Pate post mortem

Yea, Abby, Pate is definitely full of testosterone.  Old cars, cigars, scotch and lots of guy stuff.  When your basic meal plan involves beef jerky, chicharrones, and beer, you can just imagine the stories told and deals made.  But, to plagiarize the old Vegas slogan:  What happens at Pate, stays at Pate.  

Yes I was briefly tempted by the old Mustang but. fortunately, I was sober enough not to take the bait.  Besides, I figured I already had a Mustang project car that wasn't getting any attention.        

As with many of the "deals" you find at Pate, there is always a back story, just like you may hear when out hunting or fishing with your buddies.  Something about the conquest makes the story more "unique".  

Of course, just like any "buddy" trip, there is always someone giving your advice or encouraging you to "go for it" .  We were trying to convince the nephew to buy the Delorean golf cart.  After all, he already has a real Delorean.  

The details alone made it a prize - working flux capacitor, Mr Fusion, smoke generator. 

 

Unfortunately, the price of the golf card was equal to what he actually paid for his actual Delorean. so that pretty much was a deal killer right there.  

Of course, that did not stop us from "test driving" or checking out some of the other deals.

Doesn't everyone need a backhoe?  

An old Airstream project that was up for auction. 

 Of course, it required a "little" work  

An old Westfalia Vanagon.  This one is for my brother out west in Washington.  He owns one of these campers.   

The nephew used to own one a Firebird back in college (Smokey & The Bandit version - complete with the screaming chicken on the hood).  A real money pit.  That is why he bought the hood to hang in his back yard as "yard art".

 

After we hauled it back to our trailer and set it up so we could admire our daily haul we noted something interesting.  It may have been the scotch talking but I swore that you could see the face of Jesus on the hood and THAT is why he had to buy it.   

Catching up

As I said last time, I would try to post more often.  Thought I would start with a few pictures from my travels over the past few months.  Things have been busy, both at work and at home.  Hard to believe that football season is just a few weeks away.

I've been out on the road a fair amount.  Chicago, Buffalo, Atlanta, Fort Worth,  Some for work, some for play.  Looks like the job is kicking it up a notch and I will be  back out on the road this fall to more far off and exotic places like Denver, Minneapolis, San Jose, Dallas, Paris, Milan, etc.  I know, life's hard all over.

I was able to sneak off to Pate again in April for a few days of R&R.  Typical guy trip with my brother and one of his sons.  This was a pretty good year - weather was sketchy, nobody go sick, we scored a few deals, bought another bar light (or two), drank some beer, didn't come home with any new projects (well, except for the car lift). 

Weather looked ominous for a while...

You can find all sorts of conveyances...

My brother hurt his knee (translation:  he's an old fart) and he wound up renting one of those mobility scooters to ride all over Pate while we browsed for the deals.  Good thing for him - we wound up covering about 6-8 miles per day covering the entire meet.  

Not quite the same as texting and driving...

Need a lift?

Wagon train

Yard art?

When you really need to go back in time for another round...

And a new ride for the grandkids...

Of course, when my brother crashed for the afternoon, nephew and I "borrowed" the scooter to make one last run through the meet...

And I had my eye on this sweet looking convertible.  Just slightly older than my son but still a nice ride.. 

But this one really got my attention.  Only a measly $2k and you can drive it home today!  

A 1966 Mustang "Ranch" car.  It's had a "few" modifications done... 

Of course, being frugal (aka cheap), I didn't really buy much this year.  Instead, I blew my Pate money on getting the driver's seat for the landbarge reupholstered at a local shop while we were up at Pate.  It was pretty rough before, but looks like new now.    

  

Moms, mudbugs, and old junk

First order of business - Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there.  I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the weekend with family.  

Back from our road trip.  Still in one piece, if not a bit more worn.  Last week was another whirlwind.  Supplier trip, Pate, reviews, organization change, yadda, yadda.  We loaded up the trailer and pulled out at 0300 Friday morning (yes, I know that is early).  Nice quiet drive despite the minor detail that my brother woke up sick and finally gave up the helm to me about an hour on the road.  Something viral that didn't sit well with him.  He tapped out and asked me to take over driving.  Now, I don't mind driving 4-5 hours towing a trailer, but a) this wasn't my truck/trailer and I get nervous driving anyone else's rig; and b) I wasn't awake yet.  Despite that and the traffic chaos driving through Fort Worth, we made excellent time and arrived at Pate a little after 0900 - plenty of time to cruise the meet.  After we set up camp, we were going to head out but my brother passed and crashed in the bed so I headed out to see what deals I could find.  Found some bargains, some interesting sights, and a deal or two.   We packed up early Sunday and headed back south only this time it was my turn to be under the weather.  After we made it home, I spend the rest of the day (and all of Monday) trying to fight off a walking dead sort of virus.  It wasn't really until some time Wednesday I started feeling human again.  

Lots of old junk stuff

Long roads 

What Maria should look like

Something to keep the cats out of the back yard. 

Excuse me, do you have Prince Albert in a can? 

No, they were NOT for sale 

And, of course, I didn't leave Pate without scoring a sweet deal.  Something to replace the 27 year old one I borrowed from my brother.  

One owner, like new

This past Saturday, my nephew (the one with the Delorean) invited everyone over for some a crawfish boil.  I haven't eaten a lot of crawfish before, but these darned good.  A bit of work, but they can be filling.  A good chance to celebrate Mother's Day early with the family.  

Mancation

This week has been a bit of a change.  A quick road trip to El Paso/Juarez for a supplier audit, then load up the truck and head north to Fort Worth for our annual pilgrimage to the mecca of antique automotive collectors and assorted junk.  It's that time of the year again where my brother and I load up the trailer and head off on a short mancation called Pate.  Camping out in the trailer, drinking lots of cervezas, hiking all over the meet looking for god-knows-what kind of part or deal we need/want, spending money on rusty old car parts (or crap as my wife refers), talking smack with other old farts about cars and such, eating steaks, enjoying some good scotch, smoking the occasional cigar, it's all about quality time.  Will post pictures when we get back in town.  

And in dog news, last week we have had several rounds of thunderstorms roll through the area, some pretty spectacular.  Lord knows we need the rain, but the dogs are not quite as happy.  They sense when a storm is pending.  On one hand, Claire is a rock.  She's never been destructive like some dogs, instead she finds a spot to hunker down and ride it out.  After a few storms, I have found her tucked under the desk, behind the couch, hiding in the corner of the closet, she's even managed to crawl under our bed once or twice (neat trick for a big ol' 95 lb dog).  I even found her tucked into one of our laundry baskets in the closet.  Sort of like finding small buffalo in amongst the towels.  Grayson, on the other hand, is not at all happy with all of the rain and thunder.  He paces and frets and is really nervous.  I finally bought a thundershirt for him at the dog show one year and it seemed to make the difference.  Whenever I am home and a storm is brewing, I have strapped him into his shirt and he seems to calm down quite a bit.  I keep telling him it is his super hero cape and nothing bad can happen to him.  I am not really sure how or why it works but it seems to work for him, so I ain't going to question it.          

While I have been off in El Paso and wandering the lot at Pate, I left both of the kids with my parents.  My folks love taking care of the dogs - more opportunities to spoil their furry grandchildren.  I hear rumors of each one getting their own eggs & bacon for breakfast every morning.  I don't think I am eating as well as they are right now.  Of course, the rules about feeding them at the table have gone out the window for the week.  It's going to be ruff retraining them next week.   

Life's a parade

Still working on catching up.  The past two weeks have been busy trying to close out the fiscal year for the company so there are a ton of things that have to get done by the last day (yesterday).  Last minute projects, orders, reports, etc.  Please don't get me wrong - I not complaining about the chaos.  I've been in places and had jobs that were a lot worse.  Besides, being busy keeps me out of mischief (well, almost).  And to top that, I am headed out on the road again on Monday for another supplier audit.  Heading south of the border for this one.  Certainly will make for an interesting road trip.   

Last weekend was the Art Car Parade.  This is a big annual 5 day street festival where people "decorate" there cars or whatever rolls as "art".  This parade has actually been going on in Houston for 28 years, but I have only started going to in the last 4 years.  Pretty crazy cars/contraptions that roll in the parade.  The past two years, I have gone to the parade and thought I would bring the dogs.  Lots of people/activities with more than a few four legged kids on the sidelines.  The parade rule say to leave pets at home but I decided to blow that off this year and take my two kids.  Turned out to be a great time and, as usual, they got plenty of attention.  Some of the same cars as from last year, a lot of new entries.  Interesting what people do to their rides in the name of art.

Kinda makes my ride look boring.