Day 1

It struck me as I drove down I5 this morning that I may not actually have enough interesting experiences on this trip to warrant a blog about it. The weather was fine, the cat was behaving well, I wasn't going to be taking time to stop at interesting places along the way. And I'd probably be too tired at the end of each day to put much effort into trying to make the mundane seem exciting or humorous.

But I'm going to have a go at it anyway, and I apologize in advance if the reading of this puts you to sleep. Unless you have insomnia, then I'll kindly accept whatever payment you feel is appropriate.

So, I'll just kind of recount the things that stick out in my mind, in no particular order. Apologies once again, if it's somewhat haphazardly written.

Rikki peed in his carrier. He has flown internationally four times, on trips of close to 24 hours, and never done that before. I gave him ample opportunity to use his box, which was on the floor in the back. Each time we stopped for food, gas or for me to relieve my own bladder, I put him in his box. He wanted nothing to do with it. So at one point, probably about 20 minutes after my last attempt to have him go in the box, he started digging at the padding in his carrier, and I smelled that unmistakable smell. Oh well, at least I'm sure he felt better at this point, and we had no choice but to let him roam free in the car. His attempts to climb onto the floor underneath my legs were easily thwarted, and other than a rank smelling ride (there was no room in the trunk for his carrier), the rest of the drive was free of additional bodily waste.

When I stopped at McDonalds for lunch (what...it's a ROAD TRIP, I have to eat that stuff!) the girl manning the register was clearly new, and I'm thinking not necessarily all that bright. OK, I have to go easy on her, because I know that when I'm new at a job, I get nervous, and my nerves often prevent me from performing at my best. My order was pretty simple, cheeseburger and small fries, but she had to ask me like three or four times before she got it. My total came to $3.45 or something like that, and I handed her a $20. She had already entered the $20 and started to make my change, when I started to ask her if I could give her the 45 cents. But something told me that it was going to be difficult for her if I did that, so I just cut myself short and said, "never mind, it's OK". While I was waiting for my order, the customer who came after me gave her $10.10 for his $4.08 order. And yeah...she couldn't do it. She had to call her supervisor. Then this old timer says loudly enough for everyone in the place to hear, "OK now, I'm going to be a little bit obnoxious here, but you need to know that this is a problem with your generation. You never learned how to do math. You use calculators and computers for everything, and you don't know how to do something as basic as make change unless some machine is telling you exactly how to do it." The girl either didn't care or didn't understand, she just gave him his change and told him his order would be ready shortly. There is no real point to this story, but I thought it was somehow amusing. Stupid girl, cantankerous old dude. Someone with more talent (or inclination) than I might have turned this into a deep commentary on the state of....something.

OK, last story and I'll let you go to sleep.

When I pulled up to the Best Western in Lodi, there was a sign on the door that read "Will Return in 5 Minutes". There was another guest standing outside, so I chatted with him while we waited for the front desk clerk to return. It wasn't long into the conversation, maybe three minutes, before my "warning" light came on. I think it was when he mentioned his PTSD. Or was it when he said his "service dog", a pit bull, had escaped onto the highway last Thursday and been killed? Hmmmm, perhaps it was the part where he mentioned waking up a few days ago, surrounded by cops, with no idea of how he had gotten where he was. And then there was the story about how he has wrecked two cars in the last two weeks. Things that make you go....hmmmmm. And things that make you go "Where the %&!* is the desk clerk??????". Well, I didn't want to hurt him any more than he has apparently already been hurt. Or make him hate me and want to hurt me. So I just got real. I told him that it totally sucks about his dog, I was really, really sorry to hear that. I have a cat in my car, I think I'd freak out if something like that happened to him. I asked him where he got his PTSD. He said it was in the Navy, 30 years ago, aboard the USS Enterprise. He said he lost half his face and neck to shrapnel, and showed me the scar. It was indeed pretty heinous. He said the VA had denied his case, claiming that he had never served in the military. I think that it was at this point that my warning light was joined by a loud alarm. I realized that I was standing there engaging in a conversation with someone who was probably not very mentally stable...at all. Then I felt guilty. What if his story really was true, and he was one of those unfortunate cases you hear about that fall between the cracks? Then I decided I didn't care, this dude frightened me. Then I told him that I thought I should call the front desk and see if we couldn't get our clerk to hurry it up a bit. Which worked. Phew. He had come in to use the internet in the lobby, which was situated right next to the front desk, and as the clerk checked me in, I found myself wanting to write her a note that would read "Please do not say my room number out loud". I really, really wanted to write that. Fortunately, I didn't have to. She handed me the key envelope with the number written on it and said "This is your room number, it's on the first floor, just around to the right".

And that's about it for today. I'm happy to find out that my drive time to our next destination tomorrow (Barstow) is only a little over six hours. Which means I can stay up late and watch crap TV and take my time tomorrow morning. In the mean time, here are some pics from today:



OK, I know I peed in my carrier, but I felt secure in there, damn it. If you're not going to give me any good places to hide, can you please get me a new carrier? Like...now?









Oh wait, food. Never mind, it's all good.







This was as bad as the weather got. Still not regretting buying the chains, 'cause it's better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. And who knows, there may still be an opportunity to use them yet on this trip as I head through OK and TN.




Mt. Shasta






Yeah, let's just not tell anyone about that whole pee incident, kay?






Ah, California pollution. Makes for some mighty beautiful sunsets.