a nice day out... James' first Q story

[James Kittock <james@carnelian.com>]

I mentioned this in passing in my self-intro and since I got more than zero 
requests, here's a the full story.

To recap, I am the proud owner of a new A4 1.8TQm (or whatever the right 
abbreviation for a 1.8 Turbo with quattro & 5 speed is :-).  Also (and this 
is important for the story!) it is what Audi calls "brilliant yellow", which 
I've called variously "screaming yellow" and "nuclear yellow" (and which 
someone else told me reminded me of the "optic yellow" of tennis balls--at 
least in the US).

I bought the car Friday July 4 and immediately started driving it a LOT.  By 
Sunday, I'd already done a bit of cruising in a hilly area near my house AND 
had done a 500 mile day trip to Reno and back (so much for keeping 'er under 
55 for the first 1000 mi :-p).  So Sunday rolls around and my buddy Chuck 
and I were looking for something to do, and I suggested a drive up Mt. 
Hamilton.

For those of you unfamiliar with the San Jose, CA area, Mt. Hamilton is a 
peak in a range to the southeast of the city with an observatory on 
top--when you are driving around the otherwise fairly flat San Jose area, 
you can always see these big white domes up there (barring bad smog or 
weather).  Conversely, from atop Mt. Hamilton one has a great view of San 
Jose and the southern San Francisco Bay Area.

But the BEST part of Mt. Hamilton is the drive up it, which is, as my buddy 
Chuck put it in his typically understated way, "challenging".  It's a net 
climb of about 4200 feet (about 1250 meters), starting near sea-level in San 
Jose.  And this road has some absolutely crazy turns on it--the kind that 
remind you of a paperclip that got into some serious trouble with a pair of 
pliers.  I distinctly recall one turn where I was turning 180 degress with a 
radius of less than 15 feet and at the same time climbing about 12 feet--the 
grade worked out to be about 25%, I think.  And, in many places, the road is 
really only 1.5 lanes wide AND there's no guardrail AND there's a 500+ foot 
drop down the "wrong" side.  So it's a lot of fun.  Oh, and the climb up Mt. 
Hamilton actually involves crossing a couple of lower (but equally 
contorted) front ranges--the whole drive is about 20 miles one-way. Needless 
to say, there's a real sense of accomplishment when you reach the top!

Coming back to the story, it's Sunday afternoon and we're tooling along, 
about 2/3 of the way there, making the final climb.  It's a pleasant 
afternoon, kinda shady in the trees, and we have the roof open and the 
windows down and the radio off.  A little mellow fun.

I was a bit tense, though--we'd already had to go around one accident site 
where a flatbed towtruck was picking up the remains of a Ford Contour that 
looked like it had wiped out and rolled, AND I was driving a new car which I 
was not 100% familiar with. Furthermore, I'd already had a few of those 
heartstopping moments where I was driving around a blind curve on the 
"wrong" side (i.e., the 500 foot drop side) when ACK! there it is, a car 
coming around the corner, going downhill, going not quite slow enough--time 
to grit your teeth and hope you don't trade paint. So I was taking it pretty 
easy.  In fact, I confess, I was hugging the center line--I still wasn't 
sure how wide my new car "really" was, and the penalty for underestimating 
could be pretty severe (when I said 500+ foot drop and no guardrail before, 
I was being serious).  But we have "turtles" (little reflective bumps) to 
mark all our centerlines here in CA, so I knew when I was officially in the 
other lane.

So there I am, cruising along, about 1/3 of the way into the outside of yet 
another blind hairpin turn, when WHAMMO here's a sported-out white BMW (3 or 
5 series) looking right at me.  The guy driving it, henceforth known simply 
as "Dude", looks out his windshield and sees what?  A LOT OF YELLOW.  Dude 
must think to himself "schoolbus" or "towtruck" or "AAUGH--it's too bright, 
I can't see" and Dude deftly executes a nice dodge into the "shoulder" on 
his side of the road.  Lucky for Dude he was on the "right" side and he 
didn't get to experience freefall from the cockpit of his Beemer.  
Meanwhile, having been pretty much ready, I brace myself and finish 
executing the hairpin, not even flinching when I hear this loud "SKRUNCH" 
noise from behind me.  Did I mention that the "shoulder" on his side was 
about one foot with a rock wall on the far side?

"Shit!" was about all Chuck could say, and I kept my trap shut long enough 
to listen for further noise--all I could hear was normal sounding Beemer 
driving noise from behind me, so I figure Dude has just scraped up his 
passenger side or maybe dropped the mirror.  At this point, Chuck and I 
start laughing kinda evilly because a) we had been freaked and were blowing 
off the tension and b) Dude deserved it. If he wants to do some performance 
driving on windy country roads, he should go to Wyoming.  The Bay Area has 
about 10 gazillion people and you can NEVER get away from them even in the 
"country".

So the story should end there.  We went up to the peak, took in the view, 
debated going home down the backside and around (about a 75 mile trip), and 
decided against.

However, the story isn't quite over.  Chuck had made sure to remember where 
that spot was so we could admire the white scrape on the nice friendly rock 
wall.  We come around the corner, look at the wall, see nothing, look ahead, 
and there, about 1/4 a mile beyond, pulled over in a wide spot, is Dude with 
his head in the trunk of his car mucking around.  Unfortunately, my A4 did 
NOT come equipped with a Stealth Mode, Cloaking Device, or similar, and it's 
kinda hard to slip by when you are borderline fluorescent...  With about 1/8 
mile to go, Dude pops his head up, sees this DAMN YELLOW THING again, and 
raises his arms to gesture.  To my surprise, he gave me not double-birds-up 
but double-thumbs-down (I'm so hurt!).  I responded with a shrug & wave of 
my hands and continued merrily on my way. Another 1/4 of a mile and guilt 
kicks in, so in the next wide spot I do a 3 point turn and head back up the 
road.

Dude looks REALLY happy to see the damn yellow thing AGAIN... NOT.  I 
casually lean out the window and asks if everything is OK (ha ha). Nope, 
Dude has a flat (what he was doing on this narrow road covered with sharp 
scattered rocks riding on his sport tires, I cannot tell you).  The wide 
spot is not level enough for his porta-jack, but he's called a towtruck 40 
minutes previously. He doesn't mention any body damage, so I guess the noise 
we heard was just little loose bits of rock--the same ones that gave him the 
flat, no doubt. I ask Dude if there's anything else we can do, he just 
grimaces and says "nope", so I casually wave bye and offer the helpful 
advice: "Drive safely." Another three point turn and Chuck and I are back on 
the road home.

So that's the story.  No death, no dismemberment, just some amusement at 
another person's expense, and a good introduction to my new car. 
Fortunately, sported Beemers are a dime a dozen in this area, otherwise I'd 
jump everytime I saw one thinking it was That Car.  I mean, I like having 
some fun, but I don't need a nemesis on the road.  And I bet Dude has 
interesting thoughts every time he sees a yellow car.

still driving safely,
--james

James Kittock                             Carnelian, Inc.      
Product Marketing/Business Development    1023 Shoreline Blvd.
...and sysadmin, too...                   Mountain View, CA 94043
james@carnelian.com                       (415) 919-0980