On the road...

The pic is representative of the way the last 18 hours have gone.

I got on the I-10 headed west at 11:30 a.m. yesterday. It's now 6:43 a.m. and I'm somewhere in central CA on the I-5 headed north. Really do have no idea where, exactly. I'm eating what McDonald's calls food only because I needed to get out of the car, needed something to put in my stomach, and needed a restroom that wasn't crowded enough to pass for a town hall meeting.

Some misc. observations:

• I was correct that traffic was only moderately heavy because of people returning from their 4th of July getaways. For most of the distance into L.A. I could do the speed limit or close. What I didn't figure on was that traffic going the other way, returning from the coast, would be just as heavy. Why does that matter? Because people going both directions stop at the same gas stations and RUN into the same restrooms. I haven't seen gas lines like that since 1972 and the oil embargo. Add big pickups towing bit fifth wheel trailers into that compressed situation and you have some seriously grumpy people getting very short with each other.
• Given the sheer number of cars on the road headed both directions I wasn't surprised to see many on the shoulder with the hood up. What that hood is well past vertical you know two things happened, and one of them requires a clean-up on aisle two. 
• But my favorite....? It took me over three hours to go about 20 miles shortly after entering the central CA valley. I didn't step on the gas, I just took my foot off the brake pedal so the automatic transmission moved the car forward. Over three hours! It was still dark when I got to the cause and all I could see was pieces of at least one semi and contents everywhere.  I counted at least two of those monster tow trucks. That holiday traffic was down to one lane to get by, hence the backup. They weren't close to having that other lane open when I went by, so I'm guessing the backup extended to North L.A.
• A ways back I pulled off and climbed in the teardrop for about an hour's sleep. The plan is to drive/sleep as need and common sense dictates. According to my GPS unit I'll arrive at PDX around 5 p.m. this evening if I drive straight through. I won't, and don't need to because Pam's flight doesn't arrive until tomorrow morning at about 10:30. I was hoping to be far enough ahead to get a camp site for the night but I don't think that will happen. Probably just spend what's left of the night in a rest stop. 
• I listened to music from my iPad through the car's stereo for much of the first part of the drive because there aren't any decent radio stations out there. I picked "genre" and then "Classical." I've got to get rid of some stuff, including some Shumann. Don't know why I have it in the first place. Yuck!

Ok, back behind the wheel, point it north, and hope I'm fairly close to the end of this stretch of the drive. Mt. Shasta can't be that far away, can it?

(can you tell I'm having fun?)