Are we driving ourselves over a cliff?

Almost 50 years ago, I sat my butt on a bench seat in some big contraption where I had to insert a key to make the thing start; hang onto and turn a giant wheel to steer it; work some buttons, levers and pedals to make it do tricks; and pay close attention to where I was taking it in order to not hit anything. Or, worse, anyone. Someone referred to that thing as an "automobile." Funny, I always called them "cars." Strange word...sounds like something they'd say in the '30s or '40s, but it'll do.

Welcome to the wonderful world of driving. Getting the opportunity to take control of a motor vehicle for the first time is the pinnacle of our growing up. Once you can drive, the world is at your doorstep. Or at least at the hood ornament. You can't always tell.

Driving a car is a HUGE responsibility. So huge that I had to bold, italicize, underline, and change the color of the word "huge." Why is that? Because it takes a fair amount of skill, and a lot of common sense to drive a car correctly. "Correctly" meaning avoiding contact with other objects and people, obeying all of the laws in place to regulate traffic, and stepping up to take responsibility when your actions (or misactions) result in a collision or some other situation that causes damage to another person and/or their property. Unfortunately, nowadays, common sense isn't very common.

Sad to say, and well known among drivers, is the fact that there are a lot of people who are out there driving around in two- to ten-ton vehicles who aren't exactly on top of their game. They're distracted by their electronic devices and other things that really should be set aside for the duration of their trip when they're behind the wheel. Laws have been passed regarding using such devices while driving, but many people simply ignore those laws.

Distraction by electronic devices is only part of the problem. I'm not sure if some people simply think that they're the only ones allowed on the road, or that they flat out own the darned thing. Shouting at other drivers. Using obscene hand gestures. Yelling inside their own car: "You're going too slow. Speed up or I'll ride your bumper till you do." "After me, you're first." "The light turned green one whole entire second ago, what are you waiting for?" (followed by a long honk of the horn). "Get out of my way!" "I'm in a hurry!" The list goes on. Impatient, nasty people are nothing new. They've been around since at least the '70s. You just have to deal with them.

Here in California, our law says that we need to renew our drivers license every five years. To renew, we have to pay a fee. For some reason, I seem to recall that we had to take a written exam whenever we renewed our license, but the last few times I went to the DMV, I remember only paying the fee and having a new picture taken.

Not everyone will agree with me, but I think that a license renewal should also include a good, comprehensive behind-the-wheel driving test, even more so than the one we took to get our license in the first place. And this test shouldn't be something ridiculous like "go around the block and come back." Everyone should have to take the same driving exam, regardless whether you're young or a senior citizen. Since we all have to share the road, then we need to follow the same laws and procedures with no exceptions. If, say, an older person can't turn their head and look before safely changing lanes, then we can't just let him pass because, "well, he's old." Doing so would be a recipe for disaster. [ducks prunes and dentures being thrown at him]

Over the years, our cars have gotten safer. All we need now are people who will make the effort to drive with courtesy toward others and safety in mind. I'm sure that everyone would benefit from that.

2018 means two new coasters under my belt

Earlier this week, I had a follow-up with my doctor regarding the progress of my case of diabetes. It's something I do a couple of times a year. I must be doing OK because my doctor still says I'm going to live to be 120. Since I'll be 60 next summer, I'm about halfway there. To be honest, if I get to 60, that's plenty for me. But I'll save that for another post.

However, this post isn't about how long my life will be. Life is about the things you do during your journey. Somewhere in the title of this post are the words "new" and "coasters." And in that order, too. Could be related. Do I sense a theme of some sort? With me, you never know. But in this case, it certainly does.

Somehow, some way, I never managed to write anything about two trips I took to two parks I don't visit very often to ride two new things that I hadn't ridden before. It's only been five months, so I'm a bit overdue to write something. So now that you're three paragraphs in, you're committed to reading the rest. If you want to get out, beware: Chimi's guarding the door. And I don't think he's eaten yet...

I've droned on and on about how I feel poorly much of the time (thank you, diabetes!) and don't get out very often. So when I do get out, I like to make it well worth my while. My last post was about going to the thee-a-tuh. I've mentioned a good thousandteen times that I like a good roller coaster, so I get out now and then to take a ride or twelve. Even more fun is getting to try one out before the general public gets to ride. Such was the case with the two new coasters I got under my belt back in May.

We'll start in Buena Park. Why Buena Park? Because that's where Knott's Berry Farm is. For such a small park, Knott's has done some very interesting things over the years. They had the first modern day roller coaster to take riders upside down back in 1975. The Roaring '20s Corkscrew. Short, but sweet. I took a couple of rides that summer and was sooo proud that I'd ridden a coaster that actually sent its riders upside down—not once, but twice!

When Corkscrew was sent to Idaho in 1989, its spot became home to Boomerang in 1990. Boomerang was an off-the-shelf production model shuttle coaster with three inversions forward and three backward. Sort of rough and tumble, fun the first time, not so much the second, it drew riders off of the midway for a quarter-century before being removed to clear some space for their new-for-2018 coaster, HangTime. (That's one of the new coasters I'll discuss here, but later.)

A year after Corkscrew opened, Knott's opened a modern day version of the classic, legendary Steeplechase ride at Coney Island in New York, but with fiberglass motorcycles riding a modern, tubular steel track instead of wooden horses riding a single-rail track. The Motorcycle Chase at Knott's was later converted to a soapbox racer theme due to some reasons that I won't get into here. Fortunately, the Wacky Soap Box Racers was well liked and operated till the mid-'90s when it was closed and removed.

Into its spot went the (thankfully) short lived Windjammer. Or was it called NeckJammer? HeadSlammer? Doesn't matter, really. Its existence of less than two years kind of spoke volumes. Horrible ride, best left in our unfondest memories. In fact, when it was removed, the track was not unbolted and carefully stacked. It was torn apart with a blowtorch and sent to the scrap yard. That's a true story. Read more about Windjammer gone wrong here.

Currently in that same location is Xcelerator, a prototype coaster from Intamin with a hydraulic launch system. This coaster opened in 2002 and is still operating, and whose rate of acceleration—0-82mph in 2.3 seconds—still gets me every time. My only gripe is that the ride is only 30 seconds long. But what a half-minute it is!

And now, lady and gentleman, it's time for HangTime. Boomerang and RipTide were removed to make way for this, so you'd better like it. I know I did. So much so that I took six or seven rides after eating some pizza, and didn't feel the least bit nauseated afterward.

A quick description of HangTime: HangTime is an Infinity model coaster built by the German company, Gerstlauer. It has a custom layout specially designed for the site on which it's built. Riders aboard a train featuring four cars, each with four-across seating, are taken to a height of 150 feet by a vertical chain lift system, then paused on a track aimed 60° downward. After a few seconds, the train is released onto a beyond vertical drop (96° to be exact) and off on a 2200-foot course featuring five inversions. There are a few good pops of airtime (that floaty feeling we coaster lovers like). In less than two minutes, the train pulls back into the station, ready to let you out and take on 16 more brave souls. I found a well animated POV of the entire ride as seen from the front seat. It's from Knott's Berry Farm, and I found it on YouTube. Enjoy the ride. Click here to watch it.

I managed to find a post on the ACE Facebook page about an event at Knott's, so I signed up. So did my friend Albert; his daughter, Alyssa; and her friend, Scarlet. We had to be at Knott's by about 2pm that day, so we jumped into Albert's Ford Flex and were Buena Park bound! Since this event involved some video recording of actors, we did a lot of waiting around. Knott's was kind enough to feed us pizza and soda for dinner, then it was on to the ride! We rode by day, and even by night when the spectacular LED lighting package came on. I have never seen a coaster lit up like this. Take a look at another Knott's video here.

After a fun Tuesday at Knott's, we weren't done yet. Only two days later, we had spots reserved to ride the brand new Electric Eel at SeaWorld in San Diego. I was kind of looking forward to this one because these rides have begun to appear all over the U.S. (we even have one up in Vallejo at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and I haven't ridden it yet. While on a business trip, my friend Jim rode Tempesto at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, which is a clone of this one.

Real quick technical stuff, Electric Eel is an off-the-shelf production model known in the industry as a Sky Rocket II, built by Premier Rides. (You know you're an enthusiast when you know the actual production name of a ride.) This a type known as a shuttle coaster, meaning that its train travels forward and backward along the same track, and only one train can run at a time—unless you want a different kind of lighting package...

For our Thursday adventure, Albert left the girls home, and we had Roger with us. Initially, Albert was going to drive us, but his wife needed the Flex, so I did the driving. (My CR-V managed to get over 30 mpg on the trip, which wasn't bad, though I would have felt better if my two front tires had some more tread on them...) We left my house at just after 2 and reached San Diego around 4:30. After breakfast at a McDonald's a few miles away, we got to SeaWorld to check in. It was nice seeing some ACE members whom I haven't seen in ages, as well as meet a few new ones. And I had to get a photo of me by the sign.

Me by the Electric Eel sign

Admittedly, Electric Eel (and all of the Sky Rocket II coasters) look kind of strange. The sun wasn't completely up, which is why it looks sort of overcast in this photo.

There's only one inversion on this ride—a corkscrew—but it's taken so slowly that you feel like you just might fall out and plunge 150 feet to the ground. But the restraints are reasonably secure.

Here's a quick video of Electric Eel in action, courtesy of In The Loop, via YouTube. Click here to watch.

After a few rides, the three of us wandered around SeaWorld to explore the park, eat lunch, and catch a final ride on Electric Eel before making the nearly 200-mile trip back home. As for getting something to eat, Roger wanted to stop at Dave & Buster's, but not having slept since Tuesday (!) meant that I wanted a bite to eat in a quiet place, and get back on the road quickly. No time or energy for loud music and video games. The sooner I get home, the sooner I can take a shower and start sawing wood. We found a Five Guys in Mission Viejo and that made do.

Albert pretty much crashed in the back seat and Roger and I kept the conversation going (and me awake) for the trip home. We pulled up to my house about midnight-ish, and Albert and Roger headed home. It was a long day—a long week, really—and it was good to hit the hay once I got inside.

Lesson of the day: don't go two days without sleep and then attempt to drive almost 400 miles and squeeze in roller coasters.