08/07/03 8:27PM
Leaving Seattle for Utah! Gotta get some gas first. Weather is perfect. Everybody just had some teriyaki. The trip is on!!
08/07/03 8:57PM
Damn I-90 exit 9B on the left. We took it accidentally and had to turn around
08/08/03 12:20AM
We came up to freaking ugly bridge & before that I was hallucinating that a sign looked like a Twinkie. When we came up to the bridge and it was dark and no signs so we are on the freeway and slowing down to 30 mph just to see if it was safe to drive over. It looked like the bridge was straight in the air but not.
08/08/03 12:48AM
TORREY! Misses Twinkies. While he was driving...he start imagining twinkies. When he got to the gas station, he didn't buy twinkies...damn viets..
08/08/03 1:14AM
A firetruck has its lights on but goes slow for some freaking reason and we are following som van that has a Utah license plate.
08/08/03 4:10AM
Second gas stop. Amazingly Torrey's car is still running and getting hella good mileage. About 400 mi a tank! Thanks to Bao's fuel injector cleaners. WellI've been driving the past 3 hrs, very hard to keep awake. But now it's Torrey's turn to drive. I'll be sleeping in the back.
08/08/03 11:40AM Got to Hoang's house, barely. Torrey's car is overheating so we're letting it cool for a second while Hoang gets home from the dentist. This is how Seattle people get treated when they come to Utah. SHAFTED! JK
08/08/03 All Day So after getting into Hoang's house we had HELLA fun...helping them pack up and getting ready to leave for Cali. Ok, maybe it wasn't THAT fun but we're not complaining. So much stuff though, nothing I can't relate to. Then for the rest of the day we just hung around at the house, throwing the football around playing b-ball with Allen and his friends. I was so tired!! Had to like 10 hrs to sleep for the last 2 days. But again, nothing I can't relate. Things didn't pick up until later in the day. We did drive around for a little bit trying to find a BoA (Bank of America). There isn't a BoA in Utah! And there is also ONE Safeway in Utah. ONE! It must be a tourist attraction for people from other states, hehe.
We all got together for Thuy's party up in some mountain trail. It was cool how they can just get together and find a natural place like 15 min away from home. Party didn't last that long before we had to go to this VASA (Viet-American Student Association) thing. Me and Truong stayed back. SO tired and sleepy. WAS about to fall asleep in the car but Someone woke me up. Then I couldn't sleep afterwards anymore. Around night later, we went to help them set up for Vu Lan before heading out to a little peak. Got to see the SLC area from a tall height was nice. Very...flat. So much different from the metropolitan Seattle. Nice view though. Hard to find a free spot to see Seattle from a good view.
Then we went to a supposedly haunted hill where if you put your car in neutral, it will roll down a slope ALL BY ITSELF!! Hah! Also checked out an outdoor mall that was kinda deserted by midnight. All in all it was a nice day. It was relaxing.
P.S. We went through the whole day with Truong's $2. Kinda good that there isn't a BoA around here or else we would have spent more money!
08/09/03 All Day
That was the best 7hrs of sleep I've had in a while. They had their Vu Lan today and we had the honor of being able to help. We got to hold the flags for the anthems. It was a small celebration. Made me think of the one we just had in Seattle. Such a contrast. Where are all the Vietnamese people at?!? They should be gathering around at all these events. I mean, you already live in a place with a small Viet population that is Mormon-controlled, why wouldn't you want to get together and see each other? It's sad. I would expect all the Vietnamese people in the area to show up, but nope. Oh well. I guess that's how it is. Afterwards, while everyone did their stuff, We helped clean up the place and also tried to get the car fixed. There was a tu hoc in a few hours. We were planning to go around and do something stuff after Vu Lan...but by the time we finished cleaning up, we barely had an hour left to go get ready. The tu hoc was very fun. Better than the usual ones that I dread. Talked about things that I can relate to and know about. We were supposed to TAKE notes, but I guess PASSING notes around was ok, too. We actually did less today but I thought it was a lot of fun. Yesterday we were too tired to look like we're having fun. Hitting the road again tomorrow.
08/10/03 8:05AM
We just finally said bye to the PQ family. We watched everyone cry as they have lost 3 people in the PQ family. That's sad. We took a good 10 pictures of PQ. The times we spent down here it was fun, but I think they feel guilty for not showing us the ropes in Utah. But it's okay, the tu hoc was fun we talked about the typical average teenager in the US. It was fun. We just got lost or not really lost just made to go on a detour. Well we are heading to San Jose now. 12 hours. TL.
Sad indeed, be we can't be dwelling in the past now can we? Although we can't feel as bad as they must have, still, it was a little bit down. I'm still in a bit of a shock that this actually happened, this whole trip. Like a month ago, we just met for the first time and hung out for one night and now I just drive 800 mi to visit them. I guess some people are really easy to impress...I mean befriend. It was worth it to me personally. I had fun and it is good to know that the bond between us and them are even stronger. They will come visit us later of course. That is it for now with the PQ part of the trip. Here comes SJ and time with Bac Ho. BN.
08/10/03 All Day Later
That...was one heck of a drive. Lost about 30 min right at the beginning because there was a detour. There was another detour at the ed of the first one. Oh well, that was hardly the worst part of the trip. The road took us across the deserts of Nevada. Why I chose to go across the desert during the day I'm still not sure. Especially when the car is running on a broken radiator. One of the craziest things I've had to do is now this: Putting the heat on HIGH while driving through 100+ weather. It was fun though, some nice sights. That trip was one of the more boring ones and longest ones. Longest as in the mentality of it. Time seemed to stretch out on that trip or something. Well we got there fine and was greeted by a Ho doing jumping jacks.
08/11/03 All Day
That was some good sleep, *thanks James* you were great. Haha, well we didn't do anything last night, just relaxed from the drive and chill at his house and made plans for today. Before heading here, we already had plans to go see a movie *SWAT* with him. But not before getting something to eat. First time going to "In and Out" and it was great. The burgers were greasy, and messy, just like they're supposed to be. Wish they have that in Seattle now, oh well, have to settle for Jacks. Afterwards we headed to the theater, and did a little cheating to save some money. I'm not going into detail of that but it worked. Good movie too as a matter of fact. I suggest you go check it out if you like a good action movie. Then we went to this Vietnamese plaza. Just a whole area of shops and stores and restaurants owned by Vietnamese people. Never seen something like that. I bought a bunch of CDs for the trip home. Mostly cause they were so damn cheap. I mean $1 a CD, crazy. Spent some time there looking around before heading to a real Vietnamese mall. It wasn't that big but it was still a mall. Nothing interesting in there though, it looked a bit deserted too. So many U-turns. That's all you do while driving. Everytime you get out of a parking lot, you're probably going to have to make a U-turn. We decided to go to a real mall after that place. Reminds me a lot of Bellevue Square, only a little bigger. A lot of stores. We didn't even go all around it and it was already getting tiring. Around evening, his uncle called and told us to go home to eat dinner, which we complied. I had bun rieu, it was good. After eating dinner, we all went to play some b-ball at the park near the house. My side started hurting cause I just got filled up. We played til it was dark and then went to Nickel City. I wish Seattle has that too. So damn cheap for games. 30cents for a game of DDR! It's not even funny. Everything is like a quarter to play. It'd be nice if they have more newer games. Time Crisis 3 is stil good enough though. Then we all went bowling! We bowled for almost two games before all of us are tired. I know James was tired cause he just did 40 push ups. Also did a little cheating to save some money. We're good guys, believe me. Just trying to save some money. Went home, and knocked out.
08/12/03
Last day of the trip. We went to get some breakfast together. Real restaurant this time. Bought some food for the trip back and it was time to say goodbye again. James cried so much again, made me cry. Torrey was crying too but he said he got chili in his eye. JK. We've done enough crying first time. Gotta take it like men now *sniff sniff*. Nah. James' about to be back in Seattle in about a month. For my birthday....I think. Hehe. That was it before getting in the car and heading home. The drive was good and fast. It felt very very good to be at the comforts of home. My own shower, bed, chair, and computer. It's been quite a memorable trip and I would definitely do it again.