"Never stay in a motel with a number in its name." - Steve MacDonald

I broke that rule (on top of this post) last night but I was so exhausted that I told myself it would be OK. The Motel 6 in Willows, CA was 850 miles from home and I needed to sleep. Everything else within sight was going to be $$$ and cheap overrode good sense. (More on the death of good sense in a moment.) The guy said they have wi-fi and technically he was correct, so long as from room 212 you didn't want a signal strong enough to do anything faster than the speed of snail.

I left the house at 3:45 a.m. and pulled into Willows about 7:30 p.m. I stopped for gas and one meal. Everything else came out of the cooler Pam had loaded up with sandwiches and drinks. Yes, I actually had one water.

I could have taken I-10 all the way thru LA to I-5 and headed north from there but going around the top side of the city made more sense given the time of day I'd hit the city. Traffic was already bad by the time I came to .... Oh, crap. Do I want the 210 or the 215? Stupid numbers!
I can't tell you which one I took but I can tell you it was the wrong one. I know that because I remember that Barstow is northeast of LA, not northwest. No, I never got all the way to Barstow; I came to my senses when I saw it was only about 60 miles away.
OK, here's the really sad part: I have Steve's GPS unit with me. Like I said, the death of good sense.
See, this unit doesn't give you anything but the direction it wants you to take. And you can't scroll to see other options. (He's his father's son: cheap) So I went from my memory of living 6 years in So. Cal. Yeah, memory. I used to have that, I think.
End of story, it only added about 40 miles to the distance. Still....

Long story short, I finally decided to believe the woman who kept saying "recalculating" and she eventually got me over onto 99, which took me to Sacramento, and from there to Willows. To say I was disgusted with myself understates things. And I swear I heard her mumble "now will you believe me?" after one of those "recalculatings."

Last Sunday @ Pathway we learned that "Lead us not into temptaion" should be translated "Lead us not into trials." The word peirasmos means one or the other depending on context and Jas. 1:13 says God cannot and does not tempt us to sin. That instruction in the Lord's Prayer is what Paul did in Rom. 15:30-32. The preacher practiced what he taught when he got in the car Wed. and God has been faithful. I did not hit the deer standing on the shoulder about to cross the I-10 west of Tonopah. I have been involved in no accidents, including the three I've seen since leaving home. That includes the one involving the Greyhound bus off the road, surrounded by ambulances and gurneys about 40 miles back, or the classic VW off the road and wrapped around a tree late yesterday. :-(

In 50 miles I'll be in Oregon. The scenery is all ready MUCH better and it will stay that way through to Seattle. My goal today is a campground just across the WA state line. Pics if I get there. You gotta see my bivy. (no worries, safe for work)

I've been listening to a Baldacci novel, "Stone Cold" on CD's as I drive. Just about done. A total of 9 CD's but it really helps the time pass and keeps me awake. Not a lot of English radio stations up near Barstow.

Queen: "Radio GaGa" - anybody know what that means? Or is it like a lot of their lyrics, nonsense?

When you really need a restroom because the two cups of coffee and can of Diet Coke have hit bottom, and what has to be one of the worst cases of anticipiss ever has thrown you into near panic mode, what you do NOT want to see on the door of the BK is a handwritten sign that says, "Closed due to water problems."
WATER PROBLEMS?? YOU WANNA KNOW WATER PROBLEMS??!!

Speaking of, a restroom stop and then back on the road. It's just shy of 8 a.m. I was up at 5 and on the road before 6. Driving earlier in the day means less traffic, including monster RV's driven by people who live in places like Sun City. I'd like to get to the campground in time to do some walking. All this sitting in a car has me feeling like lead. 'cause it couldn't be the healthy food I'm eating.