Honey I shrunk the car

Well, that's been just over a week since I arrived in America. Been fairly eventful too with a quite long trip down the West coast through routes 1 and 101 from Seattle to Santa Monica within the city limits of Los Angeles. Im going to try and stop harping on about being on four wheels instead of two after this but there are some fairly obvious points of note about the change from increased fuel consumption through to a physical sense of isolation from the elements as I drive on through what has at times been some fantastic scenery.

Another thing Ive noticed about the change is that I'm just some other guy in a car now. Gone are the days of people approaching for a chat because I'm different and the plate is strange, in that sense it's a much quieter trip than I've had up till now.

All the way down the coast I've been at the edge of a large area of cloud and fog broken by spells of sunshine (later in the trip Ill be glad of the car as I move north into fall). This has resulted in some spectacular moments shifting through the clouds with the fog rolling overhead or breaking suddenly to show some fantastic coastline. At some points I've seen through the fog a little within the Redwoods as the light has provided amazing shafts of light over the road. At other points I saw not a lot, like when I sat in Sausalito across the bay from San Francisco only to think I might as well be looking down Union Street in Aberdeen on a bad day such was the gloom in the distance.





As far as the car is concerned, it was a nice treat to be upgraded to the Charger, a big, very American piece of metal. Quite a comfy old boat really and it was a proper shame when as I drove into a car park in Oregon only a couple of days after picking the car up that someone decided to reverse into me as I drove past. Not a disaster but I would have been much happier had it not happened.





What was more disastrous for the car happened a couple of days ago when I was in the middle lane on a stretch of freeway when the traffic stopped moving. I decided that I wanted to move into the right hand lane which was still moving so booted it, the auto box kicked down and I remember seeing a
flash of the rev counter into the red line just before the rev limiter kicked in. A second or so later the check engine light was on and blinking while there was a chiming noise from the dash. Ho hum.

Already up to about 60mph I came off the throttle a little and the engine and transmission felt jerky and horrid. Moving into the far right lane I came off the road at the next junction and after turning the engine off and on again the check engine light stayed on.

To cut a long story a little bit shorter, within half an hour I was at another rental location with the keys to a VW Jetta in hand. As an American spec it's a 2.5l variant so still pretty gutsy and has much more European handling and comfort so that's good, it will probably save me a few dollars in fuel too.





Im at another crossroads in the trip too, literally as well as figuratively. I've done as much of the Pacific Coast route as I had planned and will be changing direction from southbound to eastbound in the morning. The route will change from a very coastal one to a land bound one which I expect to bring a great many cultural changes for me also as I drive through the deserts, the south, Marlboro country and back up close to Canada again as I traverse Route 66. Its going to be a real American road trip.

The next stop? Treasure Island! Arrrrr!

Location:Pacific Terrace,Santa Monica,United States