Wow, what a night.
I was away visiting family in Seattle and didn’t get back in town until Jan 1. I got back into town around 4pm, dropped the family off at home, grabbed my envelope with my receipts and headed off to work to make copies (Call me the KING of procrastination!
). I got to the office and quickly realized that I didn’t have my MSO and FFR receipt for the kit!
So I finished making copies of everything else and headed back home to find the MSO and FFR receipt. 1 hr later I finally found where I had buried it in one of my boxes and made copies. I then packed up 2 sleeping bags (in case someone else in line was cold), a tent, warm jacket and snacks. I didn’t pack extra warm clothes because I had a nice 15 degree sleeping bag and an air mattress. The air mattress is worth noting because it is only 24” wide by 1-1/2 inches tall by 6 ½’ long but is critical to keeping warm because it insulates the bag from the ground, which is critical for keeping warm. Why mention this? You’ll find out in a moment.
So, I packed all the stuff into the car, had dinner with the family, apologized to my kids for not allowing them to go and headed off to the DMV in San Clemente, about 20 miles away. I arrived there at 9pm and was surprised to find out that I was 2nd in line. I missed being 1st by ½ hr. I had wanted to be 1st so I could work on having the DMV take us as a group without stepping on anyone’s toes. No biggie, I explained my plan to the guy in front of me and he agreed that it would be a good thing if we were treated as a group, instead of individually. As it turned out later, we didn’t need to plan anything. The DMV had worked everything out in advance, but more on that later.
I went to the car and pulled out my bag, mattress, a ground cover, chair, snacks and a box of Aleave, since I was getting over a cold and was feeling kind of achy. I talked with the guy in front of me until 11pm, when I decided to roll out my bag. I laid the thing out and was lying on it and decided to take one of the Aleaves. I opened the box and popped one of the Aleaves out of the foil covering when a Police cruiser pulled into the parking lot with his spotlight on. We were behind these huge 6-foot-wide concrete planters that were place in front of the entrance to the DMV. What I did next I have no explanation for. I stood up and raised a hand so the cop could see me. He quickly shined his lights on me and drove over to where we were. I still had my Aleave in my hand so I dropped it onto my bag (mistake # 1). The cop got out of his car and ordered us out into the open. He asked us what we were doing there. Now for some reason, I got really nervous. This guy was not messing around; he was serious, not cordial in any way at all and had already called backup. I started to explain why we were there and what SPCNS was. I was screaming to myself in my head that I was rambling. I put my hands in my jacket pockets and quickly realized that I shouldn’t do that so I took my hands out and took off my jacket and placed it on the ground (mistake # 2). The cop asked us for ID and ordered me onto my knees in front of his car. Flashes of the show “COPS” and pepper spray start flooding my mind. Ever been on your knees in front of a cop car with six white lights shining in your eyes? Not fun. Quite intimidating, actually. So, the cop goes around to our stuff and asks me what I threw on the ground. I told him what it was. He asked me why I threw it on the ground. I told him I had no explanation on why I did that except I was nervous. Why was I nervous? Oh I don’t know, maybe because you have the authority to shoot me dead and have a 45 on your belt to do it with? (I didn’t say that, but I was thinkin’ it.) I really don’t know why I got so nervous, but I can tell you that it had everything to do with this guy’s attitude. He wasn’t rude, but was very stern and serious. He went to his car to call us in. I put my jacket back on and tried to keep eye contact with him even though he had all those lights on us. His backup arrived and drove right up to us, stopping his cruiser 2-3 feet away from where we were kneeling on the ground. He got out, put his hand on his holster and took up residence behind us. So I’ve now got one guy behind me with his hand on his gun and one guy in front of me deciding if I’m a criminal. Yeah, I was nervous. Why? Adrenaline and irrational fear, I suppose.
After what seemed like an hour but was probably only 5 minutes, the guy gets out of his car and gives us out licenses back. He then explained that have a sleeping bag on the ground in camping without a permit and San Clemente has an ordinance outlawing camping with a permit and I was in violation of the law. He told us the only way he was going to allow us to stay there was if we remained awake the whole time, and not hunkered down behind the planters, but sitting on a concrete bench that was out where he could see us from the street. He then told us that he wasn’t going to give us a ticket, but that he wanted us to pick up all of our stuff and go sit on the bench, or leave. I got the distinct feeling that if I blew him off and went to sleep anyway, that a ticket would be the least of my worries. He then sat in his cruiser and watched us pack. I asked him if it would be OK if I put my air mattress in the bench to isolate us from the concrete. He said OK as long as we didn’t try to sleep on it. It’s a good thing he said it was ok because the bench as COLD and we wouldn’t have made it through the night sitting on the concrete.
After we picked up all of our stuff two of San Clemente’s finest turned off their lights and left. We did see them several times later that night as they cruised by to make sure we were still awake but they never stopped by again to say hello or give us doughnuts or coffee or anything. I guess a Christmas card next year is out of the question? Oh well, at least we weren’t arrested.
The adrenaline rush was substantial enough to carry us forward until the next SPCNS arrival, Jack Cronk, at 12:30am. It was getting colder and the only thing I had was a doggie bed that I keep in the back of the truck. It was small but it was enough to cover my legs. The air mattress fit on the bench like it was made for it and we managed to stay fairly warm throughout the night. I didn’t sleep a wink. We got up occasionally to walk around the parking lot but for the most part just stayed on the bench, out of the wind.
Our next arrival was Darren at 3:30, followed by Rich at 5-something. People started arriving after that and by 8am there were 16 people there. When we all got into the DMV they used all of the tellers to take our MSO, Statement of Construction and Application for New Vehicle Registration. I didn’t have them completely filled out so was told to sit down, fill them out completely, and return when finished. Boom. I had just slid from 2nd to sixth.
Now for the important part. In the end, it turned out that it didn’t matter if I had spent the night or arrived 5 minutes before 8 am. All of the people at the windows fed the paperwork to 3 gals manning the phones. As soon a one got through, the main gal took the phone and got all of the sequence numbers with that one call. When she was done she put the phone down for a moment and asked if there was any more SPCNS applications, cause she was about to hang of the phone. The staff at the San Clemente DMV was ready for us and was really on the ball. We all cheered when they announced we had all gotten our numbers. I was so happy that I went to work on my scheduled day off and got in 6 hours before going home and sleeping 15 hours straight.
It also didn’t matter that I didn’t have my engine or transmission yet. The gal told me that I would need the paperwork for them later but that for now all I needed was the MSO.
I got number 2007-185 and they assigned my FFR chassis number from the MSO as my temp VIN.
Now, would I spend the night again? Uh, hmm. Wait. Let me think. Uh, NO!
But of course I say that having my precious SCPNS number safely in hand, and knowing that they were able to get all of the numbers with on call. I would have hated being that last guy in line, but he got his number too. Will it be the same next year? Maybe, maybe not. That’s why I spent the night. It wasn’t fun, and I could have done without the meeting with our friends in blue, but it sure was an adventure I’ll never forget and will remain a fond memory as part of my build.
Yes, I said
fond memory. Because in the end, I got my number. And that’s all that matters.