Sunday, July 25, 2010

Most Excellent Adventure

The idea of taking a road trip by myself had been percolating for awhile so, on June 6th I set out on my summer adventure. My destination ... Redlands, CA to visit my dear friend, Sue. Well, that is a roughly fifteen hour trip and I did not think that I would feel comfortable doing it in one day. On day one I drove as far as Sacramento. The trip through southern Oregon, over the Siskiyou range and into northern California was simply beautiful. Temperatures varied with it being the hottest (104 degrees) in Red Bluff. My car sailed right along over hill and dale with no problems and I spent a restful night. I departed from Sacramento in the early morning and arrived in Redlands in the afternoon of June 7th. I really enjoyed the drive. The weather was perfect in Redlands for the first few days and then it heated up ... reaching 103 a few days. Whew, not for me most of the time but, the saving grace is that Sue has an exceptionally beautiful swimming pool which I frequented. Every vacation has its bad moment and mine was the morning I woke up to find that the windows in my car had been broken out with a bat. Now mind you, this is a great neighborhood and nothing was stolen so it was obviously a case of stupid kids joy riding. Way to ruin a day punks! But, between the police officer, my insurance company and a very nice glass replacement expert who came right to my friend's home, all was well. So, a good time was had ... I met some fun people, enjoyed my friend and her wonderful hospitality, and after a week and a half I headed home. Sue rode with me to Yuba City where her daughter and grandbabies live. I spent the night there with her and came on home the next day. It was a long drive but thoroughly enjoyable. There is nothing like driving through this great Pacific Northwest and points south on a beautiful summer day. There is time to think, listen to favorite tunes, stop if the spirit moves you and just generally break out of a rut. It is good to get away in order to appreciate home. The caveat to that being that the weeds keep growing and the dust keeps settling while you are away. Ah well, it was well worth it. I'm already wondering what my next adventure might be.