Lil’ Pea traded for The Black Hole

It was a dark night near the banks of the Colorado River just over the Arizona-Nevada State line where Lil’ Pea was traded for The Black Hole.  I was told to meet my contact in the parking lot of the Riverside Casino to finalize the deal.  I was to come prepared and to wait for a signal.  Upon arrival, I flashed my lights spying an open car trunk in the far corner of the lot and knew my contact had arrived ahead of me.  We met under the cover of darkness, completed the necessary documents, nodded our good-byes and went our separate ways.

The deal was done.  I was glad to have it behind me and glad to know I wouldn’t have to think of it ever again.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.

These photos were delivered to me this morning in an unmarked envelope with a note asking for a certain amount of money, but instead of succumbing to blackmail, I am “outing” myself and the above mentioned deal.  Hopefully, I can help others by bringing these sort of shenanigans to light.  My wish is to continue telling tales and seeing the sights, but fear I may be incarcerated, or even killed as a result.  Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.

How’s that for a little “Guy Noir” melodrama?  Ha!

Here’s the real story, which as you’ll see was not too far off from the one above.

After lots of searching, I found a car that might be suitable for driving the Alcan in the winter while pulling a small trailer.  It was located in Kingman, AZ, about 3.5 hours north and west of here.  After much negotiation, I had a deal, so Hill and I drove Lil’ Pea up to Kingman to have the car looked at by a 3rd party mechanic and hopefully complete the transaction.  All was going well until it was discovered I would be registering the car in Alaska.  “Oh, that means we have to cross over into Nevada to do the deal to avoid the taxes”, I was told.  So many hours later (why does it ALWAYS take hours at a car dealer, even when the transaction is agreed upon in advance???)It was after dark when  Hill and I were told to follow the “driver” across the AZ-NV state line which was about 30 minutes away where we would meet a Notary in the parking lot of the Casino.  She would complete the paperwork  the ‘driver”  had brought, I would sign where I was told to sign, and off we would go back to Cottonwood with my new (used) car.

This whole thing made Hill and me laugh as we had never experienced such a thing…crossing state lines in the dark to meet someone in a parking lot with their trunk open as a signal…too funny.  We felt like we may as well be doing some sort of a drug deal or something.

Meet The Black Hole.  A 2006 Hyundai Sante Fe with only 34,000 miles, AWD, new tires, a trailer hitch, and heated -leather seats.

We made it  home with the new car around midnight last night and it didn’t take 24 hours for it to get its name and a new front license tag.  I started calling it The Black Hole because of the inexplicable 1″ hole in its rear bumper and of course because of its color. Unbeknownst to me, Hill added the tag early this morning showing off his wonderful sense of humor with an eye toward my upcoming road travel.

That’s it for now.  Life is moving pretty fast at the moment, so I got to git.

Stay tuned!