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Wednesday, July 27 2005

Mile 5315 Traveled today 311

The best laid plans always go awry. We had planned to make a quick run south and eventually go west to Las Vegas. Today was a day to make good time. We thought we'd get a bunch of miles under our belt and duck into a motel before it got too hot.

Early during the trip, I was checking the tire pressure on the trailer rather religiously, but as of late I had neglected that chore. I think it caught up with me today. We shredded a tire just south of Weed, CA about 1030. We limped into the exit for highway 89 over to Reno and called Rescue Plus to come get the trailer. I don't have a spare, a lug wrench or a jack. I think I'll get one for the next trip. Anyway Bill's towing services from Weed came out, picked up the trailer and hauled it to a Les Schwab store in Redding, CA. They happened to have a couple of the tires that would fit and we were back on our way at just before 3 PM. I think I'll check the tire pressure a bit more often in the future.

About 530 PM we arrived in Sacramento, CA. with the rush hour. The temperature was still about 98 after peaking at 105 somewhere along the trip. Sue was real tired of the traffic, the temperature and the wind. Why is it the wind is always a head wind? I can recall only 4 hours this trip where I had a tail wind. Anyway we found a motel and have camped out for the night. They advertise internet access and I have a connection, but can't get DHCP to issue me an IP address, so I can't do anything on the web tonight. Hopefully we'll have better luck tomorrow.

We ate at a "Memphis BBQ" tonight. Not bad, but the Brunswick stew wasn't very original. It had BEEF in it. Now I've had Brunswick stew from all over the south including some homemade varieties and never did they put BEEF in in. Squirrel yes, pork yes, rabbit, yes but never BEEF! The bbq sauce was pure Texas style.

So tomorrow we plan to get up early and get the day over before the heat of the day catches up with us. Maybe we'll be successful this time.

I probably didn't mention how much we enjoyed the Oregon coast. Delightful little beach communities with still a small town atmosphere. Reminds me of the east coast beaches of 30 years ago before big business took them over. The only problem I see with them is the weather. Beach weather in my experience is hot enough to want to go take a dip in the ocean. Not cold enough to want to find another sweatshirt to bundle up in. That's for fall weather when you're back on campus and snuggling up to your latest squeeze.

The pictures from now on will be on http://cruisinglife.org/summer2005/


Jim.