[garysanfran]

And it's never been non-eventful. Noticed at one point trfour had a police escort.

When I made the trip from Boston to San Fran in 1976 in a '67 Mustang convertible on Rt. 80, I was accompanied by a young lady I met through the ride-share line on a local radio station. She told me she was 19. Nice looking too.

We stopped overnight at her grandparents in Chicago. They took us out to dinner. When I went to the men's room, grand dad followed.

"I'd like to know your intentions with my 17 yr. old grand daughter"? he demanded quite strongly. I was 26. Finding out she was 17 kinda freaked me out. Minors across state-lines, etc. All of a sudden I realized I could be in trouble.

"Uhhhhhh. Pay for half the gas, and maybe drive a bit"?, I stuttered (she was a lousy driver).

She slept in the guest bedroom. I slept on the living room floor next to the couch...On the floor NEXT TO THE COUCH!!!

In Rawlins, Wyoming we got snowed in and had to get a motel room. We had been camping. She came out of the shower, uhhh...Not very dressed. Fearing a twenty-year sentence, I kept my word to grand dad, left her alone and felt the need for an adult beverage and left the room and went into town. I got a vodka & tonic from a drive-up window at a local bar. Drove around until it was gone and went back and got another.

Got back to the room and she "was asleep".

The rest of the drive was icy (I'm not referring to the driving conditions). In Quincy, CA we stopped at a school where she had an old boyfriend. She closed his door behind her and I never saw her again.

Got up the next day (after sleeping ON their couch) and drove into SF from the north. As I came through the Waldo Tunnel from Marin, there was the Golden Gate Bridge, the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco all laid (bad choice of word) out before me. Gorgeous beyond anything I had imagined.

Thirteen years later the Loma Prieta earthquake caused me to enter San Fran from the same direction because of the Bay Bridge collapse. The view that day was a lot different than 1976. It was after dark. No lights in the City or on the bridge. The only light was vertical columns of fire from the Marina District rising hundreds of feet into the air.

I'm driving this episode solo. My current girlfriend will join me in Meredith later via a 5 1/2 hr. flight and a short drive from Boston. I hope to make it to Lake Winnipesaukee with as little negative experience as possible...Although, I have found minor negatives create positive memories after time works on them. Even at The Lake.