2001-10-07 - 7:03 p.m.

Junkyard Dogs

Crimson didn't make it to Sanctuary on Friday night, and I'm curious why. Of course I was happy to go out and dance and loved spending the night with Redwood, but there was a large part of me that was wondering if she was OK. Isn't it funny how you can barely know a person and yet you already care about them.

There was another part that was relieved. The last time she showed up there was a small bit of drama and while she ended up crashing at my place ... which is something I don't regret at all, I wish I didn't have to get two cars fixed.

Saturday morning I picked up Redwood and we visited a few junkyards looking for a new hood for him.

...TIME WARP

Texas, 1988:

Hot, humid, muddy, trash and rust everywhere. Bugs, snakes. Did I mention the heat and humidity?

Anyway, my Cougar was constantly needing new parts. That is to be expected when you pay less than $2k for a car. My dad and I spent many weekends driving to several yunkjards in South Houston. The better ones looked like tiny mountains made of car parts.

The wecking yard (the real name) owners would just toss new busted cars right on top of the old busted cars. Over the years you could see all sorts of license plates and plates from several different states.

Naturally the car mountains had the older cars at the bottom, but this didn't always mean the older model cars were at the bottom of the stacks. Sometimes a poor Mustang or Cougar would bite the dust at age 20, where as the newer model cars may have been involved in some accident years ago.

Rust Cut

I remember one time I was walking slowly up a "car hill" when suddenly the truck I was standing on slipped completely off the car. I went tumbling down the junk pile and fell off what must have been at least 8 car stacks. Yes, they let you climb on anything ... this is Texas, lawyers don't have that much power there. Anyway, while falling to the ground I grabbed a vine and slowly swung like a little Tarzan boy down to safety.

Unfortunately I did manage to get cut on a few rusty car parts during my fall. Nothing sucks more than rust in your cuts. :( After that day I always brought some band-aids when junk yarding.

TIME WARP ...

California, 2001

Yesterday's experience was a far cry from my junk yarding days as a kid. That is largely because California is a land where lawyers rule. You can't walk unescorted into a junkyard, and that is for the few yards where they actually let you out to hunt for parts.

The dry climate out here really reduces the weather aging that abandoned cars experience. The yards are also very careful to not stack cars on top of each other.

There are positives and negatives to this. POSTIVE: the yards are safer and pulling parts out of a car is far easier. NEGATIVE: the excitement is less, and the selection of cars is less. It is also to point out that easier to remove parts means you have less "good" parts.

Anyway, I had a blast with Redwood. Unfortunately we didn't find a new hood for his Concorde. :(

NEXT ENTRY: Shrine Returned!

LISTENING TO: Nitzer Ebb's That Total Age

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