River running free You know how I feel
River running free You know how I feel
Making forward progress while looking backward
What’s up, y’all!
Let’s start with the best news of the week: we received a title for the 1963 Datsun Fairlady! Due to this car’s origin story, we knew it was going to be difficult to get the car titled and registered in Oregon. But if I learned anything from my time in the Navy, it’s how to handle the government when it comes to paperwork.
They will look for any excuse to reject your application, but you can’t let it frustrate you. You can’t argue with them, either, government agencies are the one place where the customer is never right.
All you can do is smile and take notes about what they say you’re doing incorrectly, redo the paperwork and resubmit it. Rinse and repeat until you make it through the gauntlet of rejection and find approval for whatever it is you’re looking for.
In our case, it was a title for the Fairlady, because she didn’t have one. Surprisingly, it only took two tries with the California DMV, and two tries with Oregon. Feeling lucky now, maybe I’ll go buy a lottery ticket!😝
Now that we have the title, gnob is adding the final touches to make the Fairlady look her best, and then we’ll find her a new owner. I’ll be sad to see this cute little convertible go, though I don’t think gnob will. Well, maybe he’ll miss the challenges this car provided for him on a near daily basis.
Rebuilding a car that came to us with parts in Ziploc bags, muffin tins, and cardboard boxes has been one of his greatest successes. I would highly recommend gnob to the king’s men the next time they put Humpty Dumpty together again – he will find a way to make it happen.
Two Important Dates
Today finds us between two important dates in Snale Racing history. It was May 1, 2020, that gnob and I had our last drink of alcohol. We had been toying with the idea of quitting, but we never stuck with it. In case you hadn’t noticed, our culture is saturated with alcohol. See for yourself: in the next week, try and pay attention to how many times alcohol invades your life. It’s not just in television commercials or social media advertising, it’s also in conversation with your friends and family. It’s everywhere. If you’re trying to quit, it does make it hard when it’s constantly being brought to your attention.
So on that weekend in May three years ago, we went camping with some friends and brought a bottle of whiskey with us. I won’t go into the details here, but it was an awful, awful night for both of us, and I am so glad it happened!
Yes, I said glad! If ever I’ve felt like a drink at any point in the last three years, I remember how terrible my last night of drinking was, and it makes it easy to not go back. I look at it this way: I spent 30 years getting drunk and it didn’t get me anywhere. I think I’ll try the next 30 (27 now!) years sober and see if I can do any better.
I’m so grateful that gnob came to the same conclusion. It makes it easier for both of us that we are on the same page about that.
But we’re on the same page about a lot of things, which is why we’re together. And that brings me to the other important date in our story today: June 7.
When gnob and I first started dating, I was living in Louisiana, and he was living in Oregon. We had met ten years previously when we went to college together in Oregon (Rogue Community College Automotive Department FTW!).
We stayed in touch over the years, and one day he came to Louisiana for a visit. A ten-year friendship turned into a serious relationship, and its official start date was June 7, 2014.
Fast forward to June 5, 2017. I had moved back to Oregon to live with gnob, and we were sitting on the gorgeous rooftop bar of the McMinnville McMenamin’s Hotel, watching the sun set. We started talking about getting married, and he said, sure, one day we could do that.
I, thinking I was super sly, agreed, saying we should wait until June 7th fell on a Saturday to have a wedding. The reason I thought I was super sly was because June 7th was on a Wednesday in 2017, which meant we would get married in only a few short years.
Imagine my horror when I pulled out my calendar and realized that because of leap year, June 7 wasn’t going to be on a Saturday until 2025, EIGHT YEARS LATER! I had just ruined my chance to have a wedding soon.
I took a deep breath and calmed my racing heart, reminding myself to remain stoic. I said, “Well, I’m going to need a ring if I have to wait that long.”
That’s when he said, “As a matter of fact…”, and pulled a small box out of his pocket.
Yep, it was a ring. He had been carrying it around for weeks, waiting for the right moment. I burst into tears, I’m not ashamed to admit it.
Though we did end up running off to Vegas and getting married a while back, we don’t count that as our wedding date. Our anniversary is June 7, and our wedding will be on June 7, 2025. Now you know – so Save the Date for a trip to Costa Rica! There’s going to be a party that day, a party I will have been waiting on for eight long years!
Video of the Week
The rebuild of Danny Bonaduce, the 1985 Toyota 4Runner, is moving right along. Got some of the videos out, and there are still more to come! Here’s a good one about doing a differential upgrade.
Quote of the Week
That wraps up another week with Snale Racing! We’ll leave you with the quote that was most powerful for us this week. Peace!✌
Did You Know?
You can like and comment on these stories by using the links below. We’d love to hear from you!
We’re not just on YouTube, we’re also on Instagram!
We love making content for you, but all the love in our hearts just isn’t enough to pay the bills. You can help by supporting us through Patreon, and it will be much appreciated.🙏Thanks for reading!
title track: