Travels with Clarence (the car)

Ahh, the great Pacific!

Clarence made the trip to San Francisco and back a few weekends ago! He loved the warm weather, the winding roads on the Pacific Coast Highway, and the ocean breezes in his grill. The PCH turned out to be a GORGEOUS way to drive to San Francisco, but, they do not happen to mention in any of their signs that there are no exits for about 200 miles. Side note: driving along the coast is fun because of the curvy roads, and beautiful because you’re right on the ocean, BUT, at night it is a different story. There was a point where we made plans to wear all of our clothes, sleep in the car, and pray for the sun to come back out. 

But we made it back to LA! (though we wanted to stay in San Francisco longer)

So, my adventures with Clarence have finally started (well, they started a few weeks ago when he arrived in sunny LA)

Since his grand arrival, we’ve had some great times. From picking him of from a slightly sketchy man in Koreatown (which is one of the weirdest smelling places I’ve ever been to), to having the muffler become de-hinged from going over speedbumps, we’ve seen a lot. 

I’ve come to know Alfred, of Alfred’s Swedish Auto Tech quite well, as you can see by this photo, Clarence is having his muffler re-attached. We’ve been to Alfred’s about 5 times in the past 2 weeks, for things like the muffler and the hood not staying closed, and needing a new latch. But hey, IT’S AN ADVENTURE!

ps. Next weekend we’re making a mighty trip up the PCH to San Francisco with a rather lovely co-pilot. Stay tuned. 

Tomorrow’s the big day! I leave the beautiful city of Milwaukee (pictured above through Clarence, of course) for Los Angeles at 6:52am. WAHOO! 

I’m a big mixed bag of emotions right now, but excited for adventures to come, exploring to do, and the best people to come visit me over the semester. 

BUT, Clarence will get loaded onto the back of a semi truck carrying a bunch of cars cross-country to Los Angeles, where he will be delivered (hopefully unscarred) to my doorstep, and we will be reunited and it will feel so good. (sorry, had to).  So I’ll be without a car for my first week or so in LA, but that’s more time for doing some exploration by foot…which ain’t bad when it’s supposed to be in the mid 70s all week! 

Bon voyage!!

This is Clarence. 

He’s a ‘93 Volvo wagon who’s been there for me since we met when I was 15. Since then, we’ve been on many adventures, seen many sights, and broken down MANY times. But he’s still one hell of a car. 

Now that he’s all tuned up and cleaned up we’re leaving Wisconsin behind for sunny California. Follow us for our adventures on the west coast, and a few stories of past journeys too. 

Happy travelin’!