Day 1. Took
some pictures of stuff I want to sell and stuff I want to catalog. Took
a shower. Then left for my parents' place with Kooma. Left at about
11:15 and got to Elk Grove at 12:55 or so, going via the 580 to the 205
to the 5 to Elk Grove. It's actually the same distance, within a mile
or two, to going via the 80 to Sacramento then down the 5. Even though
you're going out of the way, the northern route goes diagonally while
the southern route is more of a rectangle. So the distances cancel out.
Kooma and I ate at Nathans. Then I had about 45 minutes to kill. Went
to surf the 'Net and it looks like the neighbors finally set up their
wireless network so now it requires a password. Oh well. Dialed in and
checked a few things then went to pick up Christopher.
I arrived at Christopher's at 15:05 and we left immediately,
Christopher driving. We took the 80 to the 680 to Montague Expressway
to Fulton's place. Christopher was booking and traffic was light and we
got to Fulton's at 17:00 which was my estimate barring no traffic.
Fulton didn't get home until 17:30 and we loaded his new SUV (a
Trailblazer) and left at 18:00.
Eric took surface streets to the 85 then we jogged to the 101 and drove
to Gilroy where we went on the 152. Reached the I-5 by 20:00 and went
North to Andersen's. Missed the exit, went 10 miles to the next exit to
turn around, drove back to Pea Soup Andersen's. Had dinner there. I
just had the pea soup (with the extras) and had three bowls. Eric
apparently hates pea soup and had the pot roast. I tasted it and it was
kind of bland, though Eric liked it. Christopher had the meatballs
which looked more like meat patties and were kind of tasteless.
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All in all
dinner was not as good as before. If I had not eaten lunch I would have
ordered the golden-fried chicken which was very good the last time I
was here. Anyways, after a long bathroom break we left at 21:30. We
drove down the I-5 for a couple of hours, then took the 46 to the I-99
and took that to Bakersfield.
In Bakersfield we turned off to the 58 and headed for Barstow. The
better part of two hours later and we reached US-395 which we took
south. Now, at Airbase Parkway we kept going and I had planned on going
to Bear Valley Road. But I was getting sick when we reached Palmdale
Road. Stopped at a very crowded AM/PM Minimart. Lots of teenagers doing
teenage things. Pretty damn scary if you ask me.
Turned around and took Airway to Highway 18 and somehow made our way to
Dave's house. Should have been more confident since we were going in
the right direction. I'm amazed we found it so easily. At night Apple
Valley is very dark except on the main roads. The last couple of
streets are a gravel road and a dirt road. But we did get there in good
order. Woo was watching television and we woke up Dave and got settled
in quickly enough. Then I grabbed whatever sleep I could.
Fulton is not too bad a driver. Kind of like me -- he tends to stay in
the slow lane unless he's passing and he tends to make sure there are
no cars in the passing lane. He pretty much drove 75 most of the way,
which is a bit faster than I would have driven. Still, when being
cautious he tended to drive a bit slower than I would have.
Fulton likes classic rock and heavy metal. For the most part I can
listen to it for a day or two before it starts getting annoying so it
wasn't too bad.
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