steve and darrel's excellent adventure

It is easy to stay on plan when you don't have a plan.


If that is true, Darrel and I are right on target.


We planned on getting on the road on Thursday morning at 4:30 AM. We left the house around 5:15, and made rather good time for a leisurely road trip.


The original plan was to drive east and south through eastern Oregon and central Nevada. The weather put sold to that idea. So, we struck out like 49ers down the I-5 corridor.


Our stops will not inspire remake episodes for Route 66. We had breakfast in Roseburg. Gassed up in Ashland. Gassed up in Sacramento. Gassed and ate dinner at Buttonwillow (on the outskirts of Bakersfield).


In Buttonwillow, we discovered that the ride was taking a terrible toll on Jiggs's legs. He walked as if he had fallen down a flight of stairs.


We weighed our options and decided, rather than skirting Los Angeles by driving through Bakersfield out through the desert, we would drive through Pasadena and come out near San Bernadino, where we would stay the night. It was late enough to avoid rush hour traffic, but not the usual mayhem that passes for traffic around Los Angeles.


We are now at a hotel in Ontario. (We fell a little short of our target.) And the amazing Professor Jiggs has shown a Lazarus-like recovery. I was going to take him up the elevator, but he rushed up the stairs right after me. With a little walk, he was well enough to enjoy his favorite treat: a hunk of baguette.


Every time I drive through the central California valley, I marvel at its simple beauty. Most of the colors are tans and browns, but the vistas are wide, and the contours fascinating.




I wish I had taken a few more photographs. But I thought this one would interest my friends who are fascinated with signs in Mexico warning about dangerous crocodiles. We saw it at a rest stop in central California -- in the middle of the dog walk area.