Paul reports that summer in Alaska has arrived, with temperatures reaching the blazing heat of the low 50s.  He tells me that the sun doesn’t set until 11:30 pm and sunrise is slightly before 4:30 am giving them 19 hours of daylight and five hours of twilight. While summer isn’t long, it sure is beautiful, as seen in Paul’s picture below.

First, thanks for all the warm thoughts.  I did make it to Seattle today. Whatever they did in the hospital has improved the situation with Dad.  However, I also ran into few issues on the way up here.  Look for updates later tonight, but for now enjoy this minor rant of mine.

Dear State of Idaho DMV, thank you so much for my new temporary driver’s license.  Despite the size of the government of Idaho, you’ve taken the time to use this opportunity to remind me, in a personal way, of just how fast and awkward our bureaucracy continues to become and how quickly ones normal function can be curtailed by the state.

And here, I thought you were only asking me to renew my driver’s license.

To your credit, the lessons started quickly.  For example, I had no idea that my out-of-state check from Washington would be rejected with such zeal when I mailed in my initial driver’s license renewal application.  You see, my main bank is in Washington State and every other business, utility and government entity in Idaho seems function perfectly well using my checks.

Naturally, before sending you my check, I looked at the application to see whom I should make the check to and if there were any qualifications.  How silly of me to expect that you’d put a “we do not accept out of state checks” notice on the renewal application, or anywhere else for that matter.   I guess that qualifier is only for people in the know.

Of course, once I received the declined application in the mail, I headed directly to the DMV, the new one near the Boise Mall.  What I learned there is that your ability to manage lines and waiting times is impressive.  It really was.  I was in and out with my temporary license and my new car tabs in under 20 minutes.

The downside is, perhaps to make the process faster, you only issued me a temporary permit, unlike other states which manage to produce actual licenses when they renew a license, like California and Utah, the two previous states I called home.  Moreover, you took away my actual license, still good and valid up until my birthday.  This didn’t seem to be a big deal at the time, but that was before I tried to use the temporary permit.

You see, State of Idaho, no one believes the temporary permit is valid. They either chuckle and shake their head at it or look aghast, assuming it is a fake.   I’m no longer a person with the rights the power of a plastic ID bestowed upon me. Instead, I’m a sub human, I’m a second class citizen, I’m a paper ID’d pauper.  When I attempted to cash a check at a major bank – a bank I had been using for two years – they looked at my paper ID and said it wasn’t valid.  I responded it was, telling them the State of Idaho issued it and took my expiring ID.  They said they really weren’t supposed to take it, but they would make an exception in my case.  This was fortunate for me, as I had to get some cash to run north to Seattle.  However, I left puzzled wondering why something printed on plastic would seem so much more authentic than paper.  After all, I can guarantte that I can create a reasonably good fake ID in short order using photoshop and then transfer it onto either paper or plastic.  What’s magic about plastic?

As I traveled north, passing through Yakima, my tire blew.  After changing my tire and deciding to buy new tires before traveling any farther, I had to get a motel for the evening.  Well, it turns out the motel was not going to take my paper ID either.  You see, they don’t accept a temporary ID as a valid form of ID.  After the clerk explained to me that they didn’t accept the ID, he mentioned that I was essentially didn’t exist for the time being.  I too was coming to that conclusion.

However, the clerk took pity on me and said, while he wasn’t supposed to rent me a room, he didn’t want me to have to sleep in my car, so he’d make an exception in this case.  Well, gee, thanks Mr. stereotypical World of War Craft playing kid (yes, as he worked at the desk and, when not helping me, was playing WOW and looked like he had been playing WOW for years).

After putting my stuff in my room, I decided I was not ready to settle down quite yet, so I thought I’d go play some pool.  As I walked by the desk, I asked the desk clerk if he knew of any places to play pool in Yakima.  He didn’t play pool, he said, and didn’t really go out to bars, he said – and I’m not surprised by either answer from the WOW playing 21 year old – but, he did know of at least one place.  Then he added the kicker.  He reminded me that with my temporary license, I probably couldn’t get a drink.

Well State of Idaho DMV, that was the kicker.  My birthday is in two days and it is entirely possible that, as a 46 year old, away from home visiting my sick father, that your stupid temporary ID will make it impossible for me to enjoy a night out with my sister and cousin playing pool and having a few drinks.

So, until I return to Idaho and get my plastic driver’s license, I’m forced to accept my second class citizenry, paper ID and all.  How screwed up is a system that won’t let a 46 year old get a drink without ID, won’t let him rent a motel room (even bearing plenty of cash), and won’t allow him to do just about anything else?  If I’d known, I would have brought my passport, but funny how I assumed I was a citizen of the damn USA!

It’s always wonderful to have an educational opportunity thrust upon oneself.  In this case, I’ve learned just how fragile my existence as a citizen is. So, thank you Idaho State DMV.

UPDATE:  I think this is a Fiat 501, Series 2, made in the 1920s.  

I was testing out my handheld scanner today that mom bought me for Christmas (yeah, I know, about time I did that).  It turns out, it works pretty well!  I decided to try scanning some of the 1924 images from my grandfather’s trip around Europe and Northern Africa.

My question is, anyone know what type of car this is?  I believe it may be a Durant Motor Company 1923 Flint e-55?  Grandpa appears to refer to it as the ‘Flea’, but the only two notations I have are kind of blurred.

I don’t know if they imported the car or bought/rent/borrowed it when they got to France, but they had plenty of resources, so it could have been any one of those.  The thing I couldn’t match up was the grille — I couldn’t find any grilles that matched the front of the grille below.

And though it might not be a jeep, I suspect traveling around Europe without a full top was as adventurous as any jeep trip would have been (they did have a light, but airy top they could throw over themselves)!  They started in France, traveled through Spain and into Northern Africa. They returned by ship to Marseilles, drove throughout Italy, then headed north through Switzerland and into Germany.  They ended the trip in France then took a plane to the UK.  I have over 400 photos, many of popular landmarks, making their path easier to track.  I hope to recreate part of the trip some day.

UPDATE: Dan forwarded a pic of his yoke.  Despite grounding the sm420 rib, the yoke still won’t make it by the tranny while spinning.

For the last year, Dan has invited me up to take a look at his project: the rebuilding of his grandfather’s jeep. Well, I finally got a chance to drop by his remote Deer Park, Washington, home.  

As soon as I arrived, my gracious host gave me the cold beer he had promised, a very tasty bottle of Red Hook.  Soon after, his four kids wandered in the garage to see what kind of strange guy would drive all the way to Deer Park to look at a jeep and talk with dad.  Clearly unimpressed, they dashed back into the endless , densely treed property like baseball players from the movie Field of Dreams.

Meanwhile, Dan and I looked over his jeep and we talked about various issues he circumvented.  He said his goal was to build something functional that he wouldn’t be afraid to scratch and dent, so he didn’t sink much time or money into the body.  For example, the rust in the bottom of the body was repaired with some fiberglass and steel from the old body sitting across the driveway.  It was nothing fancy, but sound.  He was concerned it might not be nice enough, but I told him the most important thing is that it satisfied his goals, was solid, and got him closer to exploring backroads.

We also talked about his sm420 tranny. His yoke is hitting the side of the tranny, despite the grinding he has done (I should have gotten a pic of that).  He’s hoping he can find the slightly smaller V6 yoke.  Does anyone have one of those?

While we talked, his wife dropped by to say hello.  We chatted a bit and then she dashed off to finish supper.  Dan noted that he convinced his wife he needed a new garage to work on the jeep  by parking his jeep inside the existing garage.  That seemed to work, so he built a new shop around the jeep project just down the driveway.  It’s a fine man cave, clean, organized, with plenty of light.

I asked Dan to take my picture with his jeep and he kindly obliged.  After which, I left his piece of paradise to head south so I could hang out with my cousin and explore family history. So, many thanks to Dan for a pleasant time.  It was worth the drive!

Here’s yours truly.