Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled SoCal Upd
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2015 11:41 pm
I still love Southern California. It is an amazing metropolitan sprawl that somehow actually works. Its highway engineering is exceptionally intelligent, its drivers I trust more than any other state in the country, the scenery is dramatic, and I have never had issues strafing the freeways with my mighty 44 net horsepower Chloe, who climbed the Cajon Summit with nary a complaint. The head temps peaked at 403* on a hill climb somewhere outside of Victorville at an afternoon high of 112*.
Watch downhill speed, you might hit 15 mph:
This crow entertained the trapped traffic with a talented display of updraft surfing, just hovering at the edge of the hillside:
Got startled by a bulldozer leaping up out of nowhere:
Looks like they have downsized the runaway truck ramps:
When happening upon this view, I vowed to get lost:
Here you can see the interminable I-15 traffic looping from right to left to right from my new vantage point on CA 138 heading up the hill toward Wrightwood:
Given time, Chloe climbs hills. This vista is from Route 2, the Los Angeles Crest Highway, overlooking Lake Los Angeles, Edwards Air Force Base, Palmdale, Lancaster, gorgeous and a lot cooler than Victorville. I used to stretch out my Posche 911 on this Los Angeles Crest Highway back when it was a remote rural roadway, but today's Los Angeles Crest Highway is like a sidewalk intersection in downtown Calcutta plopped on a mountain range, we have Japanese racing motorcycles, we have yuppie BMWs and Acuras and Audis, and even a Ferrari, we have late afternoon commuters, we have grandma and grandpa rental RVS, we have insane bicyclists demanding full road privileges as they coast down the hairpins at 40 mph, we have a lost Fed-Ex driver with a tandem trailer, and we have ubiquitous Subaru Outbacks with bicycles strapped the roofs:
As a growing desperation seized me, all of this noisy human activity up here, I spied an overgrown paved driveway just past a hairpin corkscrew turn and sawed onto it at speed and coasted on up to a burned out rest area:
It proved to be a very nice campsite, and the motorcycle racing thankfully diminished after midnight:
Did a morning hike up the forest access road, then descended into the frantic scrum of Glendale CA. Along the way, I passed the backside of Mount Wilson that overlooks the largest metropolitan sprawl in the country:
That is the road I took down to Glendale after this shot. Chloe's wheels were blackened at the cooling slots and very warm to the touch as I pulled into the Shell station:
Here is asiab3's beautiful 1600 engine:
It changes you, to rebuild your own engine.
I think Robbie will prove to be a resource for the community as his knowledge grows by leaps and bounds:
At the gas station, after we drove each other's cars down Railroad Avenue:
After our appointment, I had to traverse the greater metro-LA scrum to Banning. I camped near the Starbucks at some railroad access lot, this was the view I woke up to:
Whimsical interior decoration and fresh headliner dots, don't leave home without them:
It is a rapid ascent out of Banning, 2,000 feet, 3,000 feet, 4,000 feet, 5,000 feet, 6,000 feet . . . not that I was traveling "rapidly", you understand:
You can see almost all the way to Lake Elsinore, I think that is Diamond Valley Lake just behind the tree:
Paid a call to visit Elwood and Barb:
We went out for a pizza and a pitcher of beer and caught up on each other's news. Shot a "selfie" outside the reflectorized glass at the pizza joint:
Was damn good and overheated when I drove right past Interstate Parts and poor Chloe climbed yet another hill outside of Lake Elsinore on my way to the lanval call:
After thirteen years of this Itineratin Thing, every view has memories now:
I decided to do all of my travels in the evening and at night this year to help reduce wear and tear on my clutch and transaxle, and it really helped me to enjoy this beautiful southland. Here is lanval's commute view:
Had a good half day with lanval and family and peppered him with historical quizzical philosophical questions while we ministered to the rat Vanagon, then had dinner off the non-exploding grill.
Next post: the crazy day.
Watch downhill speed, you might hit 15 mph:
This crow entertained the trapped traffic with a talented display of updraft surfing, just hovering at the edge of the hillside:
Got startled by a bulldozer leaping up out of nowhere:
Looks like they have downsized the runaway truck ramps:
When happening upon this view, I vowed to get lost:
Here you can see the interminable I-15 traffic looping from right to left to right from my new vantage point on CA 138 heading up the hill toward Wrightwood:
Given time, Chloe climbs hills. This vista is from Route 2, the Los Angeles Crest Highway, overlooking Lake Los Angeles, Edwards Air Force Base, Palmdale, Lancaster, gorgeous and a lot cooler than Victorville. I used to stretch out my Posche 911 on this Los Angeles Crest Highway back when it was a remote rural roadway, but today's Los Angeles Crest Highway is like a sidewalk intersection in downtown Calcutta plopped on a mountain range, we have Japanese racing motorcycles, we have yuppie BMWs and Acuras and Audis, and even a Ferrari, we have late afternoon commuters, we have grandma and grandpa rental RVS, we have insane bicyclists demanding full road privileges as they coast down the hairpins at 40 mph, we have a lost Fed-Ex driver with a tandem trailer, and we have ubiquitous Subaru Outbacks with bicycles strapped the roofs:
As a growing desperation seized me, all of this noisy human activity up here, I spied an overgrown paved driveway just past a hairpin corkscrew turn and sawed onto it at speed and coasted on up to a burned out rest area:
It proved to be a very nice campsite, and the motorcycle racing thankfully diminished after midnight:
Did a morning hike up the forest access road, then descended into the frantic scrum of Glendale CA. Along the way, I passed the backside of Mount Wilson that overlooks the largest metropolitan sprawl in the country:
That is the road I took down to Glendale after this shot. Chloe's wheels were blackened at the cooling slots and very warm to the touch as I pulled into the Shell station:
Here is asiab3's beautiful 1600 engine:
It changes you, to rebuild your own engine.
I think Robbie will prove to be a resource for the community as his knowledge grows by leaps and bounds:
At the gas station, after we drove each other's cars down Railroad Avenue:
After our appointment, I had to traverse the greater metro-LA scrum to Banning. I camped near the Starbucks at some railroad access lot, this was the view I woke up to:
Whimsical interior decoration and fresh headliner dots, don't leave home without them:
It is a rapid ascent out of Banning, 2,000 feet, 3,000 feet, 4,000 feet, 5,000 feet, 6,000 feet . . . not that I was traveling "rapidly", you understand:
You can see almost all the way to Lake Elsinore, I think that is Diamond Valley Lake just behind the tree:
Paid a call to visit Elwood and Barb:
We went out for a pizza and a pitcher of beer and caught up on each other's news. Shot a "selfie" outside the reflectorized glass at the pizza joint:
Was damn good and overheated when I drove right past Interstate Parts and poor Chloe climbed yet another hill outside of Lake Elsinore on my way to the lanval call:
After thirteen years of this Itineratin Thing, every view has memories now:
I decided to do all of my travels in the evening and at night this year to help reduce wear and tear on my clutch and transaxle, and it really helped me to enjoy this beautiful southland. Here is lanval's commute view:
Had a good half day with lanval and family and peppered him with historical quizzical philosophical questions while we ministered to the rat Vanagon, then had dinner off the non-exploding grill.
Next post: the crazy day.