Goin' to California

Goin' to California | Part 1

In this episode - Goin' to California . . .

Have you ever owned a “lemon?” Sure you have an automobile that’s just a bottomless pit of money to keep it on the road. The car I’m talking about is best remembered for its propensity to combust in rear-end collisions. Yes, you guessed it - the Ford Pinto.

We named ours The Mean Green Booger Machine.

Back in the early 1980s my best friend, Nathan, and I decided we would embark on a road trip to California, to photograph the country.

He had a clever idea,

“I’m going to take the back seats out of the car and fabricate plywood beds. When the front seats are folded forward we will be able to sleep in the car very comfortably with backpackers pads and our sleeping bags.”

Brilliant! We would save hundreds, well maybe a few bucks, on motel rooms to California and back.

So the renovation began. Seats removed, plywood measured, cut, and 2x2 wood blocks screwed into place to keep the boards from sliding around. Nathan's father owned a Skelly Gas Station and the car was subjected to a rigorous inspection for our plan to motor west. Routine stuff, oil change, radiator fluid, washer fluid, brake fluid, and check the tires. There was ONE major repair completed; the entire exhaust system was replaced from the manifold to the tailpipe.

We had a cooler for food, all our sleeping paraphernalia, camera gear, clothes, you name it we had it. Our own RV.

“Now we're ready to go.”

We chose the southern route, Interstate 40 (Route 66).

It winds from Chicago to LA

More than two thousand miles all the way

Baby, get your kicks on Route 66

It goes through St. Louis

Joplin, Missouri

Oklahoma City looks mighty pretty

You’ll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico

Flagstaff Arizona . . .

Well, we didn’t quite make it to Flagstaff Arizona. As we entered the Grand Canyon State near the small town of Houck our trusty steed overheated. We were towed to a local Standard Oil service station because the only credit card either of us owned was a Standard Oil credit card.

The car was hoisted on a lift - we waited.

“I’ve got some bad news for you boys,” said the mechanic.

We noticed the fan belt was broken before the car was towed.

“Looks like you’ll need to replace the water pump and the fan belt.”

“How much?” We asked.

“Well, that’s not all. Where you boys headed?

“California!”

“Not on these tires, and you also have a busted rear shock absorber.”

“Your kidding!”

So, after a few hours, with three new tires, water pump, fan belt, and a new left shock absorber, we were “On the Road Again,” cursing Willie Nelson for that damn song we couldn’t get out of our heads.

As we passed through Flagstaff I had to ask my traveling companion, “I thought you checked the tires when you took out the spare to accommodate the plywood beds?”

“I did, the spare is that one-good tire, we put it on to replace the worst of the four tires before we left.”

“Oh brother,” I thought to myself.

“Well, looks like smooth sailing from here.”

Flagstaff, Arizona don’t forget Winona

Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino . . .

This is Patrick Ball, thanks for listening. Join me next week for part two.

See you in the next episode . . .

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