Last Thursday Sheila and I got on a plane for San Jose. We were picked up by an old friend of mine that I hadn't seen for a long time, that being Craig P, who I heard described as (and I will describe him as that too) "an amazing guy". He is one of the few from the old days that has remained in San Jose.
The purpose of the trip was to take possession of my dad's pickup truck, and to drive it back to Tucson. We took Craig, Debbie (a friend of my mother's) and my mother out to a favorite Mexican restaurant of mine, after which there was some bank stuff to do and a visit to DMV. I had wanted to take to the road at 2:00 PM to beat the traffic rush, but we were held up and didn't leave until 4:00ish. Traffic was the worst I'd ever seen, but we were able to get into Los Banos for the night.
On most of my road trips, I've taken I-5 down, but with this one, and the previous two, I came down state highway 33 in the central valley. Sometimes you don't want to be on the interstate. It was Sheila's first time seeing that part of California, which is enjoyable (you're away from the urban centers). When we got to Mendota, we headed over to state highway 99, and then it was down that road to state highway 223, through Arvin, and on to Mojave for the night.
It would have been nice to have made Victorville, but I wasn't sure I wanted to attempt I-15 traffic on a Friday afternoon, so Mojave it was. Our motel of choice was across the street from a Subway that is collocated with a Shell station/convenience store, which is nice as that I got to enjoy a beer with my sandwich.
The next day we were on the road again. We realized that if we had made it to Tucson, we would have been dog tired that night and useless the next day, so night number three was in Quartzsite, AZ. I've stayed in Quartzsite a few times and the Super 8 had a room. I really wanted United States soil under me that night which is one reason we didn't stop in Blight......excuse me, Blythe.
We returned home Sunday afternoon at 1:30ish. I was tired but not too tired to indulge two very special cats who were glad to see their daddy. They were on the clingy side that day and the next, (which I had off), and now it's back to work,.
The getaway was nice, but it wasn't long enough. I really wanted to drive down the coast and visit with my dad in his resting place, but I wasn't sure about US101 and the wildfires that some parts of the coast are having.
About work, I'm going to say this. Things there have gotten better since I last mentioned it. I'm seeing the team members work with each other instead of against each other. I think it's a matter of the divergent personalities learning how to grow together. It appears in a few weeks I will be involved in testing UHF/SATCOM radios, which is good. I can't call myself a satellite engineer anymore and that may not happen again, but my desire for that experience is more borne out of a desire to learn some new things.
That's going to be it for the time being. The holidaze are fast sneaking up on us. Right now it's the calm before the storm.
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