The weather here in So. Ca. has been really nice for the
past week so as you can imagine, I couldn't wait for the weekend to get
here so we
could take the car out. On Saturday, March 1, there was a show
over in San Jacinto held at the San Jacinto Esplanade Center (on the
corner of Sanderson and Esplanade) and the show hours were from 9:00 to
11:30am. To me, this is a weird time for a car show but then
again, who am I.
It seems like every time I get up in the morning, I look outside (to
get the weather report) and I didn't expect to see it so foggy and drizzly
because of how nice it has been. Most of the time when it's foggy early, it seems to burn off later in the morning but this time it
didn't. Then again I should know better to think
that because the old saying is, "if you don't like the weather around here,
just wait an hour".
As we were on our way to the show, things got a little interesting
that morning. What I mean is, the road to San Jacinto is a four lane
road which goes through a canyon (two lanes in each direction) and once
we were off the freeway, you need to turn left and this is where the
four lane road begins. There are two stop lights before you actually
enter the canyon and once we had stopped at the first one, the traffic
was very heavy for this time of day and we had to stay in the left lane.
I like to cruise in the right lane as much as I can and once we were on our way, we would end up moving over
to the right so people could pass if they wanted. Besides, we were in no
big hurry and going a little slower on this foggy morning would be the best
plan. I could tell that the fog was much worse now and
one of the reasons for this is because the elevation is slightly higher
over here. As you leave the first stop light, you end up going over a
bridge that leads you to the second light, but I couldn't see it till we
were right in front of it (yeah, there was that much fog). It's funny
because when you finally see the light, the first thing you do is look
in the rear view mirror to see if the car behind you is going to stop or
not. Or is it just me that does that? Now that we're on our way and
still stuck in the left lane, it's about a six or seven mile ride
through the canyon till you're through it. And this area is known for it's
head-on collisions because for the first couple of miles, all there is
between you and the on coming traffic is a double-yellow line. Well it
must have been a few months since we've been down this road because now
there's a four foot concrete wall between the lanes. This is good news
because now you're protected from oncoming traffic (except for turn
lanes) all the way through the canyon. As we settled in for our cruise
to the show, I noticed that Larry was getting very transparent because
now
the fog was getting worse. About a minute later, I saw him moving over
to his right and the first thing I thought of was that he had an opening so
he could change lanes. And I've been looking for an opening so I could
change lanes too, but there was still cars next to me, so on we went.
Looking at what Larry was doing just didn't make since because from what
I could see, a car was still next to him, but he kept getting closer and
closer to this other guy. Now I didn't know if he was having trouble
with his car or if he didn't see the other driver. Then I saw his brake
lights and got off the gas myself and started to hit my brakes. But why?
Well it all became very clear (through all the dense fog) what Larry was
finally doing. He was trying to avoid a mattress and box springs that
someone left there for us to get around which had taken up about 75% of
our lane. And he's also trying not to hit the car next to him. With all
this going on, I still don't have a clue what he was doing or what lied
ahead for me. Once Larry was around all the broken pieces of wood, metal and
foam, it was my turn to do some driving. With a quick glance out the
window to see if I could change lanes, all I could see was a white car
(I couldn't even tell you what it was) so I had two choices, trade paint with
the car next to me, or get as close to him as possible and hit some of
the broken box springs.
After moving over the maximum amount that I felt comfortable with, I
was bracing for impact because all I could see was a huge pile of debris
along with some long pieces of wood sticking out that I didn't think I
could get around. Well...I was right, I didn't clear everything but it
could have been worse. I ended up hitting what looked like a 1 X 2 piece
of wood, but thankfully only the tires seem hit it. I could just picture
it flying up into the underside of the car once the front tire hit it
but it didn't. And I heard was "clunk-clunk" and that was it. Needless
to say, the next few minutes were very tedious and my senses were
working overtime wondering if there was any damage.
About ten minutes later we arrived at the show and I was ready to get
out and check out the car. Once we parked, I
looked the things over and couldn't find anything wrong. Hot damn, I guess
I dodged a bullet!! Once Larry and I wiped off our cars (like everyone
else was doing because of the foggy weather), it was time to buy some
raffle and 50/50 tickets and enjoy the show. I didn't expect to see
that many people show up but I was wrong because about 45 to 50 cars
were their and even more trickled in as the day went on. In other words,
it was a decent turnout so let's get started. This El Camino was
beautiful and was a car that I've never seen before. It had really nice
paint and some really cool graphics on top of the hood.
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