1987 Activities in San Diego

1987 Our lives in America
January, 1987   We're back at Tierrasanta after returning from Hawaii December 30, last year. On a visit to rhe San Diego waterfront, we take a look at the fishing fleet in San Diego Harbour. The first cannery opened in 1909 and, at one time, San Diego was known as “The Tuna Capital of the World” with two of the country's three biggest tuna canneries being based along its Bay. "Today, due to a variety of environmental, regulatory and economic factors the tuna fleet now focuses on the waters of the Western Pacific but fishermen still sail from the Tuna Harbor Basin to catch such species as swordfish, lobster and sea urchins." This is a fancy way of saying they destroyed the industry by over-fishing it. The Coronado Bridge is a 2.1 mile prestressed concrete/steel girder bridge linking San Diego with Coronado, California. The bridge is signed as part of State Route 75. Tolls continued until 2002
Early 1987   SE San Diego is visited by managers from around the world. I explain what the team does, introduce its members and act as their host for the weekend. This is Charlie Shupps from International Customer Services in Dayton. Probably from Switzerland but I don't really remember. The guy on the right is from France. 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0013 a
Lyn Hancock from Australia. John Fothergill from England. Despite his being from England, I get on very well with him. I take our visitors for a tour of the mountains east of San Diego. John Fothergill chats with Fred Linke from Germany. I visit both of them on a later trip to Europe for NCR.
John with the French guy. 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0020 a On the mountain outside of Julian, California. According to Google (which does not exist in 1987) these trees are the Big cone Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga macrocarpa). It is an evergreen conifer native to the mountains of southern California. The Swiss guy comments about the vastness of the USA. He says that if this were Europe all of this with be filled with people and houses.
May 30, 1987   This is Terry Terasawa from Japan during a welcome for Japanese managers at Bob Crawford's house. Terry sent me these photos. Bob Crawford is at the back drinking a beer. He is the plant team manager for systems engineering at Rancho Bernardo on the large scale platforms. I manage the small scale "I" series ("I" for Interactive, not Internet) This is us with the Customer Services manager from Japan, Mr Matsuoka, with his daughter. He was a very important person in Japan surrounded by lackeys like they shown in the movies - lots of bowing and respect. Mr Matsuoka's wife is with him also. Bob Crawford asks Mr Matsuoka to stand with his wife while he takes their photo. Mr Matsuoka is very uncomfortable and looks at me, sitting just out of the picture, and says this is very difficult for him - treating wives as people to be respected.
Bob's wife Jan is on the right. I think Bob is 57 at the time which seems very old to me. How times change. The Japanese lady in this picture is from SE Rancho Bernardo; I've forgotten her name. Mr Matsuoka seems to be taking a video of me; I wonder if he looks at this in 2022 and wonders who I am. There is a hummingbird feeding on sugary water on Bob's back porch and I turn to Mr. Matsuoka's daughter and say "Very beautiful," referring to the bird.   She replies, "Thank you."   I don't explain what I mean and let it go. Relaxing at the Crawford's.
Circa June, 1987   This is us at a model aeroplane contest in July 1987 Whittier narrows north of L.A. Mid year 1987   My first new plane built in San Diego. I finish it in time for the 1987 Nationals being held in Lincoln, Nebraska in July. I make it from foam cores that I'd cut at Thornleigh and brought with me. Mid year 1987   I go to Los Angels, Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami to conduct a couple of seminars for the customer services people there. I choose these places because they have large numbers of "I Series" systems here. I also think about going to New York city but decide against it on safety grounds. I may have gone to Detroit as well.
Mid year 1987   Strangely, I find myself alone on the weekend in Florida and spend it going to the Space Centre at Canaveral, the Everglades and to Key West at the tip of the Florida Peninsula.   It's so unfortunate to be marooned in Southern Florida for the weekend. This is a spare lunar excursion module (LEM) left over from the Apollo program. A huge tractor transports space shuttles to the launchpad. It's tracks are rusty right now because the Challenger disaster set back the space shuttle program quite a bit. The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard.   It was the first fatal accident involving an American spacecraft in flight. This is one of two shuttle launchpads at Canaveral.   The disaster was caused by management malfeasance (not mere misfeasance). The specifications called for the seven sections of each solid fuel booster to be sealed with two O-Rings. After engineers' warnings that if an O-Ring failed during freezing temperatures, it would be disastrous, NASA went ahead and changed the specifications to one O-ring being sufficient.   It had two, so what's the problem?   The launch in January 2006 goes ahead, kills seven people and when the Shuttle Prgram recommences, it calls for three O-Rings
This is the vehicle assembly building for the shuttles. It is the second largest building by volume in the United States and probably the world. These are the main engines of the Saturn 5 first stage used to boost the Apollo astronauts into earth orbit. A complete Apollo launch vehicle sits outside in the sun deteriorating. I'm a little horrified by this. I think at the time, "How can they do this? How can they leave it here to rot?" These were probably the most important explorations ever conducted by human beings on this planet; it was the time when humans left earth. Nothing has ever matched this feat for skill, intellect or bravery in the past and it is unlikely that it will ever be matched again.
I drive to the Everglades National Park on the southern coast of Florida. I actually get to see real live alligators. I think that is an alligator in the bottom right of this picture. I then travel down the Florida Keys for 122 miles and take lots of pictures on the way (even Key Largo of Bogart/Bacall fame) and finish up in Key West. However, the new roll of film that I'd put in the Pentax is not winding on. I'm simply taking lots of shots into an empty camera. Pissed off? You bet! 1987   At San Diego Zoo this is the Cloud Leopard on the Cat-Tracks tour
August 8, 1987   We go to a Naval airshow at Miramar. An A-4 and an F-14 are coming into land Brian's model which he says is too light, so he's building another. October 31, 1987   At the Winston Finals Ocober 1987. It costs us $26 each to get in (expensive at the time). This money pit is for sale. A somewhat modified Stingray.
The event is held at Pomona Raceway 32 miles to the east of L.A. Huge crowds attend. A burnout gets the tyres hot and puts sticky rubber on the track. The race. The noise the cars make is wonderous. These are probably alcohol fueled cars. After a race, the cars are towed back.
The Top Fuel dragsters run on 90% nitromethane and 10% methanol (the same ingredients as my stunt models, except that I have synthetic oil added as well) Top Fuel dragsters are powered by a supercharged and fuel-injected 500-cubic-inch adaptation of the Chrysler Hemi engine. This is a Funny Car. Ed McCulloch, the driver, carries expensive sponsorship. He is one of the four fastest. Funny cars have tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fibre bodies over a custom-fabricated tube chassis. They have an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models.
They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver. Funny Car engines can only be V8s displacing no more than 500 cu in (8,193.53 cc). The most popular design is a Donovan, loosely based on the second generation Chrysler 426 Hemi. There can only be two valves per cylinder. The heads are machined from aluminum billet and have no water jackets, as the high latent heat of the methanol in the fuel coupled with the brevity of the run precludes the need. Superchargers are restricted to a basic Roots type and only single camshafts are allowed. The 3/4 stroker is the most common combination used today and equals 496 CID (8.1 L) Horsepower claims vary widely but are probably around 8,000 HP. Supercharged, nitromethane-fueled motors of this type also have a very high torque, which is estimated at 7,000 ft⋅lbf. They routinely achieve a 6G acceleration from a standing start.
Funny cars are not much slower than Top Fuel dragsters This is Australian Andrew Cowin, who in 1922, still competes in Funny Car racing Here, Andrew Cowin begins his run. Many other classifications also compete.
Drag Bikes also compete but they seem slow. 8 seconds and 163 mph. Some street bikes in 2022 are around 9+ seconds. Before the top fuel semifinals, officials scrape about 5/16" of rubber from the track surface. The top fuel semi-final. Joe Amato warms up his tyres; Darrell Gwyn is his rival. Noise from a top fuel dragster shakes your rib cage; it's wonderful, unbelievable.
During the final tomorrow Darrell Gwynn is disqualified for red lighting and Joe Amato wins Joe Amato clocks 282 mph. The other car blows up and coasts across the finish line but look at the elapsed time; still faster than any road car. Shirley Muldowney competes in the other top fuel semi-final. But she loses. Shirley is a three times World Champion. Dick Lahaye is the other big name and he has lane choice.
Lahaye has the quickest run of the day at 5.11, a track record. Joe Amato is the fastest ever top fuel driver; some time back he did 287 mph. The final tomorrow is won by Amato by .01 of a second in the fastest side-by-side race ever. We then tour the pits. Darryl Williams mechanics rebuild his car after the race
The mechanics rebuild the engine after every run. ESPN conducts an interview. Dick Lahaye's mechanics rebuild his engine. A fully equipped workshop is part of the deal.
This particular Porsche is priced at about $150,000. November, 1987   Table at home set for Thanksgiving. Notice my 40th birthday Norman Lindsay etchings on the wall. Jenni prepares our Thanksgiving dinner. Gary Matthews, Marge and family.
Erin and Justin Mathews December 10, 1987   Dean joins us; he does seem to be bigger than me now. At Pacific Beach in San Diego with his cousin Ian Fanning. They are going to Germany after leaving us. Of course, we need to go to Disneyland again. I frustrate Dean by saying that he has already been to Disneyland as a baby, "So why do you want to go again?"
The Jungle Cruise; dated and boring. 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0153 a 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0154 a 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0155 a
1987 WhileInTheUSA 0156 a Dean and Ian Fanning. 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0158 a 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0159 a
1987 WhileInTheUSA 0160 a 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0161 a 1987 WhileInTheUSA 0162 a December, 1987   The next day, we go to Magic Mountain 150 miles from San Diego.
Colussus wooden roller coaster. It is uncrowded (it's winter here now) so we have a reasonably good time. Ian is a whinger. Dean is a real teen by now.
December 24, 1987   We drop Dean and Ian off at LAX and he leaves for Germany. December 28, 1987   Joan, Roger, Grant and Lee join us. We get Lee to pose for a photograph. She cooperates easily for the occasion.
We go to Mount Palomar where it is snowing. This is always a great spot to take visitors to San Diego. Lee and Grant fight continuously until I have a "chat" with them. January 3, 1988   We spend New Year's day at home in San Diego and we decide to go to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. On the way, we stop at Havasu City
We stop at Havasu City to see the London Bridge. This is the actual London Bridge The story of the contruction. This area was a dry lake bed when the bridge was constructed. The water comes via a diversion from the Colorado River. This is a hotel at Lake Havasu. And in the hotel is a replica of the Royal Coach
Engineers originally constructed sand mounds to rebuild each arc. Each stone was numbered in England and replaced in the same position. We travel to Flagstaff and check in to a motel. January 4, 1988.   We take the Cooper family to the Grand Canyon and the trip there is a nightmare; it starts to snow heavily. Experienced snow drivers would have turned back. When we get there, no one can see a thing. The snow is so heavy it completely blocks the view.
So, the Coopers have been to the Grand Canyon but they haven't seen it. We beat a hasty retreat and get back to Flagstaff AZ. The cars are carrying heavy loads of snow and ice and, really, it is a very high risk manoeuvre to drive in these conditions. We don't have any other choice though. Next morning, we head back south again via the Hoover Dam. and pose for a picture.
This is Lake Mead created by the Hoover Dam. The power station at Hoover Dam. After here, we head for Las Vegas and spend the night there. Jenni and I spend a very pleasant evening with Lee and Grant while Joan and Roger play the slots. For some reason, I do not take any pictures in Las Vegas. The end of this segment