Current Location: Sitgreaves National Forest, AZ
Current Song: Summer Soft by Stevie Wonder
Current Beer: NMX Standard by Santa Fe Brewing

We’re here. After all of that, we’re finally here. Deserves an interesting story.

Back in September I took the van up to Pennsylvania to do some work at my company’s data center there. Just swapping an ancient Cisco Nexus 9508 switch with a couple of Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX3’s in a VPC configuration. This is what I do, no BFD.

Anyways, my co-worker came to assist with firewall stuff because that’s what he is, and that’s what he cares about.

We had been at Cisco Live back in June, and he had gotten a ton of swag, one of which being a little bottle swig of Woodford Reserve. Knowing I’m a whiskey guy, he had told me then he was gonna give it to me but logistics never let that happen.

Fast forward to September, we’re at the data center he goes, “Oh hey, I brought that whiskey from Cisco Live for you!” A scholar and a gentleman, truly.

So he gave it to me and I threw it in the van’s fridge, assuming I’d drink it pretty quick because… well, you know.

Fast forward AGAIN, it’s December and I’m in Florida figuring out HOW THE FUCK I’m gonna get this van built out. The van fridge has been long disconnected, put in storage, taken out, driven to Florida, put in my dad’s shed, and FINALLY taken out to be placed in the van, even if only as a placeholder / make sure the 12v system works.

I open the door and lo and behold… a little bottle swig of Woodford Reserve!

Obviously my first reaction was to drink it immediately, but then I decided to make it the celebratory “van is done” shot. The van was built and done and for some reason it still didn’t feel right to drink it, maybe because there will pretty much always be stuff to change and fix on the van… so I decided it’d be the “we’ve made it to out in the middle of nowhere camping” shot.

Well, my friends… the shot has been shot. We are sitting in the middle of fucking nowhere. No cell signal, no road noise, no fucking anything. Months of stress, months of planning, months of busting my ass to build this thing, days of driving and we’re here.

And it’s fucking amazing because in normal life, Charlie is the nutcase and Goose just chills. Out here with it’s weirdly the opposite. I just let them go roam and Goose FUCKING BOUNCES.

Seriously, I guess Goose is just me in dog form. I’ve kept him locked up in the van and fenced into dog parks, and he was finally given the ability to roam and be free and he fucking broke out and took his shot. I can identify.

Also just like his old man, he’ll always find his way back home.

Let’s hope so anyways.