Road Trip Miles 850 Time 14 hours From Fortuna to Huntington Beach via Truckee Route California Hwy 101 to 20 to 80 to I5 to 405 Vehicle 2001 Ford Ranger Music Everything in my CDholder Food Junk of all sorts Rivers Eel, Van Duzen, Yuba, Truckee, Sacramento, Santa Ana Lakes Clear Lake and Donner Sights California's best Yep, a road trip. Load up the truck, grab the chocolate, diet pepsi, water and bananas (world's greatest road food (it balances the chocolate!!), check the house one last time and off I go!! I'm heading back down to Huntington Beach, via Truckee to see my son. I make it here in 6 hours--don't ask how fast I was goin!! Actually, for the first 4 hours, I can't go very fast; I'm driving on two lane roads lined with BIG redwoods, then along a lake that doesn't leave any room for error. I do get some speed up once I hit 80, then I run into snow. Truckee is gorgeous, snow everywhere, lining the lake, still covering all the mountains. It's a bit cloudy, but still relatively warm. Jordan and I take a walk around the block (nearly 2 miles!!) so I can stretch my legs. We run into some of the neighbors when we get back and visit a spell--or till the sun starts to go down and it gets COLD. There are icicles on the eaves of his house (yes, I took fotos!!), and the temp drops to below 30F quickly. Time to go inside!! Spending time with my son is always great; he's grown into a fine man and I'm very proud of him. We talk and visit and catch up on each other's lives. His girlfriend comes home and next thing I know dinner's ready and I didn't have to cook it!! I taught him well, didn't I?? lol Running out to my truck is a way to wake up fast; it's now about 22F and it nearly takes my breath away. But wow, it's clear and beautiful and the wind in the trees sings a soft tune as I stand there and take it all in. Sunday's a lazy day. I wake up early, took a walk as the sun came up along the lake. My lake, though not the warm summer water I've spent so much time in and on. This lake has snow along its banks and there's ice on the edges. Don't think I'll swim today!! Once I get back to the house, everyone's up and we go out to breakfast, spending lots of time over coffee and bacon. The food we eat needs to be walked off now, so we grab the dog and take off. Walked around the lake, thru snow, but the sun is out and it's warm enough to start peeling off layers of clothes. I have the honor of falling into the deepest "soft snow"--thigh high and I nearly lose my boot!! Landed on my behind, so that meant damp jeans for the rest of our hike. No big deal, we just laughed and kept on going. The day passes quickly and before I know it, Monday arrives and it's time to hit the road once again. This leg of the trip is long and boring. 400 miles of mostly LONG stretches of open road. Hwy 80 isn't too bad the first hour or so when I'm still in the mountains, but it quickly turns into flatlands and nothing much to catch your eye. Then I5--talk about a mindbendingly BORING highway. But it's the fastest route to get from Point A to Point B, so there I was. Watching those white lines flash by, and looking for a frikken gas station!! You'd think there'd be one every 10 feet--NOT!! By the time I found one, the gauge was alarmingly close to E and I was getting a bit worried. I pulled off at the first one I saw, and of course paid top dollar. Oh well--that's what you do. My timing sucked as well, hit Los Angeles right at rush hour and crawled thru that for an hour. It cleared up about 20 miles north of HB and boy, did I fly those last miles. So, here I am, rested and ready for this next journey. We fly to Boston Friday and Sue runs the Marathon on Monday. We'll do some minor playing before the race, but once it's over, things will get amped up big time. Who knows where we'll go or what we'll do---doesn't matter---it's a new place and everything will be FUN!! Catch you on the other side!!