Travelog Prologue: Haley's Solo

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 1:44 AM
Subject: Travelog Prologue: Haley's Solo

January 4, 2002

I have arrived safely in San Diego and am at Marriott's house. Very tired after nine hours of driving by myself and a few nights of minimal sleep as to-do lists rolled around in my head and kept me awake.

The movers left at about 3:30 yesterday, then I ran around frantically doing last-minute weeding, cleaning and general chores until after midnight. (I did stop long enough to watch Survivor on television, naturally.) I was out of bed by 7 this morning with more chores and packing to do, and finally left the house in San Francisco for good at about 11:30. Another hour to run around town with errands (ie: get an oil change for the car), and I was finally on the road at 12:30. Whew!

I took U.S. Route 101 from San Francsico and most of the way to San Diego. Very pretty and much more interesting than the way Dave and I drove in October (Interstate 5). Winding expressway through hills and valleys, and a tiny portion (1-2 miles in daylight) along the ocean. It wasn't nearly as gorgeous as Highway One, but it was still great scenery. I'd recommend it to anyone. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for a couple of stops I'd hoped to make, such as the Jekel Winery, the Hearst Castle, and an Elephant Seal colony near San Louis Obispo, but there will be future opportunities, I hope.

Once the sun set, I stopped for dinner at this touristy restaurant called "Pea Soup Anderson's." They'd been advertising on billboards for the previous 60-plus miles, so I had to stop. I even had the split-pea soup there and (gasp) liked it. (Peas are a vegetable, afterall).

Most of the day was driving, which was fine, except for my various aches and pains from all those chores I'd been doing. Thank god for my music selection. The Metallica and No Doubt were good, but the best driving music was from a band called Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies. They cover old favorite songs to a very fast and loud beat. So I could sing along to very energetic renditions of "Stand By Your Man" and "So You're Going to San Francisco." (Trust me, the irony of the last one wasn't lost on me.)

So, at 10 I got to Marriott's house and here I am promptly on the Internet. I guess I'm in withdrawal since I haven't been connected since Wednesday morning.

Tomorrow we're up bright and early to try to hit Sedona, Arizona by sunset. I think I'll let Marriott drive the first shift.

That's it until (hopefully) tomorrow night.