Ocean Cove, Oct 7-10, 2011

[tupelosue]

Made it home safely and immediately took a nap!!

It was a great weekend as always with these teardropping folks. Never a dull (or hungry) moment.

Glad to meet some new TD'ers, and hope you'll return again

Hope the sun came out for y'all on Sunday. On my way down Hwy1 near Jenner I had a black vespa behind me for awhile. He continued south when I headed east towards G-ville.

See everybody down the road sometime!

[jhb]

Nice on Sunday afternoon until a front came over and the wind picked up a bit, but not band and it was wasn't cold. But the northern coast is the northern cost, started raining for Dave's birthday (Monday) about 5:am, but good fellowship huddled under an easyup. I headed out about 10:00 and didn't get out of the rain until San Jose.

See you all soon!

[46Kit]

Nice to meet everyone who turned out at our first teardrop gathering as well as first outing with our restored '46 Kit. Those present made Deb and I feel right at home.

You guys who took off on Sunday missed out on some pretty fantastic pork stew that Deb and I made in our dutch oven that evening, but I think that maybe you had the right idea because Monday morning was pretty miserable weather-wise. It was no fun breaking camp in the pissing-down rain, esp. since the foul weather gear was at home because there was no rain in the forecast before we left for Ocean Cove.

And the day just kept getting better! A little over 3 miles south of Ocean Cove we went into a downhill hairpin right-hander at about 15-20 mph, but as I steered into the turn the truck and trailer continued straight, right through the apex of the curve, over the double-yellow and into the oncoming traffic lane! THANKFULLY there was no oncoming traffic, but we did carom off the guard rail on the opposite side of the road before coming to a stop. That didn't seem like a very good place to be so I continued another 50 yards or so to a large turnout area to inspect the rig. Happily no damage to teardrop or scooters, but the left side of the truck's front bumper was pretty tweaked and the left front tire was flat because the sidewall had been cut in the collision.

A quick inventory revealed that we had a spare, but no jack or lug wrench and no phone service. So I got to hike about a quarter mile in the rain to the pay phone at the Ft. Ross Lodge to call AAA. Had to wait about an hour for AAA to show (Occidental Towing, very nice fellow) and change the tire. Kept expecting CHP to arrive and issue me a bill for damaging the State's guard rail, but none ever showed. Only took about 15 minutes for the tow truck driver to change the wheel and we were back on the road again. Two or three turns later realized there was not quite enough clearance between tire and bent bumper in left-hand turns so pulled over again and managed to pull it out of the way with a claw hammer of all things!

Stopped for lunch in Guerneville. Restaurant was out of coffee because their supplier never delivered (Denied!), tell me why I don't like Mondays...

Decided that there still wasn't enough clearance between tire and bumper so stopped at True Value and acquired a 3 ft. crowbar to do a little adjusting. Shoulder was a bit narrow and traffic a bit heavy at the hardware store so continued down River Road looking for a better place to pull over and work on the bumper. Found a nice wide turnout and just as we came to a stop our Occidental Towing driver pulled out of the driveway just in front of us. He saw me trying to tweak the bumper with the crowbar and offered to hook his winch onto the bumper and pull it back into shape. About two minutes later the bumper was back to its original location and other than a bit of a crease on the front not much worse for wear! Looks like things are starting to take an up-swing, but still a little apprehensive that there are more opportunities for suckage to occur before our teardrop is safely tucked away at home. Happily the trip ends without further incident.

Only explanation I can figure for our little over-the-double-yellow excursion is that there was a fairly large amount of water streaming over the road at the entrance to the turn. Even though I wasn't going too fast I was on the brakes entering the downhill turn and the front wheels must have hydroplaned and locked up just as we went into the corner (our truck is a '91 and doesn't have ABS). Must have hooked up a bit past the apex because we didn't hit the guardrail till near the exit of the turn and speed at impact was only 5 mph or so.

Regardless, we were very lucky and got off easy. Things could have gone very badly had there been an oncoming vehicle and I shudder to think about what the consequences may have been in that situation! I thought I was being pretty cautious already, but will definitely exercise even more caution when towing in foul weather from hence forward!!

Looking forward to our next gathering, till then happy trails!

Regards-HW

[jhb]

Harley, sounds like you are none the worse for ware, glad you weren't hurt. I was going to head further south on Hwy 1 but took the River Road just to get off that wet, curvy road.

That was a great stew!

See you guys soon!

[tupelosue]

Harley!! What a scary story! So thankful you guys weren't hurt, and that the oncoming lane was empty. I wonder if it was the same hairpin where Lee and I saw a Harley Davidson down on the shoulder, altho for him it was an uphill left hand turn, in dry conditions.

Enjoyed meeting you both, and look forward to more scooter/teardrop collaborations!! Sorry I missed the stew, but enjoyed being home in my warm dry house!

what a coincidence about the towtruck! small world, eh?

[triker45]

Anything to get away from boredom,huh? Glad everything came out alright at the other end. Look forward to seeing you again. Also would like to Thank Dave for a great gathering and I'm sure he ordered the weather thru Sunday anyway.

[Dave A]

I hope all of you had an enjoyable time. I know I did.
Monday was a bit damp, but I did get a free? trailer wash compliments of ma nature.
Harley, I think your little escapade must have been an attention getter. Glad things worked out ok.
I hope to see all of you again next year.

[jhb]

Thanks Dave, it was a great outing!

[grant whipp]

It was a great gathering ... Monday notwithstanding ... ...! Thanks!, Dave, for hosting another wonderful C5! And, it was really terrific to see so many new faces & trailers, some from as far away as the So-Cal beaches and as near as just over the hill!

Sorry to hear about Harley & Deb's trials, but glad no one was hurt and things worked out O.K. in the end!

Kay & I caravanned with Guy up Hwy 1, nice & slow, all the way to Leggit, had dinner at Angelo's Pizza there, then continued north on Hwy 101 to overnight at the Cloudmaker Ranch with Gene & Eddie (though Guy chose to camp somewhere 'round Richardson's Grove), finally & thankfully out of the rain.

Got some great pictures this time out, and when I get around to setting up my Picassa account, I'll post the link to the pics.

Y'all take care! 'Till the next time ...

CHEERS!

Grant