Chronicling our trip to the Penny Arcade Expo
We will keep this updated with pictures along the way. You’ll want to check out this post every once in a while. However we may also forget to update it again. I apologize if that happens.
Pictured: Brian, Rufo, Robert, Brandon, Jesse, Jesse's Uncle Don
We bad
Update: while I did write this last night, we never got to a point where I could easily post it. Pretend you’re reading this yesterday. kthx.
I’m writing this update at 70MPH. We’re about 25 miles outside of Bloomington, IL, and starting to settle into what will be three days of pretty continuous nerdgasm.
Today started just about as inauspiciously as you could hope. I was heading for my last preparation stop (Kroger) with all the food I’d just bought for the RV. It was a near-90 day and I had some perishable and even frozen foods with me, so I was really hoping to be able to finish my prep work and get to the RV quickly. About five minutes from Kroger, I nearly wrecked into the car in front of me – a FedEx truck heading toward me had pulled into oncoming traffic (my lane) in order to make a reverse into a driveway. This was on a pretty busy road with plenty of traffic, so I don’t know what he was thinking. Anyway as the traffic ahead of me stopped, I slammed my brakes and stopped probably six inches from the car in front of me. Then I got creamed from behind by a guy in a van. Long story short, Brian thinks my car is totaled, and I can’t even start trying to deal with it for a week and a half. Happy days.
Since I was the prep guy, this had a fairly severe r2p impact. I lost about an hour to the accident report – police were called and came out, followed by paramedics and firefighters who were there to help the lady in front of me, who was feeling very shaky and stiff after the wreck. By the time Brian got to Bloomington to pick me up (I didn’t trust my car to make it to him), we were losing time fast and decided to head straight for the RV to secure what food we had and make sure we got on the road in time. We still don’t have any drinks, and all the rest of our preparations were rushed. If we don’t find at least a few major things we flubbed or forgot, I’ll be shocked.
I’ve decided to look at the car thing as paying it forward. If you’ve been reading our blog since PAX East, you’ll know that we hit a major snag early on that trip. I’d say the destruction of my vehicle qualifies as a “major snag” since I was working on r2p stuff at the time. Hopefully we’ve paid our karmic dues and can make it through the next 4500 miles without any further major problems.
In the grand scheme of things, if you have to have something awful happen to you, it probably helps to have it happen just before the best part of your year. It might blight the feeling for a little while, but surrounded by all our nerd glory, it’s just impossible to be depressed.
I’m writing this on the navigation TV, the one up front. Next to me, Brandon and Rufo are playing through the co-op campaign in Halo: ODST (heroic, bitches). Brian is driving, and Robert is at the back of the RV putting some time on the (goddamn awesome) bunk bed teevee, playing Shadow Complex. We’re down to a quarter tank of gas, but should be able to make it to our evening’s destination (Rockford, IL) without putting too much of a dent in the next one. I’ll get a chance to visit briefly with my family, and then we’ll be off to Fargo and the CCST.
I don’t really have the ability to put pictures up from here but I’ll try to keep snapping some and maybe I can just throw up a gallery-only post next time we stop somewhere with good 3G.
Until then, if you’re going to PAX: may your journey be even smoother than ours. If not, enjoy living vicariously, and find a way to join us out in Boston in six months.
Road2PAX, out
We are as prepared as we’re going to get. In all honesty, we’re more prepared than I expected us to be.
The last few days have been a blitz – there’s been more than enough progress to warrant a post, but I literally haven’t even had time to put one together. I’ve been working 8-5, then heading straight out to Brian’s place to work on the RV until midnight or one, then home to crash and do it all over. I’m exhausted and I love it.
Talking to Robert yesterday, I mentioned I feel that projects like this trigger the best possible feedback loop in me. The work that we are doing is hard, but fun in and of itself; however it is much more fun knowing, as I do why we’re doing it. The goal – PAX and the CCST, in case it’s not ridiculously obvious – would be amazing, memorable experiences on their own; they will be made more better simply by knowing what I put of myself into making them come to fruition. If somebody asked me to come up with a thesis for my life, I could do worse than to ponder times like these and reply “productivity that makes you enjoy life.”
Am I boring you? Apologies. More progress:
This thing took tons of time, was worth every second
The big flat board in that picture is half of the plank that holds up the newly installed bunk bed. That gorgeous box resting on it has brought more unbridled joy to r2p than almost any other single thing we’ve done. Here’s why:
This is just so fucking win(Robert)
It’s ridiculous. I mean, everything we’ve done here has been ridiculous, knowingly so, and we’ve reveled in it. This really takes it to a whole new level.
On the one hand, there were already two TV’s in the RV – we just added a third. The new one doesn’t hook up to awesome speakers (I plan to add a small set of dell computer speakers tomorrow if there’s time), it doesn’t do anything magical. It’s a television, just like any other television… it just happens to hover over your head, when you’re lying in bed. If that doesn’t sound awesome to you, I have to admit to being confused why you’re reading our blog.
Honestly, every single one of us had this reaction(Brian)
It is just downright impossible to lie down in that bunk, look up at your 360 home screen, and not start grinning like a goddamned fool.
I’m going to cut this short because, no joke, I could spend another half hour writing florid praise for our genius (credit where due – Brian’s idea), and anyway hopefully you get the idea.
Our RV to-do-list is just about clear. Brian wants to add a few hooks to the grill so that he can hang cooking utensils for easy access, and that needs to get done this afternoon. We also have some exterior decorations that we had prepared for PAX East planned to get on the RV before we ran out of time. Hopefully there will be time for that before we leave. It will always be a bottom-priority item, so maybe it’ll just be something we plan to do forever. Time will tell.
What we have done, since the last post:
* Put some finishing touches on the lower bunks. We added facing to the frame, a small hole to each plank that makes it easier to lift (to get into the storage underneath), and casings which will hold the vertical supports for upper bunks.
I made a jig to keep the casings exactly identical(Jesse)
These will hold up the vertical supports - compression only, no hardware(Jesse)
* Built one set of vertical supports and an upper bunk, installed it all above one of the lower bunks.
Making sure everything fits
All put together and ready for installation
The wooden runners prevent them from sliding on the frame
Surprisingly sturdy, considering how little there is to it
Not bad for an eleventh-hour addition
* Bought and customized a speaker grill for our subwoofer cabinet, drilled a hole into that cabinet, and installed the grill.
Brian and Robert whipped this out in about half an hour
A little overspray, but not bad - eh? eh?
By gamers, for gamers
* Built a monitor box for under the upper bunk, installed under upper bunk plywood.
This was really delicate but gave the finished product a great look
We went all out making this look good
There's a sheet of plexi in there which you can barely see even from ten inches away
The monitor fits perfectly(Jesse)
* Installed all the electronics in the RV and tested everything.
As I type, my last load of laundry is drying. All that’s left to do is finish packing and then pick up the perishable supplies that we need. In about eight hours, Brian and I will hit the road. It’s taking all of my effort not to end that sentence with eleven exclamation points.
Can I just say? This whole PAX thing really brings out the best in us nerds. Who would have thought that a love of video games and all things related would result in 16-hour days of meticulous blueprinting and industrious carpentry?
Industriousness may be a relative term
(Brian / Jesse / Robert)
Well, as promised, we got in a very heavy work day on Sunday, with all four of us getting together (for the first time!) and putting in 64 combined hours (10am – 2am). It always feels like we have less to show for it at the end of the day than we should, but frankly after our experience with the PAX East preparations, my expectations were recalibrated and I’m very impressed with what we got done.
Our target for Sunday was to get the bedroom torn apart, build the beds, and get them in. In the last post, I showed the model for what we wanted to build, and that’s where we put most of our efforts.
Doesn't look like much yet
Every project has to have a first step
(Jesse)
The keystone of the bed frame
A quick break, acting like the immature kids we are
(Jesse / Brandon / Robert / Brian)
The bed frame starts to come together
(Robert / Jesse)
We start to realize that this could actually work
(Jesse / Brian)
I love it when a plan comes together
We felt we'd earned it
(Robert / Brandon / Brian / Jesse)
Brandon, the only R2P newb, was a huge help as he’s actually got some woodworking experience. He was also a shutterbug anytime he wasn’t actively assembling, so he deserves extra kudos for giving us so many photos.
Anyway there’s not much to talk about here, because quite honestly everything went pretty smoothly. We had a really well-laid-out plan and we had already prepared all our components. There were some tricky spots where we had to use tons of clamps to compensate for distortions in the wood, but we got through them and the finished product was as close to perfect as anything we’ve built yet.
At the beginning of the day, we talked about taking a break at some point to go for a quick test drive, so that Brandon could get a turn at the wheel, and so that we could look into getting a few components for the propane system. About halfway through this project we realized we needed a screw length we didn’t have handy, so we decided we’d use that as our cue to head into town.
Even a test drive wouldn't be complete without them...
The humane, nerdy version of a rabbit's foot
Launch maneuvers, by Brian
(Robert / Brian / Jesse)
Brandon got his test drive, and did just fine
(Brandon)
Excursion complete, bed frames assembled, all that was left was to get to the awful task of ripping almost everything out of the RV’s bedroom to make room for our new creations. Brandon and I volunteered to not do that (we cut the plywood for the top of the frames instead). I’m such a good person.
Almost everything here had to go
The only thing that survived the devastation
Blurry photo reflects our mental state at hour 15
(Jesse / Brian / Robert)
Brandon and I found other things to work on...
In a perfect world, the story would end when the whole thing was done. In ours, we cleaned up and quit at this point. We’d been at it all day, every one of us was dead tired, and most of us had to work the next day. However the end of the day need not be the end of the story – yesterday I went back out to Brian’s place to finish this up. We finished cleaning the bedroom, got the frames in place, and set the newly-purchased mattresses on them. Everything is comfy and, better yet, sturdy.
The finished product
A perfect fit
We even retained most of the storage
(Jesse)
This was just what I needed to really get back into the swing of things. We were left with so little time after we got the RV back, and I was really worried that we were going to have to just hope that most of the changes we wanted to make could wait. I’m immeasurably relieved that we were able to get these beds in, and I’m proud that once again, we tackled the biggest hurdle in our way immediately. I’m now confident that our second road2pax will be even better than the last, and that we’ll be able to handle whatever the trip throws at us.
Which is totally going to be a mountain range. But hey, whatevs, right?
I mentioned, above, that our test drive to-do list included some components for the “propane system.” Well, what I really meant was, we have a mothafuckin’ grill on our mothafuckin’ trailer hitch.
Can you dig it?
So, if you’re reading this and you’re in that lucky / dedicated / awesome group of folks who will be participating in the CCST… any requests?
Although this project comprised only a tiny portion of our time, it contributed disproportionately to our excitement. Seriously, who doesn’t want to have a grill mounted to their vehicle? This will drastically increase the quality of the meals that we’re able to quickly and easily make, both at the scheduled stops along the way and once we get to Seattle. Two weeks would be a long time to live on microwaved meals and fast food, but if you can have a home-cooked burger with five minutes of work, well, life is good. Also, yes, that is a Wash is my copilot license plate frame.
PAX is approaching almost too fast to fathom, and the time flies even faster when you keep as busy as we’ve been. In fact our to-do list is probably the only thing preventing me from going stir-crazy waiting for Monday to roll around. Before you know it, we’ll be on the road. I hope you’re as excited as I am.
Cheers!
(Jesse)
Brian got the RV back from the shop yesterday, 10 days before we needed to leave for PAX. That obviously doesn’t give us much time, especially when you consider the ambitiousness of our biggest project. So, last night, three of us got together to put our first dent in that project:
What we want to build
This is essentially a total reconstruction of the RV’s bedroom, which would replace the single queen bed with four twin beds. There are just tons of benefits to doing this:
That last point bears some further explanation. We don’t have any illusions about being able to finish this whole project in the time we have. Therefore we will not be building the upper bunks until after PAX Prime.
This can wait
The upper frame we have planned would involve some fairly precise welding and some very careful construction for the supports. There’s no rush, but more pertinently there’s just no time. What we really need is the ability to sleep two PAXers while driving, something we can’t do right now because the bunk we built for East just isn’t stable when the RV is in motion. However, since we’re going to be fixing the table/bed and we still have the couch, we only need four sleeper spots, and we’ll have exactly that if we can get the lower bunks in.
The lower bunks alone are no trivial project. Brian wanted to mimic the functionality of the queen and provide storage space underneath them. This will be especially handy when we install the upper bunks and need a place to stow the disassembled frames when we’re driving. We will also need to make sure they are strong enough to support us, and secure enough not to move around when we’re driving. Here’s a closer look at the design I came up with:
This will come in SO handy
We’re going to seriously have to put the gas on to finish this in time. Last night, we picked up the parts we need to build them, and got as far as cutting all the 2x2s and 2x4s down to size. Today Brian and I both have family obligations, so we’ll be returning to this project tomorrow (potentially with the full crew!), and see how far we can get through assembly. We will also have to tear out the queen bed and much of the cabinetry already in the bedroom. Tomorrow is probably our best work day before PAX, so realistically we probably need to damn near finish this project by quitting time in order to have any confidence that we’ll be able to get through our other (smaller) projects and still have time to tweak things and prep the RV.
No IRL pictures this time, but I promise we’ll have some for the next worklog.
PAX is just around the corner. I know tons of you are super excited, and that feeling is definitely shared by us. These projects are daunting but there’s absolutely no question that they’re completely worth it. PAX here we come!
We mentioned before that the RV needed some work. It has now been in the shop for over a month. Why so long? I have no frakking clue but I’ll do my best to tell you what has happened so far.
First off, remember that braking problem we mentioned before? The one we thought we solved by pushing in a fuse? Well that wasn’t the problem at all. Apparently there was a bad gasket and because of this bad seal, the brake fluid would boil. Once it got hot enough, we had no brakes. We drove it for 20 minutes last time before the brakes went out. We then “fixed” it and drove the rest of the way to Boston. Obviously we didn’t fix it and instead somehow managed to cheat death. That’s not an exaggeration. The RV weighs somewhere around 14,000lbs when it is loaded up. We drove in the Pennsylvania Mountains at highway speeds and didn’t die. There wasn’t so much as a hiccup with the brakes during that time. Thank you PAX gods.
There were a couple other minor things I needed them to fix. A drain plug was bad so we weren’t able to transport water. They fixed it and that will come in handy. A roof light was missing its cover and allowed a tiny amount of water in. Most of this was pretty minor yet it was a month before they had it fixed. That was a couple weeks ago. The repair shop went to take it for a test drive to make sure the brakes are not going to kill us and then noticed sparks coming out of the dash. The air conditioner decided it wanted to put on a light show. The compressor was bad and had to be fixed. I asked if there was any chance to just ignore it but they said it had to be fixed. In its current state, it would eat belts and cause all kinds of havoc. There was no way to ignore it and no way to easily just take it out. Over a week ago they said they would have it fixed in a week. The message I left with the shop today hasn’t been returned. I’m not very happy as you can imagine.
We had quite a few plans to modify the RV to make this trip a lot smoother than the last. Thanks to the delay and the fact that the repair costs more than doubled, those have been put in jeopardy. The queen bed was going to be replaced with two sets of bunk beds. I hoped to turn the dining room table into a cool Geek Chic style gaming table. There were lots of other minor geekish things we hoped to do. Who knows what we will manage to get done now but we are running out of time. We leave on the 30th. That gives us one full weekend and a partial weekend since my son’s birthday occupies part of it. When you add in some major deadlines for work taking up my time, we are just about fucked. Road2PAX will happen but not at its full potential.
That is all pretty depressing so let’s see if I can end on some positives. Well PAX East could have been our last so it is good to be alive. There are some new co-op games we can play on the ride. The ultimate gaming table is not going to happen but that doesn’t mean we can’t still try to do some tabletop gaming. Last I heard, Felicia Day hasn’t said she won’t be at PAX this year. Oh and I almost forgot. PAX frakking rocks! In 16 days, we will be in geek heaven! The road to PAX is a lot of fun but it is all forgotten once we are there. The delays and the fact the drive isn’t as awesome as it could be, will be far from our minds. PAX BABY, PAX!
