Day 15 |
January 1, 1998 | Return |
1,348 Miles Today: 251 Miles |
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Antlers
RV Park & Campground Lakehead CA |
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| Deeply symbolic to begin my return to Seattle on the first day of the New Year… though I’m definitely not delirious to be going back. Still: | |||
| On the road again! | |||
 24 secs at 28.8 |
And: On my own again! S. took the plane back to Seattle today. Turns out there’s a shuttle bus from Petaluma to SFO, so we parted in the Denny’s parking lot just off Hwy 101. Regret I didn’t wait for the coach to leave so that I could wave goodbye, but… it was held up by the Oakland one just ahead of it boarding lots of passengers, so I just took off North. Sad all the way today. | As it turned out, S. saw me pulling out | |
| Picture list Odometer Readings |
So, from Petaluma first had to head East through farm country to get to I-5. Departed at 11.30 am, followed Highways 116, 121, 37 to Vallejo; then I-80, I-505 and onto I-5. Stopped in Lakehead at 5.15 pm. | ||
| Hazy white light, and after an initially hilly stretch on 116, the rest of the way to Vallejo was flat and estuarine – large expanses of still, standing water, miles of power pylons – it reminded me of the marches of the Camargue where the Rhone flows into the Med. | |||
| At Vallejo took I-80 East, then I-505 Northeast just after Vacaville. Strange, disembodied driving in hazy light; white from horizon to horizon, featureless greenish white landscape to either side. Like flying in a spaceship convoy along an astral ley line. | |||
| Community of long-distance driving | Driving the Interstate is a strange communal activity. You’re aware of all these people in the same condition, moving slightly slower or (in my case) faster than you. So you have a lot in common, but like other crowded public places there’s little interaction. Just a slow choreography of traffic flow as vehicles change lanes, join and leave. And a steady stream in the oncoming direction to show you what you look like. | Everybody seems to have cruise control; once you find the sweet spot, you can cruise almost endlessly, making good time but with everybody else having to pass you. | |
| The whole drive from Vallejo to Redding was over strangely flat, featureless and deserted terrain. (Nobody sponsoring the Adopt-a-Road Litter Clean-up campaigns, to judge by the blank signs.) Very unlike Highways 101 and 1, which were hilly and twisty and went through many little communities with lots of civic pride. | After Redding people became more public spirited again; all the Adopt-a-Road signs had sponsors. | ||
| Got to Red Bluffs around 3pm, stopped for a BK Value Meal. By evening I was still jumpy from all the protein and caffeine in the burger and coke. Took awhile to fall asleep. | |||
| Decided not to stop in Redding (it was just after 4pm, but still light) but to push on to O’Brien. Then the rain started – and when I got to O’Brien and drove a winding mile down a narrow road, I couldn’t find the RV park. So back up the road, getting dark now, rain falling harder; I did not want to be doing this. Most accidents happen after dark, remember? Fall-back to Plan C: Keep going to Lakehead. Fortunately I found the site easily enough. Seems a nice enough place, though its always hard to tell in the dark. | |||
| There was a frightening rushing roar a few times in the night: sounded like an avalanche or flooding river. Got louder and louder, but stayed muffled. On the third repetition I decided that it was a freight train. | Trains, indeed: saw the railway line on my run the next morning, and seemed to track it all the way north on I-5. The highway and railway seemed to be following the same river course. | ||
| First evening alone on this journey. I just have to find myself (or some semblance thereof) in the next few days. Not much time left. | |||