23 The Final Chapter

Chapter 23 THE FINAL CHAPTER The drive from Death Valley to San Francisco was one of the longest stretches of the whole trip. Several national forests sit right in the middle, so it's necessary to drive a big loop around them. They would pass through Red Rock Canyon State Park and Bakersfield before connecting up with I-5, which goes almost directly to San Francisco. The trip would be over 500 miles. Dr. McDonald was exhausted, but fortunately he didn't have to do the driving. Mrs. Higgins was happy to chauffeur, and the McDonalds insisted on paying for gas and tolls. One by one the family dropped off to sleep. It had been a long, hard day. Coke, Pep, and their parents slept the whole night until they were jostled awake at sunrise

when the minivan was bumping over the hills and streets of San Francisco. As they drove down the Embarcadero on the waterfront, they caught their first familiar glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge, six miles away. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful bridges in the world. "We're almost home!" Pep said, stretching. "Did you sleep well?" Mrs. Higgins asked. "You folks were out." "Like a baby," said Dr. McDonald. Mrs. McDonald noticed a California guidebook on the floor between the two front seats.

"May I look at this?" she asked. "Of course," Mrs. Higgins replied. "We're not stopping anywhere, Bridge," said Dr. McDonald sternly. "Don't even think about it. No more museums. No more halls of fame. No more roadside tourist traps. We're going straight home now." "I just want to see what it says about the Golden Gate," said Mrs. McDonald. "I've driven over this bridge so many times, but I really don't know much about it." In fact, the McDonalds had driven over the Golden Gate Bridge at the start of their trip five weeks earlier. Mrs. McDonald leafed through the guidebook until she found the section about the bridge. "Let's see. It says here that the Golden Gate opened on May 28, 1937 "Nobody cares, Mom," Pep shouted from the back. "Wait a minute," Coke said to his sister. "Did she say May 28, 1937? Open your notepad!"

Pep pulled out her notepad and flipped to the page where she had written all the ciphers. "That's the first cipher!" Pep whispered excitedly to her brother. "Maybe May 28, 1937, doesn't have anything to do with Volkswagen at all! Maybe it's just a coincidence that the company started the same day the Golden Gate Bridge opened!" "What else does that guidebook say about the bridge, Mom?" Coke asked. "Let me see," Mrs. McDonald said. "Oh, this is interesting. It tells the exact longitude and latitude for the bridge. It's north 37 degrees, 49 minutes, and 8 seconds. And it's west 122 degrees, 28 minutes, and 40.5 seconds." "That is interesting," said Mrs. Higgins. Coke and Pep looked at each other. Then they looked at the notepad. "The second cipher!" Pep said. "The minutes and seconds didn't refer to a time! They referred to a location! The location of the Golden Gate Bridge!"

"Listen to this," Mrs. McDonald went on. "It says here that they are constantly repainting the bridge. The paint is supplied by Sherwin Williams." "I used their paint on the garage last year," Dr. McDonald said. "Does it mention what color they use? The bridge isn't gold. It's more like a reddish orange." "It says the color code is SW 6328," said Mrs. McDonald. "It's called 'Fireweed.'" The twins just about jumped out of their seats. "Fireweed?!" "That's what it says." "That's the third cipher!" Pep whispered to her brother. "Fireweed isn't the plant! It's the color of the Golden Gate Bridge!" "Here's something I bet you don't know," said Mrs. McDonald. "The hardhat was invented when they were building the bridge." "Hardhat?" asked Mrs. Higgins. "You mean those yellow helmets construction workers

wear?" "Yeah," Mrs. McDonald said. "It says here that an American soldier came home after World War One and he designed a hardhat for miners based on the helmet he wore in the army. The guys who worked on bridges back then had stuff falling on them all the time, so this soldier designed a helmet just for them. It was used for the first time when they were building the Golden Gate Bridge." "What was the guy's name?" Coke asked. "E. W. Bullard," his mother replied. "Bullard?!" "That's the fourth cipher!" Pep whispered. "Mom, does it say anything about the number 8980?" Coke asked.