Road Trip

It's not the prettiest part of the desert, nor the pretties part of the Golden State.

Still, it had its moments.

The road is straight and flat, even as it goes up and down for miles 

The crags of Arizona give way to softer hills in California.

The scale of the roads expand, too. 

The trucks are lost in the immenseness and closeness of the hills.

The road steepens,

and the Runaway Truck Ramp signs begin to appear. 

They are on both sides of the road, with blockades where there isn't enough room to slow down.



I'm not sure how effective those metal barrels would be.

There wasn't anything on the other side of that ramp, either.

 

The San Joaquin Valley feeds America.

The greenery is an overwhelming contrast once you come down into the valley.

Trees

and more vines 

 and more trees line the roadside.

 

So does James Dean.

 

There are also oil rigs,

dipping and raising and dipping and raising,

 right there along the side of the road.

Also mesmerizing, not nearly as pretty.

 

Is it boron which turns these mountains white?

We've driven through the 20 Mule Team Borax fields and they have this same color.

Unfortunately, there was nothing on Points of Interest on Uncle Beemer's GPS to explain it.

There are times when I miss the verbiage in AAA Trip Tiks.

 

After another night, we were in Monterrey, on the beach, smelling the salt air.

Needing to appease the tourist gods (aka G'ma and Daddooooo), we drove through Old Monterrey. 

Parts of it are glitzy 

and parts are very old 

and parts have been refurbished

but none of it drew us out of the car.

We were not alone. 

Though it was noon on a sunny Saturday, the streets were sparsely populated and there was parking available in front of every store and attraction.

We'd taken the kids when they were small.

We saw no need to take ourselves now that they are large.

 

After the wedding, we turned around and drove home. 

It looked exactly the same as it did on the way out. 

We even stayed in the same side-of-the-road motel, and ate at the same pizzeria.

The meatball and cheese sub was sublime.

The pizza crust was perfect.

And the music..... how did they know that was what I was doing? 

Celebrating our anniversary with eponymous music.

Life is good.