Hi all. When last we left you we were in Anderson California. Luckily, we spent an undisturbed night, and in the morning we bought another 30 pounds of ice and headed south.
As we rolled to Sacramento, we called the RV places and found we could not get a used fridge anywhere. A rebuilt fridge would cost us $700 plus $150 installation, and has a 30 day warranty. A new fridge would cost $1200 plus installation and have a 3 year warranty. We opted for the new fridge.
We arrived at Allied RV service at around 2:30 p.m., and talked it over with the service manager, who arranged to install the fridge first thing in the morning. Having no place to stay because not one of the Walmarts in Sacramento allows overnighters, the service manager kindly said we could stay in their front parking area. At 4:30 the service department closed, and we settled in for the night. Around 8:00 p.m. we were startled by the arrival of 4 police cars. The officers proceeded to handcuff and question four young African American girls, ranging in age from 10 to 15. We don`t know what it was all about, but they were there for over an hour before they unchained the kids and let them go with handfuls of paperwork. It certainly was a large show of force for four little girls!
At 8 a.m. the service guys arrived. We unhooked the trailer, and they took the motor home into the service yard. Two and half hours and $1432 later, we had a brand new fridge that looks just like the old one, but works properly. After paying our bill, we went looking for a Bank of America to deposit our check from Coos Bay. The GPS led us to the nearest branch, which happened to be in downtown Sacramento. Parking our 65 ft. rig was fun!
We were running a bit ahead of schedule now, so we decided to go only as far as Lodi, California, where we could spend the night at the Flying J truck stop. This is one huge, busy place, with action 24 hours a day. We found a corner to hide in and settled in for the night. Overnight the place filled up with RV`s of all types. We had parked in the back by the restaurant, and figured we would be left alone there. Of course, at 7 a.m. some idiot in a BMW had to park right in front of us when there were hundreds of empty car parking spots around! Took some maneuvering, but we got the rig out, dumped our tanks (they actually charge $5 for that!), and headed south.
Following the GPS we were going to Watsonville, California. This track is close to Monterey Bay, and all the well off areas around, like Pebble Beach and Carmel. Of course, the GPS always picks the shortest route, which took us over a road that had huge hills, and the tightest switchbacks we`ve ever encountered. It was a very challenging drive, but eventually we made it to the county fairgrounds where the track is nestled in the hills. Of course, when we got to our destination the pit manager told us that we could have taken a different route without the curves, and only taken an extra 7 miles. Damned GPS!
When we arrived there were a number of high school graduations taking place in the fairgrounds, one after another. It was quite a sight to see all the grads parading in the their gowns, and we were able to listen to the speeches and the singing. Marlene really enjoyed touring the rose gardens here. There are roses of every possible colour and type. It really is lovely. I set up the BBQ and made some nice steaks, accompanied by a bottle of our favourite $1.97 Oak Creek red wine.
Ocean Speedway in Watsonville is a dirt track, and we would be performing a car burn show here. We were very lucky here, in that we were able to hook up to water and power, a real bonus! Friday afternoon the racers began to arrive. There were 5 classes running, and these guys are serious racers. Many of them have more money invested in their trailers than we have in our whole operation! Racing began at 6 p.m., and we were scheduled to be the grand finale. At around 10:00 p.m. a track crewman came to tow us to the track. The crew positioned the car in front of the stands, and I did our big car burn, followed by a surprise victory lap. The fans loved it, as did the track crew. Unfortunately, the fire crew was anxious to show their expertise, and doused the beautiful fire I had created as soon as I began my victory lap! Oh well, judging by the crowd of fans who flocked to our trailer, we were a hit!
We packed up the car and equipment, so we would be ready for our getaway in the morning. We had to make a four hour drive to Santa Maria, California for our next gig on Saturday night. It was a lovely, quiet night in the country, and we were up and on the road south at around 8 a.m.
Going south on the 101 we passed through such places as Soledad, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo and Los Alamos. This is fruit country, and miles and miles of berry trees and strawberry rows is staggering. As we moved south the temperature increased, so by the time we sighted the ocean at Pismo Beach it had reached about 90 degrees!
We arrived at Santa Maria Speedway at about noon, and found a spot to pit our rig. We set up, pulled the car out, and prepped if for the night`s show. I had been a bit concerned about the operation of the afterburners in Watsonville, so I decided to test fire the engine in the pits, much to the pleasure of the track crew! All was working well, so we finished cleaning up the car, and retired to our air-conditioned coach to wait for dark, when I would perform hot laps on the track. The track did not have a good turnout of cars or fans for this race because they had a really big race the week before, so the schedule was moving too fast. They kept trying to delay things so that I could run in the dark, and we finally hit the track at 8:30. Lucky for me, the evening had brought cooler temperatures, so I wasn`t totally roasting in my firesuit. I ran 3 Fire and Fury laps, and everyone was amazed. Nobody thought I would run fast laps on a dirt track in a drag racing jet funny car! It was one bumpy ride, and I knew I would pay for it with a sore back in the morning. At the end of my run, I stopped in front of the stands and got out of the car for a bow, and was interviewed by TV celebrity Brett Wagner (aka: The Big Schwag... www.bigschwag.net), the host of the TV show Pass Time. He made a big deal about the car and how `Mad` I am! The track promoter came over and was ecstatic about the performance. The fire captain towed me back to the pits, and told Marlene and I that it was the best jet car show he had ever seen. He said that the whole track crew was talking about it on the radio, comparing it to the lame show put on last year by our competitor.
The track promoter announced that I would be signing autographs at the concession stand, so I made a quick change into uniform and ran up to the top of the stands where a line of eager young fans waited for me to sign hero cards for them. I was deluged by people saying it was the most amazing thing they had seen, and the promoter, overhearing that, started talking about having us back again. Big Schwag came over to say goodbye, and I told him we watch his show all the time. He told me that he would try to get us on the show next time they shoot in Phoenix. Whoopee... could be the big time!
We`ve decided to take advantage of the kindness of the track owner, and camp out here for a couple of days R & R before heading north. We plan to visit Reno, Lake Tahoe, and Carson City, all places we`ve never seen, before going to Vancouver Island for our next couple of shows. Stay tuned...
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