october 2025

xB

I got a call from a friend that works at a shop. Well, a missed call and a text that said, "call me back ASAP."

Scary.

I called back to find out that there was this kid that had taken in this 2008 Scion xB to the shop, but he was going to scrap it. He was quoted $800 to change spark plugs and a coil. I bought the xB for about $1k and fixed it for about $175. Oil change for $20. I still have to get her struts done which will include sway bar links and more.

She's dark blue with some wear and tear. The kid had that car when he was 14, and it was his first car. He was so kind and even left the original iPod cable!

We "fixed up" the dent in the front bumper. My fix was just to hammer it out and give it drift stitches.

I love her dearly. She is my toaster car. I love it. She even got blessed by the shop cats.

the UP of michigan

This trip was months in the making. This was the big thing that the gang was going to do. We've done little trips, but this is the furthest we have gone as a group. We drove all of the way to see rally racing. I'm calling it now. Rally is back.

I brought my camcorder and Nikon D200 to shoot.

The first night, drivers show off their cars and meet with folks. For this, they were in the parking lot of a Subaru dealer. Subaru being a major sponsor and always deep in the world of rally.

Big names like Travis Pastrana, Conner Martell, and Alastair Scully participated along with a number of local (and not local) racers. One of my favorite teams being driver Seamus Burke and co-driver Gary McElhinney in a 1977 Ford Escort. Both drivers are from Ireland.

There was a few other older cars in the race. A Ford Capri, 80s GTI Golf, 80s BMW 325, and a couple more.

But god, so many subies.

It was beautiful seeing so many subies in their element. All of the rally cars feel like skittery little animals. It was like watching a wiener dog race. Ford Fiestas in rally look like they're a squirrel running away.

Images After the "meetup"? I'm not sure what it was called. Anyways, after that we went to Texas Roadhouse. While we were there, people that went to the same thing parked by us because they spotted the Rallitek stickers on the subie.

We went to bed in our strange car-themed inn. We originally did not plan to be in Michigan that day, so the inn was a last second thing. It was an okay spot. Nothing too fancy but also wasn't like a bad place. There was a hot tub and a pool, so my partner got to see me swimming for the first time ever. He has never seen me swim...

first day of racing

We had to kill some time before the race. Like.. three hours. We got coffee at this cute place called Dead River Coffee Roasters.

Then, we looked at Lake Superior. I've seen Superior a few times, but this was a different spot. It had a big ore dock, islands, and beautiful fall colors. All of the UP had amazing fall colors. I had never seen colors like that before. It was amazing. I even saw tamarack trees!

A requirement for rally cars is that they are street legal. This means that the cars themselves race to the stages throughout the day. This also meant that we would run into them.

On our way to the first stage, we ran into the Skoda driven by Conner Martell and co-driver Alex Gelsomino. Because of this, we became huge fans of the Skoda.

We made it to the first spectator area in the middle of some logging area. The racing was done on empty logging roads. Truly, the middle of nowhere. We didn't even have cell service. All we had was cars, other spectators, and radio chatter from the American Rally Association safety folks.

We had no idea how any of this stuff worked. A blue wilderness edition crosstrek come around. That was the safety marshal.

Then a diesel BMW X5 came by. The safety folks referred it to triple. This was in relation to the three zeros marked on it. It rolled some coal for us as it drove off. We were not allowed to cross the track after that BMW drove off. A fourth gen 4runner came by a bit after with two zeros on it. It drove by a bit faster than the triple zero. Then, some revving in the distance approached. A white first gen Mitsubishi eclipse zoomed by. It had one zero on it.

In rally, the track has to be cleared by multiple cars. That's the zero cars. 000 is slower. They stop and talk to the safety people in spectator areas. 00 comes by at 50% speed. They usually do not stop. Then 0 drives at 90% speed. If anything comes up in front of the 0 cars, it gets fixed and people are expected to stay exactly where they are for the duration of that stage.

Single zero cleared the stage and the racing began. The fastest goes first. This was Travis Pastrana and co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino. Fun fact, she is married to Conner Martell's co-driver! American rally is a small world and super communal. Everyone knows each other.

Other cars whizzed by. We were on the inside of a curve, so we got to see the cars drift by.

One after another, they went by. Some without stopped and a couple either overheating or taking the wrong turn.

There was an issue though. There was no Skoda.

As soon as the drivers finished, a few diesel pickup trucks went by. Faster than you'd think too. They were up there in speed. The last truck named "green light" went by, and we were allowed to cross the track to make our way to the next spectator area. It was a bit of a drive. I didn't mention it, but to drive into the spectator areas, we had to take the same logging roads. We were in an Subaru Outback, so it did really well. Other spectators came in Miatas, Imprezas, trucks, and weird stuff. We saw an old Honda, a gold badge Acura, a 4x4 Kia Soul, etc.

We got to the second spot. To our left was a hill that the racers would come up on. To the right was an amazing curve. It was also getting dark. Peak rally viewing spot.

000 was a red Scion FRS. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what the other zero cars were! I've been searching! They were different from the first stage.

Again, Travis Pastrana and Rhianon Gelsomino went first.

Next goes Scully in the "Hyundai." (It was a Mirage wrapped to be a Hyundai.)

Then, the Skoda!!!

We were so excited to see the Skoda. It felt like seeing a bird that was thought to be extinct.

Turns out that the Skoda had flipped on the first stage. We saw it about 20 minutes before they started and flipped. The drivers are okay! Rally cars are equipped with roll cages and a number of other safety features. It also turns out that Conner Martell flips his cars a lot. He did the same thing a month ago.

As this stage went on, the sun set and the rally lights were turned on. The cars cresting over the hill had their lights shining directly at us. It made it extra fun because you couldn't see what car it was for a bit. The turn was fun to see too. Just sharp enough to kick up a lot of dirt. From what I could remember, everyone made the turn perfectly. There was an issue later on that ended the stage early. The racers would start at a different point further down the road, so we left to go to our cabin. Well, we got groceries first. One million frozen pizzas and little snacks. The cabin was in a nearby town that was a bit closer to the racing. It was so cozy with some fun quirks like a radio in the kitchen already tuned to the country station. We didn't change it. It played some of the worst songs known to man.

We ate our frozen pizza and watched Escanaba in da Moonlight which is a ridiculously charming movie set in the area that we were in. It was originally a play that was adapted to film. It very much still felt like a play, but I think that made the movie very neat.

It is about a 48 year old man/dad/husband that has never shot a buck. He goes out hunting to his family's camp every year, but has never landed a buck. The camp has mysterious encounters and everyone goes insane. I highly recommend this movie. I really did not think that I would like it.Went to bed and slept great. It was a little chilly which is my ideal sleeping conditions. Woke up to a fog on the lake and a silly dog swimming in it.

day two of racing

We didn't wake up in time to get to the meeting thing before the races, so we went straight to one of the stages. Stage 7? I don't even know. The spectator ones weren't in easy to understand an order. This spot was a straight so the cars were extra fast here. It was real close and personal too. Nothing too crazy happened here. It was probably the stage with the least issues. It ended with a crabwalking subie and another car with no tire. Rally cars get stupidly beat up.

At this stage, I took out my Nikon. My camcorder was running pretty low on battery. I did bring the charger for it, but I forgot that I even had it.

It was really hard to get the cars in focus.

The other stage we went to was another curve. We were on the inside again, but even closer. Like, close enough to get hit by rocks. It did start late because some dirt bikers managed to get past safety, and they started biking on the track.

Same order of cars as before, but this time, the Skoda was first and everyone else followed.

Again, I brought out the Nikon.

It's really hard to get pictures of moving cars!

This stage ended early because a car had caught on fire. There was a little bit of public shaming going on towards these young spectators. Probably around like 20. They were trying to cross the track before the safety cars cleared it. They ran in front of a car passing which was so stupid of them. We all yelled at them. They looked really shameful and stupid in their Honda Accords.

We got back to the subie and made our way to downtown Marquette for the awards ceremony. Along the way, we passed a couple of the safety cars, the Scion and the Mitsubishi. It was super cool to see them and the drivers! The drivers were all older. Rally is full of older people who have done it all of their lives. The younger people tend to be their kids doing it.

We made it to the downtown event. The last stage was supposed to have been happening while we were there, and it was the big Mount Marquette stage. We were pretty early to the awards ceremony, but that let us see the other racers that didn't place.

Mount Marquette got cancelled for the bigger names though. I think other people raced? Not sure. I just know it was because it was running late due to the late start and fire on the previous stage, but we got to see the others show up later on.

There was a BMW that raced that lost a whole coilover and they had to drive back without it.

That's just racing!

It was so neat to see the difference between that night and the first night. They were so clean in that Subaru dealer parking lot, but they were so beat up at the awards ceremony.

Everyone knew each other and I guess a number of the racers were from Marquette themselves. Some of the racers drove the cars from places like Colorado or Pennsylvania. God, I would hate to drive those things for roadtrips

My camcorder did make it through the whole thing, and I was able to make something with the footage.

We went back to our cabin after the ceremony and finished the movie. It was a mellow night. We woke up and got our stuff packed for the trip back home. On the way home, we were determined to get Stormy Kromers. It was so important that we got them because it is a UP thing. The plan is that we wear them to Sno*Drift in February. Yes, we're going to see more rally racing. We're invested now.

It was one of the most fun things I've ever done. It's on the level with Rollag. I always wanted to see rally racing, but I didn't think I would get to! I'm so happy I did! I hope to get my dream Subaru Baja to roll up with because I did not see a single one except in the town which definitely was just a local's car.

Rally is definitely back. Something that the main organizer of LSPR said was about how the numbers of attendants for LSPR has been increasing which is so amazing to hear. This sort of stuff doesn't really exist for profit. It is just for the love of the sport. A lot of other motorsports talk about doing things correctly or well while rally racers do things to have fun. They care about each other even if they're competing against each other. It's just such a great sport.

Definitely going to see more.

other things

✦⠀It was my brother's birthday this month. I have two younger brothers, and this one turned 21. It makes me feel old as fuck. To me, he's still like 12 idk. I'm sure you people with siblings get it.

✦⠀My maple tree has been beautiful. She turns this rich yellow in the fall. So perfect.. especially with the leaves falling onto my xB. Oh and I've been buying Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars and putting them on the dash of the xB.

✦⠀It doesn't feel like Halloween? Hopefully my partner and I can do something to make Christmas feel like Christmas. I want to decorate our old house with old Christmas decor. I'm thinking of a more vintage-y look.

✦⠀My partner got us a new chair, couch, and table for the living room. The table is like a little couch table, so I can hang out and do my thing in the living room. I love it and the couch and stuff! It's so cozy.

✦⠀Finally watched the last Grand Tour episode, and I will miss those three guys. I loved Top Gear too.

✦⠀I've been enjoying local radio on my big Sony boombox. Ignore the cool lights on top. I'm supposed to fix those.

✦⠀It being finally cold means that I can wear my good clothes. I dress better in the colder months. I hate my summer fits, but they've been better for the past couple years.

✦⠀I broke my Dyson vacuum... :(

oct vibes

looking forward

↟ My birthday is soon. I always feel really complicated about my birthday. I'm gonna try to make it a good one, but most years, I feel dread. I don't like aging. It's always a scary day for me. This one will be scarier because I have to figure out health insurance. I'll be turning 26, so I won't be on my dad's insurance anymore. Not loving that. I was really wishing to line up a job with benefits before this. My partner always does really sweet things for my birthday. It helps.

↟ Final trip of 2025 (I think), is the last week of November. I'll be in a cabin on Lake Superior for a week. There may be a hike and sightseeing, but a lot of it is unplugged, no pressure, and relaxing. Something that I need.

↟ I want to reduce the images I keep and take on my devices. I think I ought to remember things with just my brain and maybe little doodles. I will still take photos for my website, but not keep them. I already keep a library of my memories on here. Why do I need them on my phone, laptop, etc? I just need to get rid of them. I'm thinking of printing the ones I care about.

↟ I am also considering listening to no music for a while. I was inspired by this video. She brings up a great point that people will often listen to music that matches and worsens their emotions. If I'm sad, I will listen to sad music then I'll feel worse instead of working through those emotions. I also want that silence. I get a lot more done in silence these days. She does rain sounds instead of music, so I will probably do the same. I will absolutely not do it for as long as she did though.

↟ I also want to not constantly listen to youtube videos. I do it constantly, and I don't have room to just think. Plus, it's been really doomer content. It's made me too anxious some days.

I got a lot of things I want to do and catch up on. I basically did not work for a month, so I did run out of moneyyyy... rip.

I gotta bust ass and get back at it again.