visiting the stores I needed to visit then opted for a few hours of driving to my favorite seafood resturant in San Marcos, the Fish-house Veracruiz. I love the Fish Kabobs!

20 Feb 2017 - Living Life Car-Free (another experiment)

On February 6th I said goodbye to my car, a mechanical companion of the last 8 years. It saved me during a time of high fuel prices and I practically lived out of it during my move to California in 2015. As part of Volkswagen's "diesel gate" settlement, I sold my car back to them for a nominal sum of cash.

Car being Inspected at Dealership

A few years ago, when I lived about half a mile from work I had a question on my mind. What would life be like without a car? I've been driving in some shape or form for the last 20 years. I've dealt with all the financial implications including car payments, fuel costs, insurance, constant maintenance, expensive repairs, and a few driving awards from the state highway patrol. At that time, the harsh winters of Ohio reminded me that...well umm...idea would suck.

I had about a year to plan for this event. Yet, I spent most of that time feeling indecisive. Here were some of the other options...

• Buy the Dodge Challenger R/T I've had my eyes on since 2009 - This is a throwback to a dream my father used to have in the 1960-70s. In 2013 I took one of the most amazing road trips of my life. Here are some photos




• 
  
• Buy the Ford Mustang GT  as a throwback (update) to my late teens/early 20s
• Here was my 1996 GT: 
  
• Buy another VW, a Golf GTI, a fun little turbo I rented a few years ago that I really enjoyed driving (strangely enough I actually still like the VW brand, even if they are professed cheaters)

• 
  
• Buy a cheap used minivan for my ultimate weekend surfing/camping adventures
• 
  

Three of these options require me to go back into debt...I really want to avoid that state as long as I can. Two of these options support my surfing hobby;moreover, transporting an 8ft. board is not easy. I am still once bitten - twice shy from 2009's $5 a gallon gas prices.

Summary of Car Free Living-

For the past three weeks, my indecisiveness has meant quite a few walks to and from work (.65 miles one way) and many rides through the Uber App. Going to the Grocery Store requires extra planning as I either have to use a collapsible cart (I feel like a little old lady; absolutely ridiculous) or buy only what I can carry 0.8 miles. Going to my 6am workout on Tuesday and Thursday means starting out on a 1.7 mile run around 5:30am and hopefully having enough energy to run 1.7 miles back for a shower before another 0.6 mile walk to work. Going to the bank means planning a 4 mile round trip walk or bike ride (bike requires additional planning and prep + lock).

On the bright side, I am getting more exercise.

With a few business trips coming up, I don't feel any hurry to buy something that is just going to sit in the parking garage. Maybe I will rent a car for a day or two....Stay Tuned...

5 Feb 2017 - A weekend of Adventures

Recently, my mother paid me a visit. This was also occurring simultaneously on a half marathon weekend. What to do?

We started out on Friday with a train ride to San Diego. The goal was to visit the San Diego Zoo.

On Saturday we headed up to Long Beach and took a tour of the Queen Mary ship. I am really proud of myself for the number of times I did not make a Titanic reference. The tour and our guide was rather educational.



Sunday, race day, was mostly about me torturing myself with exercise while enjoying Huntington beach. I signed up for this one last year but had to skip it for a work trip. As far as half marathons are concerned, I had a very good run!

14 January 2017 - Road Trip to Idyllwild

With winter break in full swing, not a great deal of travel opportunities have arisen for me over the last month. I've started to feel a little stir-crazy. Based on a google search of places to visit in CA, I took an impromptu road trip a few hours from the coast into the mountains. My goal was to visit Idyllwild!

I started out by enjoying a drive on scenic, and sometimes terrifying, state route 74 also called the Ortega Highway. This area is mainly part of the Cleveland national forest. You can be sure I made a joke about leaving Cleveland. The crazy part of this road ends during a steep descent into the City of Lake Elsinore.


It was around 2pm in the afternoon and the sun had been setting around 5pm. I was hoping there was only about another hour to my destination. Continuing on the CA74 I passed through the City of Hemit and a few other small desert towns. About an hour later, I found myself in the San Bernardino National Forest.


Once again I found myself zig-zagging into the mountains on narrow, steep roads. As signs started indicating I might be in need of tire ice chains I started to get a little worried. A few cars coming down the mountain had a few inches of unmelted snow on the roofs and hoods. But, after 2 hours of driving, I found myself at my destination (a mile above sea level).


It appeared to have snowed here the night before...

The unincorporated community of Idyllwild is a nice little mountain town, home to a few thousand people and is popular for its Arts and Outdoor activities. I got to meet Mayor Max:




I wandered around and enjoyed a few shops and some people watching. As the sun started to set, I started my drive back down the mountain, hoping to not get stuck in the dark (and a snow storm) on the steep winding roads. As a final gift for the day, I enjoyed a beautiful mountain sunset. Somehow, my soul needed that...

13 Jan 2017 - Sunset

Here is a nice sunset I caught this past week on one of my many visits to Crystal Cove state park...Enjoy

22 Dec 2016 - Another Sunny Day in Cal-I-Forn-I-A (maybe?)

Ah winter time. It is a special time of the year where I torment family and friends about their horrible weather while I sit here in California enjoying forever summer. Over the last few weeks I have enjoyed some awesome sunrises and sunsets. I've also had a few nice hikes and runs. Here are a few photos of a typical day.

Karma, as it seems, is not without a sense of humor. For the last 2 days it has been raining non-stop. But don't worry about me, as I will not go down without a....ummm...umbrella.

3 December 2016 - Homeless-Nomadic By Choice (Experiment)

By a convenient combination of my rental lease expiring, my Japan Vacation, and a bunch of work trips happening all at the same time I got to be homeless (some say nomadic) by choice.

About 8 years ago, fresh into my first home purchase without doing the proper math, I had myself a "delightful" panic attack as I tried to sleep each night. At that time my mortgage, insurance, and maintenance costs on the house used up about 130% of my paycheck. For reference, a healthy amount is 30%. I ended up about 120k$ in debt after one year ($100k I owed on that Ohio house). One mistake at work, one bad illness, one other catastrophic life event and I would lose it all and be stuck. Being a problem solver, I tried to come up with a solution, at least that took my mind off the issue.

One source of curious inspiration I came across was a random blog by Glenn Campbell. He had been laid off from an airline job, but retained the free travel perk. Living on savings and writing income, he traveled around the world. I found a lifestyle I wanted to emulate.

That's not normal according to society's standard! What standard is that? Well for most of my youth, I was bombarded with tv and other media telling me the best possible life (the only life) I should live is to buy a big house, get married, and have as many kids as I could. In the process I should consume constantly! I HATE THAT STANDARD! After escaping it's slavery, I choose to fight it!

Here is what I did:
I knew my current rental lease was coming to an end. Thanks to a vacation and some work trips it was not worth my time to rent for at least 2 months. I rented a storage garage for 170$ a month and whatever I didn't sell/recycle/trash went in it.

Everything that I own (the car is at the airport)-

I also got a postal box at a local shipping store ($200 for a year). I needed some way to get mail without a physical address and this works surprisingly well.

In the end here was where I went-
3 weeks in Japan (Hostels)
1 day in California (hotel)
1 week in Cleveland (work-hotel)
1 week in South Africa (work-hotel)
4 days in London (hotel)
5 days in California (free hotel on points)
1 week in Texas (work-hotel)
1 week in Cleveland (work-Hotel)
1 week in Magnolia (stayed with family)
3 days in Columbus (stayed with a friend)

Lessons Learned

I was able to save a few paychecks worth of income and boost my emergency savings accounts the way I wanted.

In the end I was starting to get burned out worrying about where I would stay next.

It is hard to eat healthy and workout while traveling

This weekend I signed a lease (and most of my income) away to the stability of a nice apartment. This used to stress me out, but this time around feels really good and relaxing.

Avoid debt - enjoy the freedom. It took me nearly 10 years to break my chains (and it could have been prevented).

I really don't need all that many possessions to survive in this world. It is much less stressful when you don't have anything worth stealing.

Someday I want to try #VanLife