Hey everyone, thanks again for tuning in and giving me so much support along the way. I've been back a couple months but probably no more than two days goes by before I think of some scene or glorious memory of some stage of the adventure. I'm working on getting a few more pictures and videos together to summarize the trip. Check out my Smangin' USA Playlist on YouTube for some of the videos! I'll add more later when I'm able to edit them but there are some here that give you a different experience of the trip than just reading the posts.
And a quick life update:
I still have the damn Corolla! I drove it 4604 miles down the East Coast, South, Southwest, and Pacific Coast and now I can't sell it. It has no plates, doesn't pass CA smog requirements, and I'll probably sell it to a Pick n' Pull scrapyard next week.
Steph and I moved in together with our lease starting October 1st in San Francisco. We have a great place and I've been spending much of my stationary unemployment cleaning and unpacking, and now it's home.
I'm still unemployed but I've been interviewing and things are looking good for starting up again soon. It's been mostly nice but now I'd like to start adding to my savings account rather than withdrawing. Also, now that I'm done moving I'll be getting a little stir-crazy at home so it's time to get working!
Tomorrow is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I'm planning my first significant ride since I said farewell to Babe on 8/11. I'll be riding from SF to home in Forestville which should be about 80 miles. If you caught one of the very first blog posts here, I rode home for Thanksgiving last year for my first trial run and stayed out two nights so I'm excited to come full circle and do it again. This year's change will be that I'm going to do the ride in one day, sunrise to sunset, rather than stretch it into some nights. I haven't gone on a long ride in awhile so we'll see how it goes.
Hopefully you all have a marvelous holiday season!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Goin' Back to Cali
I'll start this off with a quick apology since it's now been 2 months since I've been home and I'm finally getting to the last day.
After leaving Vegas I drove back into CA for the first time in over three months. The drive was a little hot but overall not a big deal. The only minor hang-up was at a gas station about half way when the car wouldn't start. This happened a couple times on the drive back so far but after waiting a little and a few more clicks it would fire up, which is how I kept going this time too.
I finally got to my cousin Daniel and his girlfriend Rosette's place in LA around 7pm and he and I went out for tacos and a pile of frozen yogurt. It was great to see them since it had been awhile and we watched some pretty entertaining videos before I passed out on their couch. Daniel made some pancakes that night which we ate in the morning with some coffee before I left. I thanked him for the accommodations and waking up to see me off and headed out the door.
I had about 20 minutes until the parking restrictions took effect on the block I was parked. I sat down, inserted the key, and listened to a frustrating lack of spark under the hood. Thinking about the last couple times it didn't start, I waited a minute and tried it again, still with no luck. Off and on for 15 minutes I kept trying and getting more and more frustrated at the lack of response. Could I really have driven this car more than 4000 miles only to have it stop working on my last day? I just wanted to be home and this expletive-ing expletive car was being a pain. Regretfully I called Daniel who had gone back to bed and he came over. When he was en route I realized that when there was no click at all, none of the accessories worked either which seemed like the battery simply wasn't connected.
As soon as Daniel arrived I popped the hood and tugged on a wire a little that was patched into the battery terminal. That seemed to tighten the terminal screw a little so maybe the connection was just loose. Sure enough, the next time I tried the key the Corolla fired right up. I looked a little sheepishly at Daniel and thanked him for coming over regardless, then headed straight over to AutoZone to have the battery tested. Everything checked out fine, it was just a loose screw so I jumped on the freeway and began the last day of my journey.
I pretty much took 101 up to San Luis Obispo where I went to college and stopped at Firestone's Grill for lunch and a beer. It was a very familiar sports bar back in the college days and is still going strong. I also stopped at Central Coast Brewing to buy a couple favorite 22 oz beers to bring home. I hadn't been back to SLO in a couple years and it was great to visit, so many fun memories in that city.
From SLO I took the Pacific Coast Highway, Hwy 1, up along the coast and through beautiful Big Sur. The ride was stunning as expected and I came through Monterrey and Santa Cruz, finally finishing my East of Eden "book on tape" in San Jose, perfect timing! I then turned off the radio and drove for a bit reflecting on the entire journey. I'm sure you can understand the shedding of a few tears after finally returning home. After spending no more than 5 days in a single place for the past four months, I was cruising back to familiarity with a lifetime's worth of experiences.
I pit-stopped at my apartment in San Mateo to shower and get some clothes, then just kept going over to Berkeley to meet up with Steph and some friends. It was of course great to see her after a couple weeks and I was so content to have some food and drink with good friends. I was back in the Bay and couldn't be happier!
After leaving Vegas I drove back into CA for the first time in over three months. The drive was a little hot but overall not a big deal. The only minor hang-up was at a gas station about half way when the car wouldn't start. This happened a couple times on the drive back so far but after waiting a little and a few more clicks it would fire up, which is how I kept going this time too.
I finally got to my cousin Daniel and his girlfriend Rosette's place in LA around 7pm and he and I went out for tacos and a pile of frozen yogurt. It was great to see them since it had been awhile and we watched some pretty entertaining videos before I passed out on their couch. Daniel made some pancakes that night which we ate in the morning with some coffee before I left. I thanked him for the accommodations and waking up to see me off and headed out the door.
I had about 20 minutes until the parking restrictions took effect on the block I was parked. I sat down, inserted the key, and listened to a frustrating lack of spark under the hood. Thinking about the last couple times it didn't start, I waited a minute and tried it again, still with no luck. Off and on for 15 minutes I kept trying and getting more and more frustrated at the lack of response. Could I really have driven this car more than 4000 miles only to have it stop working on my last day? I just wanted to be home and this expletive-ing expletive car was being a pain. Regretfully I called Daniel who had gone back to bed and he came over. When he was en route I realized that when there was no click at all, none of the accessories worked either which seemed like the battery simply wasn't connected.
As soon as Daniel arrived I popped the hood and tugged on a wire a little that was patched into the battery terminal. That seemed to tighten the terminal screw a little so maybe the connection was just loose. Sure enough, the next time I tried the key the Corolla fired right up. I looked a little sheepishly at Daniel and thanked him for coming over regardless, then headed straight over to AutoZone to have the battery tested. Everything checked out fine, it was just a loose screw so I jumped on the freeway and began the last day of my journey.
I pretty much took 101 up to San Luis Obispo where I went to college and stopped at Firestone's Grill for lunch and a beer. It was a very familiar sports bar back in the college days and is still going strong. I also stopped at Central Coast Brewing to buy a couple favorite 22 oz beers to bring home. I hadn't been back to SLO in a couple years and it was great to visit, so many fun memories in that city.
From SLO I took the Pacific Coast Highway, Hwy 1, up along the coast and through beautiful Big Sur. The ride was stunning as expected and I came through Monterrey and Santa Cruz, finally finishing my East of Eden "book on tape" in San Jose, perfect timing! I then turned off the radio and drove for a bit reflecting on the entire journey. I'm sure you can understand the shedding of a few tears after finally returning home. After spending no more than 5 days in a single place for the past four months, I was cruising back to familiarity with a lifetime's worth of experiences.
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