The Road Home

On the way out of Solvang, I was back on 101, then took CA 46 and 41 to Interstate 5 thru California's farm country which was not new to me. I took it deliberately because, although it is very green, very pastoral and soothing, there wasn't much to distract me from heading straight to my grandson and first born daughter. After settling down for the night in Buellton and thinking about the next day in Solvang, I was just drifting off to sleep when Lucia called me... so excited to learn that I was in CA and only 7 hours from her. I had planned to go on to Carmel, up the Pacific Coast Hwy after Solvang. When I heard her excitement, I decided my wandering was over (temporarily). I wanted to be with my daughter, get to know my grandson, Malakai, and settle into my room. In the course of the day, I saw more wineries and vineyards than I have seen in all the years of my life combined. Then came cattle, more cattle, orange groves so laden with fruit that it covered the bases of many of the trees. That attracted the bees and the bees, too bad for them, covered my windshield by the time I made Stockton. After the orange groves were many miles of flowering trees. I looked for a sign identifying what they were. The flowers were pinkish-white, so I first considered that they were cherries, then apples, finally... I don't know what I was looking at! Whatever they were, if blossoms are an indicator, they'll have a good crop.

Herds of chubby sheep were next, more cattle, more sheep, stockyards and then towns like Stockton and Sacramento. When you make Sacramento, you are an hour and a half from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where Lucia lives. I stopped to walk Danny as the sun was setting. (See the photo) It brought back the old sailor's advisory:

"Red Sky at Dawning, Sailors, Take Warning; Red Sky at Night, Sailors' Delight"

A sign that the days to come will be Gramma's delight. I met Lucia in Nevada City's interesting downtown. The winding road to her home on the San Juan Ridge is without lights and not navigable by strangers in the dark. Once you arrive there, you are in one of the few remaining areas in the U.S. where people go to bed with the keys in the ignition and the doors to their homes open. Malakai will be 2 on March 3rd. We'll have a party on Sunday and the neighbors will come. Nothing up here has just one purpose and the birthday party will also be an opportunity for the adults to bring food and converse for a few hours. It's well after dark when we arrive there, a wood house reminiscent of the one my children were born into in Virginia. I will see Malakai in the morning. I haven't seen him in 15 months.

Tonight I will go to bed at home... as I have every night of my journey. Home is wherever you are at peace. And my journey will continue in a few months, when I return East by a central route through Colorado. There will be a few side trips from here too, but I am home... with my blood. Thank you for coming with me, all of you who have read this blog. Check back now and then.. I'll have a few entries and I'll leave a heads up for my new adventure in the fall.