TimWoolery.net Documenting the Journey and the Learning Curve

Road Trip: January, 2004

I awoke at 5:30am to the sound of a storm outside. The rain that had dropped 4 inches in as many days showed no signs of abating. This was to be our start to a quick road trip down to SoCal to see the grandparents, uncles, cousins and aunts of my significant other. In spite of the weather, I was excited. Road trips are always fun, no matter how damp. A late start spared us any traffic; we were into the San Joaquin Valley and eating breakfast by 9:30.

The popular consciousness will always love the thrill of the open road. No matter how much we?re insulated from it by the various car manufacturers. The unadulterated excitement of being on your way to Somewhere. Even the mundane things, like traffic and gas stations have a particular vibe and appeal. Yes, it?s traffic, it?s a gas station, but it?s not the one at the end of the street. It?s Somewhere, and that?s where you want to be!

I took the above pictures at a gas station just before starting up the Grapevine. Any traveler vaguely familiar with driving in California will recognize the place, a mountain range that must be traversed before getting to Los Angeles. It?s a testament to human engineering that such a trip should be possible. On foot or horseback, it?d take days or even a week. We can do it in under an hour, thanks to six lanes of asphalt that gently guide the car over a four thousand foot, snow-covered pass.

The time spent with the family-in-law was interesting and fun. It?s a microcosm that I have no perspective on. A family that I?ve never known and it?s like a cleansing of the palate to be with them. They have their own mix: a little bit country and a little bit, as Lyle Lovette says, EM-OH-EN-EEE-YYY. It?s the kind of family I used to dream about being a part of; now that I am, it?s unsettling, like knowing that someone was planning for it to happen.

What made it memorable? Deep-fried turkey. Don?t knock it ?till you?ve tried it folks, it?s not as dangerous as the Underwriters Laboratory would have you believe. The UL doesn?t certify drivers either but that doesn?t stop you from getting in the car. Other moments include breakfast at a country club in the shadow of the Rose Bowl stadium while watching men, wealthy men, fire off buckets of white balls hundreds of yards.

The trip home reminded me how much I have to learn about California. See the above pictures: doesn?t it remind you of New Mexico or something? We journeyed back into the valley and I was again sucked into that world that?s built on the business of keeping people moving.

Oh, the humble rest stop. Without it, we?d be peeing in the bushes on the side of the road and going to our flaming deaths from overtired motorists who had no place to light. While its design is so Spartan, there?s no escaping the feeling that seeps from the concrete, from the cigarette-and-urinal-cake smelling bathrooms. The energy left by millions of people on their way to Somewhere. The visitors to this country, the natives, the yuppies, the truck drivers; you could almost park a chair there and just observe the humanity as it passes you by. The posters on the information board lend helpful hints, as if someone genuinely cared about seeing you safely to your destination. Ever seen that much care given at the airport? Any posters about how to make your trip easier, other than the ones that remind you about what you can?t carry on with your baggage? I saw posters for everything at the rest stops we stopped at. The SKS rifle buyback program that was discontinued four years ago, information about the indigenous and threatened wildlife, a Tony Hawk anti-trash poster.

I?ve always liked rest stops, because I?ve never been on my way to somewhere I didn?t want to be when I stopped at one. It?s always been a counter-point to the endless bump-bump-bump of the asphalt under the tires. Lunch at Pea Soup Andersens, we had pea soup (what else?). At our last gas stop, I saw an interestingly-marked dog. Nicole said it was a rescued greyhound and I had to ask the owner for sure (it was). Beautiful dog, ever seen a greyhound with markings like a tiger?

We?re home again; the malaise I was feeling seems dispelled for a little while. Blown clear by about 10 hours of road time, some truck stop coffee and a pack of gum.