Early May Update

It's really happening.

We have all the paperwork in w/ California DMV, and are now just waiting for title, registration, and plates to arrive in the mail. Had to go the Willows DMV to get it done. Folks in the North State will know why...

We got the VIN verified for a second time. We'd allocated an afternoon to get the weight certificate and 2nd VIN verification. The certificate was a breeze. Down and back to Dumfries on I95 midday was a breeze. Then the VIN verification... we first went to the McLean station of Fairfax PD. The desk agent said no. We told her we were there less then a month before, and it had been no problem. She said no again, so we left. At her insistence we went to VA DMV. Waste of time, waste of time, the DMV was a fucking waste of time. They had no police officer at site (why would they?), so they were of no use to us. We then headed to Vienna PD, hoping that a smaller PD would be nicer. They were, but I made the mistake of saying we were from McLean, and as it turns out, they'll only help residents of Vienna. We headed back to McLean station hoping that after demonstrating our efforts at an alternative that they'd just help us out. It ended up that we didn't have to explain anything. When we walked in, an officer was helping a woman who's neighbor had skinned her cat and left it on her porch. After he was finished with her, he asked if he could help us. We told him what we needed, and 15 minutes later we were out of there with our verification filled out. That was the last piece we needed before submitting our complete packet to DMV.

Shipping's coming into line. I sought quotes from a number of different shippers. We have one for sub-1500, which was the best of the quotes I've received so far. I'm going to call them tomorrow, and see if they'd be interested in lowering the rate in exchange for some sort of sponsorship promotion. We'll see... If anyone has any transatlantic shipping connection, please get in contact.

On that note, we have a small wishlist that if anyone is interested in helping out w/ we'd be very grateful and/or be happy to work out some sort of sponsorship promotion deal. On the table right now: 2 60-inch x-treme hi lift jacks with associated winch kits; spare tires (i think they're 170/75 r16, but i can't confirm at this time); a small generator; and insurance both domestic and abroad. Anything else is also welcome.

Tickets are booked (well... mine are at least) and visas are applied for (again... mine are). A rough schedule has been hammered out. I dunno... in less then a month, I'll be leaving DC for good, and all better be set by then cause it'll only get more difficult working w/ max from thousands of miles away. Once I leave DC I won't see the ambo for almost 2 months till I pick it up at Southampton port.

Anyway... we'd love to hear comments or suggestions (just to know someone's reading this, if for no other reason), so get in touch. yup yup