Back home

O.K...so it's been a while since I was here, but after getting ragged, nagged and generally pushed into a corner about being stuck in a time warp in Mendocino, it seemed time to return to the travels. This is a bit difficult now, as I'm back home and have to rely on my memory to recall events since the last entry. It seemed we were too busy having adventures to find the time to write about them!

Checking out, buying and transporting cars was the main activity during the last few weeks of my stay there. Once everyone heard we were looking for old cars, they started heading off on 'tin hunts' and soon cars were coming out of the woodwork. The locals were new at this age old sport, and were most enthusiastic in their endeavor to find the best 'treasures' for us! We also found a couple of bargains practically under our noses belonging to fellow workers there. Northern California doesn't seem to be as well picked over as the southern part of the State, and we found there was generally something of interest each time we ventured out. We were out cruisin' the streets of Sacramento when this gem came burbling past. Nice to see blown cars on the street...just like home!


A neat '65 Mustang was already parked in the shed, and this was soon followed by a tidy '67 6 cylinder model. Collecting any missing parts and trim, as well as steam cleaning, fitting new tyres etc took up a few days, and we were soon steered in the direction of a field full of good old tin. This was discovered by our mate Don, who works as a weed spraying contracter and has access to all sorts of interesting places. This particular area had treasures beyond our wildest dreams, and included a couple of model A's, a 1936 Chev roadster, several '30's pickups and cars as well as an assortment of other stuff. The most exciting find was ,in a barn and was a father and son project started ten years previously, then let sit because of a change in circumstances. A very tidy 1956 2-door hardtop, half restored complete with all the parts was up for grabs. Of course Colin was on the scene just as fast as possible (at the speed of light actually) to check it out. Beautiful! A very tidy 1979 Corvette was also in the pipeline and he had work coming out his ears. I was beginning to think cloning wasn't such a bad idea after all!

The remaining time was spent tidying up the roadster and playing darts for Colin, and in the heat of the day when it was too hot to work (temps in the 100's) I took to the pool while he checked out deals on the internet. It all seems a distant memory now as I shiver in a good old New Zealand winter. Fortunately we'd got a good supply of firewood in before leaving the country in April, and I'm steadily burning it away, while Bloddy the cat luxuriates in front of the fire. Not much has changed here really!