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Today the clocks went forward for
California. Fortunately, I'd figured this out
ahead of time. Unfortunately, I still managed to
sleep through the alarm. So the trip started at
midday instead of 8am!
Taking Route 280 means that you soon
leave the the urban sprawl of San Francisco and
Oakland behind and enter fertile plains planted
with orchards and crops. As I progressed south
the haze started to lift and the land gradually
faded from green to brown. Many of the fields
lay freshly plowed, ready for the season's
sowing of seed. Even so my nose was filled with
the sent of fresh cut hay and citrus orange
blossoms.
Thankfully, most of the traffic was
heading in the opposite direction, and seamed to
be mainly made up of semi-trailers. What traffic
there was going in my direction thinned out
rapidly and only grew dense again where the 58
and 395 cross as one lane highways with flashing
stop signs. The place doesn't even appear to
have a name, but it does have at least one truck
stop and a gas station on each corner.
I had hoped to make it as far as
Flagstaff today ... The main target of the day
was to escape California. Alas, it was not to
be! Fatigue, hunger and the fact that it was
9:30pm convinced me that it was time to call it
a day.
Flagstaff is still nearly two hundred
miles away. The Kiva Motel, in Needles, is home
for the night. Its a
lovely spot: $19 for a
room with every cable channel known to man; A
view out of the front door over the main Amtrak
line; The bathroom looks out on the I40.
The main sustenance of the day was
acquired at the Wagon
Wheel restaurant. And what a
restaurant! Its done out as a Wild West barn and
has an extensive Home
Style menu. $13 dollars got me a
12oz Blue Eye steak and salad. The owners of
this place appear to have decided to raise more
revenue by selling all manner of interesting
goods (from cuddly toys to air freshener shaped
like a fire extinguisher and designed especially
for that flatulent dog in your life, and from
framed posters of your favorite Country singers
to carriage clocks that play the Star Spangled
Banner - on every half
hour!), I can only wish them
well.
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