The Bay to LA, LA to The Bay, bullshit all the way

Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
edited September 2007 in Strut Central
I drove to LA and back today. Went down there, picked something up and then drove back. Maybe a total break time of 2.5 hours and a total driving time of 17 hours. How come all the freeways in LA are so bumpy. I thought my tire was about to blow out at any minute. The beginning of the grapevine (going into LA) was the bumpiest shit ever. I had to pull over and check the tires. Driving for that long is straight I got so sick of the 5 and it's two small lanes. Swirving semi's, dudes flying up on me at 90 mph, and it was scarily dark at night. When we hit 580 again some truck sucked me into his whirlwind and scared the crap out of me. I seriously lost control for a second. The only highlight was when some dude in a red car flew up behind me and was right on my bumper, he raised his hands up in typical asshole fashion. About 5 minutes later we see a highway patrol swirve out from the middle dirt divider and guess who he got, the dude in the red car. Me and my girlfriend were like "is it him?............Ha ha, yes, sucker."

  Comments


  • cascas 1,484 Posts
    for a sec i thought you where talking about "from the bay...to la....to chicago".

    i feel your pain, man. i have to drive it on friday on the way down to san diego. the 5 is a joke of a freeway. i don't know how you did it. my monkey ass always wants to fall asleep driving at night. i really can't stand the 5 leading up to the grapevine. and even after that it's nathan but la traffic. fuck...i'm not looking forward to this.

  • sergserg 682 Posts
    17 hours is nothing photoshop boi

    holler at me when you break the 26 hours straigh marker, what you know about sleeping on the side of I-10 with some dude who claims russian mafia ties and thew up the steel reserve cans he bought in elpaso.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,889 Posts
    I used to be door staff at a jazz club and had a 45 minute drive home, leaving about 3AM. The rumble strips at the side of our motorways have saved me a few times. Once I nodded off in thick fog, woke up at 90 mph with no idea what direction the car was pointing, couldn't see the end of the bonnet (hood). Was like the dude in "Quantum Leap" or whatever where he jumps into another body in some perilous situation.

    Hallucinations of 7ft shapes running across the country lanes in front of me were the worst.

    Apparently one trick is to tie a squash ball or similar under your chin against your throat. If your head can't "Nod", you don't nod off. Moldovian coach driver steez there.

  • mandrewmandrew 2,720 Posts
    how'd it take you 17 hours?
    its a 5.5 hour drive each way
    if you have problems with the drive, think of it as a time to listen to great music (see the great road trip albums thread)
    also you had your girl with you... companionship and sex make the trip seem much quicker



    notable sightseeing off the 5...

    cow sea
    in-n-out in kettleman
    crazy underground government buildings/silos - they're usually hidden just over a man-made hill but you can just make them out
    along with the enourmous parking lot in the middle of nowhere

  • JimBeamJimBeam Seattle. 2,012 Posts
    our cars down here are tougher. sorry your little tires had trouble on our big bumpy roads.

    really though, the 5 ain't shit, try it on the 99, it makes normally sane people suicidal.

    You should have stopped in Bakersfield. They sell t-shirts at the gas stations that say: "BAKERSFIELD! (i'm not from)"

  • I've done the drive by myself a few times... it's not too bad. I always pound a Full Throttle before I leave. That shit is like Red Bull on crack!

    There was no one on the road on New Year's eve when I drove down and I got from San Jose to Long Beach in 4 1/2 hours in my new car. I was so amped up I could have turned right around and driven back.

  • Went down there, picked something up and then drove back.


  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,331 Posts
    The most I've driven is from San Diego to Vegas, roughly 5 hrs. I was delirious by the time I got there.

  • It was 6.5 hours each way to San Pedro, but we hit traffic at a few points. It took us about 7.5 hours to get down there, but that included a breakfast break. On the way back we hit some traffic in LA, which added about an hour. On the way back we had to drive through SF to South San Francisco, to unload the stuff and then drive back into SF. Then we drove around for about a half hour trying to park the big ass Toyota Tacoma Zipcar in the Sunset. Spots that big aren't plentiful at 12:30 AM. I also drove a little bit slower on the way back because we had a small letterpress shop loaded in the back.

    I think the truck had weird suspension or maybe it was the amount of air in the ties, but that shit was bumpy in some spots. I think it was the suspension, because we were bouncing like crazy.

    You dudes are rugged

    next time I won't drive to LA in a



    Part of my foul mood came when the zipcar gas card didn't work. I had to pay $50 for gas, when it's supposed to be covered by zipcar. Hopefully the reimbursement will go smoothly, but it was an unwanted bump in the road.

    yes, music helps and it was a good time to listen to some stuff, but everything got boring after awhile. 3 hours of straight darkness and red and white lights was boring.

  • DelayDelay 4,530 Posts
    come out and drive around nyc / brooklyn / jersey for a while, and then complain about california. puhleeeese. we got potholes the size of twin matresses on the bqe.

  • come out and drive around nyc / brooklyn / jersey for a while, and then complain about california. puhleeeese. we got potholes the size of twin matresses on the bqe.

    I always tripped when I was driving in nyc...and would hit like fucking brick...then cobblestone...and potholes for days....



    all this while cabbies zip around and fucking flippin you off...and honking.....


    I can't wait! I'm going there in October (18th-22nd)...yes!!!


  • notable sightseeing off the 5...

    cow sea

    you mean cowschwitz, right? the endless cow camp a bit north of Coalingus, or Los Banos i think? I shut down all vents in the car and hit the button that cuts off air flow from the outside when im within 10 miles of that hell hole, otherwise the ammonia stench hangs in the car and nostrils for hours. place is just a horrid blot on the earth, even for the central valley! No one can say the beef and/or milk from that place isnt somehow tainted, the filth permeates everything.

    but yeah, it is an impressive sight in its own stinky way.
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