I'm finally back on line. While my wife and I were gone the week of July 4, we had the carpets removed from our living room and hall way and had our hardwood floor restored. In the process of restoring the floor, a wire broke on our dedicated phone line for the dsl. We got that fixed, but still couldn't get on line. My son in law came over and found a phone jack in the wrong receptical, we are back in business. My wife and I just got back from a trip to Monterey up highway 1. The T/A ran great all the way! Thanks, Don! With the new adjustable pivot ball and new pedal bushing on the clutch, the clutch is perfect. We stayed the first night in San Simeon, then continued up 1 the next day. We stopped at San Simeon again Sunday night, and then came on home today. If you have never taken Highway 1 all the way to Monterey, the drive is awesome! Just fill your tank in San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, or even Cambria. I was warned by locals and filled in Cambria. The price was $2.69/ gallon for 87 octane, but 15 miles North of San Simeon at Ragged Point the price was $3.69/ gallon for 87! From Cambria South, or Big Sur North, if you don't like the price, you can go accross the street. In between Cambria and Big Sur, the three gas stations have a monoply. That is three gas stations spread over 100 miles, and one of the three was closed for remodeling. One word of warning, Hoighway 1 is not a good place for "canyon carving." If you make a mistake, you go off the road and those 300-500 foot cliffs to the rocks below are not forgiving! By the way, I got 24 miles per gallon on the highway from Oxnard to San Simeon. The trip up 1 from San Simeon and our driving in Montery was either mostly 2nd and 3rd gear up 1 or stop and go at less than 25 mph in Monterey and the mileage dropped to 14-15 mpg. I filled in Monterey before leaving to come South and refilled in Solvang. My mileage for that run was 20, and then I refilled in Irwindale so I would have a full tank at home and the mileage for that run including some rush hour traffic on the 101 came out to 22.5 mpg.

 

Sounds like it was fun! I usually go up every year to visit family. But I'm afraid to take my car so I rent. Even though I drive it that far every week!
I'll be sure to remember about the gas stations.

 

That sounds like an excellent trip Russ. We plan to do just that some time soon, if you don't mind ... could you email me some suggestions as to rest stops and other scenic things you enjoyed? Glad you had a fun adventure without un-needed problems.

 

And you didn't stop by and say hi!?

It's really beautiful up there.

 

I thought about stopping by, but we went up on Thursday morning and came back through there on Monday afternoon, so I figured you would be at work.