Easter Update

in #vanlife7 years ago

It's Easter, that time of the year when a lot of you will be celebrating our long cultural connection to the lost religious art of human sacrifice. For me it's near enough to the anniversary of the loss of my precious Bandit last year that it'll stand in as a day of remembrance for his furry butt. The weather has also chosen to mock this Easter Sunday here in the high mountain meadows. There's a very light dusting of snow on the grass this morning that is probably going to hang around until noon, when the temperature is expected to pass freezing on it's way to a high in the low 40's today. Once the day's gloom/rejoicing over the loss and return of the imagined Christ figure is over we're looking at mid sixty degree weather for the rest of the week.

I did manage to get my tiny bit of shopping done yesterday and spend a bit of time with my friend Chip. He hasn't done anything with his Vette since I last saw it save for the in dash stereo he's trying to rewire. It's running fine but since he lacks a valid driver's license (and insurance), driving it around is a bit more of a thrill ride than one might naturally assume a jaunt in a Corvette to be. He expects he'll eventually be caught and when that happens he'll go immediately to jail, on account of an outstanding warrant, and not SOLELY on the total lack of a driver's license and insurance. He's fairly blase' about his predicament, having spent enough time in jail that I think he sees it as a second home. The way him and his wife are fighting these days he might be looking forward to a change of environment.

I paid him the last twenty I owed him for the New Year's Nellybelle repairs when he mentioned it, but then he seemed a bit hesitant to take it, concerned that it might be my last twenty. I assured him that paying him hurt me to the core, but I'd be fine nonetheless, and besides, I'd deferred that last twenty dollar payment out long enough (It was for all the fluids we replaced). His boarder, a 55 year old Mexican-American named Noel was there as well, and as always, we chatted about the terms and conditions of his situation. Noel is still looking for a more suitable, stable and less hectic arrangement than he has with Chip but I have been unable to locate anything for him that would fit the bill.

Noel asked me for a ride to run a few errands, the last of which was to the liquor store where he was intent on buying me something as a show of gratitude for my time and gas. I showed him the rather diminutive bottle of Fireball cinnamon whiskey I had purchased three weeks earlier when making the same run with him. It was nearly empty from three weeks worth of nothing more than "wetting my lips " a couple times a day. He came out of the liquor store, jumped in the van and handed me a much heftier bottle of cinnamon flavored whiskey juice than I'd have purchased myself. Gotta be two or three months worth of lip-wetting cinnamon whiskey in the bottle he gave me. Thanks Noel!

When I dropped him back off at the house, Chip was standing outside looking at some dude's car. The hood was up and he was fiddling with some carburetor screws. I said my goodbyes, but before I drove off he handed me an old vape mod that he'd found somewhere, most likely while on one of his dumpster diving excursions. It wasn't one I was familiar with and it lacked a tank, but I took it and headed north to my estate at Drake and College, very near Vape Colorado where I did a quick Google on the particulars of the device.

A Dovpo E-lvt. Turns out it's about three years old, originally retailed for about eighty bucks, and it's claim to fame is it's water-resistance and near indestructibility. Once I realized that it had a replaceable 18650 lithium battery I went into VapeCo and my favorite vape store employee, Dylan, fixed me up with a nicely discounted 18650 battery because the one I found inside the device looked a bit discolored and there's no sense taking a chance on a bad lithium battery. Trust me on this.

Once the battery was replaced the vape ran like new. Because of it's age it lacks the ability to run the larger, more powerful sub-ohm vape tanks but it's perfectly well suited to the lower power tanks as well as all the CBD/THC vape tanks in my collection. As an aside, it's the only vape mod I own with a built in flashlight that can also double as an emergency charger for a cellphone! I'm currently using it to run my Aspire Nautilus 2 tank, what I'd refer to as my low power 'sipping' tank. So I'll be sipping vape juice and cinnamon whiskey this fine Sunday morning while the rest of you are dressing pretty for church and doing your traditional all-sins-are-relative "Red Lobster" family lunches. I haven't set my menu for today yet. I did a pound of bacon for dinner yesterday. Apple smoked. Delish.

#hoboheretic Enjoy.