|
 | |  |
California here I come!
Entry 1 of 14 | show all | print this entry |
Arrival and grab the car! That was THE plan.
Ran thru the airport across the sky walk,down the stairs to the rental car buses. 10 minutes later I arrive at the car rental site. I am vertically challenged. Never quite made it to 5' tall. Asked one of the counter reps to let me sit in a car to make sure I can reach the gas pedal and break while looking thru the rear view mirror. Those of you who are shaking your heads in disbelief must be over 5 foot tall. Well, the sour faced attendant didn't think this would be a problem and treated me with the respect of a 5 day old opened can of tuna. Until he realized that I could not reach the brake pedal in the first, second and third cars. The 4th was a perfect fit, can't remember the type of car, but it's something we, in the farm country in eastern PA have never seen, fit me quite well. "Sold" I told him and started to get out to get the rental car paperwork processed. "Nope" he said I should try backing out. Couldn't talk him out of it, so following his hand motions, I SLOWLY backed up. BANG! Or should I say very big crunch. Some fool in a newly rented car flew around the corner and hit me broadside. My head was throbbing from the crack it took slaming against the side window. Then I got to sit for over an hour while the police came, the rental agency manager put in his 25cents, and no one wanted to hear my comments that I needed to drive north to Corona before the rush hour traffic really started. Finally I said to the nice policeman that I didn't understand why I was still there, since I didn't have a rental agreement, didn't sign anything before getting into these cars, and didn't want to back up the car that was hit. Finally he waived me away and I went back in the agency and rented the type of car that I was the "wreckee" of. Can't release the name of the car rental until I have confirmation that all is well in the legal system. Still waiting for some type of paperwork to be sent to me.
Well, map in hand, I am finally on the road, heading north and now hitting all kinds of traffic. Not a good thing for a back roads driver with a spitting head ache. How and why anyone would want to live in a place that you have 6 - 8 lanes of paved highway and can only drive 6 - 10 miles an hour on is beyond me. Heck, in the country, our lanes are 1 and 3/4 wide and we still do 45 -50 going around the bends. I'm creeping along one minute and speeding up to slow down a few minutes later. And why does California have to have road construction every 2- 3 miles? How many bridges do they need and why add extra lanes when it backs up the lanes exiting? What should have taken me 3 hours by the map turns into 6 and a half. By the time I get to the Ayers Inn in Corona, I'm so exhausted I skip dinner and crawl into bed.
Where I stayed:
Ayers Inn
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by kupdegra, from California, United States or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
1 vote 
