Well my friends I just finished scrapping off stickers and cleaning out little known nooks and crannies of my much loved vehicle. Found: one pair of purple drum sticks, 9 insurance cards, one Black Butte gate key (we sold that place like ten years ago), one pair of Oakley’s circa 1989, a partially eaten pack of cherry sour balls, a ziploc full of jelly bellys, 6 maps, 1 hand knit wash cloth for spills, 2 lighters (no idea why), 1 mini tape recorder, also from the crew days a piece of athletic tape with a race plan on it, a particularly nice piece of driftwood from the Oregon coast, 2 combs, ‘what happened here’ knowledge cards, the best mixed tape ever: the Purple Tape, and more.  Okay I could go on and on about it, but to be fair the thing is freaking amazing. It’s seventeen years old this month. And yet it is fully electronic, windows, sun roof, seats, mirrors, everything. I took it in this morning and it was only a thirty dollar oil change/trip ready thing. Nothing was wrong with the car. Because it rocks (and I’m sure it helps it has had the same mechanic the whole time). Now I do see it’s age, but it still gets 21 miles to the gallon, and I do mostly city driving, ridiculous. It is with mixed feelings that I will be leaving it up in Alaska, it will have one great last adventure, but I’ll certainly never see it again. So aui revior (ha! have no idea how to spell that) my dear car!

So back to one of the important things on that list up there: the Purple Tape. My mixed tape from my 1999 high school graduation road trip:

Side A:
Kiss Me – Six Pence None the Richer
Joy to the World – Three Dog Night
La Isla Bonita – Madonna
New Age Girl – Deadeye Dick
Medley Aquarius & Let the Sunshine In – The Fifth Demension
Acoustic #3 – Goo Goo Dolls
Invisible Sun – Sting and Aswad
Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix
Leader of the Pack – The Shangrilas
When I Come Around – Green Day
Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
Side B:
I Touch Myself – The Divinyls
What’s My Age Again – Blink 182
Colors of the Wind – Judy Kuhn
American Woman – Lenny Kravitz
Basket Case – Green Day
When Doves Cry – Quindon Tarver
Beautiful Stranger – Madonna
Sunday, Bloody Sunday -U2
Word Up – Melanie G
Just What I Needed – The Cars
Wonderwall – Oasis
One More Addiction – Natalie Imbruglia

I can’t play that tape any more. My car decided to eat a different mixed tape and the deck no longer works. So I was thinking of making that into a play list on my iPod. But I’ve got a lot of miles, and I could really use your help coming up with more road tripping songs. Any suggestions?

Just so you know re: my taste – I HATE COUNTRY MUSIC. Sorry if you like, but ew, with a side of ew. We leave tomorrow night, but I’ll be blogging more before than. It seems like all the sudden I’ve got lots to say!