Day 1, June 6, 2017 From Hermosa Beach to Red Bluff

As most Californians know, it is a long state and up the middle, on the drive on I-5 through the Central Valley, is a long, boring, sleep-inducing, highway hypnotizing slog. 

We started late, not until about 10 am. Post retirement, my sense of urgency has slowly drained away. Late, whatever. Even at that hour the 405 through west side LA was congested, but once we cleared the Sepulveda Pass and entered the Valley I could put it on cruise control at an arbitrary 72 mph. That, plus the climb into the area of the Angeles National Forest drained the battery after 38 miles. This trip will devastate the average miles per gallon for the car, but it could not be done in an all-electric vehicle.

After we came down from the Grapevine and passed the 99 I-5 split we entered agricultural lands as far as the eye could see broken only by patches of land on the west side of the freeway that are without access to water and thus brown and desolate. I imagine that is what most of the Central Valley would look like without the Central Water Project and the California Aqueduct. Sometimes gov’t does good things, a fact that based on voting results many Central Valley residents seem to overlook.

As we motored through the southern part of the Valley, (my definition, south of Sacramento) we observed some dairy farms, more than a few citrus orchards, some horses and cattle farms, signs for unseen towns, occasional fruit stands and gasoline station, (but nary an EV charging station). However, the most ubiquitous sight was nut trees, I think overwhelmingly almonds. They stretch forever and their output reaches around the world. When we were in spice bazars Turkey last year they were selling California almonds. I even saw them in a market in Katmandu, Nepal last year.

The undifferentiated scenery and the straight, flat road challenged my ability to stay alert. Raucous, downloaded 60s music, interspersed by news reports highlighting the latest indignities (or triumphs depending on your persuasion or loyalties) emanating from our national capital helped to keep me awake. Until we approached Sacramento, where the scenery and road changes there were only a few stops for gasoline, restroom breaks, stretching of legs and the now expected checking of the phone. On the plus side, at the last of the rest stops we reserved a modest motel room in Red Bluff, which was as far as I expected to be able to travel before dark and was a convenient gateway into Lassen Volcanic National Park. I am still amazed that I can make such reservations so easily on the phone via the Internet.  Lunch was at a non-descript burger joint off the freeway, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was very hot, up to 100 degrees as we powered through the Valley so we hit the climate control buttons on the dash.

Approaching Stockton, we spied a Ghirardelli Chocolate factory outlet. That warranted a break. The outlet store smelled wonderful. The firm goes back over 150 years and the process of making the chocolate began when a clerk noticed the cocoa melting in the heat. Ate some samples and ice cream, and bought some discounted Christmas candy and a large dark chocolate bar. The prices were not much better than the retail store process, unless you bought double digit pounds of chocolate. Too much anticipated heat in the car for that.

After that it was non-stop to Red Bluff, rolling past the skyline of Sacramento, the hulking Sleep Train Arena, formerly Arco Arena, changing crop patterns including an increasing number of vineyards and a spreading sunset to the west.

After about 525 miles we exited at Red Bluff as dusk was descending and easily found our motel. The proprietor was a pleasant Indian-American who seemed interested in our prior trips to India, although he was not from the regions we visited. He had a very bad and pessimistic opinion of the chances for peace in Kashmir deriding both the peoples of the area and the national armies.  I charged the car up at an outlet running the Coke machine, but the owner asked for a few bucks compensation.

We did not go into downtown Red Bluff. We were told that there was not much there, but instead walked over to a local mall and ate in a pizza shop which looked as if it had been devastated by a large party. Good salad bar and some sandwiches. Walked back to our basic, but functional 2d floor room to get some sleep and an early start on the trip to Lassen Volcanic Park.