On the Road Again

After this lovely month in San Francisco falling in love all over again with my neighborhood, it was time to hit the road. Not the long flights across the ocean awakening in a different season (that coming up in January), but the pack-the-car, find a good story to listen to (Marble Murders by Anthony Horowitz), a couple of CD’s (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers and Hart Songbook/ The Johnny Mercer Songbook), some celery and carrot sticks, a chocolate bar and a bagel with cream cheese) and off we go! Our annual trip to Palm Springs for some whole family time. My wife and I driving down and meeting the others tomorrow.

 

The trip began with great promise, leaving on a sunny, warm, San Francisco day, the gift of no traffic through the city and over the bridge and on the 580 to 5 South. Immediately swept up into the Audiobook story and swept up in a different way by the bright green hills that look like frozen waves (missed the opportunity to take photos— well, I was driving). Passed the almond and orange groves, the tumbleweed on the side of the road that one trip years ago was rolling on the road and hitting the cars on a windy day like a giant pinball machine game. 

 

For some reason, four out of the five Rest Areas were closed—what’s going on, California? And when we got to the pass on the outskirts of L.A., all traffic ground to a halt and we were suddenly funneled off of Route 5 because the entire freeway was closed. (Later, found out it was a gas leak.) Google Maps ushered us off on a side route heading East and then weirdly told us to take a U-turn back toward 5. It seemed dubious, but other cars were probably listening to the same directions, so I followed them. I figured maybe the closure had opened, but no, the only choice was back on 5 North. And then the cars were literally poised to turn left across a divider to head back down South again to get back on the side route we had been on. Again, I followed them. Safety in numbers, right?

 

Once on the route, I was directed to turn right on 110^th St., some 90 streets down from where I was. Then the directions had us in more and more rural streets with more and more curves, literally some 25 miles winding up and down canyons in the pitch black. With no cars ahead of us or behind us. I hesitate to write this next thought, because these days the amount of evil unleashed in the world may give somebody an idea. But I’ll assume that you, my readers, lean heavily to the side of benevolence. Yes? It occurred to me that the next hit Murder Mystery Show on Netflix is someone who figured out how to hack the GPS and send people on detours that land them in some obscure cabin in a zero- population area and… well, you can imagine the rest. This route just seemed so random and convoluted that the thought crossed my mind.

 

But not to worry, it finally spilled us out on larger roads with streets lights and 9 hours later, brought us out to the Courtyard Marriott Hotel. My wife had a yen (pun unintended, but there it is) for Japanese food and that meant getting back in the car for another 3 miles to the Mall. The last thing on my list, but we did it and the avocado roll was excellent. 

 

Time to get horizontal after a long day. Tomorrow morning, we pick up my daughter and the grandkids at the Ontario Airport and try to figure out what to do in Indio before our Air B&B is ready. My other daughter and boyfriend driving the whole distance from San Francisco, hopefully with better freeway luck than we had. If I could, I would write the next post from the hot tub. Let the wild rumpus begin!