I was supposed to write a post this morning detailing how we are heading to Monterey Car Week in our super-modern Pontiac Aztek. In fact, when I flew into Los Angeles yesterday afternoon, I had a long list of things to do before I left for Monterey this morning. Many of those things didn’t happen.
Why? First, David let us down because he wanted to install a transmission cooler in the Aztek before our trip and needed some very specific Aztek parts. Jason and I arrived in Galpin from the airport around 3:00pm California time and barely had time to get settled in before Jason had to “borrow” a Ford Expedition from Galpin and take it to a shop to get those magical Aztek transmission magnets.
So Jason went off on his side mission and I went over to talk to the amazing video folks at Galpin Media in their offices about all our preparations for the Aztek that week. The phone rang. “I have to take this,” Chris de la Garza, the main person responsible for most of our videos, insisted as he picked up the phone. He had to take it because it was Beau’s wonderful Executive Assistant Alexis.
(Side note: Everyone who works at Galpin is great, so if I refer to someone here, just assume that person is a wonderful mix of competence and humor. Everyone I meet seems to take their job seriously without taking themselves too seriously. That’s great.)
At this point it’s maybe 4:30 p.m. Our plan is for David to finish the Aztek, go to the Horseless Carriage Restaurant in Galpin, get some tuna sandwiches, and write a few posts.
Here’s what happened instead.
Chris turns to me in the middle of the conversation and says: “He’s right here, you don’t have to look for him. Yes, I’ll switch to speakerphone.”
“Beau would like to know if you could meet him and the Buchmanns at Spago at 6 p.m. Can you make it?” asked Alexis.
The great thing about working here is that you can say no to things. You can disagree. It’s the best kind of partnership. However, you’d be crazy to turn down a meal at Beau’s as he always knows exactly what everyone wants to eat (whether it’s on the menu or not) and then orders more than enough for the table. You almost don’t even have to order your own food as the dishes just show up and sharing is encouraged.
“Um… give me three minutes. I’ll go to your office and have an answer.”
I call David, who is already busy with the parts for Aztek. He needs to keep working on Aztek, but he’s at a good point where he needs to stop. He thinks he can take a shower and get it done. I call Jason, who comes back with parts, and he also thinks we can do it if nothing goes wrong.
As I enter the main office, I tell Alexis that everything is ready and we will probably reach the restaurant on time.
“Ok, but remember to dress nicely,” says Alexis politely not and pointed out my crumpled clothes after the flight.
“Uhh… sure.”
Jason and I grab an Uber and race to our hotel. We’re running out of time and need to change as quickly as possible. I ask the driver to wait and make a bet with Jason: whoever comes back first can order the loser’s drink.
I win, of course, because I decided our elevator was slow enough that I could just change there (luckily no one caught me). Here’s the drink:
Honestly, less embarrassing than I thought it would be and kind of delicious. It’s a peachy version of Sex on the Beach called “Teaches of Peaches,” which is surely a nod to that video:
Our dinner companions are Beau’s lovely wife Mary and our special guests Rainer Buchmann and Kathrin Buchmann from bb-Auto, who will also be joining us on this trip. Side note: Porsche Santa Clarita and bb will be showing something incredible in Monterey this week:
It was a great dinner. John Legend and Chrissy Teigen were sitting a few tables away. I had a salmon pizza (so good).
Unaware of our bet, David took one look at Jason’s drink and said, “I’ll have one of that.” In fact, it is a perfect David drink.
Of course, look at what David put on the table:
Genuine GM parts! On the table! At Spago, Wolfgang Puck’s famous, trendy restaurant in Beverly Hills!
It was one of those meals where things never slowed down, the conversation never stopped, and suddenly it was super late and we were full. Jason and I offered to help David finish the Aztek (Jason was a little more honest than I was, I was pretty exhausted).
“Nah, we’ll be fine,” David insisted to all of us. We’re going to Monterey in a few hours with an Aztek that has a transmission cooler mounted but not hooked up and a bag full of spare parts. We haven’t written any posts or prepared anything yet. We’re going to start the trip in a big hole.
So it’s already turning into a pretty standard Autopian adventure!
