A Thousand Miles

I intended to write yesterday, but the place where I stopped didn’t have Internet.  Sorry!  I left Fallbrook  just before daybreak on Monday.

I saw beautiful clouds at dawn.

I also saw a lot of car butts.

Ah, the roads to Los Angeles.  I’m a seasoned car traveler now.  I have my backpack next to me, one audiobook loaded with a couple of spares and some music CDs within easy reach, as are snacks, a water bottle, tissues, and my camera with the viewfinder turned out.  I try to snap photos without taking my eyes off the road.                                                         Some photos turn out not so good.

Some turn out okay.

Stopping only twice for gas, I was on my eleventh hour driving when I encountered rain with low visibility and decided that enough was enough.  I passed by many spots advertising places to stay; some I would have turned in for but was blocked by one of the ever-present trucks kicking up rain spray and edging precariously close to the middle line on the twisty, narrow stretch of I-5.  I really wanted something with a nice view with a restaurant close by, but I was willing to stop for almost anything by that point.  I saw a sign and pulled off and over I-5 through tall pines looming in the rain.  Then suddenly I found myself looking at Shasta Lake and the Bridge Bay Lodge!  I started to laugh! If I had planned the stop it couldn’t have been better!

They had a room… in fact, it was nearly empty, and a restaurant that wasn’t cheap but did offer vegetarian entrees.  The rain set in, but I walked around a little before heading to bed.  I made sure that I didn’t leave any food outside the door!

I watched a little television… I don’t have TV at home and haven’t watched it in about 16 years… and was shocked at how absolutely stupid and time-wasting the shows were.  And I was switching between the History Channel, A&E, and National Geographic!  I was horrified, and turned it off.

I awoke to a clear warm dawn, and what had looked like this the night before:

now looked like this:

And like this:

I was so thrilled.  I’m sure the place is a zoo on the weekends, and I had a quiet night only because I had no neighbors, but it was food for the soul.

After having food for the tummy (breakfast is my favorite meal!)

I love a silly name

off I went for the last four hundred miles to Corvallis, through absolutely gorgeous scenery.  Tomorrow I give my hinder a break and don’t plan to do much driving, but help my daughter move out of her dorm in the evening after her last final and then head for home on Thursday.

I very much enjoy being out on my own.  Although I planned the way back with my daughter with reservations for a bed and breakfast and tickets to a Shakespearean play in Ashland, OR the first night, and on a restored ferryboat hotel on the Sacramento river the second night, I like the spontenaity and roll of the dice of just driving unplanned.   If I had no animals at home, I’d do what I had asked friends to do the summer after high school graduation (they all had summer jobs!) and drive the USA.  I love the freedom.  I love the thought that no one knows where I am.  I love the fact that I could end up sleeping in the car or in a dive if my luck ran out, or in a wonderful place such as I just found myself at Shasta Lake.  As long as I can share it with all of you!