Or could I say, that need for speed? To get from point A to point B and back as quick as possible!
No, not just a part of the famous quote from "Top Gun", but also the thing, speeding, that EVERYBODY did and probably still does back down in California at Animal Control. But back then, and to 2006 when we left the department, I know there were people in the department who thought they were top guns. They felt that with all their miles driven they were a kin to other professional drivers, and invincible! I know because I felt it too! In a unique county truck, with lights all over it, working in law enforcement and as such we all pretty much got away with stuff like traffic violations and things that the average 'citizen' would have been cited or even arrested for!
When I got bumped up from Animal License Checker to Animal Control Field Officer in the spring of 1983 I got my first assigned truck I drove anywhere from 80 to 300 miles (or more!) a day depending what area I was working. And you just naturally started to keep up with the flow of traffic with all that driving!
In in the early 1980's that was VERY FAST! Ironically not the CRAZY fast it became with the increase of traffic over the years. You could get away with it then as the traffic was almost non existent when away from the L.A., San Bernardino or other city areas. It was easier not to speed when there was no traffic around but then you had so many miles to cover, so you'd speed!
In the early to mid 1980's on the weekends, if there was an "emergency" call in the "outlying areas", the high and low desert areas and the mountains as well, an ACO from the valley had to make the drive. Back then while it was more 24/7 service in the valleys, it was Monday to Friday service with 'emergency' service only on the weekends for the outlying areas. I liked the high desert areas of Hesperia and Apple Valley so since I worked on Saturdays I usually volunteered to go for the long drives. Since I liked to go I became the ACO to go most of the time. It would be one or two calls that could take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours to drive all that way there, get the animal and either take it to the vet or shelter if it wasn't in bad shape. Or sometimes to the shelter after the vet. Back then there was only one animal shelter for the entire 'high desert'. It was (and still is) located in Apple Valley at the North end of town, and was the place for most all animals for the entire Desert area almost out to Barstow. And back then it was all 'Unincorporated County' meaning 'our' area to service, except for the cities of Victorville and Adelanto. Both those cities had small departments and their own ACO's. But they all impounded out at the Apple Valley animal shelter.
It made for a very relaxing last day of my work week for me, these long drives, I really liked to drive and explore back then. Especially if it wasn't my gas and I was getting paid for it! I always stopped at one of the Carl's Junior restaurants in either Hesperia or Victorville. A large Iced Tea and sometimes lunch too after the call was done and I was on my way back to San Bernardino, 40 minutes from the Carl's on East Main street in Hesperia back then.
I remember zipping along on the old two lane main road from the I-15 to Phelan or Wrightwood. Thinking back now, I know it was crazy and I'm extremely lucky just from doing all that to be sitting here and typing this! 60 to 80 MPH on a narrow two lane road that had three very large dips in it and was in OK but not great shape and often rough. It was all nearly deserted roads as I sped to the calls back then. More roads were dirt back then too once off the main drags. Those well used dirt roads were often really bad washboard paths. The trick was when you could, you'd try to get to 25 to 35 MPH and the truck would kind of hit the tops of the washboard and the ride was much improved until you slowed back down. Then it felt like the truck would shake apart. And to be honest they often did just that. Several of the local area ACO's over the years would wind up having truck cages welded, cracked frames, broken suspension parts, and more, all from the rough desert roads. And finding houses? Away from the cities it often could be as bad as "go a mile past the Joshua Tree in the middle of the road and turn left at the third dirt road on the left" Try finding that one! By 2006 it hadn't gotten much better either. Even with the map books just so many small roads weren't in the book!
I remember one time, I was a little over-confident by this time of my desert road driving abilities, I was going about 50 mph on a rough dirt road in Phelan. I was in the one and only Chevy S-10 animal control truck the department ever had, I wish I had photos of it but I never took any! It was my first assigned truck as an ACO. It was the V-6 standard cab S-10 and had a 4 speed manual transmission. I could drive a stick shift and most employees could not so it was offered and I took it. It was a hot rod! Since it was small and with the weight of the cages on the back end where the light bed would have been, it handled like it was on rails! It would very easily go 80 mph and got in the low 20 mpg range when that era full sized GMC's and Chevy's got 8 to 12 mpg, so I could go a long way between fuel stops.
Anyway, I was so intent on reading the dirt road as I sped along I didn't see the paved rise for the railroad tracks that I was approaching FAST! I did see the tracks but too late, so I hit the paved rise still going about 40 and was airborne! At least I'm pretty certain it did all the way airborne. A very scary "Dukes of Hazard" moment! Everything loose was flying in the cab, and I noticed out the side mirror as I landed the spare tire from under the truck bouncing down the dirt road behind me. It still took about 80 yards to get fully stopped. WOW! Was what I remember thinking! No real damage other then to my nerves, I went back and got the spare and put it in a cage and drove on, a LOT slower though! The " County Yards" where all the trucks were repaired, put the spare back up in it's holder under the rear end. How did it fall out I was asked? I had "no idea!"
I recall many times driving fast out the old Route 66, National Trails Highway, from Victorville to Barstow. Especially in the later years it was often much faster to go that route over fighting traffic on the freeway, especially on Fridays or Sundays with all the Las Vegas traffic going (Fridays) and coming (Sundays).
After the community of Helendale, National Trails Highway was mostly fairly wide and gentle turns so it was easy to speed along to get you to Barstow and Hinkley and calls in that area.
Longest regular drives for me, and these did take all day, were when I was living and working in the desert in the 1990's and I was picked to go out weekly for a couple of months to the San Bernardino county outpost of Big River. This was an area of homes situated on tribal lands along the Colorado River a few miles south-west and in California across the river from Parker Arizona. The residents in this community had 99 year leases for their properties but could never own them. But it was still San Bernardino county and when the few residents there complained about dog problems to the county board of supervisors, the department said they'd provide "service". So that service became someone driving out one day a week to their area and patrol and address any complaint calls that came in during the days between visits.
I was told to be 'on the road' and heading out that way by 6 am on the days I drove out. This was usually about a 4 hour, one way, drive from our home in Phelan to Big River. I actually only recall handling just a few calls in that area. Usually I'd drive all the way out to Big River, patrol (drive around) in the Big River community so I'd been seen there for about half an hour or so. This was a small community and I was going over the same areas more than once to stay there that long!
Then I'd drive up on the California side of the Colorado river on the San Bernardino county side of Lake Havasu, to a community called Havasu Landing. Same thing there, patrol through the area, do any calls that came in for that area, then drive on. I only recall one call there in all the visits I did. I remember talking to some residents and they told me that for shopping often they'd take their boats across the river to the Arizona Lake Havasu side for groceries and such. If not it was a long drive North to Needles or long drive South to Parker Arizona for supplies. This was the area that the comic Sam Kinison was killed in when he was hit head on on that highway. I remember seeing the accident area with all the accident scene makings on the highway for a long time after it had happened.
Anyway, I was supposed to retrace my route and go back through the communities and then drive back home. I did do that a couple of times, but usually I drove up to Needles and had lunch and would "get my kicks on route 66" and take the old highway that bypasses the I-40 back to Barstow. Or I'd take 66 to "Amboy" then take Amboy Road back to Twenty-Nine Palms, and back to Phelan via highway 62 then highway 247 back to Apple Valley and home from there.
This is years before XM Satellite radio and I was really into Books on Tape then, so I loved listening to a great book as I drove these day trips. I ALWAYS carried water and snacks and sometimes my lunch too. Bathroom stops? Just stop about anyplace and water the shrubs, no one would ever be coming to worry about! Miles and miles of open desert.
Even all the years I worked and lived in the valley area it was lots of miles. In the valley you couldn't take your truck home unless you were on-call. (I've talked about on-cal in a previous post) So you'd get to the "Yards", get your truck, gas it up, go to the office get your calls and visit a bit. Then go out and drive. I worked for over 5 years in the west end of the county in the valley, Chino Hills, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, West Fontana, sometimes only a part of these areas would be mine, sometimes they'd all be mine. Just depended on how many people were at work.
Later, in the years before I became a supervisor I enjoyed working the Rancho Cucamonga area the best. We were living in Phelan then so it was a 40 mile one way commute. Stacy had gotten assigned (stuck) at the Devore Shelter so it was drop her off at Devore and drive out to Rancho, work my day there then drive back to Devore in bumper to bumper traffic, get Stacy and go go with the flow of traffic home. At least it was only 4 days a week!
By this time the multimillion dollar animal shelter built by the city was operational and our department was running it and I was able to park the work truck out at the shelter since I usually worked that area. So even with a lot of calls, and I do mean A LOT of calls per day in the Rancho area, you had the shelter right there only about 15 minutes away at most from anywhere in the city so it was really convenient.
This is late 1990's then and I was working Sunday to Wednesdays. I really liked driving in Rancho on Sundays. Especially during nice weather, the real exotic cars would be out getting driven by their owners. Sunday drives. Rolls Royce, Ferrari, you name and somebody in Rancho owned one, or more! North Rancho was a VERY affluent area. I'm sure it's worse now because of all the growth that had been going on before the 'crash'. But I was a supervisor at the main office in San Bernardino by then and Stacy was a Field Officer in the Desert area we lived in. She was making those "hundreds of miles" days. I had a county pick up truck as a supervisor and was able to drive it home so if needed I could always be available to go out after hours. Did a few times too!
OK, so this is long. And I've just touched some of the stories about driving all over San Bernardino County California. Guess I'll type more about again another time!
