Big Sur Thanksgiving
Nov. 24-26, 2011
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| Penny parked in front of our cabin at the Lodge in Big Sur State Park |
Jeanne decides that she and Lynn will spend Thanksgiving on a road trip to Big Sur, staying at the Lodge at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. They hope to enjoy an interesting break in the routine and a pleasant dinner in the restaurant at the Lodge. As Lynn has recently installed a new clutch and rear main engine seal in Penny, Jeanne suggests that they use the old girl to make the trip. That will certainly be an added treat for Lynn!
This adventure will be a freshening of an older tradition that the Kissels have had. When they were younger, they'd tent camp on this weekend in the park. As they got somewhat older, they graduated to a room at the Lodge, but it's been some years since they've exercised this Thanksgiving weekend custom.
Another feature of this weekend in California is that it is in the beginning of the "rainy season" and it can often be wet. It comes as something of a shock to Californians when the first rains come as they enjoy virtually no rain from late Spring to early Autumn. A wet weekend is even more interesting if you're tent camping under the redwoods!
This weekend starts out wet, too, as fog changes to a heavy mist to a light rain on their Thanksgiving Day drive from Livermore. Lynn has been wondering how well Penny's windshield wipers will function as the tiny wiper arms and blades, powered by a vacuum motor are not what people have come to expect from their more modern cars. Lynn has coated the windshield with Rain-X glass treatment, a product that many collector car owners use to mitigate the need for effective wiper blades. While Penny's wipers are initially fairly ineffective, they improve with use.
It's also cool (cold by California coastal standards) with temperatures in the 40s. Fortunately, Penny is one of the Kissels' more modern vehicles and it has a primitive heater. The heat thrown by this device is welcome and the rudimentary windshield defrosters are helpful. Not only was the heater an option in a 1938 Oldsmobile, but so were the defrosters. (The heater needs to be "burped". An air bubble trapped in the core gurgles and complains as they drive alone. The sound is like the rumblings of the intestines of a large beast.)
Contrary to what you might be thinking, the drive in the rain on this cold November day is not at all unpleasant. The wet surfaces make all the colors richer and deeper and the car parked next to the cabin and redwoods makes a good picture. Lynn and Jeanne enjoy some cocktails and a game of Scrabble before a delightful dinner. Later, a fire in the fireplace of their cabin makes everything really cozy for the couple.
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| The irony isn't lost on the Kissels as wild turkeys scratch for food next to their cabin on this Thanksgiving weekend. |
On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the Kissels take a hike in redwoods to Pfeiffer Falls and a great overview of the valley carved by the Big Sur River. A drive along the coast, lunch at Ventana Inn & Spa, with a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean, and a short walk to view sunset on Pfeiffer Beach make for a great day.
On Saturday they breakfast at the Lodge, have lunch at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing and return to Livermore just after sunset to round out a weekend that would be hard to improve. Total distance traveled in Penny is about 400 miles.
This is the first extended drive on Penny's new clutch and rear main seal. They both worked great and Lynn is really pleased. But somewhere on Highway 1 (California State Route 1) the electrical generating system stops working. Although this doesn't cause an immediate problem, it will need to be fixed before the car can be used for more than single, daylight excursions.
The following Monday, Lynn checks Penny's voltage regulator and concludes that the generator is at fault, so he removes the generator and takes it to Dean Okano for repair. After a couple of days, Dean tells Lynn that he will need to replace the armature but then it will be as good as new. With the rebuild of Penny's generator, Lynn feels that the car is now even more robust and ready for an extended tour.
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Last updated: Mar. 11, 2010