Aweigh We Go

Aweigh We Go
Episode #	112
Air Date	Dec 22, 1977
Briefing	None

Title screen

Brief Plot

Scales of justice. Jon and Ponch pull duty at a roadside truck-weigh station.

Plot

Ponch checks his speedometer and knows the convertible that just passed him is clearly speeding. He and Jon chase the car off the highway and onto city streets. As it comes around a corner, it causes a car towing a boat trailer to swerve. The boat trailer comes off its hitch and the boat crashes through the window of a beauty salon. Ponch checks the driver and runs inside to check on the people there. It's not long before Jon returns with news that LAPD caught the car. As they get names from everyone, Ponch checks out the boat. He claims to be an expert and a virtuoso. He figures he could get the boat at a good price. They head outside as Sergeant Getraer arrives and sends them on their way since Webb and Fritz will be there soon to take care of things.

At a truck stop, a Peterbilt pulls in and the driver goes inside just before a man gets in his truck and steals it.

At Central, Ponch is trying to figure out what Getraer wants to see them about. Getraer calls them in and tells them that they've been assigned to the weigh station for a week. He tells them to keep an eye out for truck hijackings and meet up with Sergeant Vogt.

Out on a rural road, a pair of truck thieves puts the stolen trailer on a new truck and heads out to deliver the stolen goods.

After Ponch and Jon arrive at the scales, they get a harsh greeting from Vogt and learn how the scales work. As Vogt shows them how to signal a truck to proceed, he gives the okay for the stolen trailer to drive away.

Ponch convinces Jon to buy the crashed boat, but learns some other highway patrolman bought it. At Central, Getraer is showing a photo of the boat to Hunter.

When a red PVC truck drives by the scales, Vogt lets Ponch and Jon go after it as long as they don't take all day. They quickly take off their jumpsuits and catch up with the truck. After they pull over the truck, Jon writes the citation, Ponch catches up on his soap opera, The Troubled World. Trying to convince Jon that his load is secure, the driver pulls a strap off and the pipes roll off the truck.

Meanwhile, another trucker pulls into a restaurant and one of the truck thieves steals the truck.

After getting the load secure, Ponch and Jon eat lunch at the Magic Mountain amusement park. Ponch calls Getraer and yells at him for buying "his" boat. Jon talks Joe into splitting the boat 1/3 each.

Leaving the amusement park, Ponch and Jon chase a car and a van that are drag racing. Jon chases the van and arrests the driver after the van gets stuck in loose dirt on the side of the road. Ponch chases the car until the steering wheel comes off in the driver's hand and the car goes off the road.

Off duty, Ponch, Jon, and Joe work on the boat...or rather Joe has Ponch polish the boat and patch holes while Jon works on the outboard motor.

Back at the scales, Ponch and Jon check out an overweight truck. They ask the truck to pull to the side and balance the load, but they steal another truck instead. When Ponch and Jon find a clobbered guy behind the truck, they go and chase after the hi-jacked truck. 78 Adam spots the truck exiting I-5 North at Klondike as Ponch and Jon are on their way. On a bridge, the truck has a tire blowout and stops. Jon and Ponch arrest them. While they're doing that, someone tells them there's a car over the edge with people inside. They leave the truck thieves with 78 Adam and run to the rescue.

They find a woman and her child trapped in her car down a steep hill. Using a rope, Ponch climbs down and to get the child out. When Vogt arrives, he calls for the rescue unit. Vogt grabs the rope and Jon climbs down, takes the child, and climbs back up. Ponch gets a rope around the woman. Eventually, everyone is saved and the car doesn't even slide down the hill at the last second. Sergeant Vogt offers them a permanent position at the scales and they turn him down.

That weekend at the lake, Ponch, Jon, and Joe put the boat in the water. Joe announces that he named the boat Joe and Friends. Ponch jumps in and punches a hole in the boat. It starts to sink. After attempting to plug the hole, he starts handing stuff out as fast as he can and tries bailing water.

Great Quote

"It's no playground up here."

-Ponch (at the amusement park)

Guest Stars

• Bruce Glover as Sgt. Vogt
• Zina Bethune as Mother
• Ric Mancini as Vince
• Tony Russel as Eduardo

Featuring

• Gerald McRaney as Demick
• Janet Brandt as Sylvia
• Sean Morgan as Sven
• Marie Reynolds as Lucy
• Lila Teigh as Bertha
• Paula Victor as Esther
• Shawn Marie Hayden as Shawn
• Richard Karron as Fred

Crew

• Produced by: Rick Rosner
• Written by: Christian I. Nyby, II
• Directed by: Ivan Nagy
• Associate Producers: Ric Rondell, Phil Fehrle
• Production Consultant: Bob Hayden
• Unit Production Manager: Henry J. Lange, Jr.
• Developed for television by: Paul Playdon
• Story Editors: Glen Olson & Rod Baker
• Theme by: John Parker
• Music Supervisor: Harry V. Lojewski
• Director of Photography: Robert F. Sparks
• Art Director: Joseph M. Altadonna
• Assistant Director: William Saint John
• Script Supervisor: Joyce Webb
• Production Assistance: Roni Rochin
• Set Decorator: W. Joseph Kroesser
• Technical Advisor: Mike Sylvia
• Editor: Richard E. Rabjohn
• Sound: Maury Harris, Hal Watkins, C.A.S.
• Stunt Co-ordinator: Paul Nuckles
• Wardrobe Master: Shelly Levine
• Makeup: John M. Norin
• Casting: Gary Shaffer
• Locations by: Cinemobile Systems
• With Appreciation to: Glen B. Craig, Commissioner, California Highway Patrol
• Motorcycles Furnished by: Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
• Automobiles furnished by: Ford Motor Company
• Filmed in METROCOLOR / Titles and Opticals MGM
• Rosner Television in association with MGM Television

Fun Facts

• The building containing the beauty salon where the boat crashes is in Culver City. It was also used as the location of Flynn's Arcade in 'Tron' (1982). As of 2014, it's a restaurant called Akasha. View in Google Maps
• Just before the opening theme, Getraer says, "Webb and Fritz will be here soon." It is likely a reference to Joyce Webb, the script supervisor. A female officer by that name shows up in "Taking Its Toll" and "Vintage '54".
• Although Getraer mentions Fritz, he does not appear in this episode.
• This is the first episode not to have any of the regular secondary cast members such as Baricza, Grossman, Brouillette, or Fritz. Hunter briefly appears when Getraer is showing off a photo of his boat.
• The bridge where Jon and Ponch pull over the stolen truck and rescue the woman and child from the crashed car is on Big Tujunga Canyon Road. View in Bing Maps

Mistakes

• When the boat slides off the trailer, the front is nearly at ground level. How did it manage to get up and through the window of the salon when the window is two feet off the ground?
• Getraer is at a different desk than he normally is in his office.
• While Ponch is on the phone speaking with Getraer about whether he bought the boat out from under him, the tip of a microphone repeatedly enters the top of the shot.
• While at the weigh station, only slicktop (no roof top lightbar) cruisers are parked there, but when Sgt. Vogt assists Ponch and Jon in a car accident he is in a cruiser with a lightbar.
• When Ponch and Jon are rescuing the people from the car, they don't seem to mind putting more weight on the car. Never mind the fact they hadn't bothered to tie the car to help prevent it from sliding down the hill to certain death. They also seem to think it's easier to pull the woman out vertically rather than just breaking the front windshield out.

Buy this episode

• Aweigh We Go on DVD at Amazon.com
• Aweigh We Go from Amazon Prime Video
• Aweigh We Go from iTunes Store
• "CHiPs" Season 1 from iTunes Store

Preceded by: "Name Your Price"

Aweigh We Go 112

Followed by: "One Two Many"