Better Beaters - Building Cars and Daily Drivers

 Twelve Hundred miles.

To San Diego and back in my 2006 Mustang.

This trip was not really not a big deal, nor should it be considered to be. It was done with an older, modern car with only a moderate amount of miles on the clock. It just struck me that this car just turned twenty years old!

Even though my final destination was San Diego, I was in no hurry, and thought that I'd take my favorite route south, US 101. As usual, I try to avoid taking Interstate 5, whenever possible.

The day started off a bit overcast but by the time I took a lunch break in Pismo Beach, the sun was out and I lowered the top. US101 merges with CA 1 a bit further north of Pismo, and continuing south the highway hugs the coast with great views, especially the stretch that leads to Ventura. My Son lived in the Ventura area for his college years, and I passed through there many times on my way to LA for my swap meet business. I'm pretty well acquainted with the area. I had brought only a baseball cap, as my brimmed hats will get blown off with the top down. However, since the sun was shining mercilessly, and I thought that I'd better get some sun screen, which I did at a local Vons store.

Traffic was terrible through Santa Barbara due to highway construction. I stopped and gassed up in Woodland Hills at DeSoto Ave and Ventura Blvd. I took the opportunity to raise the top.

I figured that I'd follow 101 to the 405 and then continue to maybe the Long Beach freeway to San Diego. My navigation system had other ideas. Once on the 405 it advised me that there was congestion further ahead, and it routed me off the freeway to Inglewood Blvd. I traveled East on the Blvd. until I reached s/b 110. My trip through Inglewood was interesting. It was a more diverse community than I remembered. I'd been there once years ago,looking for a particular hat store. One high point was passing a car wash that could have passed for the one that  was made famous in the movie.

Once on the 110 I thought that I'd finally pass through San Pedro (I've never been there, even when I worked in L.A.) but the Nav lady had other ideas, and steered me east on a series of freeways that I wasn't familiar with, culminating on the toll road bypass. I'd read about this road, and it is wide and  smooth, with rising and falling elevations and with very fast traffic. It was like a race track.

Eventually I merged back onto s/b I5 and the road followed the coast through Oceanside, and into San Diego itself.

I was meeting my Wife down there because she had left several days earlier for a Girl's Trip art event. I/We would be staying at an old hotel (100 year anniversary!) that had been converted to vacation condos that is part of our time share system. Very Great Gatsby-esque. It was located across the street from Balboa Park. Well, it was across from the outlying parks that make up the compound.

During my stay I had planned to keep busy by visiting the San Diego Car museum located in Balboa Park, only a mile and half from the condo. I figured that I could easily walk that distance.

I made a test run, just to check out the territory on Saturday, in preparation for my Sunday visit. The area was experiencing an unusual hot spell, with temperatures in the low 90's. I spent the afternoon exploring the park, which I had never visited before. Though I had taken the family to the zoo, thirty years ago!

On Sunday I walked to the auto museum, the admission was 19.95 for geezers like me.

Kinda cool in an off beat way.

Overall, the museum was a bit of a disappointment, it's kind of small and the primary display was of racing cars. I found the most interesting display to be of Louie Mattar's old, "non stop travel" Cadillac. I had seen this car in an old car magazine article. More photos will follow.

Next to that museum was the museum of Air and Space. They also had a Ripley's Believe it or Not display going on. The reduced rate for seniors was 29.95! Normal adult admission was 35.00. This museum had an impressive display of aircraft. many suspended as if in flight.

Here's a sample, that recreates the Reno Air Races. I'll post a gallery of photos from this museum in a future installment.

One display featured an audio animatronic display of Charles Lindbergh. The robot was similar to those displayed in some Disneyland attractions. It was quite life like. To balance out things between the sexes, a similar audio animatronic version of Amelia Earheart  was present and greeted spectators. 

My final stop was at the museum of "US." ( Not U.S.) It was the former museum of anthropology. Now it's kind of the museum of apology. In many of their displays there was language that apologized for their previous treatment of various ethnic groups and cultures. They realized that they had treated them as subjects for study, not as human beings of equal value, worthy of respect.

This building sure looks like a church.
That was the idea.

This might seem a bit "woke," but I actually thought that it was a nice gesture. Especially with their respectful treatment of people in their "Cannibal" exhibit. I guess that was still a bit of sensationalizing going on, even today. It appears that selling the sizzle is still not out of the question! This museum was the bargain, I think that it only cost me 14.95 for admission.

I did quite a bit of walking that weekend and I found myself feeling quite good afterwards. This feeling of wellness has extended up until today and that feeling of wellness has influenced some of the decisions that I've made lately.

The trip home was uneventful, and the final leg up US101 found me fighting a strong headwind which is always noisy in a convertible, but especially so in my car which has a poor fitting top. 

Overall it was a great trip. The car ran fine and it was nice to roll up some miles on the Mustang.