Ultimate Roadtrip: booked.

I buy a jacket and we get 2 cups of coffee, a case of water, 3 bags of chips, and a bottle of Woodford Reserve, and we’re ready for the road. We bump into these wild horses on the way and some other stuff.







I get behind the wheel for a drive I’ve been anticipating for 6 months: Route 50, The Loneliest Road in America. It didn’t disappoint. We’re blasting down this road at triple digit speeds and there is almost no one out there. The Mustang is handling it like a champ, with power in reserve, but at over 120, you start to feel the limitations of the suspension. We find a place called Middleton to gas up(which is basically a microscopic trailer park with a gas station/bar). Danny notices a piece of art on the wall and asks if the “Shoe Tree” is near by. For those of you unfamiliar with it, basically people take their shoes, tie the laces together, and hurl them into the tree, where they get wrapped around a branch and stay for eternity. Perfect Americana Roadside Attraction. It was some womans art project. According to the proprietor of the gas station, the ladies husband got pissed off at her and went and cut her fucking tree down. Lmao. Would love to know what that argument was. He says a new one has started and is just down the road. We make it, and there is the tree. Throwing shoes into a tree is much harder than it looks. Just trust me. After dicking around with it for a bit, we notice a huge pile of shoes a few hundred feet away, and realize it is what is left of the old Shoe Tree. Dude totally cut that bitches tree down. Bummer. But kind of funny.

Day Four: Route 50. Tuesday morning we wake up and Danny is all excited about this vintage airshow that is starting up in Reno the next day. The only problem is, we’re going to be on the other side of the state by tonight. I tell him to plan on doing some math when we make it to Bonneville and we’ll see if it will work in. We hook over to Lake Tahoe and take in some sights. It is gorgeous out there, and I would highly recommend seeing it. The beauty of a lot of this trip, was that we weren’t in places of interest at traditional times, so most everywhere was vacant and completely owned by us while we were there. This was no exception. We decide to head into town for some supplies before we make one of the biggest parts of the trip I was excited about: Route 50. I forgot to bring a damn jacket, so we see a Kohls and a grocery store next to each other, and as Danny is pulling us in, I notice a boarded up IHOP. Logically, my first thought is they might be remodeling, but why board up the windows? It isn’t closing; IHOPS almost never go out of business. They cater to chuchies and drunks, who can go wrong with that business model? Then I remember something in the news from the previous week, and sure enough, we’re at the IHOP in Carson City where all those National Gaurdsmen got shot and killed in the beginning of September. To stumble on that unexpectedly was a little disconcerting. Danny didn’t know it had happened. There was a memorial with a bunch of cards and flowers next door. Very sad to see.

Reno blows. I can't believe you didn't like Truckee. Tahoe is my favorite place in the united states. Actually, I CAN believe you didn't like Truckee, but there are several cooler towns around the lake.

I guess I didn't really dislike it. It reminded me of Fredricksberg. Just a classic downtown area with a bunch of remodeled modern shops. It's hard for me to get excited about retail.

[Ratt]

Reno blows. I can't believe you didn't like Truckee. Tahoe is my favorite place in the united states. Actually, I CAN believe you didn't like Truckee, but there are several cooler towns around the lake.

[Rick Modena]

Very nice...

Now, if you’ve never been to Reno… Don’t be in a big hurry to go. What a shithole. There were about 12 people in the entire casino we went to. Of course at this point it was a Monday night, but the whole place had a vibe parallel to “The Town That Dreaded Sundown.” And it was filthy. Instead of “The Biggest Little City In The World” they should change the town slogan to “Reno: Where Dreams Go To Die.” Danny and I both raped the casino for some small change playing Black Jack, then decided we’d be better off heading south and hoping Carson City wasn’t such a toilet. We hit an In & Out since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, and get to Carson City LATE. Sleep it is.


I'm done for tonight, this is taking forever. Tomorrow, Day Four and beyond.

Day Three: Let me tell you this about San Fran. I saw more women that were absolute real “10”s in the day we were there than I have seen in the last 6 months in Texas. True Story. We get up and eat at Mel’s Diner of “American Graffiti” fame, cruise around the town a bit, China Town, some burnouts on Lombard, and Treasure Island, then head out.











We head over to Sacremento to meet up with Aaron(Got Boost, Big A, whatev). We ask him to pick out a cool local place for lunch and he picks out… BJs Brewhouse… We catch up for a bit, then head to the border through some amazing forests and Donner Pass. Awesome Lake at Donner Pass, and Truckee(totally overrated), we drive around for a bit more in the woods, get bored, and head to Reno.

After a couple of hours, we headed north to San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge. It was the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and apparently some peaceniks decided they would march the bridge with some breast cancer walk. I found it mildly amusing I was wearing a shirt with a girl that had a machine gun leg right next to them.









We walked the spanse of the bridge and back, then headed over to Oakland to see a piece of architecture Danny was interested in called the Marin County Civic Building. We bumped into this old police car and set up some shots, then headed across the street to gas back up. While I was sitting in the car with the windows up, a car with 3 people in it was sitting next to us. The dude in the back seat looked like a carbon copy of the guy from the “Getting’ Real in the Whole Foods Parking Lot” video. The girl in the front passenger seat had a Chihuahua, and he was hanging out the window panting. I glanced over and smiled at the dog, and this apparently enraged Mr. Hardcore Wigger, who, to my bemusement, started “getting real” of course right as their car was in drive and pulling away. Fuckin’ Oakland.





We head back to SF and secure lodging for the night, in this totally badass old hotel, called Motel Capri. It didn’t even have air conditioning, which coming from Texas confused the FUCK out of me at first. Danny suggested I open a window. Oh, that’s how things work around here. 65 and gorgeous outside. We decide we’re going to walk down to Fisherman’s Warf and grab some dinner at Alioto’s. Had some swordfish and it was mouthwatering, though I could have eaten about 4 times the portions they brought out. We head out, see a terrifyingly bad street performer/homeless lady, not sure which. I think Danny got a DVD from her because he was a fan.







At this point, we make a slight calculation error in where we are at in the city while walking back. We end up with fucking Lombard St staring us in the face. This is a VERY steep upward climbing hill, and we are both already beat from being up all day, driving, and walking the Golden Gate. What else is there to do? We conquer it, at the expense later of one of my thigh muscles and a couple of blistered feet. Hydrocodone, my old friend, help me sleep. The day is over.

Day Two: After securing lodging the previous night we were up early, and decided to back track to 17 Mile Road on Pebble Beach. Pretty spectacular drive, and prefect temperatures and breezes. We saw this deer hanging around a golf course, and when we got closer it turned out it was a family of 3, just wandering around like nothing else was going on.







LOLZ, nice sign!





After this, we headed north to San Jose to check out a California car show, since, lets face it, most Texans can’t make a classic car sit right to save their fucking lives. There was some badass iron at this show, and it seemed like it just kept going, spilling over from Main Street to several parking lots.







I actually have had a picture of this car on my computer for years...

[Steve]

LOL, I grew up in that area Eric. Florence and Normandie, the founding area of the Rolling 60's and Grape St Crips. You learn quickly to stand your ground. lol.

It was also the first car I've ever driven that didn't have to put the seat all the way back.

Jesus, photobucket is taking forever to load.

[jason07]

The sky was clearing, and we decided instead of immediately leaving LA that we would see some sights. Danny picked first, and it must have set the rest of the trip up for some of the things we would encounter later as we traversed 4 states and 3600 miles in 9 days. This is Danny standing in front of the house off Normandie where Friday was filmed at. To say I was a bit uncomfortable in this neighborhood would be an understatement. The strange thing was, that even in the fucking ghetto, we had noticed a HIGH quantity of FINE latino women wandering around(most pushing strollers). We got the hell out of there before getting shot, and stopped off at Del Taco for some lunch so I could give Chili shit in text messages. After that it was Venice Beach.

The phrases in bold??? Those are oxy moron's arent they? LOL

[jason07]

Couldn't have asked for a better trip car. 3600 miles, and the only things I found fault with were the headrests (which were easy to to solve once we figured out they were removable and they got tossed in the trunk), and the center console. The center console right where you would rest your elbow has about 4 pieces of plastic that come together, so it isn't very comfortable to rest your elbow on it. And it isn't padded. Aside from that, the actual ride was great, didn't give me any back problems at all. Quite a bit of this trip was completed at 100+.

Thanks! The few I have driven have been very comfortable, but of course I have never driven them 3600 miles.