Day 3: Throught the Grapevine Part 2

Goodness, where to start.

It is Sunday evening and we had just finished a twelve hour drive a day and a half before. This next drive from Redwood city to all our friends in Mission Viejo should be cake compared to the last. After a decent fives hours on the trip so far, we decide to take a stop and rest with the entire group for a few minutes. While we were together, we soon realized that the grapevine pass is closed because of snow and potential for heavy ice....WHAT?!! Some of us were thinking about braving the storm and going through the grapevine. But I once heard from a man that Marvin Gayes' song, "Heard it through the Grapevine" is based off one of his buddies (Lil' G) trying to go through the grapevine past during a snow storm. Lil' G's car slid on the ice and toppled over the side. When safety crews got to him, all they found were his 1957 limited edition Air Jordan high tops. It was concluded that an ice bear had found Lil' G and had an exquisite dinner that night. Following this tragic incident, Marvin Gaye wrote these lyrics:

I know a man ain't suppose to cry
But these tears I can't hold inside
Losin' You (make sure you sing that with a nice high pitch) will end my life you see
Cause you mean that much to me

Rest in Peace, Lil' G.
Okay, NBD. So we decided to backtrack 30 miles to Bakersfield because we heard that pass had not received much snow.......yet. We started backtracking at 9pm towards Bakersfield and hoped the latest it would take us to get to Mission Viejo would be midnight. Oh how naive we were to think that would be possible. After driving about 15 min. through the pass, we hit traffic. Apparently we weren't the only ones affected by the grapevine closure....................................................................................................this is how is it felt.................................to............................ d....ri.............................v.......................e.......................thro..........ugh.......................the Bakers..................field pass..............................................................................................traffic. Just imagine trying to say that sentence over a four hour time period w/out doing anything else. Safe to say it was quite the experience through the Bakersfield pass. With various attempts to pass the time/amuse ourselves, it became a spectacle that I had never been a part of before. Although I will let another fellowmen explain the rest of the adventure...

Remember the sacrifice of Lil' G,
Charlie