THE Trip - Day 1

Ready...Set...GO!!

As always, it was the last minute rush to get everything in the car and out the door.  The good thing is that we left the house and pets in good hands this morning.   Dennis’s sister, Sandie Learned, and her husband, Jim, settled into our house yesterday.  They have been the caretakers for our older pets, the house, and the plants over the past couple of years when we have headed out of town.   Everyone seems happy with this arrangement…we get a wonderful feeling of security knowing that things are in good hands and they have said that they enjoy the change of scenery.  I do know that we are very lucky!!

This first day was a long day of driving; but easy going as we changed off drivers during the trip north.  Of course, it helped that we were laughing a good part of the way as we listened to Tina Fey read the first two parts of her book, Bossypants, on CD.   When we stopped, temperatures ranged from a lovely 75 degrees just north of Santa Barbara to well over 100 degrees near Camp Roberts.  Hard to believe we traveled without air conditioning in cars when I was a kid....glad we don’t have to now.

After arriving in Sunnyvale, we firmed up the time for dinner with Dennis’s daughter, Kim, and her boyfriend, Will McDonald.   On a previous trip, they had shared a great restaurant with us that served the most incredible pizza.  This was now a favorite of mine as Kim and I could have half of it with soy cheese while the guys had regular toppings.  Our time together was short, but we are looking forward to seeing them again on the route heading south.

Funny thing -- all I could think of today as we drove U.S. Highway 101 from Hermosa Beach to Sunnyvale, CA was the tune and words “on the road again”.  Thank you Willie Nelson for a great start to the trip!!!