A few days ago I had written that leaving London really early in the morning to get our car was a later problem. Today was that problem, NO ONE wanted to get up at 7 to catch the 730 train – a train that we were going to be stuck on for 3 hours on our way down to Bognor Regis. I had no idea it was 3am when Mitch said “Hey stupid, don’t order another beer it’s 3am!” Time flew talking to the locals. Ryan stayed out even later chatting with some folks. Suffice to say we weren’t in tip top shape.
The guys over at KT Fabrications in Bognor Regis (less than 30 from the launch) did a fantastic job at making us a custom roof rack. Figuring out how to get one for your car is a serious pain in the ass if you don’t live in the UK. So any foreigner I recommend giving these guys a call. They whipped it together in less than a day and it only cost 250 BP. This thing covers the entire roof, we could put all our stuff up there and strap down the teammate being the most annoying at the time.
The best part is WE GOT A NEW SPONSOR SO WE DIDN’T END UP PAYING FOR IT AT ALL!! The Truck Yard is the coolest bar there is in Dallas, period. PERIOD. Everyone knows it. It’s an amazing outdoor place with a kickass quirky vibe to it. We’ve been regulars there for a while and they were kind enough to lend us some support, so a huge thank you to those guys. We’re going to be taking some fun pictures of us recreating the Truck Yard vibe as much as we can across Europe.
After that we dropped the car off at INSERT MECHANIC to do a basic service and hopefully give us good news that the car is in relatively good shape. We had a few hours to kill so we went into an old timey pub for some bangers and mash. The car shop called and told us they were finished and it turns out other than a few silly things the car seemed to be in generally good shape, and he reckoned it would probably do the job. We lost Goodman for an hour or so because he didn’t have the wireless router so generously supplied to us (THANKS TEP!!), as you can imagine driving around a town you aren’t familiar with looking for one person is frustrating and a little funny. We eventually found him, so he’s still officially on the team.
All the hotels in the area were booked up so we got a place about 30 miles to the east in another coastal town called Littlehampton. The hotel we were at was kinda cool, it was cheap, right on the water and had some old euro hotel charm to it. It also had the absolute worst bathroom/shower combo I’ve ever been in. They jammed this giant pre-fab thing into a room I don’t think was big enough to fit it. The bathroom was maybe 2.5 feet wide and 6 feet across. And no hot water…In this picture the bathroom is jammed into that tiny closet door. Come to think of it, that was totally a closet.
After the worst shower ever I went downstairs as their was a small bar, so I grabbed a cider and wrote the previous day’s blog. This guy at the bar, I’m going to call him Dave because he told me his name was Dave no joke maybe 15 times. He was very, very drunk. Between that and a very thick accent I could barely understand what he was saying, other than that he kept forgetting the conversation had already started and would reintroduce himself. Then Goodman showed up and the whole thing started over again. Fucking Dave. There was a small restaurant on the other side of the bar that had been booked up for what I thought was an office party but ended up being a low key hen party. Every woman who walked up to the bar to get a drink Dave would look at and say “Hey how you doing?” “I’m fine, how are you?” clearly disinterested. Then Dave would respond with “Hey, how you doing?” I saw this so many times I couldn’t help but preemptively laugh every time someone walked up to the bar. Next victim! Fucking Dave.
By the time everyone was up and ready most of the restaurants in town were closed. Most meaning all but 2. Goodman picked Panama Joe’s because the reviews looked promising and British food kinda sucks. We were all pretty impressed with the decor, the entire place was decorated like you would see walking into a Spanish cuisine place at home.
We were just hoping that this wasn’t some crappy British interpretation of Spanish cuisine. IT WAS NOT. Everything was on point. When the manager Mandy found out we were from Texas she went to go get the owner: Joe, from Panama! Joe had lived in Dallas for a while back in the 70s playing soccer and told us some hilarious stories. He then brought us an entire rack of ribs for free and several tequila shots. Unlike Dave, Joe is a really cool fucking dude that makes great food – he’s the cook! If you’re in the area it’s a must. On our way out he invited us to hang out on the patio and chat. So two nights in a row we’re invited to stick around a joint and just chat with the staff about all sorts of things. We weren’t even drinking really, just hanging out sharing stories. Great people, another awesome experience in the books. We even grabbed a menu we’re going to duct tape to the car somewhere. Thanks Joe and Co!
