In which Sid and Doris cross the Golden Gate Bridge and visit Alan’s Auto Glass.
For Monterey Car Week we are staying with Matt Peckham in Pacific Grove. Doris charts a route (or rout as we Americans say) back to the Pacific Highway which will be more picturesque and suitable for the JGG than the freeway around the back of San Francisco.
With dire warnings about the extreme drought in California ringing in our ears from last night’s hotel and restaurant, we are interested to see that the spray-lots-of-water-into-the-air-under-a-blazing-sun school of irrigation is still keenly used.
The route puts us over the Golden Gate Bridge and then as the road broadens from a busy suburban street into a twelve-lane highway totally unsuitable for the JGG we turn towards the coast to seek out Highway One again.
Sid is very nervous about the fuel gauge although it may be quite pessimistic. We are driving gently and getting about fourteen miles for each US gallon. The tank is probably 20 US gallons to give a range of 280 miles. So far fills have rarely exceeded ten gallons so Sid is nerving himself for a run of 200 miles to see where the gas gauge points then. We have a spare gallon of fuel with us but that may not count for much in the vast American countryside.
The Duo are running out of fuel by the time Doris drives into Santa Cruz. [We only had 9 gallons left in the 20 gallon tank – D.] We are solidly into Spanish speaking California here. Californian history is divided into Native American to about 1542, European exploration and Spanish colonisation to 1821, the period as part of Mexico to 1848 and then as part of the USA to which joined physically by the railroad in 1859. So a long time speaking Spanish before a lot of gold rushers and other immigrants came. New Mexican immigrants keep the Spanish speaking population topped up.
Though the JGG is generally prepared for a mighty journey there is a problem. At the top of the screen on the passenger side you could post a thickish letter between the windshield and the rubber seal still attached to the roof. Attempts have been made with bath sealant. But not successful attempts, and the gap is getting wider.
Sid has done research and arriving in Seaside we went to Alan’s Auto Glass. We showed one of their guys the problem and he called for Alan who does the old car stuff. He started to work on the rubber with spatulas, lubricant and hooks, then called us across into the shop where they could get more tools onto it.
Toughened glass is surprisingly malleable in the right hands. They got out the big suction cup to haul the screen back in towards the car. They undid some of the trim inside to get at more of the rubber. They got out more tools for pulling the fragile old rubber around, then got a bionic M16 glue gun to hold the rubber to the glass. They used special foam and many razor blades to clean off the glue. Short of taking the screen out, trim off, headlining down and miraculous availability of rubber extrusion to a 60 year old pattern all that can be done has been done. They took about a half hour. They know their stuff. So full marks to Alan’s Auto Glass at Seaside CA, serving the Monterey Bay area. And they would not let us any put money in the beer kitty so we are giving them a free plug to our entire international readership. If either of you are ever in Seaside, please consider having a new windscreen fitted.
From there it is a short and mercifully draft-free ride to Pacific Grove and our home for the next few days. We are not long stopped before neighbour Joe, a Rotary Club member with a Buick, invites us to enter the Green Machine in Friday’s Pacific Grove Rotary Club charity fund-raising Concours and Drive. We had thought to enter the Monterey Concours de LeMons (see what they did there?) but that clashes with a day at Laguna Seca race track. So, maybe we will join our neighbour.
We shop for dinner (where Doris downloads the Safeway app in the store and saves $8.37 cents immediately) and then walk out to Lighthouse Avenue for the Classic Motorsports Monterey Kick Off. This is one of many opportunities to stroll about among cool cars and their owners. The American Psychological Association probably runs field trips.
In one of the many cute gardens on our route down the the sea and home we spot a blue bird, possibly know as a Bluebird. [The Californian Scrub Jay apparently – D.]
Doris also takes the opportunity to show you just how big the latest “trucks” (pickups) are – move over Chelsea Tractors, you are such small fry. This is a genuine picture, no fancy messing around with perspective or photoshopping.
From the cliffs we see seals both basking and swimming, pelicans and sea otters. No dolphins today. Our garden is specially planted and watered to attract humming birds.
So the theme of today is seals.