We probably spent over 4 hours in the museum before we
decided to head out to Laguna Seca.
We pull out from the Museum and drive up the road, but the
engine has developed a miss-fire. I feather the throttle and everything
seems to be good again. We turn left at the light to head over to the 101
Hwy. Going down the hill the engine dies completely! GREAT! We have run
out of gas! The generator is still running fine though. :) and the gas
gauge reads a 1/4 tank! But we are definitely out of Gas.
Dave had just renewed his AAA
membership, so he figured this would be a good time to use it. That turned
into quite a fiasco in its self, because Dave was in California and not
Kansas. Finally he managed to get it sorted out, but they kept asking for
directions to where we were stopped. (You cannot get much more precise
than; approx. 2.5 miles East of Hwy. 101 on Hwy 246 on the North side of
the road IN A BIG ASS RV.) They kept asking for the nearest cross street!
Which was a Mile in either direction, so we could not see the sign! The
Point being Buellton and Solvang are 4 miles apart, and both approximately
1 mile square. Anyone coming to help us from one of these towns is not
going to miss us, or have a hard time finding us. It still took about 1
1/2 hours for the service truck to arrive, with 3 gallons of the most
expensive gas in the USA $15.00.
Anyway it gets us rolling again. We stop
at the first gas station to fill up. We get a little over $45.00 in it
when the pump shuts down along with all the others. :) I figure we should
have plenty to get to the next gas station in Santa Maria.
We pull in there and start filling the
tank $50.00, pump shuts off. I have to pay for that and try again. Another
$50.00, pump shuts down. I'm thinking this is a big gas tank. I look
underneath to make sure its not running out anywhere. Then decide to go
into the store and tell them I want to fill it up so it won't shut off
before that. I managed to put in another $6.00 worth. :)
I decided that we should not let the gas
gauge go below 1/2 or there would be a good possibility of running out
again.
Feeling much better about everything
(and having a full tank of gas) we head off again. The RV is running
pretty good. It kind of handles like a combination of a big Boat with an
old Cadillac's suspension.
The further North we get the wind starts
to pick up, blowing across the Hwy. If you have ever driven up the 101
between King City and Salinas you will be familiar with the wind. It gets
really strong and gusty. Just like it is today and I'm wondering if the RV
is going to get blown over.
Well that didn't happen, but the awning
that is rolled up on the right hand side unravels in the wind and starts
flapping! So we pull over on the side of the Hwy. to fix it. Not having
any tools made it a little difficult, but fear not there is always
something on the side of the road you can use. To all you people that
throw stuff out the window driving down the road..............Thank you!
Without you we would not have been able to fix it so quickly. :) Don't
worry about that $1,000.00 fine!
Dave did a bang up job fixing it. And
off we go again. This time trouble free all the way to Monterey.
We check out the entrances to Laguna
Seca as we drive past it.
We have dinner in Monterey at a Chinese
restaurant, then bought some supplies at the Safeway's, across the street,
to keep us for the next few days. As once the RV is parked it's not moving
until we leave.
We head back to Laguna Seca to see if
we can actually get in a day earlier. An extra $20.00 for the night and we
are set. The guard gives us directions to the Camp site that we have
tickets for. WAAAY down the bottom of a BIG hill! The sites are not to
easy to find as they are not marked clearly, but as we go by the Archery
Range and see a camp site we decide that must be "Archery" :) We are
further down the hill. We are directed into this field and then sort out
where we are going to park. (So we can get a clean exit when its all
over.) There are no leveling legs so the angle we can get closest to flat
is it! But with all the hassles we are FINALLY HERE! :) |