Utah Road Trip - Day 01

It was actually a pretty relaxing morning even though we had to finish packing and loading. Our plan was to leave by 11:00a.m. and we actually pulled out of the driveway at 10:49a.m. It was a cool 61 degrees when we left. John's cousin Jerry wasn't coming to house sit until the afternoon (thinking we'd be leaving on Friday, not Thursday). So we didn't get to say "goodbye".

Some previous Road Tripper said The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Our trip will prove to be over 1000 miles so our first step was into our favorite (and only) ride - our Honda Odyssey - hereafter to be known as Wilma (she talks to us in a very Wilma-like voice). We took the official odometer reading for the Mileage Madness Contest and we were off like a herd of turtles.

As you can see from photo below, Fannie Mae decided to drive the first hairy leg of the trip. She did so with dogged determination. She is an excellent driver.

After dropping of some books in Woodland Estates, we headed for Gilroy and Pacheco Pass. We stopped in Gilroy and picked up a couple of sandwiches at Arby's. John got the Beef and Cheddar which turned out to be too messy to try to drive and eat at the same time...did we mention too dangerous as well? So we pulled over under some shade and ate our lunch. Linda had a turkey ruben and her peach hot tea from home.

When we completed negotiating Pacheco Pass we headed south on I-5. We found an open Rest Area (there aren't many in California) and stopped for a "rest" at somewhere near 12:26p.m. It was worth it for all three of us and Fannie got to get out of her crate and exercise a bit.

Somewhere near the Buttonwillow cutoff, we stopped for a beverage. John had been dozing (while Linda drove, and did we mention she, too, is an excellent driver?) and needed a cup of coffee.

Highway 5 has a reputation for being borrrrrrrrringggggg! The most interesting things, at times, seem to be the signs. Linda saw one that said Choose Life. OK. Sounds like a good idea, considering the alternative. There are lots of yellow "Congress Created Dust Bowl" signs.

Did we mention that a great advantage to an October road trip with no TV and radio is that we miss of all those political commercials, phone calls and the junk mail involved? So all we have to do after we get back is fill in our absentee ballots.

It was so nice to finally get to the Hwy 158 cutoff and be rid of I-5. It is such a boring road to drive. The last 22 miles of mostly 2-lane road into Bakersfield was much more fun and interesting than the 140 or so miles of interstate.

We arrived just after 3:00p.m. and our room was ready for us. We're way in the back (must be special for pet people). However, we don't seem to be able to access the Wi-Fi. We've tried with two laptops and John's cell phone. No luck, even though one of their access points has loads of signal strength. John even called the Best Western Speed Link support guys. They had the front desk person reset the access point, but still no Wi-Fi. We stopped by the lobby on our way to dinner and John can access the Wi-Fi on his cell phone from drive in front of the lobby. So, we'll get everything ready to post and upload it from the lobby tomorrow morning. I guess we should file a report with TripAdvisor.com.

We had been talking about finding a Mexican food place for dinner. But, as we turned into the motel parking lot, John noticed an IHOP. We don't get to one of those very often (nearest one to Morgan Hill is on 1st Street in San Jose) and we like them. So, we'll probably go there. We sometimes enjoy BFD (Breakfast for Dinner). John had an omlette with bacon, sausage, ham, shredded beef, cheese, onions and pepers....along with three pancakes. Linda had a senior special of grilled talapia, broccoli and red potatoes. Both meals were very good.

On our last Road Trip we both listed some things we were thankful for at the end of each post. For this one, Linda (the tea sipper) is going to share some teabag philosophy from the little tags on her teabags. She often finds them fascinating. Did we mention that Linda is easily amused? Oh, pooh! Linda can't find her teabag philosophy for today so you will just have to survive without it for another day. But the peach tea was yummy!

John, on the other hand, is going to share a brilliant thought from our friend Ashleigh Brilliant. He will post them at the end of the day's blog.

Only about 18 photos today and you can access the gallery by clicking here.