Flew in, drove it home. Or, 2183 miles in a '63 Dart wagon

After an hour or so of dickin' around at Kinko's, we head for San Francisco. Downtown San Fran, at rush hour, with the intent to cross the Golden Gate bridge. The architecture there is breath-taking. even the Super 8 had style.

 

We successfully navigated our way to the Golden Gate bridge. Yay! Then, more PCH, and the usual, turns, switchbacks, uphill, then down, repeat. Cool, for a couple of prairie kids. More amazing scenery, and our first indication that we're headed to the Redwoods. We stopped in Olema, at the Point Reyes Seashore Lodge. Another romantic spot, I'd better bring the wife back here one day I said upon our arrival. The desk clerk had to come out and have a look at the strange old car we were driving, said she hadn't seen one since high school. We went next door to the Farm House Restaurant, where we each had an oyster po' boy sammich. Cripes, I'd died and gone to heaven, absolutely delicious! After denying my request for an MGD, we proceeded to drink every Corona in the building. Day three was in the books.

 

Cool car... cool story!

 

awesome trip = memories and stories for a lifetime. This is way cool thanks for sharing

 

I guess living in California and growing up doing all the stuff you said it's easy to take it for granted. Sounds like you guys had a blast. I am excited to hear about the rest of the trip.

BTW I know alot of people who live here who wouldn't do that trip in an old car. Congrats, fools.

 

Tuesday, July 12. We munch on the best continental brekkie ever. Most consist of cereal, muffins, and coffee. Not here, all kinds of stuff, even biscuits and gravy! You all may have noticed I kinda like food, it's a wonder I'm not 300 lbs. Deciding that while fun, hwy 1 ain't exactly the fastest route, and we should maybe try to actually leave California (against our better judgement, winter's on the way up here). We head inland to Santa Rosa on the 101, where we stop for (oh yeah) fuel, and an oil change at a quicky lube place. The kids at the aforementioned quicky-lube were, ah, a little taken aback by a car that was thrice the average age of the employees. They cleaned the windows, and even vacuumed the interior. Nice. As we head north, the trees are geting bigger. Much bigger. A lunch stop in Eureka, more biscuits'n'gravy (we don't have these in Canada, unless we make 'em ourselves, so they're always exciting for me). Redwoods. Unicorns (for a comedic connection to this reference, look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkW-EAkClbE, if you're not easily offended). A call to the border netted the same results we'd been getting all along. Nope. We made it to the California DMV in Crescent City at 4:45. After hearing and reading about Cali DMV horror stories for years, I was pleasantly surprised. They were very nice, and helpful, even to the jack-ass that came flying through the door as it was being closed at 5:59:57 shouting 'made it', then proceeding to yak on his shoe-phone in front of the 'no cell-phones' sign. I'da thrown the dink out on his ear. Anyhoo, I had the title transfered to my name, she gave me a registration, and even faxed the regi to the border for me. So we're good, we think. Next up, the Oregon border, whereupon we try the wipers for the first time. Whoo-hoo! They work, but the refills are sliding off the blades. A quick stop to address that with a pair of pliers, and we continued on to Coos Bay, Oregon, where we arrive at 10:00. Off to the local dive to get some chicken wings and some beers in us, and day four draws to a close. as does this one for me, bedtime, the homestretch tale comes tomorrow.

 

Sweet trip I always wanted to do a long trip in an older car, it will happen someday.

 

Neat car; good story !


Jonnie www.legends.thewwbc.net

 

This is awesome. I miss roadtrippin. Great story can't wait for more.LB

 

Thanks! I always like these fly in drive home stories and the photos that go with them. I should get the slides converted to disk from my LA to Connecticut trip with a '56 Ford Pickup from back in 1975.

 

Great story and documentation! Subscribed.

 

Wednesday began with The Dalles, Oregon as the intended destination, or maybe the Tri-Cities. The cool bridge in the pic is, I believe, on the way out of Coos Bay. We headed north up the coast, making a stop at the port area of Newport. Parked right in front of the original Mo's Clam Chowder location, but they didn't open for another hour. Poked around Newport for a bit, then headed for Lincoln City. Mo's has a location there too, so you know what we had for lunch. You Oregon guys for sure are familiar with Mo's, and I'd highly recommend a stop there for anyone visiting the Oregon coast. From Lincoln City, we headed inland, planning to stop at Wildcat Autowrecking in Sandy. Wildcat specializes in old Mopars, so we picked up a few goodies for the Dart, a gas gauge among them. Speaking of which, when did we get gas last? Coos Bay maybe, don't remember. We fill up in Gresham, and head for The Dalles. No gas gauge, and apparently no sense, and we STILL haven't run out of gas. The drive through the Columbia River valley gorge is beautiful, even from the Interstate. We hit The Dalles knowing that we weren't crossing the border, at least, not with the wagon. The Cali registration in hand, and proof that a title in my name was on the way (by mail) is still not sufficient. I made a call to dear ol' Dad, who probably expected this call a lot sooner. No answer, so we hit a Jack-In-The-Box for supper. Still no return call, so we decide to get a beer and wait. After three beers, we've determined that we're not driving anymore, so we get a room in the motel attached to the bar. Pop calls, we arrange to meet at the border at 4:00 pm Thursday. Feels weird pleading for help at 40 years old. Oh well, back to the bar.

 

Mo's Clam Chowder is Great. Especially with the fresh made bread.

Glad you like Oregon. That trip through the Columbia gorge is awesome, especially in a Convertible. Did you atleast stop and see the falls?

 

Day six, Thursday. Our grand adventure is nearly over. We head for the Tri-Cities, the Washington border is part way across the bridge in the first pic. Two states down, two to go. We do a little nosing around Spokane, as my wife wants me to investigate a generator for our camping trailer. Remembering that there is a White Elephant sporting goods store on Sprague Ave, we head there. Holy smokes! Enlighten me, Spokane guys, the entire U-city shopping center is closed, and apparently has been for years. What the hell happened?! At lunch, my pal suggests the waitress with the ultra-irritating voice is kinda sweet on me. Yikes. We then hatch a plan for me to marry her, get my U.S. citizenship, move to So-Cal, divorce, then marry P.J. to get him into the States (it's Cali, I think they're good with it). We laughed a good while over that idea, maybe too much time in the car together at this point. We get into Idaho, through Sandpoint, smack into the worst traffic jam of the whole trip. In northern Idaho. Really. After San Diego, skirting L.A., San Jose, and San Fran at rush hour, the winner is a rural area north of Sandpoint. We hook up with my Pop near the border after clearing the jam. We find a little campground a few miles from the border. I begin telling the tale of my border crossing woes to the nice lady running the campground, she basically finished my sentence. See's it every summer, she tells me. We agree on a storage fee, transfer our luggage to Pop's car, and park the wagon, complete with the full, unused jerry can in the back. After dropping P.J. off in Calgary, I arrive home, bleary eyed, at 3 a.m. Fast forward to August 4. I have a California title in hand in my name, and the border's stamp of approval. My wife and I make a banzai run for the border. Crossing was a piece of cake. The paperwork on the Canadian side needs a vehicle production date. That is encrypted into the codes on the fender tag, so I don't know. The border guard lets me slide with "how 'bout Nov '62?". The drive home was pretty uneventful, Carrie (my wife) took a pic of me approaching a moose uphill at dusk somewhere in the middle of nowhere (the barely visible speck at the top of the hill is the moose). Home. When can we go again? P.J. and I are still occasionally texting each-other with 'I miss Cali'. One off the bucket list, but it's right back on it too. Thanks to all who offered help, seventhirteen (Jimmy) for checking it out, and all of you who slogged all the way through this story.

 

Great story! Thanks for sharing. You have a real talent for writing.
Jim

 

Sounds like you guys had on hell of a good time! Cheers!

 

That's the best way to buy a car! I didn't have to drive quite that far, but when I bought my merc that had been in storage for 18 years, the guy freaked when I said I was gonna drive it home. We had an absolute blast, even with the small breakdowns, it was worth every minute!

 

You two guys look like the Rockabilly Blues Brothers! Solid movie material.

 

Great story! Did this once- not as far, though. Some of my favorite memories. Still have the truck, too.

 

great story

 

Great story and thats a pretty cool little wagon. They make great sleepers too, as I learned the hard way.

 

Great story! Enjoy your wagon. As my signature says....

 

Neat thread ! Glad you had a great trip , Btw you have a good wife too !

 

Yup, it sure is! I don't think I'll buy another car locally, well maybe. But more will come from far, until someone from California adopts me

 

Great car and great road trip! I'm just a tiny bit jealous

 

Jeez, scared me. I saw 'ryan' as the newest poster on my sordid tale when I checked my sub'd threads. I immediately thought 'shit, da boss'. Thanks man.

 

Just finished reading the rest of the story. Very entertaining- glad it had a happy ending. Thanks again for posting.

 

nice ride

 

Thanks for the post and nice ride.......