They say the best laid plans go to waste. And who am I to argue with "they." I had planned on picking up the 911 (after almost a month in the shop) first thing in the am, then heading to Salinas (with the real destination Laguna Seca) sometime after 10am. Well, how does that saying go about making plans and god laughing? Well, I wouldn't elevate this to that status, but it was a bit of an annoyance. It was what it was, so after some machinations and the obligatory $50 cab ride, I finally was heading north on the 405 a little after 2pm.
And no matter how much time you allow to get the car prepped, it always comes down to the last minute. And this afternoon I was there in the driveway of my apartment pulling bolts and moving the seat around to try and get a little more room. We went to a fixed race seat (better safety) with a back support attached to the rollbar (even safer), but of course then you don't have much room to move things, But I did a quick tweak and managed to get it a bit better. And still safe. Safe good.
Since I was running behind and didn't want to try and get through Oxnard and Santa Barbara around 3-4pm, I headed up the I5 north to cut across on the 46. I have a little history with the 46, as I took that route back from Laguna Seca 2 years ago and got a nice speeding ticket. This time I took the V1, but it isn't working. So instead I just cruised at about 60mph (55mph speed limit) for the entire 60 miles or so of the 2-lane highway. Got blasted with almonds for awhile stuck behind a hauler (that was fun). It was wicked hot. Especially with no AC.
Finally rolled into the lovely Laurel Inn around 7pm. My butt hurt. My heel hurt. Other bits hurt, but that's for another story. A quick unpack of the car, shower, and walk to the Black Bear restaurant for some food. I need gas but the last thing I wanted to do was get back in the car. Thankfully the merlot wasn't horrific, and the trout went down ok, although I had second thoughts about ordering it following Bob's food poisoning episode from last week. But should be fine.
So now all there is to do is sleep and get up in time to get gas, some food and make the driver's meeting. I think my first run session isn't until 10:30am so I'll have some time to unpack the car and sort stuff out. Oh yeah, sleep. Would be nice if that comes early.
On to the corkscrew!
