Aviato returns home: LA to SFO via PCH

Turo
Turo Travelogues
Published in
4 min readApr 20, 2017

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4 people, 450 miles, 2 days

By Andro V.

I am fortunate to be a part of the Turo team, based in San Francisco. While I understood that joining a company like Turo may include some sweet perks, I would have never guessed that I would get a chance to return Aviato, the iconic car of the notoriously cantankerous lead character (Erlich Bachman) from HBO’s hit show “Silicon Valley”, to where it belongs — Silicon Valley.

Like many Northern Californians have done for decades, Aviato headed south in search of fame and glory. However, the first rains had arrived to the Bay and Aviato missed water drops on his back and his Turo friends. When my colleague asked who would like to bring Aviato home, I didn’t think twice before volunteering. I gathered a group of four within hours (one flew from Toronto, another from San Diego, and two of us from San Francisco), we all gathered at LAX, picked up Aviato at Turo’s LAX parking lot, and our adventure could start.

Pictured here during the pickup with super friendly and capable Zach, manager of Turo’s LAX parking lot.

Finally, on the road with Aviato! First stop — LA’s lively Santa Monica and Venice Beach neighborhoods.

Before leaving LA, we found time for a quick visit to the beautiful UCLA campus.

After a fun night in Santa Barbara, our first stop on Sunday morning was Solvang, a small picturesque town based in the Santa Ynez Valley, some 40 miles north of Santa Barbara. Although rain followed us up north, it was a peaceful and enjoyable ride. Aviato effortlessly attracted attention and we would rarely drive for more than thirty minutes without thumbs up, smiles and waves from people in the streets and other cars.

Solvang, known as Danish capital of America, was founded in early 20th century by a group of Danes who traveled west. To this day, Danish architecture, restaurants, coffee shops and even statues stay true to their Danish legacy.

Despite a few wrong turns, Aviato found its way to some spectacular views of Morro rock, a 581-foot volcanic plug located just offshore from Morro Bay Harbor.

The trip included passionate conversations, music ranging from Neil Young to Lebanese rock and Croatian hip hop, great meals, “chats” with the elephant seals of Big Sur, fantastic vistas of the central coast, and even some pensive times.

We rolled into Turo’s SFO parking lot after 9 pm. The lot was full of luxury cars including Maseratis, BMWs and Porsches. However, none of them attracted the affection and wide smiles like Aviato. Must be something about his personality.

You can also rent Aviato yourself for a drive in shoes of the Valley’s baddest stoner-mogul around.

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Turo
Turo Travelogues

Turo is a car rental marketplace where travelers can rent any car they want, wherever they want it, from a community of car owners in the US and Canada.