All Aboard the Asian Express!

It’s late afternoon and I’m dipping sourdough bread into olive oil and balsamic vinegar, relaxing after putting the last of my boxes in the Asian Express (also known as the Silver Bullet). I’m pleasantly surprised how much room I have left; either I’ve become an expert packer over these past four months or I’ve lost things along the way. Hopefully, the former.

We (the Asian Express and I) have covered many miles together and I’m just hoping that it pulls through for another 2,500 miles without any accidents or speeding tickets (of which, I’ve had none in all my 7 years of driving). We recently celebrated a special milestone together. While returning home from work, I noticed that the odometer was about to read 123,456 miles and of course, I took a picture:


It’s funny how intimately you can know a car after so many miles. The driver’s seat has since conformed to my butt. I can hit every radio or climate control button with my eyes closed (though not while driving). And I’ve spent more than a few nights asleep on the floor in the back (we removed the bench seats before I left). Michael “Soccer Mom” Liang is one with his car.

Of course, it’s given me a few headaches as well. Like when a container of liquid laundry detergent exploded in the back and I had to endure the scent of Summer Breeze so fresh, that it was nauseating. Or when a headlight blew out while working at the national park and I could only drive during the day until I returned to Seattle. Or when I got wedged in my tight driveway that has three foot cement walls about six inches away from either side of the car, and no matter which way I moved, forward or backwards, an awful scraping sound caused my very soul to cringe (especially since my younger sister also scratched our other car earlier this summer. Surprise Mom and Dad!).


But if these are the worst of my disasters, fine, I’ll take them. Look at this terrifying accident from my friend back in Ann Arbor. Fortunately, everyone was okay, though obviously shaken up.


Yikes, that kinda brought the mood down. How about I dig up some fun pictures of the Express? This first one is an illustration I did after a period of time when I felt like I was forever unpacking and packing and consequently, when my life and my belongings were deconstructing into chaos.



(Artists Point, Mt. Baker National Forest)


(Theodore Roosevelt National Park)

Alright folks, this may be the last post for a few days. I leave tomorrow to work at the national park one last weekend and will leave for Michigan after work on Sunday. I'm restless and itching to go. What's that I hear? Oh yeah, it's the open road calling my name...