zach mangrich: Chestnuts Roasting

I spent Christmas 2K9 skiing on Goryu Mountain in Hakuba. 4 hours Northwest of here in the Nagano Prefecture, where they held the 1998 winter olympics. It was a blast.

I learned several things about my vehicle during the 4 hour trip.

1) I have no idea where the engine is, nor how many cylinders are in it.

2) I don't know where to put oil or any fluids other than gas.

3) It redlines at 9,000RPM and is geared so that I was at 7,000 the entire expressway at 100KPH. It was so uncomfortably loud.

4) It's so tall & narrow that mountain valley winds wa

nted to push me off the road.

5) I only have a 6 gallon tank. I was on empty and the lead car is panicking to find us a gas station. Somehow our 5 ship caravan gets channeled into an extremely narrow residential neighborhood into a dead-end. There were some awkward stares from the locals as we all had to back out.

Needless to say, she made it and I'm proud of her.

20+ friends from the squadron rented out a lodge called Lady Diana for four days. The very friendly (and patient) owner let us run the place for our time there which was cool. The lobby & party room were very cozy & eclectic. There was an onsen (hot spring water bath) in the basement. The ladies had their room and we had ours. 15 dudes sleeping in small beds on a loft & downstairs on tatami mat beds made for interesting nights.

Christmas dinner. Not quite the Mangrich potluck or Helmer's polena hotdog & potato soup that I love & miss but it was still good. The random fish was a bit weird.