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Mustang Adventure Time! Or, the Test Drive....of DOOM!
14 years ago
(x-posted to Google+ and LiveJournal, so if you've seen this title then feel free to skip)
For those that don't know, I own a 1995 Mustang GT and I like to do my own repair work if I can. I've done so long enough that I can handle most repairs myself, saving me a small fortune in mechanic fees. I've had a weird flutter in the Mustang that I haven't had a lot of luck tracking down. Nothing really serious, but it's been an annoyance and my gas mileage has suffered for it. I took another shot at fixing the problem tonight after work. Bad part about working on an engine after driving home from work: it's HOT! Got a couple of minor burns I'm nursing now. Replaced the part and went out for a test drive. Car is already running better, but I want to get it up to freeway speeds just to be sure. So off I drive to the nearest on-ramp. This is where things went wrong, and I'm not talking about the Mustang.
For those that don't know, I live in Los Angeles; right at the intersection of the 10 and 405 freeways. My usual freeway test drive is: hop on the 405, exit on to the 10, and take the next exit back to surface streets and home. A quick jaunt, but it's more than enough to test things out. So I get on to the 405, and suddenly traffic starts slowing down. At 11:00pm, traffic should at least be moving smoothly even here in LA. Nope, I forgot that there's construction going on at night when the fewest people are (theoretically) driving. The exit to the 10 freeway is blocked off. No problem, I'll bypass the 10 and take the next exit off the 405 and turn around. BAM! More traffic. I sit through that and find out the exit I want is ALSO closed. I begin to wonder what deity I annoyed today. The following exit is open, but all the cars that wanted to use the last two closed exits are using that one AND the next two. I'm not familiar with all these exits, so I skip ahead to the next one where I know has an on-ramp nearby that goes back in the other direction - back home. Exit is completely empty. I turn left from the light at the bottom of the ramp, turn the corner and SHIT!! MORE construction! I am livid at this point. To make it worse, the ramp I wanted I can't use! It's open, but the construction won't let me turn left. Fine. I keep going, figuring to turn around as soon as I can. No such luck, there aren't any places to turn around. The street runs parallel to the freeway, so I eventually give up on turning around and just look for the next on-ramp. I find it, take the corner and...IT'S CLOSED TOO! AAARRRGGGHH!!! Resigned, I keep going and cross over the freeway I've been trying to get on to for a while. Still no place to turn around. I am finally able to turn left, which takes me back over the freeway again - and I find myself on the Mulholland Drive bridge, the one that closed down the 405 for a weekend so half of the bridge could be torn down. I forget my frustration temporarily as I drive over the bridge, there's not much to see but it's kinda neat anyway. I keep driving down Mulholland Drive, figuring it will meet up with Sepulveda Blvd and get me headed back home.
Oh, I was so wrong.
I admit, I'm not familiar with this area of Los Angeles. After a bit of driving, I don't see Sepulveda Blvd so I pull over. Time to use the GPS in my phone to get me home....and realize I left my phone at home. Just a quick test drive, right? Sigh. I reach for my Thomas Guide (a really excellent and highly detailed local map) and find where I am. I see it intersects with Sepulveda a ways up (wrong, I misread the map - Mulholland Drive goes OVER Sepulveda), so I keep driving forward. And drive. AND drive. I get to the scenic part of Mulholland Drive, a nice winding, twisty road with a beautiful view of the night lights of LA. Foolishly, I keep going. The road heads upwards; I get worried when the road narrows and the yellow lines are so faded I can't see them anymore. Eventually, the road takes a sharp right and is now in better condition, so I figure I must be close now. Downhill I go, passing some really nice and expensive homes. I already knew something was wrong, but I was enjoying the nighttime drive. Now I know I've gone WAY too far. I pull over again and read the map VERY CAREFULLY this time. Obviously I've screwed up, and I'm not sure exactly where I am now. So I turn around to retrace my steps. Another fun drive back down Mulholland Drive, across the freeway, all the way back to that one on-ramp I couldn't turn left into. It was open (THANK GOD) and in about 10 minutes I was finally home.
The part I replaced seems to have fixed the flutter in the Mustang. This whole mess of a trip was about 20 miles round-trip, and I hardly made a dent in the gas gauge. So I think I fixed that problem too. And I got one heck of a story out of it, so it wasn't all that bad in the end.
For those that don't know, I own a 1995 Mustang GT and I like to do my own repair work if I can. I've done so long enough that I can handle most repairs myself, saving me a small fortune in mechanic fees. I've had a weird flutter in the Mustang that I haven't had a lot of luck tracking down. Nothing really serious, but it's been an annoyance and my gas mileage has suffered for it. I took another shot at fixing the problem tonight after work. Bad part about working on an engine after driving home from work: it's HOT! Got a couple of minor burns I'm nursing now. Replaced the part and went out for a test drive. Car is already running better, but I want to get it up to freeway speeds just to be sure. So off I drive to the nearest on-ramp. This is where things went wrong, and I'm not talking about the Mustang.
For those that don't know, I live in Los Angeles; right at the intersection of the 10 and 405 freeways. My usual freeway test drive is: hop on the 405, exit on to the 10, and take the next exit back to surface streets and home. A quick jaunt, but it's more than enough to test things out. So I get on to the 405, and suddenly traffic starts slowing down. At 11:00pm, traffic should at least be moving smoothly even here in LA. Nope, I forgot that there's construction going on at night when the fewest people are (theoretically) driving. The exit to the 10 freeway is blocked off. No problem, I'll bypass the 10 and take the next exit off the 405 and turn around. BAM! More traffic. I sit through that and find out the exit I want is ALSO closed. I begin to wonder what deity I annoyed today. The following exit is open, but all the cars that wanted to use the last two closed exits are using that one AND the next two. I'm not familiar with all these exits, so I skip ahead to the next one where I know has an on-ramp nearby that goes back in the other direction - back home. Exit is completely empty. I turn left from the light at the bottom of the ramp, turn the corner and SHIT!! MORE construction! I am livid at this point. To make it worse, the ramp I wanted I can't use! It's open, but the construction won't let me turn left. Fine. I keep going, figuring to turn around as soon as I can. No such luck, there aren't any places to turn around. The street runs parallel to the freeway, so I eventually give up on turning around and just look for the next on-ramp. I find it, take the corner and...IT'S CLOSED TOO! AAARRRGGGHH!!! Resigned, I keep going and cross over the freeway I've been trying to get on to for a while. Still no place to turn around. I am finally able to turn left, which takes me back over the freeway again - and I find myself on the Mulholland Drive bridge, the one that closed down the 405 for a weekend so half of the bridge could be torn down. I forget my frustration temporarily as I drive over the bridge, there's not much to see but it's kinda neat anyway. I keep driving down Mulholland Drive, figuring it will meet up with Sepulveda Blvd and get me headed back home.
Oh, I was so wrong.
I admit, I'm not familiar with this area of Los Angeles. After a bit of driving, I don't see Sepulveda Blvd so I pull over. Time to use the GPS in my phone to get me home....and realize I left my phone at home. Just a quick test drive, right? Sigh. I reach for my Thomas Guide (a really excellent and highly detailed local map) and find where I am. I see it intersects with Sepulveda a ways up (wrong, I misread the map - Mulholland Drive goes OVER Sepulveda), so I keep driving forward. And drive. AND drive. I get to the scenic part of Mulholland Drive, a nice winding, twisty road with a beautiful view of the night lights of LA. Foolishly, I keep going. The road heads upwards; I get worried when the road narrows and the yellow lines are so faded I can't see them anymore. Eventually, the road takes a sharp right and is now in better condition, so I figure I must be close now. Downhill I go, passing some really nice and expensive homes. I already knew something was wrong, but I was enjoying the nighttime drive. Now I know I've gone WAY too far. I pull over again and read the map VERY CAREFULLY this time. Obviously I've screwed up, and I'm not sure exactly where I am now. So I turn around to retrace my steps. Another fun drive back down Mulholland Drive, across the freeway, all the way back to that one on-ramp I couldn't turn left into. It was open (THANK GOD) and in about 10 minutes I was finally home.
The part I replaced seems to have fixed the flutter in the Mustang. This whole mess of a trip was about 20 miles round-trip, and I hardly made a dent in the gas gauge. So I think I fixed that problem too. And I got one heck of a story out of it, so it wasn't all that bad in the end.
('Course my first thought on "test drive" was you test drove a new Mustang and found you liked it... but I knew better. You've put so much blood, sweat and tears into the Cobra I figure they'll have to pry it out of your cold, dead hands. Or you'll give it up when it gets turned it into a twisted hunk of metal. I feel the same way about my car)
Mulholland is a favorite drive of mine, second only to barreling down Sepulveda from The Valley to Santa Monica. In fact I like it so much that I took Ruthiel across it one time when she was down visiting, just 'cause. It sounds like you were going westbound from the freeway, which as I recall does dead-end at a fire road and hiking trail. The scenic drive is east from the freeway. It winds out over the hills, crossing Bevery Glen, Coldwater Canyon, Laurel Canyon and then after a few quiet neighborhoods, switchbacking down to the US-101 and ending not far from Universal Studios. I highly recommend it some day; it's the drive I was taking when I had my driving revelation.
Granted, if you ever come up here, there's a plethora of roads to explore. I'd love to introduce you to Cougar Reservoir and the road that runs between it and Oakridge. 60 miles of two-lane mountain, forest and river paradise!