One Lap on the Cali coast...

["Bill Harkell" <billharkell@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I had a great time in San Fran, but it was time to get out of the land 
of crazy prices.... Typical home is $450,000!!! I don't know how people 
do it there...but it is a great place.

Special Thanks to Jess Liao in Sunnyvale, whom I spent quite a few hours 
with on Sunday, checking out the local Alfa scene. We had a great lunch 
at a local Chinese restaurant and he took me to a wild car parts store 
for Japanese rice rockets, where I got a great cup holder for Sofia. 
What a relief, having hot coffee between your legs on Pacific Coast 
Highway could be scary...

I spotted a few Alfas in San Jose, including a white 164 LS, with 
MEACULPA license plates, and a red Milano, probably both were attending 
the Silicon Valley Marathon...

I camped Saturday night(read that froze :oD it went down to 43) in a 
great park in Saratoga...next to a babbling brook, nice village too, and 
today (Mon.)I headed down PCH 1 toward San Luis Obispo, where I am now. 
PCH1 was incredible, I'll write more on the web page when I get back and 
it's not $.20 a minute. The most fantastic road there is, in my opinion. 

Sidebar to my Dad... Parents often give their kids gifts and don't even 
realize it... 20 years ago, I was pulled out of high school for a week, 
(no sweat) and we hopped on a plane for San Fran and my dad drove me in 
a rental Toyota, down the Coast Road. Today, I retraced that trip, and 
stopped at Nepenthe, a restaurant with a view, unequalled. The clouds 
were rolling in over the mountains, and it was just beyond desciption. 
It is nearly identical as I remember it, and the patio viewing deck just 
has different chairs... I took a picture of the view from the deck... 
Now I understand where I got this urge to pick up and  go on trips... 
The Alfa didn't catch fire like the rental Toyota did, though... that's 
good. The rest area is still there, and the gas station where the 
drifter worked is gone , 2 years now, but San Simeon is mostly the same.  
Harmony now has "Pop. 18" on the sign... progress, it was 12. San Luis 
Obispo is a gem of a town, I think it would be a nice place to 
live...(Shawn's right) and a killer view of the ocean.  Thanks for 
showing me the road, Dad. You should have come along...

Tonight I'll plug on a bit more towards Santa Barbara, where I'll call 
it a night. 
Tuesday is LA day, I'll "contact" my "contacts" and see if we can hook 
up. 
AR Ricambi is on the list, so I can say Hi to Julian, and then run 
Mulholland, like I need more curvy roads...then it is time, sadly, to 
head east. Money is getting tight, and there is little room for errors 
now.

The Alfa is running fine. 7200 miles so far this month... Do I get a 
prize, Bernie Z? Still tight, and reliable, tires are diappearing 
quickly, but evenly, My driving style? No way... (gas gas gas! )

Time for a new seat cushion...this one is getting flat !!

Gas is nuts on the coast road, folks... I was in a pinch, since the 
crappy Califonia gas sucks and burns fast...mileage is down in 20-21 
range on this methane stuff, and in Big Sur, (understandable) it was
$2.29 a gallon! Further down, a more reasonable $1.65 gal. I didn't buy 
much.

Home stretch is around the corner... I wonder if my house is still 
there?


Bill Harkell
Alfa Romeo Search and Rescue Society
Tampa, Florida, and Southern California!!
The "Wear it out before it rusts out" tour
http://pw2.netcom.com/~alfabill/enter.htm


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