finally, i've got my car back. dad and i drove up to monterey friday, spent the night there, drove over to soquel saturday morning to serious auto to pick up my car - they put a hard dog rollbar and 15" rota subzero wheels on it. we chatted with them about car geek and technology geek stuff until about noon, and then drove down hwy 1 back to santa barbara.
anyone that lives in or visits california should drive hwy 1 between monterey and san luis obispo. depending on the number of stops you make and the traffic, it'll take 4 or 5 hours. it's the most breathtakingly beautiful part of coastal california, period. plus there's some ass-kicking fun curves.