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Day 2

Blood Alley. That's where I found myself this morning. HWY 101 stretches pretty much from Canada to Mexico. Right along the middle of California is a stretch of HWY 101 known as Blood Alley. It's a dangerous stretch of highway with no middle divide or on/off ramps. People actually have to make left turns across the highway! There are more fatal accidents on this stretch of highway than on just about any other highway in the country, so I've heard. Although I found out what all that construction work is for. The state finally decided to fix Blood Alley, so they're widening the road and building overpasses.

U-Haul StationOh, man, what a day!!!! I woke up to the sound of police sirens screaming past my bus. Scott, who was nice enough to brave the construction work and the traffic and rode down to where I broke down late the night before, woke up and went out to investigate. The cops drove out of sight, but by then it was too late, we were awake. I grabbed a change of clothes and my bathroom stuff and we walked across the field to the U-Haul to find a bathroom and hopefully get some trustworthy advice on who to call to fix my bus.

Inside, we met Larry. He's part owner of the U-Haul. He let me use the phone and I located a clutch shop that could accomodate a vehicle the size of my bus. We also found the only tow place that had trucks powerful enough to haul my bus. Scott and I waited around inside the U-Haul for the tow truck, and we got to know our gracious host.

U-Haul Station First, I must explain a little about this U-Haul. It wasn't a normal U-Haul. It had all the U-Haul trucks, trailers and tow dollies out front. But inside, when I expected to find a white building with white tile and orange lables and packages stacked everywhere, I found instead what looked like a bar! There were pool tables and a place set up for a band, video games in the back, and a long bar running along one side of the building. We found out that Larry used to own a night club across the street, a pretty hoppin' night club as a matter of fact. It was called Jim Dandy's. It was a pretty rowdy rock bar, surprisingly successful in the middle of "country" country. But the fights and the cops and the drugs and the alcoholics got to be too much, so Larry and his partner, John (whom I met later), bought this old, closed-down bar and turned it into a U-Haul station, among other things.

Band Area Inside the U-Haul building
Larry at the bar

Doc's Towing Well, Doc's Towing finally showed up (cash register ringing to the tune of $130 an hour!) and they hooked up the old bus and drove me the 10 miles into Salinas. That short trip, at least, was fairly uneventful. They backed the bus into the Clutch 4 Less lot, the mechanic told me to expect at least a full day, maybe more, before they get it fixed, I payed everyone off, and Scott and I drove around Salinas looking for somewhere to eat breakfast. After breakfast at this little diner called Margie's Diner, we headed back to the U-Haul place. I had nowhere better to go, and since Larry seemed so amiable, U-Haul was as good a place to stay as any.

So, back at the ranch, as they say, I met John. Scott and I spent all day hanging out with John and Larry. John is a self proclaimed "Jack of all trades, master of none" and he had tons of information on just about anything! We heard all sorts of stories, from the crafts he makes, to the histories of some of the antique weapons he collects, Korean war stories, Viet Nam war stories, meeting Ansel Adams, stories about the, um, unique type of person that makes up the citizens of Prunedale (where this U-Haul happened to be located), just about any topic you can think of, John's got a story to go with it!

Mayflower   Larry at the bar

Larry is an old pot-smoking, long-haired, guitar-playin', Viet Nam vet, graduate from Berkeley. He's also a Pisces. He is Jim Dandy. Between Larry and John, just about everything under the sun is represented in that small U-Haul building. It's a dry bar, no alcohol at all, they sell sodas and microwaveables, they rent U-Hauls and they're also a Western Union, they have the pool tables and video games, BBQ's out back, there's music every night and interesting conversation all day.

Misty sleeping Misty spent the day snoozing on a chair near the only small table next to the bar. She woke up a couple of times to gaze out the front door at the passing trucks on the nearby HWY 101. Unfortunately, since they leave the doors wide open, Misty had to stay on her leash and harness, but I tried to give her enough slack to investigate when she wanted. By the end of the day, I realized something. Paul, you remember that disturbing bar video I talked about when we were auditioning songs for our Celtic Dreams project? I realized I found the bar in my vision! It's perfect! I'll have to do a little erasing of the U-Haul stuff in post, but inside, it's a regular-looking bar in the middle of nowhere with a patch of woods out back! Sometime during the next few years I'm coming home for a break and we're making "Nightmare", just like I envisioned!

Around sunset, the local kids flocked to the U-Haul. They all played pool and chatted, saying hi to Larry (John had left by this time), generally just hanging out. Larry and his buddies were supposed to get together to play music, but there was some sort of miscommunication and hopefully they'll get together tomorrow night. I called Scott and my parents to let them know the status of the bus (yes, I did tell them about the break down, now that I couldn't avoid it) and then Larry found me an inexpensive hotel in Salinas. I drove down there and checked in. It's late and I can't find the remote for the TV so I guess that's a sign to turn in.

Day 1 - - Table of Contents - - Day 3

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