Road Trip - Day Three

January 16, 2008

Day Three - Santa Rosa, CA to Marina Del Rey, CA

Frost!

I couldn't believe it! I've driven nearly a thousand miles south to get to the coldest night in the last week! It's ironic that the coldest weather of the whole trip should appear after I've finally made it to sunny California.

I said goodbye to Mike and Amanda and hit the road about 8:30. I would have left earlier, but there wasn't any point as I'd have been stuck in the morning commute traffic. Even then the traffic was heavy until I crossed the Oakland bridge. As I continued to head east to I-5, the concrete jungle receded and I was back on the open road. One thing about California that's easy to forget is that it's so big that there are places with millions of people all on top of each other and then you go 50 miles and there's nothing, but fields for the next hundred miles.

I really wanted to finish the trip today so I pressed on pretty steadily. I didn't stop for lunch until 2 pm when I saw the first In and Out Burger of the trip. For those of you unfamiliar, it's similar to Dick's in Seattle, though a bit fresher and with better fries. After my quick lunch, I continued to roll on south, thankful that the traffic was back to a steady clip over rural plains from the kamikaze chaos of the more urban areas. This was probably my favorite part of the actual drive.

As I approached the hills about a hundred miles north of L.A. the roads got really rough. In fact at one point I actually pulled off the side of the road because I was convinced I had a flat tire. It turns out the tires were fine, it was just the road that needed repair.

I finally rolled into Los Angeles just after 4pm, which was just in time to hit the end of day rush hour. Thankfully most of the traffic was headed out of the city, but it was still heavy enough to take another hour plus to get to Marina Del Rey.

Happy to have arrived, but a bit exhausted from the day's rough ride I checked in to Oakwood at about 5:30 and by the time I'd gone through the paper work, found my apartment and brought all my stuff in it was nearly 7pm. I got a quick bite after calling Sue to let her know I was here, put a few things away and hit the hay. I also called Wendy and Logan to chat for a bit and to hear the new things Logan is saying and doing in the three days I've been away so far.

The day wrapped up with 434 miles for a total of 1359 on the whole trip. The weather was the best I could have hoped for and although long, the drive really wasn't unpleasant. Looking back on it, one of the best things about it was that it gave me a chance to get my mind right; to gradually relocate myself to my new (if temporary) reality. I know it will take some time for me to get acclimated to California and USC, but the drive at least got the process started.