November 26, 2008

• At Long Last!

  Proof Positive:
  38 Year Old Volkswagen’s DON’T Float!!
  

  So… When they were new, Bug’s could float… For a little while.
  But after 38+ years of driving, rusting, and just generally becoming OLD,
  I have PROOF that they simply don’t float at ALL any more.

  (Which might be a good thing, or I’d probably have lost her forever!)

  Wait a second, I’m getting ahead of myself again

  ______________________________________________________
  
  Day Two: Breakfast, Murals, Freakouts,
  and a Small Touch of Insanity
  ______________________________________________________

  I woke up at a “Reasonable Hour” the sun beating down on me as I lay
  outside by the Bug, near the entrance to a State Park (remind me to tell
  you all the stories of the places I TRIED to sleep sometime).

  After packing things up as well as I could, I swiftly set off to the North,
  seeking coffee and breakfast. 40 miles later, I encountered the lovely
  little town of Lompoc and my nifty Google Phone told me that there
  was a coffee shop just South of my location.

  “Southside Coffee”
  
  

  After eating a ridiculously tasty bagel sandwich and beginnign my mondo
  size (quad) cappuccino I set out for a bit of a walk about to see what the town
  had to offer… And did it ever offer!

  They’re KNOWN for their murals there, DOZENS of them… Here are just a
  few images, I haven’t taken the time to stitch any thus far, so you’re getting
  them just about as raw as can be, I just want to share a bit of the feel Lompoc
  has

  
  Tributes to Troops…

  

  

  
  Mural-In-A-Day!
  
  

  (Apparently they have an annual contest for best mural in a day… Pretty Rad!)

  A Bit of Lompoc History
  (This was part of a laaaaaarge piece illustrating the story)

  
  
  
  Such a beautiful street…

  

  
  A Castle Inspired Church Is Always Nice…

  
  
  
  *Time Warp*

  Let me jump back about an hour… As I made my way toward Lompoc,
  I encountered some BEAUTIFUL countryside… So, I took pictures of course

  
  
  *Back To The Future*

  After leaving Lompoc, I continued making my way up Hwy 101 past Vandeberg
  Airforce Base, and onward to Hwy 1 and the Coast.
  
  “Oil Is My Blood”

  I popped into a little gas station for fuel, and to top off my ever needy oil tank
  (these silly Volkswagen’s LOVE their oil, haha). While there, I met a young guy
  driving an old Mustang who offered some funny comments, compliments, and
  advice on where I should head to surf in the area.

  

  That’s where things started to go wrong….

  As I descended down the toward the ocean, I ecstatically spotted some
  GORGEOUS dunes in the distance… I looked down at my phone and noticed
  that they were in an area called “Pismo Beach State Park”.
  Sweeet (Or Not)

  See, I invested in an annual State Park pass earlier this year so I didn’t have
  any excuses not to surf my favorite locations… This makes for a great thing
  when you’re traveling and want to check out what the State deems beautiful
  enough to be cared for, and a terrible thing when those locations deem it
  necessary to do their best to destroy your trip.

  
  This might well be my longest post ever.
  There’s so much left to tell!

  
  
  Above is one of my famous, expert graphs to show what the situation was.
  Remember the one from my telephone pole motorcycle accident?
  (It’s a bit of a prettier one, isn’t it?)

  “The Shot”

  

  …And this is where it gets interesting.

  See that picture up there? That’s where it began.
  I’m standing there, taking that picture… My car is parked a whopping
  300′+ from the water and the largest wave that reached us is this one:

  

  See that?
  It’s a monster isn’t it? One entire half inch…
  And if you know me at all, you know a bit of how my mind works.
  The moment I saw that itty bitty little wave, I quickly calculated
  the figures that mattered.

  My car could easily withstand 12-15 of those itty waves before there
  would even have a WORRY about getting stuck.

  See, when a wave comes up, it washes away a little bit of the dirt
  beneath the tires… So if my estimations were correct (and I have no
  reason to doubt them, I had NOTHING to worry about at all.

  Ya’ Right.

  Moments after those photos were taken, I went to change my aperture
  from F1.4 to F11 or so to capture the image in just a bit of a different manner.
  
  The next thing I knew, I heard a crash… I jumped and looked up just as
  a 3 FOOT TALL WAVE *SMASHED* into my Bug!
  
  In case you haven’t noticed, my car is barely more than the size of a child’s
  toy, so 3′ of water means that water was POURING into my passenger side
  window (which is of course, where my laptop and camera gear were hanging out).

  I sprinted… Or more accurately SLOGGED my way to the car; carefully
  holding my camera above my head as I charged through the surf, desperate
  to save my car, my lenses, and my laptop.

  It seemed like it took me eternity to reach my car, I was soaked more than halfway
  up my legs and that water was COLD!

  When I finally got to the car I grabbed the door and pulled… Somehow knowing
  that was a mistake. As I opened the door, water poured in… But there was already
  6″ or so inside… I guess I forgot the holes in the floor board.

  There was NO WAY that baby was going to float!

  
  Desperate, I tried to start her.
  No dice.

  In my flying days I used to ferry light aircraft all over the country, and I’d alway
  keep a can of ether / starting fluid “just in case” so I did the same thing on this
  trip… Again, NO DICE.

  I quickly rolled up the windows, grabbed my camera bag and computer, then made
  a mad dash up toward the dry sand mark (and just a bit beyond it, for safety’s sake).

  
  Then, I took off… 1/4 mile flat out.
  Running like the friggin’ wind, through deep, silty sand
  and in soaked jeans… I must have looked like an idiot, but at
  that point my adreneline level was so high I could do nothing but
  try my best not to fall and continue rushing on.

  My goal? To reach the entrance to the State Park where I’d had a great conversation
  with the ranger, just minutes before… He’d loved my car and thought I was crazy
  for attempting such a long trip.
  
  Now though, he was a JERK.
  “I need a rope, a chain, SOMETHING to tow my car!” I said… He replied
  deftly “I can’t help with that” ………… I stood there a bit shocked and asked again.
  After another brief eternity, he gave me the card for a tow truck driving based about
  15 minutes away.
  
  I nearly slapped him in the face.
  Surrounding us, EVERYWHERE were people driving big trucks.
  I mean this is friggin’ Pismo Beach! ALL I needed was a rope or a chain, lol.

  I took off again, running over to an ATV rental spot that ALSO looked at
  me like I was crazy… Stalled, and then after about 90 seconds of watching
  me squirm admitted to having a tow strap they could sell me.

  2 minutes later and thanks to a very kind soul with a sweet Avalanche, I was
  outta there… The car had filled with water up to the tops of the seat cushions
  but somehow, nearly all my gear was safe and dry.

  My Next 6 Hours…

  
  
  Were spent right there on that street…
  Covered in grease and desperately trying to make her run.
  Others joined in, and after trying every possible way of wiring,
  testing out spark plugs, and making sure water hadn’t made it’s way
  into the block we finally got her running again.

  VERY POORLY.

  But then, with an engine bay that looked like this one, what can you expect?

  

  This story continues on… Back firing and lurching to Napa Auto Parts, then on
  to a mechanic who helped set the timing… Then further lurching and back firing
  to where I finally slept (VERY WELL) on a cliff, overlooking the Ocean.

  But this post has gone on long enough… And the adventure is outside my motel
  door, desperately urging me to get on the road and head North!

  And so I’ll leave you… With a poorly running Bug, barely saved from the Ocean
  and somewhere North of Pismo Beach, CA with a very, VERY tired Eric at the
  wheel… There is so much more to share… But that will come in the next post

  

  • 1:39 pm
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