The GeekHiker

So the plan was to get up early this morning, jump into the fully packed car, and hit the road.

Of course it didn’t turn out that way, silly, it’s me we’re talking about here.  Heh.

Instead, as I was doing laundry last night, I had a minor flood.  See, my washer drains into the washroom sink, and if the sink is blocked by something, the water overflows and makes everything all wet.

So, instead of packing the car and finishing laundry, I spent a couple of hours mopping water from the laundry room & kitchen.  Fun.

This morning, therefore, was spent packing the car, finishing the laundry, and double-checking all the window locks three times.  Because I’m anal like that before I leave on a trip, that’s why.

Finally rolling out of town about noon, I drove northward, over the Grapevine and through the Central Valley.  The whole drive was directly into the wind, blowing the truck about on the road and creating dust storms along the way.

It’s even browner than it looks, believe it or not.

Then the drive rolled into clear blue weather with even stronger winds!

California Aqueduct looking south under blue skies.  85% of this water goes to farms, only about 15% to LA.

Finally, as the sun was setting, I found myself heading into a building storm front crossing over Sacramento.

Driving the two-lane road to my parent’s house, there was lightning over the foothills.

This time of year is usually one of my favorite times to travel, since the weather is still summer-like without all the crowds.  Winter out here doesn’t usually start until mid-October in California.

Instead, I’ve got an odd wintry storm pulling through, which has kinda thrown what I’m doing over the next two days up into the air, since they’re supposed to have snow-showers(!) at tomorrow’s destination.

Oh, well, time to be flexible!

So, yeah, I’m heading north (sorry Charlotte & Ruby!) to hopefully be camping for the next couple of nights.  Stay tuned…