Blog #2,Traveling on
Day 2, Walnut Creek to Bakersfield
(Ryan and Amelia are tutoring me on getting this blog up and going, so I am continuing to write while they get me set. These posts are chronological, but posting dates are not the dates I am writing them.)
Tonight, I am laying in bed in Bakersfield, California in the first of several AirBNBs I have reserved for my cross-country roadtrip. This is a guest suite with a private entrance at a very nice home in a very secure community. I had to surrender my passport and be fingerprinted by the guard at the gate before entrance. He kept one of my shoes and a kidney as security deposit. I don’t understand why he was concerned: my Honda CRV with Oregon plates is only piled to the roof with clothes, bedding, camping/kitchen gear, etc. I can see out perfectly well using the back up camera–once I move the phone and sunglasses from the viewer. The PVC pipes I have clamped to the roof rack pointing four directions should be of no concern. They may look poorly mounted, but only parts of them have fallen off on very bumpy roads. The black electrical tape was put on as a deterrent to further losses, and I didn’t spare it. I can’t fathom why the people living here by the country club would be uncomfortable with me parking here and spending the night.
Getting here was not too bad. The freeway from the East Bay is a bore, but it went by quickly while my mind was busy with excitement. Once I got to Bakersfield, I used Google Maps to locate my AirBNB and it took me on a scenic drive up Kern Canyon, or California State Route 178. I assume it is scenic, (it was dark out there with few cars and very sharp corners around jutting out rocks), because when I “arrived at your destination”, I could not see anything, but could hear the sounds of a rushing river nearby the pullout I stopped in. Being a Clever American Woman, I sensed immediately that my destination was not there. And neither was cell service. In truth, just the lonely road next to a river and mountainside were there. No streetlights or buildings. Oh well– I love the sound of water… Except then, since I needed a bathroom. I backtracked a few miles to get back in range where I could put in a street address rather than the name of the country club near the house. Worked like a charm. Stupid American Woman, if only I had started with a street address…I wouldn’t have dropped an armload of electronics fumbling to get into my suite and the bathroom.
I have completed day two of travel and shall now eat chocolate while watching Frankie and Grace. I wish my husband was here–It is his birthday and I wasn’t there to bake his carrot cake. He’ll have his cake in April.