JOURNEY Day 2 - 23 April 2010

Well, no problem sleeping in today.....woke before the alarm at a fairly civilized hour and got up to get ready for the breakfast buffet supplied by the Best Western......very good and included. One of the standout things about this hotel was an abundance of plugins, sitting right on the desk so no crawling under the bed etc to find one. As well, a good, adjustable office chair at the desk and no shortage of lights in the room either. All these nice amenities & I walked off with the room key in my pocket!!! I discovered it when putting the car keys in the same pocket when arriving at the ATandT store. Fortunately, it was just across a bridge over the freeway so I didn't have to go far to take it back.

Note to Manufacturers of Cars for Canada – have they ever tried driving in the US using a speedometer with the miles speed in tiny numbers on the inside of the metric numbers and with only 40 60 80 etc shown with 3 tiny marks in between. So, with 65 and 70 being regular speed limits, there you are trying keep the needle on the middle mark between 60 and 80 when the limit is 70 and, even worse, on the tinier mark between 60 and the mark for 70 in order to do the speed limit of 65!!!

More later as I'm able to get an Internet Connection........

Getting back to the 'Journey' stuff.......I'm quite astonished at the poor condition of the roads, especially I-5, particularly in CA. Like driving on corrugated pavement much of the time. As well, most if not all of the rest stops are closed. I'm not sure if this is due to the time of year (though I'm sure they're needed year round by truckers if no one else) or lack of funding or what. The worst of it is they've totally blocked the road section of them and you can't park on the side of the freeway so there's no place to stop and look at a map or take a photo or eat a picnic lunch.

So on this 2nd day, I got to spend my first 2 hours at the ATandT store getting a sim card for my borrowed US cell phone. There was a lineup right to the door when I entered so it took a while to even start the process. However, it was clearly worth it as I've used it numerous times to check the DOT on road closures plus contacting friends/relatives as I arrive and also hotels. So, thanks again Ron!

Now I'm finally on my way south. One of my big surprises (due to my ignorance of course) was how mountainous California is! As I dearly love mountains, this was a very pleasurable surprise. I also enjoy driving in mountains though I do have a suggestion for the California Highways Dept. When one is rounding a major corner either at the top of long climb or the bottom of a steep drop, it would be a very good idea to erect a sign as one is approaching this corner warning the driver that upon making the corner, there is an amazing vista to be seen. I nearly drove off the road as I rounded this type of corner to have Mt Shasta completely fill my windshield!! Oh my what a gorgeous sight. Fortunately, one of the 'view sites' was still open though that was the most distant one while the close up one was closed. Thank goodness I immediately pulled into the first one. Here's a small glimpse of the glory that I saw.

After passing the closed view point that was closer, I kept looking for a spot that I might be able to get a photo. Fortunately, I was finally able to find one in the parking lot of this fascinating restaurant in Mt. Shasta City called The Black Bear. They actually have Huckleberry Ice Cream although I suspect what they are calling Huckleberries are actually wild blueberries as both the flavour and colour weren't anything like our red Huckleberries. As I was getting back into the car, I decided that I'd best take some photos while I was right there in the front yard of Mt. Shasta so to speak in case there weren't any other opportunities further along the way. I could crop out the lamps etc. from the parking lot and street, however it definitely shows where the photo was taken (grin).

Naturally, this is one of my favourites with the eagle accidentally included!

After eating supper, I made sure that the GPS had the address for the motel in Merced CA and away I went. By this time, I was travelling on Hwy 99 which naturally confused the silly bunch of misbegotten plastic & metal. I ended up driving around Merced in a wide circle for over 3 hours before finally finding it myself at midnight!!!! Just a little bit weary was I......

8-)
Joan