We were happy to safely arrive in Livermore on Friday, as planned. When I told people we were driving to California, I got mixed reactions. Some people were surprised/horrified at the idea and others said they would love to drive across the country.
Here are some observations we had along the way:
Here are some observations we had along the way:
- Good podcasts are way more interesting than music for long drives. We listened to the entire series of Serial, among other things. If you ever want to listen to some interesting podcasts, I have some good suggestions!
- Either South Carolina is really hot, or the rest of the country is cold. I think we can agree on the former. We may have under-packed on winter clothes... Even New Mexico was cold, and California has been consistently chilly!
- From Memphis through southern California, we drove along I-40. There are tons of Indian Reservations along the route. We may have been in Indian territory more than U.S. territory from Oklahoma to California!
- Speeding isn't really an option in Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Things loosened up in New Mexico and Arizona, but there were cops everywhere until then.
- Rest stops in Arizona aren't the most pet friendly:
We saw a few warnings like this. I thought this one was particularly ridiculous because it's telling you to only bring your pets in this area (other areas said no pets allowed), but also to know that they might get attacked by a poisonous snake or insect. If anyone's wondering, these signs don't deter dogs from sticking their snouts into every hole possible.
- A popular Route 66 stop near Amarillo, TX is "Cadillac Ranch." It was pretty strange. I guess it would be considered a public art installation. It was a few half-buried, old Cadillacs that were heavily covered in spray paint. You can spray paint on them and there are cans lying around everywhere. There was actually a bus of teenagers that came and sprayed on them.
This isn't all of them - I think there were 9 total. The puddles were probably a little uncommon but kind of added to the ambiance, don't you think? (Kidding.)
- Upon crossing the Rio Grande and entering California, every vehicle has to go through an inspection. It isn't clear what the inspection will be until you are forced to stop. It ended up being an agricultural inspection. We were asked if we had any fruits, vegetables or plants in the car. I had no idea how serious the inspection was or if they would search the car (they were searching a u-haul beside us) so I told her we had 2 apples. She ended up taking them and writing down our license plate number. She was pretty serious about it. It was so strange! Of course, we really wanted the apples after they had been confiscated.
Here are some California-specific observations for the 4 days we've been here:
- Yes, gas is expensive. It's about $3.40-3.60 in our area, but our first gas stop in CA was $4.39.
- There are vineyards everywhere. We stayed a night in San Luis Obispo, which is considered the "central coast," and this is about where they started, maybe a little earlier.
- Speaking of the central coast, it was beautiful. It was remote with lots of farm land and cows, but also rolling hills and views of the Pacific:
You can faintly see Morro Bay in the distance - it's the big, round rock out in the ocean to the left.
- It's more hilly/mountainous than we thought it would be. There have been hills everywhere.
- There are obvious signs of the drought. Many rivers and creeks are now just dried up ditches. It did rain a lot on our first day of travel in California, though, which was unexpected.
We spent most of our first weekend here organizing our apartment and getting everything set up, but we plan to explore more of Livermore and the Bay Area soon. Stay tuned!
