Last week on our way to my parents, Ann told me she wanted to stop at the Teapot Gas Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teapot_Dome_Service_Station), not to be confused with the Teapot Dome Scandal.  The Teapot Dome Service Station is one of those odd side-of-the-highway tourist stops along Interstate 82 in Zillah, Washington.

When you are bulleting past at 70 mph, it is one of those places where it is easy to say “we’ll stop next time”.  Well, I’ve been saying that for more than six years.  Ann has been saying it longer.  So, when she says “it’s time to stop”, I took her request seriously.   Well, almost seriously.  I did give her one of those looks of, “do you really mean it or are you joking”.  She returned the look of, “I am not joking”.  It turns out she really meant it.  I really didn’t mind as it was a beautiful day and we were in no particular hurry.

We pulled off the freeway, crossed the freeway over a bridge, and pulled up to the place where the teapot stop was supposed to be.  Only, it was missing.  Everything was there — pumps (can’t see them in the pic), a sign, a foundation — except for the teapot itself.

Confused, we both immediately reached for our phones and revved up our Googlers.  Truth was, we were also racing to see who could learn the fate of the teapot first.  We do that a lot.  We are both competitive.  In fact, it pains me to say it, but, yes, she won.  The Android beat the iPhone.  Maybe it was operator error?

Humbled by my defeat, we focused on the fate of the teapot building.  We learned that just over a month ago, in March of 2012, the Teapot was moved to a new location closer to downtown Zillah, a town not much bigger than the teapot itself.  Somehow, it had been hit by a car.  We both suspect that probably alcohol had been involved . . . or just plain stupidity.

After taking shots of the non-existant teapot, we raced into town to get pictures of us and this unusual landmark.

It just goes to show that sometimes stopping ‘next time’ will be too late.  Carpe Diem when you have the chance.

Mark has a nice article at Jeeptruck.com about Don Howard, a former horse race jockey,  who ran a jeep rental business out of Creede, Colorado.  Don’s family has used jeeps for several generations, partly because the family has a ranch along the Continental Divide at 10,500 feet.

Read the entire store over at jeeptruck.com.

While the folks in Ohio played with their jeeps and the people in Moab explored with their wagons and trucks, I got to clean my parents garage.  I have wanted to tackle this project for a couple years now, but haven’t been able to for one reason or another.

However, this week, with dad still recovering from surgery (and having a tough time with it — nothing like having a persistent cough after having your sternum sliced open), Ann and I had some free time in between helping him and mom.  So, for the past three days we have been unpiling junk in the garage, sweeping up varmit feecees, organizing the unorganizable, shop vacing, and cleaning.

While we didn’t clean everything, we tackled enough of the garage to feel like we had won the battle.  Even better, when we began there was only enough room to fit one car.  Now, two vehicles can fit with room to spare.  Along the way I discovered some treasures, such as some brass inner tube caps (now on Biscuit), assorted transfercase and transmission rebuilt kits, the vin plate for my dad’s 1960 CJ-5 (which seems an appropriate direction to go with a next build project), and a Warn Overdrive Parts Catalog, which I think might be kind of rare.  I’ll post the entire catalog online in the next few days.  Below is the clean garage and the cover of the catalog.