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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 7, 2007 - 11:35am PT
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The streets were bustling with art lovers last night as I descended on Palm Desert for the monthly art walk. Valerie had stayed home from work as she was not feeling good and I was flying solo. Josh and Josh had quite a buzz going in their Gallery as Kurt Russell had been in the Gallery earlier in the week purchasing art for Goldie Hawn. The wine was flowing and the schmoozing was in full swing.
Next door, the Modern masters Gallery is known for their elaborate parties. My friend Sherri was showing her incredible nude photographs and her husband John and I were discussing our next mountain bike adventure. Come with us, we’re going to a party at the Bentley Dealership, they said. They are serving some great food and wine and they will have the newest models on display. John and Sherri jumped in their Lamborghini and drove off. Their friend Kathy, a former Playboy model in from LA, asked if she could ride with me.
The Drama unfolded immediately as Kathy, on her cell phone, informed her friend who had arrived to meet her that she was off in a car with a married stranger. The friend hung up on her and Kathy, feeling like she had deserted her friend, had me make a u-turn and drop her off.
I pulled the four runner with bike rack on top and mud on the wheels up in front of the Bentley dealership. Valets were parking the cars, but I chose a spot directly in front of the showroom. My car, juxtaposed to the Porsche’s, Lamborghini’s and Bentley’s looked like Fred Sanford had just arrived.
Inside the scene was about as far from a desert camp site as you can get. The half million dollar cars were shiny and new. Models encrusted with diamond ear rings and necklaces toured the floor. Although I would not know a celebrity if I was talking with them, the who’s who of the desert, seemed to be there. It is said 5% of the countries wealth winters in Palm Desert.
So this is how the rich and famous live, thought I, drinking a fine red wine and tasting tidbits of coconut shrimp, sashimi, and portabella mushroom delicacies delivered by the roving staff. The playboy girls showed up and swooned over the diamond display. I chatted with the sales reps from the Ritz and Hyatt, very curious as to the demographic of the Bentley buyer.
There are two distinct styles of Bentley, the sporty model purchased by 35 to 50 year old movers and shakers and the sedan popular among the 60 and up crowd. I informed my new friends that if it did not come in four wheel drive and hold an assortment of camping gear, I would not be interested. I did, however, decide that should my financial situation improve in the future, a roving staff with delicacies and a wine bar would be mandatory camp site improvements.
Wondering through the maze of life, you never know where you will wind up. From sitting around a fire in a desert camp site with rabbits and coyote’s to the lap of the rich and famous. I find the diversity and choices quite entertaining in our consumer society. It’s a crazy world out there. You can have the plastic coated model dripping in diamonds. My tribe sits around the fire, sleeps under the stars and the women are encrusted with climbing gear and hiking boots. Now that is sexy.
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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I had a TR to the Bentley dealer recently as well.
so my car (josyln the focus) has been getting on my nerves a good bit lately. i used to be a big car nut, but i sold the bitchin auto's and have been thoroughly enjoying the plain and simple transportation my basic sedan provides.
with the focus starting to get a little worn out, and my earnings to the point where i could tolerate a little bit of splurging for once i've been seriously thinking about trying to accommodate both my need for speed and my need for a good roadtrip mobile.
so i'd spent my day dangling off of the 50 E. Chestnut condo's and i'm walking up Rush street having a smoke, and i see it parked on the curb, the object of my desire for the last couple of weeks, the perfect new crag mobile. a black on black MB AMG E63.
I'd been doing my internet research, but hadn't yet had a chance to check one out nose to nose. i'm standing their slackjawed, its just as bitchin as i thought and god i want one.
after a bit (probobly like 10 minutes) of gawking i get startled when somebody comes up behind me and says "you like that car?" i turn around and realize a salesman just came out of the Gold Coast Bently/Lambo when he saw me checking it out.
keep in mind, i'm dirty, wearing workboots, carharts, still have my hardhat on, and am pushing a filthy mountain bike.
so i strike up conversation with the guy, turns out the AMG is a recent trade in with 27k miles and they'd be thrilled to turn it right around. so i come in, park my bike in the showroom next to a lambo and talk for a bit. the salesman seams pretty dang cool, not nearly what i was expecting, plain and simple, he drops the keys on the table, says give me your info, i'll check the financing, go take it out for a couple of hours.
we talk for a half hour about downpayment, trade in ect, give him all the info and i take her out and rip around town for a couple of hours. i want this thing, want it BAD, but i'm pretty well prepared for rejection when i get back.
the sob's offer me 4.8% for four years and approve me. for a brief second i picture my bike rack on top of an AMG, then reality dawns on me and i realize my current lifestyle will go down the drain, that car will own me for the next 4 years, sure i can afford it, but nothing else. certainly won't be road tripping the machine out to Boulder this spring. and wtf, am i going to be parking this thing on the street? my focus has been broken into twice this year.
so well, just as above, a brief moment of the lifestyles of the rich and famous. though i do have to recommend, if your ever in chicago and want a new Murcielago the Gold Coast dealer was very friendly and helpful.
maybe i can track down an E55 with a couple more miles on it....
sex on wheels or what...
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John Moosie
climber
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LOL Now that is a crazy trip report. Such a surreal scene, all of that wealth. I have been around serious wealth but I have a difficult time stomaching it now. The gap between the haves and the have nots is just too large, but that is what you get when you accept materialism as a way of life. You end up with the extremes of wealth.
I am with you on camping and 4wheel drives with crust. What I want is for every campground to have a hot tub. Combined with your roving food servers we would be really living. haha...
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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Nice TR, but where are the pics?
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Mtnmun
Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 7, 2007 - 12:45pm PT
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divad
Trad climber
wmass
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Thank you.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Nice yarns fellas.
This is what's needed cragside, a nice, modest eco colored Lambo Miura:
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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quite seriously, i HAVE drivin my ex-wifes brothers friggin yellow diablo up to devils lake.
ya know what the problem with those things is? you just CAN'T speed in one. can you spell "cop magnet"? doesn't matter, you'll get stopped even if you can't spell it!
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