The jeep

I mentioned earlier that Larry sold his surfing van. Well, he bought a jeep. It was not one of his finer moments as a car guy. Turns out it was lacking a few things....like an air filter, a gas gauge, shock absorbers, brake lights -- I don't know what all. I sort of started glazing over when the subject came up.

Shortly after he got it, he tried to adjust something and blew out all the electrical. A brilliant kid down here spent a day sorting through the spaghetti behind the dashboard and got everything in electrical order. (He asked 150 pesos for his day's work. Larry gave him twice that and a lecture on valuing his skills.)

Now everything is ripped out of it. He's having new seat covers and a bikini top made, a new dashboard fabricated, filling in the holes in the floorboards. (No more up close and personal with those cobblestones!) He's repainting trim details and generally tricking it out. He's absolutely in his element, and I'm happy he's got a project. He tells me about every detail and I nod and smile a lot.

I think it's going to be all right after all. Believe it or not, someone's already offered him more than what he's got in it. There is no accounting for what guys like.