28 November, 1999
We got up relatively early and packed up the truck to head back to Carmel. On the way we 
stopped at what must have been the worst gas station Steve has ever had the displeasure to experience- Emil's liquor off of hwy 120- won't go into details here, but drop us an email if you want the story. We stopped in Alameda to visit Keith and had a great Chinese lunch then tried to go to Four Wheel Parts Warehouse but they were closed, but we did get a little tour of the rough side of Oakland… it's got a lot of… personality.
We then drove to Newark where Karyn and Randy (Steve's sister and her husband) took us out to a very fun sushi dinner (and much Sake). We proceeded to go back to their house (brand new to them and very nice) and partied some more. That was fine for S and J, but Karyn and Randy had to work the next day. Needless to say, they went in late. Jocelyn slept 'til noon and still didn't feel so great. About halfway to Carmel, we stopped and got french fries, a Coke and an ice cream cone. So good.
Had a great dinner at mom and dad Broyles' of mom's much-loved lasagne … and no alcohol.
2 December, 1999
Yesterday, Steve finished putting in the
Big Red MK III compressor (from ExtremeOutback) -- Yeah!! He and Bill(Steve's dad) did a great job -- while Bonnie and Beebee went to the crafts store. Beebee's mission this year is to hand make 90% of her xmas gifts. Steve made us a great dinner of black beans, rice and veggies -- a meal we're going to eat many, many times on the road. If Steve had it his way, we'd have beans and rice once a day. Bill won't let Steve have it his way. :)
Today, Steve and J went to PG (that's Pacific Grove for all you non-Monterey Bay peeps. J likes to call it PG as that moniker reminds her of PB in San Diego -- a much missed place at this point in Beebee's life-- to meet Greg (our former roomate) for lunch. We were late because Beebee was busy dying her hair, and never found Greg. Bummer.
Spent the afternoon making candles in the kitchen.
5 December, 1999
Friday we headed into PG to meet Greg once again, but this time we made it on time. Went to a little party at Greg's friend's house then out to dinner at the Crocodille Grill (NOT to be mistaken with the Crocodille CAFE chain) This place focuses on fresh fish and has an amazing greek salad with fried Kalamata olives (Beebee's a sucker for ANY olive). Greg, Steve and Beebee had a really wonderful dinner with some incredible conversation.
Saturday we painted the jerry cans bright red. A fun little job that we've been putting off which ended up taking very little time. The weather was beautiful, which made it much more fun.
Sat nite we went to Keith's housewarming party. We got to dress up -- something Beebee loves. We picked up Steve's sister Karyn (her husband's off on a business trip) and the three of us schmoozed for a few hours in our fancy clothes.
Sunday Karyn made us a great breakfast and then we drove to Ace
Hardware 
in Los Gatos and met Bryan Matsumoto to pick up some tools. We then stopped
in at J's mom's house for lunch and to put up some xmas lights. Tonight
we're back in Carmel. Beebee takes off in the morning to spend Monday
with her mom for her 60th bday.
7 December, 1999
We got ourselves out of bed at 4:30 AM and drove Sandy down to Man-A-Fre to do the first round of "major" modifications. No pictures yet as we left the camera with them so we would have snaps of the whole process. Long drive down 101, but it was really pretty in the morning light and traffic was light. We finally got home at 7 PM, other than the 2 hours we spent in Simi Valley at MAF, it was all driving. While at MAF we got to see some great engine conversions that they are working on- a 62 that is getting the 80-series engine/tranny, as well as some really impressive looking disc brakes/calipers (can we say "stopping power"?). We also got to drool over a 60 that a friend of the shop has been modifying for years. Incredible. Other than the frame and body I doubt that more than 25% of the vehicle is original stock parts, if that many! It had the cleanest engine compartment I've ever seen- including new cars. All in all we were both impressed by the shop. That place may just be 'Cruiser-parts heaven. Stay tuned for the list of mods to Sandy!
10 December, 1999
The really big news for the day (and yesterday) is that Sandcruiser has picked up a new member!! Our friend Todd is going to be joining us for a few weeks as we cruise Baja. We'll get you some more info soon on him and his rig. On top of the fact that Todd is just about always smiling and fun to be around, he is also a diver, so Steve has been jumping around the kitchen all morning because he now has someone to dive with in Baja (Beebee plans to get certified in Belize- warm water).
Welcome aboard, Todd!
Ok, it's 9:45 on Friday morning and we are sitting here waiting to call Malcolm at Man-A-Fre to find out if Sandy is going to be ready to pick up today (it's a 5 hour drive, we don't want to go if she isn't ready). The suspense is murderous!
If all goes according to plan we will have an entirely different beast this afternoon- OME heavy/heavy suspension (w/ shocks, steering stabilizer), ARB Deluxe Bullbars, Superwinch S9000 winch, ARB Off-road refrigerator, and an ARB air locker in the rear (along with new axle, wheel and diff bearings in the rear axle). Oh, and MAF 6-1 headers piped directly into the muffler (no unleaded fuel in Guatemala, so the cat came out). Very exciting stuff.
15 December, 1999
The really big news for the day today is that we've got Sandy back! And she drives sooo nice. Picked her up at Man-A-Free on Monday and took her up a very little hill and over some bumps -- couldn't hardly feel 'em. We thought she'd be a little harder to handle around corners and such since she's now about four inches higher than before, but she handles much, much better. Steve's dying to take her out for real and so we're going to take her out to the dunes in Pismo on our way home from Pasadena. "Pasadena?" You say? You thought we were in Carmel, you say? Well, our climbing partner and best friend from San Diego is home on xmas break from med school, so we're visiting him in Pasadena at his parent's home. Which means poor Sandy (and poor Steve and Beebee) will have to wait until tomorrow to test her out.
The list of modifications: 
Old Man Emu heavy/heavy suspension (HUGE difference!) with Nitrocharger shocks and steering stabilizer, ARB air-locker in the rear (along with new bearings/seals for the wheels, diff, and axle), ARB Deluxe bullbar housing an S9000 Superwinch, and Man-A-Fre 6-1 headers. A side benefit to the headers is that we got rid of the annoying exhaust leak and picked up some extra horses. We also removed the catalytic converter as we won't be able to get unleaded fuel in much of Central America and there is probably a slight performance increase as well. So far we have nothing but good things to say about the products and the workmanship. Everything looks great and was delivered as promised and on-time (the delay in picking her up was Hertz's fault).