The title of this blog series is now changing from “Route 66,” to “The Road Trip.” You see, we finished Route 66 a couple of days ago. And I would feel silly blogging about something that is no longer happening. Makes sense, right?

I ended my last post about Hollywood, and the sign and all of that. So what happened today, the 11th day of the Road Trip? Well, we are headed to San Francisco, home of huge steep hills and stinky brakes. Maybe even some clutch parts left behind. Our drive was up the 5, the speediest, most direct route to take. A rather beautiful drive through some rolling mountains with some very cool scenery. My camera? In the back seat, of course. Zipped up in my camera bag where I couldn’t access it from the driver’s seat. So that cool scenery, rolling hills and such? Missed it. Sorry folks. Safety first. ;)

Along the way I notice a message from my Mustang: “Change Oil Soon,” it said. I checked the message further and its said, “5% Oil Life Remaining.” Well, that’s a hoot. I changed the oil before the trip with Mobil 1, full synthetic. I usually change this out every 5K miles, and so far the trip has been about 3,300 miles. I monitored the message periodically as I drove along. 4%. 3%…1%. Now, I checked the oil level at the next gas stop. It was on the “lower dot” on the dipstick, so I added about 1/2 quart of Mobil 1. I think a visit to the Ford Dealer is in order once we get to San Fran…just to play it safe.

Brian wanted to visit the Winchester House in San Jose, on our way to San Fran. This was the house of Mrs. Winchester, wife of the 2nd president of the Winchester Repeating Arms company. Guns, basically. Cool guns. So Mrs. Winchester had a bunch of money when her husband died and started to remodel the house. She got some input from a psychic medium one day and she told Mrs. Winchester that she needed to continue building on the house in order to keep the spirits…those that had died as a result of Winchester guns…at bay and to keep them happy. Something like that. This house was pretty amazing. It has 10,000 windows, doors that open to nothing, stairs that go nowhere. Very odd. I could pull more info for you, but I am very tired right now, and I think you get the gist. Oh, no cameras allowed so, sorry, no photos to share. I’ve provided you a link (see above) for you to read while you’re at your desk. “Working.”

It’s getting late as we left this house around 8:30 pm. We grabbed some dinner at a local pizza joint and discussed just how in the heck we were going to make it to San Francisco tonight…AND…get a hotel room. Why plan ahead, right? Right. We got some room booked on Hotels.com in China Town in downtown San Francisco, but when we called the actual hotel to verify the details, some things were kinda sketchy. For example, “Parking is free, first come first served.” Do you have parking available for all your guests? “No.” So I might have to park on the street a few blocks away? “Yes.” Ok then. Click. Time for Plan B. As we sat in the parking lot of the pizza place trying to get Brian a refund on his credit card, I decided to ask the cops standing 2 spots over from my car where I might find a local hotel in San Jose. After a bit of driving around town, Brian still on the phone trying for his refund,” we landed at a cheesy restaurant/hotel called The Marianis Inn in Santa Clara. They had a room, it was cheap, we’ll take it. Why was it cheap? Because they only had 2 twin beds. Last time I slept on a twin bed was when I was 11. Not ideal, but I was super tired, it was 10:30 pm. The bed was somewhat convex. It was curved towards the edges, so if I was to roll over, I might roll…off…the bed. The bed springs, similar to say, an 800 lb. automotive spring…made for a rather “firm” sleeping experience. I’m sorry. Did I say “sleep?” Yeah, I saw maybe 3-4 hours of that. I’m tired.

So for today, Day Eleven…I don’t have any photos to share with you. Oh..WAIT! That reminds me. As we left Hollywood, we went on the hunt for Mulholland Drive. Found it. Hooked up the GoPro camera into the grille of the Mustang, and got down to business. This road is awesome. Very, VERY steep in some parts, very slow corners. We drove the entire stretch and have HD video (with audio!) of this awesome road. However, you’ll have to wait a bit before I can show it to you. I need to edit the video and then post it and then…well, sleep…and stuff. So I promise I’ll at it to this post as soon as I can!

Stay tuned!

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