Road trip evolution

The proposed road trip is evolving… taking on a life of its own…

The core goal survives… San Mateo to Ft Lauderdale… but details are changing…

The road trip is official… My leave request has been approved… Both Steph and I have purchased return airline tickets (on Virgin America, the best damn airline in the world)

And the trip itself is changing as we explore options… 

It started with a basic journey on I-10… picking up the interstate somewhere near LA, leaving it in Florida when we headed south towards South Florida…  Now we are finding ways to avoid the interstate… visiting places off the interstate… in the hinterland…

We have the option of avoiding LA, instead of I-5 to LA then west via I-210 to I-10, we can go via Hwy 58 from near Bakersfield to Victorville, to San Bernardino, then pick up I-10.  This version would include the Tehachapi Loop, the town of Boron, home of a 20 Mule Team Borax wagon... through Cajon pass

My favorite nephew in Tempe is unlikely to be home, instead off on his own adventure involving scuba and water… so instead of Tempe, i.e. greater Phoenix, we will head to Tucson the first night… Jen, (aka the niece) and children, the great nieces (both great and Great) will be in town… This opens up options, entering Tucson via Gila Bend instead of Phoenix,  Tucson is 100 miles further east, so we are able to shift the paradigm, the schedule eastward… 

Leaving Tucson, we have a couple of options… I-10 or maybe a diversion to Tombstone, then east on small roads to Churchill NM, a town raided by Poncho Villa… then back to I-10, through El Paso… we might extend the first day to Marfa, 70 miles beyond Van Horn, on Hwy 90, with its own old hotel, with its own history, and legend of the Marfa lights, strange elusive unexplained lights in the desert.  If we extend to Marfa, we have a chance to look for the lights…

Hwy 90 is increasingly becoming a destination… a thread… part of the trip…

San Antonio is still a hard point… an overnight stop… 

Reaching Cajun country, we are likely pushing a bit beyond Lafayette to Breaux Bridge… then south along old Hwy 90 through Cajun country… still visiting the Tabasco sauce factory… still in search of interesting food…

New Orleans survives as a overnight stop… what did you expect… it New Orleans…

Then a hard day… a bit over 800 miles to Ft Lauderdale…

More changes, adjustments are likely as the three of us negotiate a trip, a plan.

There will be more changes... more sites to visit... more plans... Followed by a trip, with photos and a couple of blog posts and an airplane ride back...

Randy

Road Trip - headed east… or how we plan to show Gina that a road trip isn’t a bad thing…

I feel a road trip coming on fast… an unexpected, but welcome road trip… a mad cross country jaunt from San Francisco Bay to South Florida…  Gina, one of the son’s friends from high school, now our daughter’s friend as well, someone who occasionally hangs out at Casa Hees.

Gina has be accepted into a graduate program in Ft Lauderdale… Florida… This works as she was an undergrad there, has a house in Ft Lauderdale, her car carries Florida plates…  But, Gina and her car are here in California.  Here lies an opportunity…  She had shipped the car from Florida to California and was considering that option again.  The daughter suggested that they drive the vehical out instead…

At least initially, the idea was not welcome… Gina had made a cross country drive, from San Mateo to Ft Lauderdale recently, last June recently… and how shall we say, it wasn’t a good trip… That trip was made with The son… my son, the lovely Ms. T’s son, the Daughter’s brother… in a jeep with no air conditioning, through the deserts of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, in June, a time of year which is generally hot in those locals, in a car without air conditioning (in truth the Jeep has air, but apparently it doesn’t work…  This is not a reflection on Jeeps, or Chrysler vehicles, it is more likely a reflection on the son and his priorities…)  In any event, that jeep has since been totaled in an accident with a Haitian lady in Ft Lauderdale... so air isn't its only problem...

Making the trip more memorable was The son’s traveling style, which we might call sparse… Appropriate for a cave man, but not for civilized company... One meal a day, generally fast food…  There was beef jerked involved…  He likes to sleep in the jeep when traveling… Gina would prefer a bed… Gina was sick most of the way… they wore bathing suits as a strategy to deal with the heat… they were “questioned” by the border patrol as they entered Texas…  Finally as they approached the panhandle, they ran into Debbie.. a tropical storm, with rain, rain, and even more rain…

Gina did not enjoy the trip…

The daughter offered to drive out with her… (the daughter is on summer break from college)… The daughter enlisted my aid in convincing Gina that her recent road trip experience was not typical.  As we talked about it, an idea was hatched… I might accompany them…  The daughter and I have done two cross country trips, and they were good… One of The daughter’s friends had accompanied us on the second…   The simple fact that Gina’s vehicle has working air conditioning was a major plus…  A promise to avoid fast food and beef jerky went a long way…

We opened Google maps and started to hatch a plan…  I looked at my calendar, and found a week clear if I moved a couple of things about.  It is a bit over 3,100 miles from San Mateo to Ft Lauderdale…  The obvious route is I-10, the southernmost Interstate highway…    But there are options…   Other roads… places to explore and linger… places to eat…  places that are unlikely to consider beef jerky as fine dining.

Playing with Google maps we devised a 6 day trip (with a 7^th held for the flight home) taking us from San Mateo to Tucson, where we (the daughter and I) have family, well worth visiting… From there, we head on I-10 across New Mexico and into Texas… We are planning to stop for the night in Van Horn… West Texas at its best or worst depending on your point of view…  The El Capitan Hotel looks interesting…  and Van Horn is about the right distance from Tucson…

Van Horn is also the western end of Highway 90, an old school route across many states… much like Route 66… in fact some call it the “Southern Route 66”… so in Van Horn, we will veer south, on Hwy 90, thought west Texas… close to the border with old Mexico…  a route which will take us past the Little Prada store in the desert, through Langtry Texas, home of Judge Roy Bean, The law west of the Pecos… it will carry us across the Pecos…  It will rejoin I-10 in San Antonio, home of the Alamo, which we intend to visit…  We will spend the night in San Antonio…

From San Antonio via I-10, it is somewhat over 400 miles to Lafayette Louisiana and Cajun country.  This is where we will spend the night…  likely outside of Lafayette proper… and where we will leave I-10 again, again for Hwy 90, looping south though the bayous ending up in New Orleans…  This will be a low mileage day… high on playing tourist, low on getting there…  Of course dinner in New Orleans will be great, and Café Du Monde the next day will get us up for the last day of driving… New Orleans to Ft Lauderdale 800 miles away…

The next morning the team will split up, Gina in Ft Lauderdale,  I will fly home via my precious Virgin America (on points) home, just in time for the farm’s Cajun Zydeco festival, while The daughter will fly north to Washington DC to visit with family… before she too heads home…

We already have a theme song for the trip… and are fast moving towards a sound track…  Our theme song, by the Good Time Thrift Store Outfit, is Tow Truck, about a fast trip from California to Jacksonville Florida via I-10… We will include Miles and Miles of Texas,  a Bob Wills song, but we will use the Asleep at the Wheel cover…  This is Texas, so Willie’s On the Road Again will be in the rotation.  Gram Parsons will be in found in the mix...  Gina wants to include Convoy by C W McCall.

So, from the Good Time Thrift Store Outfit… our theme song...

Tow Truck

We are flying through the desert, no speed limit signs in sight

Haven’t seen a cop in three whole days,  we mostly drive at night

Like a cannon ball run, just hope we make the next state line

And leave that smoky wondering what he just saw screaming by

(chorus)

I hope I don’t run out of gas

I hope I don’t get stuck

Have no run ins with the law

Don’t have to call no tow truck

We left straight out Riverside, Made Tucson after dawn

Then we took it slow in New Mexico, before we got to moving on

Left El Paso at the crack of dusk, got three states in the can

But it took two more nights of driving just to get to Louisiana

(chorus)

Well, we blew off through old Baton Rouge, No detour to New Orleans,

I put the hammer down,  we aren’t giving ground until we get to Pensacola

Spent five whole days making the run on Highway 10

Then flip the bitch in Jacksonville and make the run again

(chorus)

The best road trips have a theme song... more soon.

Randy

Home, back to work and peacock feathers

Off to work this morning early... I had a Bay Area Historic House Museum meeting at the Pardee House in Oakland, and needed to go to work, check email and messages, and transcribe my notes for the meeting (I am the president of the group, and needed notes... The Secretary/Treasurer would be missing the meeting, on account of emergency family babysitting duties, so I was on my own) I arrived to find a peacock feather on my office steps... A reminder that this is molting season... Once peacocks hatch, the males lose their showy tail feathers... Their tails are all about sex, and with babies about, that is no longer an option, and the tail feathers fall out... I walked about, I found The Spot... And collected 20 some feathers... Returned to my office, transcribed my meeting notes, locked the office, and headed north towards the Pardee House in Oakland, collecting Barbara, my assistant along the way. The meeting went well, Pardee House  was fascinating, full of the families extensive collections... Collections made possible by the son's prominence as mayor of Oakland, and later governor of California...  I think it would be a difficult site to interpret... so many stories, so many artifacts.... Back to the office, trying to coordinate park and house programs and house tours... While Barbara is making up this weeks tickets, I walked over to the park office to pick up mail... Finding additional peacock feathers on the way, and on the way back... A bit later I again leave my office to check in with the acting lead ranger... He tells me that we have a visitor, a one time ranger in our park, a friend,  now in a different EBRPD location, here to pick up a truck and trailer... Walking over to see Paul, I find an additional peacock feather behind my office... Then find another 20 or so walking back...  All in all, a 50 feather day... The flower arraignments at Patterson house will benefit... My camps will have feathers for crafts...  Now home, checking my email, checking on the Fish fire... (80 % contained, likely any danger averted), reports on the accident, on the other hand are not good, the woman died at the hospital...   So far the local news agencies don't link the accident and fire, but logic suggests that two things occurring at the same time in the same place are likely not a coincidence.  I suspect a highway flare got away, or someone, stuck in the highway closure was smoking and might have discarded something, or a car in the backup may have pulled over, hot exhaust meeting dry grass...  So far CAL-Fire says the origin is "under investigation" Meantime, I am without my laptop... It's in the shop... It died late last week... The shop  says the hard drive died...  I have some back ups, but everything is saved... I am concerned... Meantime I am using an I-Pad... Later I will steal my old Vista laptop from my daughter, who adopted it rather than having her's repaired... I need Excel to work on Dad's estate... Dad may havee left the building, but the accounting goes on... Randy

Last Day, Bishop, Home...

We awoke Sunday morning (as all of us hope to do (awakening, not a coment on the place) in Bishop... In the Owens Valley, east of the Serra Nevada... There was thankfully no smoke in evidence... No sirens were heard... an internet search suggested that the Fish fire was nearing containment, and was not now a threat...   Ducks were swimming in Bishop Creek... A good morning. I showered, made coffee in the room, checked email... The ladies arose, showered, packed... Off to a motel breakfast, then, packed the truck, Dad's truck, still with Florida plates, and headed north...  We made a short diversion up Hwy 6 to photograph a road side sign seen the day before, then, north on 395... Up Sherwin Grade towards Mammoth through Long Valley caldera, along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada... We saw a burned out semi trailer... A mile or so later saw a pile of debris, likely the cargo of said trailer... Possibly the place last night's north bound fire trucks were headed... On to Mono Lake... Lee Vining... We visited the National Forest Service interpretive center, new, since my last visit 4 years ago...  We visit the tufa towers off Hwy 120...  Tina and I visited 35 years ago with a geography field class from Cal... We met in that class... T., Steph and I joined a docent tour, looked a tufa towers... Watched gulls and hawks...  Leaving Lee Vining, we decided that it was sadly too early for lunch at the Mobil gas station... And headed up the Lee Vining Creek towards Tioga Pass and Yosemite... We were waved through the entrance station, thanks to our annual pass... Stopped Tuolumne Meadows, drove through the park... A classic Sunday drive, out of the park near Crain Flat... Down the mountain through Groveland, Big Oak Flat, down Old Priest Grade (the stage coach road... Steep, curvy, scary, my road of choice...) Of course, half way down we encountered an incident... A car, up the hill (down would have been really bad, up was just bad) with fire crews, an ambulance... Based on this trip's experience, what would you expect... Down to Hwy 49, along Lake Don Pedro, Through the gold camps, Jacksonville, Chinese Camp...   He have cell phone and data again... Connected, at least occasionally... Looking for lunch... There is a deli in Oakdale, but closed on Sunday... Other options are closed as well...  Once in Oakdale, we tried La Costa Taqueria... Taco truck style food, from a stand... So good... I had tongue, head, and Al Pastor... The ladies made more conventional choices... All was good... Then home to cats, laundry, and responsibilities... Work tomorrow (for Tina, work started this evening). At home, checking email... There is a comment on my blog... Saying in part, I had more information on the fire than others... This concerns me, but doesn't surprise me... And suggests a weakness in the web model of information delivery... Google (The lovely Tina works for Google) depends on others to create news, that they can then identify, and cite when you search a topic... Like a fire near Big Pine...  If no one, or organizations writes about it, or blogs about it, or reports the event does not exist... We among the witnesses of the accident posted something...  We saw the fire response headed south, the smoke cloud rising... We smelled the smoke, saw ash, We listened to the radio, found a local station, which passed on local, reports... We had smart phones, and occasional connectivity, and accessed the CAL-Fire site and gained some good information, but more importantly I blogged about it... And it showed up on someone's search... And someone found my report...  The Internet requires someone to witness and create a report, for Google and Yahoo and such to find and index, for others to find when they search...  Much like a tree falling in a forest... If not reported, does it exist? Randy  

Bishop... And fire...

Now about 4:30... Bishop, California...  This morning, We arose slowly, went to breakfast at Cheryl's in Kernville, an old school local diner and finally left a bit before 10:00 headed for Walker Pass, Hwy 395, and the east side of the Sierras...  The east side of lake Isabella is rural, ranching and grazing land, very different from the tourist centric west side...  It was wet, almost swampy, lots of cotton woods, a few tules, irrigated pasture and hay... The arid west is not always as dry as expected...  We started our climb over thee pass and things dried out, and we started to see josiah trees... Ultimately a landscape dominated by Josiah Trees... Over the pass, about 5,000 ft, then, down into the desert... At the jct. with Hwy 14 we turned north... A few miles later we met Hwy 395...  Once in the Owens Valley, we stopped  at Manzinar, once a small fruit growing town, later after Los Angeles took the valley's water, a failed community, still later, during WWII the site of a Japanese internment camp... It is now a national monument, interpreting what happened in this place... We drove in past the stone guard houses, built by internees, to the one time Community center, later a county garage, but now an interpretive center...  We explored the displays... Drove the self guided tour route, up to the cemetery marker, past recreated dormitory buildings and ruins of a hospital and numerous gardens... All evidence of a group of people dumped here due to fear, not of them, but of where they had come from, who created a community here... On, North bound... Above Independence, about 1:20, we see brake lights ahead... There has been an accident, at high speed...  Someone turning left across lanes of traffic likely doing near 80 mph... It had just happened... The emergency crews hadn't yet arrived.  We pulled over, checked with driver of the pick-up... He was ok... "The air bags saved my life".  The woman in the red car was trapped in her seat.  She was conscious, but in pain.  A nurse had stopped, and was attending to the woman, trying to keep her calm and still... reassuring  her...  Three or four cars stopped to help if we could, one woman flagged down traffic, water and blankets were offered, but the nurse was doing all that could be done. A local fire crew from Independence,  and CAL-Fire,  and an ambulance arrived a few minutes later.  With professional help on hand, we left... As we drove north, we commented on the number of emergency vehicles headed south...  4 CHP units, then more fire trucks, and more fire trucks, and even more...  It seemed like too much for a highway accident. We reached Bishop, found our hotel, too early to check in, so found a market for wine and contact lenses solution... Then further north and east to Laws... The site of a railroad museum...  The radio mentioned a wild fire, near the accident site, but never mentioned the accident....  We walked about,  We could see smoke to the south... The locals knew of the fire, and were concerned... But knew nothing of the accident... The smoke cloud was growing... We could smell the fire... Finishing at Laws, we headed back to town, the smoke was now substantial, eventually we found a local radio station with a report... Hwy 395 was closed or soon would be... The fire is scary...  At the hotel, we check in... In the room we look for local TV coverage, and find none... Via the Internet, we discover that the fire now has a name... The "Fish Fire" is 150 acres, and 0% contained... There was a voluntary evacuation in several areas around Big Pine... I started on this this blog entry...  The ladies played cards on the balcony... With ash wafting around them...  Now 7:30, sitting by the pool at our motel in Bishop... Eventually, having skipped lunch, we headed for an early dinner... The restaurant was busy... After all, if headed south, and progress is blocked, then, dinner starts to look like a good option... Everyone is talking about the fire... The CHP is expected to convoy groups through.. We note fire trucks, at least a couple with red lights and sirens headed north...  Are they releasing units, or is there a new fire, this one to the north? CAL-Fire has updated their web site... Now 175 acres, still 0% contained but some traffic is getting through, via CHP escort... Post dinner... No more smoke in Bishop... People are a bit hopeful... We visit the pool... Swim a bit, try the hot tub, then read, sitting outside, in the warn evening wind... Not exactly a typical emergency response...  I haven't heard a siren in a while... But Cal-Fire has not updated, so has not down graded the fire... But, now, nearing 8:00 pm, the wind is shifting again... And we are starting to smell fire again.  On the other hand traffic through town is back to normal, so it is likely that 395 is open to traffic without CHP escort... Still little information beyond the CAL-Fire site and an occasional report on the local AM country station... This may show a problem with modern media... A Google search can't find it if there is no local media reporting it. Now on our balcony, overlooking Bishop Creek... Baby ducks are playing, swimming and exploring... If baby ducks are happy, can there be anything wrong? Tomorrow, we will head north to Mono Lake, head west at Lee Vining, across Yosemite, and home...

Friday, July 6th, Kernville

We woke up in Bakersfield...  I got up first, and took a walk along Mill Creek park, a delightful Linear park along a creek, one time mill race.    When I returned, the ladies were up,  nearly ready. We opted for a local cafe instead of the motel breakfast buffet, so headed to a promising place, the 24th Street Cafe...  Breakfast was wonderful... Bakersfield was looking like a pretty good place... Having eaten, we headed east, into the Canyon of the lower Kern River.   A place I spent much time, many years ago.   In college, Dad had homesteaded a number of 5 acre lots, below Lake Isabella, near Erskin Creek.    The family  spent a lot of time along the Kern when I was a kid.     Now, 40 years since my last visit, We, Tina, Steph and I are returning to the Kern, to scatter Mom's, Dad's, and Cleo's (the dog) ashes... On the anniversary of  Dad's death, in a place which holds good memories...  I talked to Dad about it, and he approved, so today, we were found with three urns, looking for a place to scatter their contents...  The canyon had changed in the intervening years, I never found the spot we most often fished... Other spots were crowded with holiday weekend campers...  We finally settled on a spot below the dam, near the site of Keyesville, a one time gold camp on BLM land.  There was a boat "put in", for rafters, on this day, deserted...  The family fished and explored here, and nearby occasionally.  This became the place. Now, some hours later, we are now in Kernville, at the Kern Lodge, the ladies are playing "hands and feet", a card game the often played with Mom... I am blogging... There is wine and beer... Things are good...   Hours before found us driving the canyon, looking for the spot I remembered, possibly a somewhat mythical place, a product of a then 11 year old mind, and 45 years... We didn't find it... I would like to blame Caltrans, and their efforts, but my memories are likely faulty.   We emerged from the canyon, into metropolitan Bodfish... On to the town of Lake Isabella, then off, past the high school, then off on a dirt road, in search of the family cabin sites... Grandpa's cabin... The cabin burned in a wild fire many years ago... We had sold it 20 some years before... By chance, the TV news footage included film of it burning... We knew it was gone, but hoped to find the site... Confronted with new cabins, fences and "No Trespassing" signs, we gave up, and instead drove up Erskin Creek road... Back to the town of Lake Isabella, stopping to buy Coors Beer (there drink of choice when fishing), passing the "Dam Corner Store" then left, towards the dam, and Keyesville, and BLM land along the river.   We tried the north side, but settled on the south side, at the boat "put in".   Down to the river's edge... On the boulders...  We carried two bags... One held Mom, Dad, and the dog (and paperwork, certifying these ashes to be their remains)... The second held an old army blanket, the picnic blanket of the Kern River picnics of my youth, and 4 cans of Coors... (the old gold cans of Coors Banquet beer, not the Silver Bullet of today) We sat by the river, opened each of the urns, opened the plastic bags within each... Then poured each into the river...  Cleo, the dog was first, a cloud swirling in the water... Eddies  carrying her into the up stream shallows, then back out into the river current... Mom was next, her ashes mixing with those of her precious dog... Dad followed, the three wisps of ashes becoming one... We emptied a Coors into the river, as each of us sipped on a golden can...   The clouds of ash dissipated, the river cleared, but then, magically, the current would kick up sparkles of ash from the bottom... Glittery bits...  We sat for a while... Then, packed up, climbed the bank and left... It felt like a good end... Back up river... Along Lake Isabella... To Kernville... Further up river to Fairview on the Kern, now McNalleys... back to Kernville... Check in... Nest, the ladies playing cards, I blogging... To diner... Kern  River Brewing Co., Back to the room... I walk, down to the river... Now, 8:00, in the room, blogging again...  This time posting... Tomarow, over the mountains to the Owens Valley, and Bishop... From there home via Yosemite

Thursday night in Bakersfield

Tina, Stephanie, and I are on a mission... And the mission has brought us to Bakersfield, Kern County, California, USA...  A town known for oil, cotton fields, and country music... We are not here for oil, cotton, or the music (although I am a fan of the Bakersfield Sound, and a new favorite band is called "Broke Down In Bakersfield)...  Instead, we are here to bid goodbye to Mom and Dad...Friday July 6th will be the first anniversary of Dad 's death...  We lost Mom four months before...   On the anniversary, tomorrow, we will scatter their ashes in the lower Kern, where they used to fish... Afterwards, we will explore a bit, in search of the family cabins, themselves reduced to ashes in a wild fire... So, this evening finds us in Bakersfield, itself on the Kern River, where Mom lived for a few years in the mid 1930's while her father worked in the oil fields... Tomarrow we will stay in Kernville, the next in Bishop, as we work our way home via Hwy 395, the Owens Valley, and Yosemite... But first, a visit to the Kern River