Priorities are a key to success. After our days of hectic planning and working to get things done before departure, we knew what our top priority was to start the trip. Sleep. Sleep is a wonderful thing, especially so after being deprived for a week. So we got up bright and early at 10 am. For those of you know me would suspect nothing of it,but add to that the fact that we sleep was beget at midnight rather than 4 am and the picture changes somewhat.
Packing was far from complete when the day started for us. Our car rental pickup was to be at 10 am. Right. We had made reservations far in advance for a Ford Ranger which Budget rented at a good price. When we showed up at Budget an hour late, they did not have a truck after multiple assurances of confirmation over the phones in the days prior. Apparently, six were due to be returned, but none had come in yet. The other nearby Budget was in the same situation. Houston, we have a problem. As we made our alarm level known to the staff there, they eventually told us that we can look at the cars they had in their lot, the largest of which was a Toyota RAV4. Amie astutely negotiated to get it at the same price (which would usually be double). Not only did get a more comfortable vehicle with more accessible space, it was four wheel drive and much more fun to drive (I assume the latter, never having driven a Ranger, but generalizing about small pickups).
In addition to the extra two wheels of drive, the RAV4 had 2 (yes, 2) cigarette lighters [laptop + cell phone], a cd player (woohoo!), and 4 cup holders (unheard of!). Needless to say, after we finished acting hurt to the Budget guys, the high 5s were flying. We took our new car for the week back to Casa Santa Rosa (Amie's abode) to commence packing. As we started carrying stuff to the car, the weather offered us a steady downpour to properly prepare our equipment for the trip. To help prepare me personally, a river formed through the middle of the parking lot which I waded by mistake. Time for new socks. We hoped the weather was a not a sign of things to come.
Given our early start to the day, it was the best we could do to get on the road by 3 pm. One advantage of driving on a Saturday afternoon is not having much traffic to contend with, and we did not. And so, we're on the road!
The first stop was my old house in Palo Alto, where most of my worldly belongings were locked up in shed. Roy (my property manager) had done an amazing job of packing the shed with more stuff than it possibly should have been able to hold, yet keeping it reasonably organized at the same time. In an hour, we managed to locate most of the things we wanted in three categories:
It is a tribute to Roy's skills and sheer luck that in under an hour of hunting, we managed to locate everything we wanted save a sleeping bag pad and a headlight. Somehow, we fit everything, including about 10 bottles of wine, into the poor car and set off on our adventure - as prepared as we were going to get.
The
first "real" stop of the trip was in San Jose. We caught my mom, Marvin,
and cute little Mac at their house. A special treat was afforded to us - they
were going out to a party later that evening, a rare enough occurrence in itself,
and that meant they were dressed up. This meant pictures. We had some wine,
took some pics, played with the dog, and had a lovely couple of hours hanging
out before they had to go to their party. On the road again...
When we picked up the car initially, it had just been returned and was not properly cleaned. I had cleaned out most of the inside beforehand, but the outside had, as Amie so aptly put it, "... someone else's dirt. A dirty car is fine as long as it's your dirt." Solution: wash the car. Never mind that it's raining outside and that we're about to set out on a 2000 mile road trip. The tablet was brought down - thou shall was thine RAV4. We found a gas station with an automatic car wash, filled up, and washed the car, with one small hitch. Small aside - Amie had taken my car through a car wash before while listening to the radio. The automatic antenna did not like it. So, as the clamps latched on to our car, I noticed that the antenna was happily protruding just in front of me. So as the car is being dragged forward into Niagara Falls, I roll down the window (or fumble trying - it's hard to know which way is down on a horizontal windows control) and reach for the antenna. Trying for a half second, I am unable to lower it, and manage to roll up the window just as Niagara washes over the car. The brushes are menacingly approaching the car in a whirring frenzy, reducing my visibility, and I just focus on the window control and the antenna. I holler to Amie "tell me when it's clear" and pause. I hear "go now" and I go! Window down. Reach for the antenna. Grab. Push down. Nothing. And then I see it. Quickly thereafter, I feel it. A river flows in the wide open passenger side window as I fumble to roll it up and snatch my hand back. Not in time. I am drenched on my right side. The car seat suffers a similar fate. Amie is laughing hysterically. And the antenna is still up.
After emerging from the wash quite resembling a wet poodle, I get out of the car and proceed to wring myself out. Amie helps by laughing uncontrollably. Granted, I would have done the same in her shoes, but somehow the humor in the situation is lessened when one is drenched (for the second time in one day - loading the car across the lake / parking lot at Amie's was the first).
The 24th was my dad anniversary, so it was good to visit them in Monterey to wish happiness for the anniversary, the holidays, and prepare them for the barrage of visitors to follow (about a dozen before New Years). We had planned to get there, sleep, and hang out in the morning, but plans materialized otherwise. They insisted on cracking open one of the wines that was their present, and after some picture taking, the merriment went on with some piano playing and hanging out until late. Here are some pictures from Monterey like the one below of me with dad and grandma.
Next: Day 2 - Down PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) to Hearst Castle
