Fri, Jul 13th - 9:14PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 103
134.3 miles
getting hotter

I started at 7:20 this morning, stopped for gas, and was on my way.  This is the long leg of the trip.
I got a cache at one rest area and kept going, going, going to exit 66.  This is where the cache I really wanted to find was. I looked and looked.  No joy. The name of the cache was STICK.  In the long run, I picked up the anagram... TICKS.

I started to feel creepy crawlies while I was driving, but couldn't prove anything. I stopped in Medford for gas (that's a nightmare... you have to drive nearly a mile before you can get any gas) and crossed the California border at 12:47. Then I had Siskyous to drive through, my least favorite part of the trip. There was road work, too. I was ready when I stopped in Weed for lunch.

That's when I spied the tick inside my shirt. I flipped it out onto the table and smashed my ice water glass down onto it.  I ordered, then felt one on my neck, and flipped it onto the floor. I then smashed it with my foot.  This does NOT make for a good lunch companion.  Fortunately, I was eating alone.

I decided at this point that I didn't want to stop in Redding for any chocolate exhibition, I wanted to go home!  So I put pedal to the metal. By which I mean, with the road work, I sometimes got to go as fast as 30 MPG. Sometime in there, I felt one more tick crawling into my ear. I flipped that out somewhere in the car, which bothered me a lot when I got home.

Stopped at rest areas. It was getting hot. I did find one more cache, near Willows, but I just kept driving driving driving. I was getting really tired, too. I pulled in about 5:30.  Alicia was surprised.  She'd told her mother I'd be there at 6, which is what I'd thought, and couldn't get hold of her, so after I got debriefed, she stayed and stayed. I finally went to take my shower to check for ticks. Fortunately no more.

The debriefing included her attempt, on Tuesday, to lock the dog in the bathroom so she could go take a final. ???!  This not only meant the dog tore up the shower curtain and my favorite bath towel and scratched the door, it also meant she'd locked the cat OUT of the bathroom, and the cat and her bad litter box skills is the main reason I hired a house-sitter to begin with.  Fortunately, Abby apparently behaved herself. Alicia, with Bernadette's help, had located the dinosaur shower curtain.

While I went back to put something in back, I heard the back toilet running. I'd told A. about this last time: when it runs the water hits the top and leaks out the side. By sheer luck, the bucket was full to the brim but not yet running over, so I was able to bail it out and keep the floor dry.  Whew!

Outside, Alicia had harvested all the peaches (14 pounds) because they all came ripe. I ended up making a couple of pies and sharing out a lot, and they were delicious.  She kept my pumpkins alive and they're looking good. The hydrangea, not so much. "I thought you said something about the hydrangea, but I didn't know where it was."  We'll see if it comes back.  I'm tired, must keep remembering the pets are fine and the house is still standing... (the next day I discovered she somehow lost the dowel I had put in the back window to keep it from opening too far. Mind you, there's cactus next to it, I really doubt anyone would break in there, but it's frustrating.)

Finally her mom came to get her and I was able to get back to my life again.  What a long, tiring, annoying, day this has been! I'm sure glad to be home, and I'll be back on the road in less than 3 weeks.

Jim Treacher: Obama has made history. He's the whiniest president ever.

Most People Would Acknowledge that I've Tried Real Hard.

(In between golf games and fund-raisers and lavish vacations.)

Mike Applestein: If I worked for a private company, was clearly incompetent and and increased our expenses by several x, and the board of trustees called me in to explain, and my response was "Look, most people would acknowledge that I've tried real hard..." would the outcome be a four-year extension of my contract? Or would they hire that other guy who, despite his mysterious religion, seemed to have done this kind of work before?

Stuart Creque: Mike, I'll go you one better: the last time around, the "board" took a chance on the new guy even though people warned he was untested. What makes him think the board will extend his contract now that he's been tested and failed the test? There isn't even room to give him the benefit of the doubt: his performance has removed all doubt, to our detriment as well as his.

Just Imagine the Mess 0bama will Inherit if He's Reelected.

Fri, Jul 13th - 5:24PM

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 103
134.3 miles
clear, warm

I got up early and had breakfast with Vince, and was ready to leave right after he did. So I left Snohomish before 6.  And again at 10. I prayed for a safe trip, and indeed that's what I had. I spied the indicator light come on just out of town and pulled over to see what it was... ah, low tire. So I stopped at a Shell station, but they didn't have an air pump, but directed me across the street to a 76 station which had one. I pumped the tire up. This is the first time I have done this myself. Back in the car, however, the light was still on.  Hmmm. I got about a half mile to an Arco station and called AAA.  Of course, I got the California one so had to be transferred, but I had an address and a safe place to stop.

I called Niki just so she'd laugh, at about 7:15.  She wasn't up yet, but called back a few minutes later and sympathised. Then, finally, the guy came from Woodinville. He figured out where the tire was, and where the tools were (again, I was very thankful that I hadn't already loaded up all the stuff for Bernadette. I was thankful for the indicator light, and that I was near civilization when all this happened, and that I had AAA.) Again, talked to Niki about what I was going to do (initially I thought I might be staying over another night...oh, rats, I stripped the bed).  She told me where the Les Schwab in Snohomish was.  Then she said "you're doing very well, Jan" and I burst into tears. I actually was doing pretty well, but I just hate being the only person there to do it.

Dan from Grandpa's tow was done putting on the toy tire about 8 and I trekked the 9 miles back to Snohomish. I missed the turn, but found another way to the tire place.  They said it'd be about 30-45 minutes and in the event, it was more like 90 minutes, but I had a place to wait, drank coffee, ate popcorn, and had a little talk with the little old lady who was also waiting. If I'd known it was going to take this long, I would have gone looking for the nearby geocache, because I think I now know where it is.  Oh, well. I had my cup and my Nook.

Total cost: $0.  WHY did Rich like Big O?  The last time this happened, it cost him $15. So I called Niki again and got on my way about 10.  4 hours, 2 miles.  I decided to skip the first cache I'd planned to look for, at the park & ride I was at on the 4th, and go to Cabela's instead.  This time I knew the exit number. I did NOT remember that it was such a long way to get to Cabela's, which is right next to the freeway.  This is the third cache in the area and I'd anticipated a light pole cache, but it turned out to be a nice little walk in the woods for a sizeable cache.  Very nice!  Then I visited Cabela's restrooms, and since they didn't have a snack bar, I decided not to browse and just went back to the car, driving on, on, on...

Lunch was in Centralia. I sat at the counter and a nice garrulous old guy sat next to me. He usually eats at the senior center, but today was lasagna and he doesn't like lasagna, so he came to the Copper Kitchen.  He knew a lot about Centralia, but only moved there in the late 80s, so he wouldn't have known my step-father, and later I realized this old geezer was too young and might, if he'd been a native Centralian, have known my sister or brother!  Oops. I ended up translating for him with the Asian waiter, who didn't understand the guy not wanting big chunks in his soup. Heh. This made for a nice break.

I stopped at a beautiful rest area just north of Vancouver, and found one of the two caches there I looked for. I also called Joan and told her I'd be about an hour late.  This gave me the chance, when I got to the Albany area about 5, to go off I-5 onto country roads for a series of challenge caches. I/we qualified for 30 of them, and if I'd seen them before I left Sacramento, I might have been able to get them all, but as it was, I only loaded 11. I got 8 of them in an hour... they are easy, all alike, and on back roads that don't have many people going by wondering what you're doing. I stopped at 6 and then took a series of back roads to Junction City.

Joan had a cradle and a bunch of stuff in the driveway. I backed in, almost running over her sacks of fertilizer, and we loaded the car up. Plenty of room. 

A good dinner of a great salad (beans, corn, olives, greens) and Baby Back Ribs, a little TV, and so to bed..