This year, we gathered a group of eager travellers to
come down and see the chaos which will be known as the
largest comic convention in Western North America.
This year, we decided to rent a large van from Budget
Rent A Car and drive it down to the con.
Our passengers this year were: me, Lysle Martin, Bill
Jang, Michael Eyben, Med Major, David Butler, Jude Kirkham,
Pierre LeFarre , Matt Masanobu , and Edmund Yee.
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The first stop on the big trip was down to Costco to load
up on pop. Since in our previious trips to the United States
has shown us two things, a) US pop is more expensive than
ours and b) US pop uses different ingredients which in some
cases makes it taste like crap.
So we loaded up the extra spaces in the van under the
seats and along the sides and in the foot areas with 40
cases of 12 packs, ie 480 cans of pop. Thus between the 10
of us, that is 48 cans each, across the 12 days, that is 4
cans a day...
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Jude at this time was a bit of a extremist. He bought a 2
for 1 pizza with him down to the meeting point in
Abbottsford. However, after much arguing, we finally
convinced him to ditch the pizza before we cross the border.
That was a good idea, thank god. This unfortunately was not
the last we will hear from Jude.
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Going down the con, our first stop was Canada-US border.
That was not too bad since we looked like we were a bunch of
excited, unhygenic, unshaved, fan boys on vacation. After a
few questions, we were on our way.
The trip was broken up into smaller chunks. Our first
destination was San Jose. Even when Butler's pedal to the
metal driving, it still took a good 18 hours to get the the
bay area. We stayed at the Red Lion Hotel in the downtown
core of SJ.
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I remember when we were applying for the Budget van, it
was recommended that we take the comprensive no fault
insurance. It seemed kinda expensive at $24 a day but on the
other hand, it was a piece of mind, so we took it. Good
thing!! First thing we did was we took it into the
underground parking lot of the hotel. Not too bad since we
came up to the Clarion sign, clearance was 6.6 or something
like that, and we did clear it. However, we forgot that when
all 10 of us get out and take out all the pop and all our
luggage, the shocks will rebound and raise the height of the
van. So when we came back from a day driving around and
tried to come in again, CRUNCH.... SCRAPE.....
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Of course, that was not the last of our abuse to the
rental van. Another day, Lylse, Me and Bill were driving
around doing things. We were at an intersection with a KFC
beside us. Hmmm. At the spur of the moment, we decided, that
dinner tonight was chicken. So Lysle yells back to Bill, who
was at the back of the van, "Hey is it ok to back up?!".
Bill does a quick shoulder check... Unfortunately, it was
too quick, as we started to back up and CRUNCH!! Lysle
backed into a brand sort of new 1993 Volvo. What was worse,
it was a 16 year kid who just borrowed the parents car. Yea,
the kid was crapping his pants. Yup, it sure helps to have
that insurance!
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This year, we met up with some of our friends in San
Francisco who graciously pointed us to a Costco, so we could
load up on our supply of food. We also went to a great
electronics warehouse geek store called "Fry's Electronics".
Man talk about a Costco for high tech and computer geek
stuff.
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Our next destination after San Jose was San Diego. It is
around 10 hours to Los Angeles and its another 2 from there
to SD, so another 12 hourse of driving which isn't all that
bad when you had a few days of rest and relaxation in SF.
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San Deigo was rather exciting this year. This year, we
stayed at the Westin Bayshore, which used to be a Clarion.
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Jude at this time would qualify as one of those unhygenic
fan boys. He wore a black overcoat even in the heat of
summer. He also wore a rather styled hat which wasn't so
bad, except for the fact that like his overcoat, he never
washed it. His hat smelled so bad that Michael put it out on
the balcony. To add to the smell of his overcoat, we later
discovered he would go to MacDonald's and buy 10 hamburgers
or cheeseburgers and store them in the many pockets inside
the overcoat for later consumption.
When asked if he would like to join us to breakfast at
Coco's, he responded he would rather stay with the
consistancy of Macdonald's products.
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I remember we were searching for one of the great stops
of In&Out Hamburgers in Calfornia. Undoubtably, one of
the best take out fast food burger joints around. While the
rest of us were lining up at In&Out, Jude walks across
the McDonalds to load up his pockets... Sigh.... Oh well,
his loss at the 9th wonder of the world.
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In San Jose it was Anime America where my favourite
artist, Akemi Takeda was signing.
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