Okay so here’s the story of how I got to Seattle…
Sunday morning, I woke up around nine and started packing the trailer and the last of my stuff. With the help of Flip and Kayla, everything was packed and Flip and I were on the road by just after 1pm. The drive up to San Francisco was fairly dull. Assorted musical interludes aside, the most exciting thing was stopping for gas and seeing several cars on their way home from The Playa. After dropping a disc off in Oakland we headed to Paul’s place to crash for the night. After unhooking the trailer from the car to park it we grabbed some beers and food and basically passed the fuck out. The next morning we hooked the trailer back up and started on our way to Seattle. We left around 9am which should have put us in Seattle sometime around midnight or 1am.
The drive wasn’t too bad except for some rather severe headwinds which were wreaking havoc on my gas mileage but such is the cost of doing business, so to speak. After stopping to refuel at around 1:30 pm about 20 miles outside of Redding, CA the car started running a bit hot. (insert freeze frame with voice over “This is when them Duke boys knew; the was in trouble”) So I pulled to the side of the highway put some water in the radiator and let the car cool down before continuing. After about 15 minutes it happened again. So we pulled over again and I called AAA. (Here’s where the fun begins) While waiting for Triple A I commented to Flip that he should go show some leg to get someone to stop and help us. He did the next best thing, doffing his t-shirt and arming himself with his guitar he ascended the trailer and began playing Talderoy as cars passed on the highway. After several honks a CHP officer pulled off and began walking towards us. Flip had jumped down off the trailer and consented when the polite officer of the Dah asked that he “please don’t do that…please?” So we set about waiting again. A few minutes later an SUV pulls off and a man and his son walk towards the car. We tell them the story and the guy takes a look. As he leans under my hood I notice the tattoos on his arm: A dead Viking, a swastika, and a wristband…of swastikas. So the nice Neo-Nazi reattaches the coolant hose and mentions that he was low on gas, so we give him 25 bucks as a thanks and he heads about on his way. A short while later the tow truck shows up, I ask him for some water but apparently because of liability issues the best they can do is tow me to an auto parts store where I can get some coolant. Oh well, fair enough. So we get to the store and buy some coolant. After putting it into the car we notice a small leak, evident by the building puddle of bright green coolant under my vehicle.
After looking around a bit Flip discovered another broken coolant hose. Conveniently enough another car of folks had pulled into the same auto parts store parking lot. Also, convenient is that one of these hippies happens to be an out of work mechanic. Since they aren’t in any particular hurry he was kind enough to help us replace the hose and get the car back running again. He refused compensation until I offered him a pair of Pirates Charles CDs, etc. So we got back on the road, or so we thought. Outside of Mount Shasta it happened again…twice. At this point we pulled off into a deserted trucker gas station. At this point I called by Dad and got some advice. We decided to make it the last 3 exits to Weed, Ca and then spend the night. We did so, grabbed a hotel room and some pretty decent Mexican food at Los Dos Amigos (I decided Flip and I were pretty much obligated to eat there) and resolved to sort it all out in the morning.
Morning came as I called AAA with the intention of having the car towed to a mechanic and getting it looked at. If it was something he could fix that day we figured to have him do it and then be back on the road that afternoon. Otherwise I would rent a vehicle and finish the trip then come back for the car. Well, no car rental company in their right mind will let you tow a trailer with their cars for that option was right out the window. I ended up getting the car and the trailer towed to a U-Haul place in Yreka, Ca., renting a truck and a dolly to tow the car with. There was just one complication: Said dolly was in Ashland, Or. 40 miles north of us. So U-Haul was nice enough to comp me the extra mileage while I drove to Ashland, hooked up the tow dolly and drove back. When we returned to Yreka we unloaded the trailer into the nice, shiny, designed for towing U-Haul truck and hooked my broke down Nissan to the back of it. We got back under way around 1:30 pm. Almost a perfect 24-hour after the whole problem started. The rest of the drive was fun and fairly uneventful. Oregon and Washington are, as I knew and Flip found out, beautiful to drive through. Flip took some awesome photographs of farm houses as we drove through Oregon. Once we made it to Washington I pointed some sights out; Mt. St. Helens, Olympia, Tacoma, The Seattle stadiums, Space Needle, and what not.
We finally pulled up to the house a little before midnight and, after walking to Beth’s for dinner passed our Larry asses out.
Theres a bit more to the story but I have a couple phone calls to make and Ill finish up tomorrow.
Bottom Line/TL;DR version: Getting here was a bitch, but Im here now and Im happy about it.
The drive wasn’t too bad except for some rather severe headwinds which were wreaking havoc on my gas mileage but such is the cost of doing business, so to speak. After stopping to refuel at around 1:30 pm about 20 miles outside of Redding, CA the car started running a bit hot. (insert freeze frame with voice over “This is when them Duke boys knew; the was in trouble”) So I pulled to the side of the highway put some water in the radiator and let the car cool down before continuing. After about 15 minutes it happened again. So we pulled over again and I called AAA. (Here’s where the fun begins) While waiting for Triple A I commented to Flip that he should go show some leg to get someone to stop and help us. He did the next best thing, doffing his t-shirt and arming himself with his guitar he ascended the trailer and began playing Talderoy as cars passed on the highway. After several honks a CHP officer pulled off and began walking towards us. Flip had jumped down off the trailer and consented when the polite officer of the Dah asked that he “please don’t do that…please?” So we set about waiting again. A few minutes later an SUV pulls off and a man and his son walk towards the car. We tell them the story and the guy takes a look. As he leans under my hood I notice the tattoos on his arm: A dead Viking, a swastika, and a wristband…of swastikas. So the nice Neo-Nazi reattaches the coolant hose and mentions that he was low on gas, so we give him 25 bucks as a thanks and he heads about on his way. A short while later the tow truck shows up, I ask him for some water but apparently because of liability issues the best they can do is tow me to an auto parts store where I can get some coolant. Oh well, fair enough. So we get to the store and buy some coolant. After putting it into the car we notice a small leak, evident by the building puddle of bright green coolant under my vehicle.
After looking around a bit Flip discovered another broken coolant hose. Conveniently enough another car of folks had pulled into the same auto parts store parking lot. Also, convenient is that one of these hippies happens to be an out of work mechanic. Since they aren’t in any particular hurry he was kind enough to help us replace the hose and get the car back running again. He refused compensation until I offered him a pair of Pirates Charles CDs, etc. So we got back on the road, or so we thought. Outside of Mount Shasta it happened again…twice. At this point we pulled off into a deserted trucker gas station. At this point I called by Dad and got some advice. We decided to make it the last 3 exits to Weed, Ca and then spend the night. We did so, grabbed a hotel room and some pretty decent Mexican food at Los Dos Amigos (I decided Flip and I were pretty much obligated to eat there) and resolved to sort it all out in the morning.
Morning came as I called AAA with the intention of having the car towed to a mechanic and getting it looked at. If it was something he could fix that day we figured to have him do it and then be back on the road that afternoon. Otherwise I would rent a vehicle and finish the trip then come back for the car. Well, no car rental company in their right mind will let you tow a trailer with their cars for that option was right out the window. I ended up getting the car and the trailer towed to a U-Haul place in Yreka, Ca., renting a truck and a dolly to tow the car with. There was just one complication: Said dolly was in Ashland, Or. 40 miles north of us. So U-Haul was nice enough to comp me the extra mileage while I drove to Ashland, hooked up the tow dolly and drove back. When we returned to Yreka we unloaded the trailer into the nice, shiny, designed for towing U-Haul truck and hooked my broke down Nissan to the back of it. We got back under way around 1:30 pm. Almost a perfect 24-hour after the whole problem started. The rest of the drive was fun and fairly uneventful. Oregon and Washington are, as I knew and Flip found out, beautiful to drive through. Flip took some awesome photographs of farm houses as we drove through Oregon. Once we made it to Washington I pointed some sights out; Mt. St. Helens, Olympia, Tacoma, The Seattle stadiums, Space Needle, and what not.
We finally pulled up to the house a little before midnight and, after walking to Beth’s for dinner passed our Larry asses out.
Theres a bit more to the story but I have a couple phone calls to make and Ill finish up tomorrow.
Bottom Line/TL;DR version: Getting here was a bitch, but Im here now and Im happy about it.