Bart A. Lane

Catch you up; Linda and I are on a long road trip in the A8. From Seattle to the tip of Florida (Key West)and back. No set schedule, just playing the whole way. Likely be gone two months.

We left San Francisco this morning and did not make it very far, in fact we bedded down at the Double Tree in Bakersfield for the night.

Events.
All in one day.

Traffic is fairly crowded, 5-10 miles under the limit. Bright and early this morning on the road Linda and I severly startled into alertnes by a loud slam, a really loud boom. We then notice the catsuply/mustardy cheeseburger and wrapper sliding up our windshield, leaving a clear trail of slime as it goes. I imagine somebody tossed it out but since it was early I guess it is possible that it flew out of somebody's pick-up truck bed. The next gas station had a more dirty than usual window wiping station soap tank. Little did I know that this was only a warning.

Lunch time. Small two lane highway that connects 101 with I-5. I laugh at a large piece of tumbleweed that is blocking the road and moving slowly. It is as big as a van. Then I notice more coming our way in the grassy plain to the right of us. I look into the field beyond and see that the whole country side is alive with movement. There are millions of tumbleweeds heading our way under a strong wind. It is almost funny in just how many things were moving at once under the strong wind today. Then I realized this could be trouble. Sure enough we are over-run with them. You can't see a thing so I stop as other traffic does and wait it out. At least it was interesting to watch. Later my car starts to overheat so I pick all the twigs and bush parts from my grill and radiator. Takes about an extra hour from our day to do this. Is this common in mid-California? I have driven this route tens of times but this is a first for me. Millions of them, everywhere, moving fast, almost alive in their actions.

The worst thing, 2:30pm just before Bakersfield. We hear a crack, like a 22, and then we can't see so good. A big as rock destroyed my windshield. I don't know where it came from but I saw it right before it hit us and it was big, like a pool ball. Spider webs stretch everywhere and the epicenter is in front of the passenger's head. I thank God that it did not break through. We were doing 80mph+ at the time. I can see out of my side OK though, enough to drive during daylight hours. I called and of course an A8 window is not to be found (Why didn't I buy a Chevy Cavalier?!?!) so I had to pay and get one shipped in and it will be waiting for me in St. Louis when I get there in ~7-8 days. My folks live there. This is going to be expensive.

I stopped, got a room, walked to the liquor store and got a bottle of Jim Beam to settle myself down. Helps to vent here, thanks for listening.

Honda 1

Bart, you must have been very bad in a past life!

ChuckH

...hope the rest of your trip is uneventful. I had one of those pool ball size rocks hit me before too. It hit right in front of me. If I had been traveling much faster, or the rock had been only slightly bigger, I'm quite sure it would have come through and hit me in the head or neck. There was only one layer of window film left and I could push it in and out. The actual impact spot was about the size of a baseball, and the crack spiraled around and around, and then up acrooss the windshield and back down the other side! Scared the living crap out of me! :-(

I hope that your trip is otehrwise going well and that you are having a good time! :-) Keep the updates coming!

Charles

Quattro80

that would have been more expensive!

Wishing you a happy and safe journey
Quattro80

Cameron

... at least you had a laptop with you so you could vent :-)

Good luck and safe motoring,
Cameron

Bill Mills

and regarding the windshield, albeit unfortunate, these things usually make you feel better about paying your insurance premium. At least neither one of you was hurt.
Hope things get better,

Bill Mills

Jon Lane

Hope it doesn't run in the family! A4 (nt)