I was really looking forward to seafood for dinner.

[jar]

It was the late 1960s and we were driving up from San Buena Ventura to Santa Barbara and in the space of about 50 feet went from bright sun to total zero visibility as a coastal fog rolled in. I pulled over as close to the guardrail and cliff face as possible and we got the MGB top out of the boot and had put the frame together and on the car and were about to add the skin when we heard a horrendous crash a little ways ahead. The sound of crashes continued and kept getting closer and closer as car after car plowed into the growing dam. I don't remember hearing any screech of brakes and my wife and I just stayed behind the guardrail and waited for the noise to stop. Soon the sound of horns and red tail light became visible and traffic seemed to be slowing down and even stopping. It wasn't long until the line of stopped cars was all the way back past the MGB and other folk were joining us against the cliff face. The pileup seemed to continue forever but now was cars south of us and likely extending out of the fog because we could hear brakes and sliding and the impacts were far less severe.

We were there for hours while police and ambulances and fire trucks and wreckers sorted out the mess. I can't remember for sure but I think the final total was like 80+ cars. Eventually we were able to back down the line to an area where we could turn around and head back home. I had really wanted a bowl of cioppino on the Pier in Santa Barbara but we settled on Tacos Al Carbon from a little shack near the court house in Ventura.