"Spring Awakening" (June 23, 2024)

Joyce, Danny, and Al after Danny's performance in "Spring Awakening." The coming-of-age rock musical won eight Tony awards for its original Broadway production in 2006.

Danny and Joyce after the show. Danny played Georg, one of the Latin students in a late 1800s German school.

Danny and me after the show. The show reminds us that becoming your true self against the impositions of parents, teacher, and clergy is an ongoing challenge for adolescents no matter what era you come of age in.

 

Unpacking (June 18, 2024)

We met the landlord at 962 Bollinger Canyon Road, Moraga, CA 94556. The Asheville Lewises will move in on July 5. A beautiful welcome basket was on the kitchen island.

View of St. Mary's College from a balcony. The tower bells ring on the hour.

Ryder used FaceTime to show Brandy and Mya the house.

At first, I couldn't find the fridge.

Ryder couldn't back the truck in to unload it; the hitch scraped the road. He drove the truck in frontwards and ran into the same problem trying to back it out after unloaded. Luckily, he figured out how to raise the suspension by pushing the "off road" button in the cab. Must not mean "off road" like racing a 3-wheeler through the forest but "off road" like "get that dang hitch off the road."

P. Tom removing the last box from Mya's car.

Mya's thinking this could be her artist studio.

Looking down at Papa from Mya's potential artist studio.

We did it! Unloaded everything, made a Costco run, filled up the Penske at Rotten Robbie's, and returned the truck. Yea!  Now for a few hours sleep before our 5:35 a.m. flight out of SFO.
 

The i-40, US 58, and the I-5: almost there! (Monday, June 17, 2024)

The area between the border and Bakersfield--some 272 miles--was the most windy and dusty place I've ever been. The wind gusts rocked Mya's car the entire way. On the other hand, great location for hundreds of wind turbines.

Yes, that's dust on the horizon.

More wind turbines.

We took US 58 around Bakersfield to catch the I-5 north of town. Windy here too! Stacked up tumbleweeds reminded Tom of his childhood in Amarillo and being hired by a neighbor to toss a backyard full of tumbleweeds over her fence.

Our first California sunset, on the I-5 between Bakersfield and Walnut Creek, where we'll spend the night before meeting the landlord at the house in Moraga in the morning. Still following the Penske.

Tom's headlights in the side mirror. Mya's car was stacked to the ceiling with canvas art. I couldn't use the rearview mirror. It helped so much for Tom to safely allow me in and out when we changed lanes.

The pirate pitstop (Monday, June 17, 2024)

GAS UP BEFORE YOU REACH THE AZ/CA BORDER! The first gas station is 50 miles from the border, in Essex, with the next service 105 miles from the border. Given the Penske's low gas mileage, we needed to stop. Better to pay pirate prices than trudge miles through the Mojave desert with a gas can, right?

Yep, that's $194.57 for 22.7 gallons of diesel. That's $8.57 per gallon, high even for California.

Yep, even for Mya's car, regular gas was $8.56 per gallon. Too bad I don't have a photo of the clean restrooms: four port-a-potties in the back parking lot. Admittedly, they were clean.

The Essex Chevron is on the I-40 along the old Route 66 route. You can buy tourist trap stuff and overpriced snacks inside.
 

Ryder and me

Flagstaff to the AZ/CA border (Monday, June 17, 2024)

The very long Penske took about five regular parking spots at the Flagstaff hotel. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express every night. They all were amenable to Penske parking; some had designated truck parking areas.

The I-40 followed the old Route 66 from Flagstaff to the California border, maybe further. In western Arizona, we crossed the Hualapai mountain range. Wind turbines crown the far-off mountain top.

Our 359 miles through Arizona on the I-40 ended at the California state line. Uh-oh. Outside plants, fruits, and vegetables are confiscated at the border, lest they carry insects that could be harmful to California agriculture.

The six outdoor plants in the backseat of the pickup ended their journey at the border.

 We were approved to enter the great state of California, along the southern edge of the Mojave desert for about 100 miles.

On the road to Flagstaff, AZ (Sunday, June 16, 2024)

Interesting art at Speedy's Truck Stop in Lupton, AZ, at the New Mexico border and in the Navajo Nation. The good news for our 795-mile drive from Weatherford, OK, to Flagstaff was that Arizona is on Pacific time. We gained two hours but still arrived after dark.

Except for the standing motorcyclist, this was my view across most of the country. On the upgrades to Flag, the Penske only got about 5 miles per gallon!
 

Back in Texas for 177.14 miles on the I-40 (Sunday, June 16, 2024: Father's Day too)

Sharing the sky with all the 215-275 foot high wind turbines in the Panhandle is the 19-story tall cross in Groom, Texas. Surprised that the photo clicked over my shoulder going 80 mph isn't blurry. 

Every 250 miles or so, we stopped for coffee or soft drinks, snacks, and sometimes gas. Nice to stretch the legs after being behind the wheel for 4 or 5 hours.

We had to stop at the Big Texan in Amarillo for a Father's Day photo op. Didn't attempt the 72 ounce steak challenge. If you complete the steak, a shrimp cocktail, baked potato, salad, and buttered roll in an hour, the meal is free. Maybe next time? P.S. Why isn't Ryder in the photo? Because he took ours!  Thanks, Ryder.

 My favorite big Texan next to a big grizzly inside the Big Texan.

Weatherford, Oklahoma (Saturday, June 15, 2024)

There wasn't much to photograph through the bug-splatted windshield on the way to Weatherford. And no, sunset wasn't at 12:55 p.m. I tried to change the clock in Mya's car to Central Daylight Time but the clock had ideas of its own. We arrived at the Weatherford Holiday Inn Express around 9 p.m. Luckily Qdoba Mexican Eats, a lot like Chipotle, was nearby and open until 10 p.m. 
 

Nashville (June 14, 2024)

We were determined to try Hattie B's hot chicken even after a wrong turn took us into the traffic nightmare that is Broadway, Nashville's main drag.  Luckily the restaurant was open until midnight; we didn't arrive until after 10 p.m. Never mind that we should have been sleeping for the next day's 738-mile drive to Weatherford, Oklahoma.

Hot chicken! Bacon cheddar grits! Black-eyed pea salad! Pimento mac and cheese! Baked beans! Happy to discover there's a Hattie B's in Austin. We'll be there!

The "forty" reminds me of mine and Donna's trip to pick Micah up from the Savannah College of Art and Design back in 2001, I think. But that's another story. Tennessee whiskey and Coke. Where else but Nashville?
 

The 2600 mile trip begins! (June 14, 2024)

We arrived at ABIA at 3:30 a.m. for our 5:35 a.m. flight to Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina, where Ryder, Brandy, Piper, and Willoughby picked us up.

Our Day #1 goal was to drive 300 miles from Asheville to Nashville. Luckily for us, all but about 10 miles of our trip would be on the I-40 and the I-5 from Bakersfield to Moraga in California. Except that we skirted Bakersfield on US 58 for I'm not sure how many miles. We hit all eight states that I-40 runs through: North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas (right past Atkins, where Tom's father grew up), Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California.

Our convoy. Ryder will lead in the Penske. I'll follow in Mya's Subaru. Tom will be behind me in Ryder's Ram pickup. So helpful for Tom to be behind me as Mya's car was packed to the ceiling and I couldn't use the rearview mirror to change lanes.

Brandy, kids, Willoughby, and Mylo stayed behind. Ryder, Willoughby, and maybe Mya will take Brandy's car cross country from July 5-8. The rest of the family will fly to San Francisco on July 5.
 

Mother's Day penta (June 2024)

 The penta is loving its spot on the back deck. Thanks, Amon and Fox!

Celebrating our 29th anniversary (June 10, 2024)

Our friend recommended Peace Bakery and Deli for Mediterranean food. So we decided to give Peace a chance (Sorry! That begged to be said). So many delicious choices!

 I rarely post food photos, especially with my right foot and Tom's left foot in them.

Too full for dessert so took home a piece of coconut baklava as well as an assortment of walnut, pistachio, and almond baklava. 

TC aka Big Boy in boxes (June 2024)

Tight fit, but he's in!

 Sweet dreams, TC!

Reformed rabies cat (June 8, 2024)

Sassenach impersonating a pirate after enjoying an entire can of wet cat food

Sweetly rolling at our feet. No more biting.