The Road To California

So as you know, I've been pretty behind, which makes writing in present tense for things that are actually past tense sort of difficult. Anyway, I'll do my best!

First I thought I'd start off with some of the videos from my trip to Colorado from Arizona that I'd forgotten to post before I start posting what my trip out of Colorado was like.

I really just like the song I was listening to, I thought it went well with the drive, I thought I'd give you a taste. :) I mean the scenery isn't that great, and neither is my hand really... not while driving anyway! This is when I got a little further into Colorado.

I actually rather like all of the songs in these videos. :p

This area is probably a couple of hours from Telluride. :)

More of colorful Colorado!

And more and more of it!

And as a great end to the videos, and the perfect end to a drive through the mountains, Jimi Hendrix came on! I had to get some of that! Afterall, I was "standing next to a mountain!"

Now that we're through with the videos of Colorado, let's move on to the actual trip out of Colorado!

Saw a cool train of old school cars in the middle of nowhere!

I didn't get to say goodbye to Monica, as she'd already fallen asleep, but I did get to say goodbye to Fahima! It occurred to me as she complimented one of my purses with an elephant on it that I had another one, and even cooler one from Thailand, and that, I gave to her as a token of a new friendship and great thanks for all of her help. I really enjoyed getting to know her, thanks for introducing us Mon! <3

Anyway, I stopped by a couple places and said goodbye to whom I could and I left my last stop at 1:43 :) I wanted to leave at a good time, I thought a time that stood for I Love You was as good as any. :)

I didn't make it too far that night though, I stopped somewhere close to Grand Junction to sleep, I slept for a good 5 hours I think, on the side of the road. When I woke up and got moving again I think I was about 15 minutes away from Grand Junction, so I stopped to brush my teeth, wash my face, get something to eat, feed and water Rusty and stretch my legs. I stopped and ate at Roasted (I think that's what it was called) I recalled getting a sandwhich from there almost a year ago when I had a layover at the Greyhound station. It was just as good this time around! I also had a nice chat with a cool old fellow named Richard. We exchanged a few good books and our names and he told me a few stories of his travels and I was on my way! As I pulled out of Grand Junction and back on the highway I was passed by a driver I thought looked fun, so I initiated a game of cat and mouse to pass the time. :p

I thought it was actually pretty funny that he played along because normally people don't unless they're in some type of sports car. Oh! The competetive nature of wanna-be-race-car-drivers! Anyway we ended up stopping at a gas station what felt like an hour or two outside of Grand Junction for a chat, which I also initiated. He was on his way to Salt Lake City, Utah where his family is at before he went back to work in Alaska; he's a gold miner! I thought that occupation was really neat, and I guess that work schedule is he works for 30 days then has 2 consecutive weeks off, lol what a schedule! I would have taken a picture but it didn't occur to me to charge my camera. I think that will be something I probably get better at doing since I keep missing so many photo ops!

Once I realized I had ended up taking the long way around and up through Salt Lake, I decided to appreciate the beauty of this route and enjoy the ride. It was indeed beautiful... for a while. Then I ended up upon a long stretch of road I couldn't even make it out of before I had to stop and sleep again! :p

 I thought i'd never get out of there! Then it extended well into Nevada... and I was convinced I was trapped in a dream! Haha! But alas! I made it to a new scene!

But! Not before I caught ten billion pictures of these mountains! :p

As I drove through Utah I passed by this smoke that filled the air for MILES! I was still driving past, around and through the smoke for about 2 hours!

Look at that smoke!

It really filled the whole canyon!

That's one big valley of smoke!

I think I've grown kind of fond of these pics. This is how I picture my roadtrip.

Minus the reflection of the stuff on my dashboard, I really like this picture.

I was told that Utah was beautiful, and indeed it was!

I tried to get a picture of tha lake, that was really hard to do while I was driving lol The angle is horrible but the lake itself was gorgeous!

Not that it matters to her, but Rusty slept through all the good stuff. :p

I think this might be in Nevada somewhere... It gets hard to keep track.

This might be a little closer to Nevada. Oh, who cares!

I don't remember what this is but it sure does look pretty awesome!

Oh sweet girl... this is how we slept on the side of the road :p

LOL She sat like this for quite some time after she woke up.

And then like this when she got tired of this, that, and the third. :p

Finally getting close to Cali!! This is somewhere close to Reno I believe!

Last little piece before I actually hit California! I was smiling so much I knew I was close!

Guess where this is!!! :D I actually got out to take this one, because I almost missed it!!

This is basically the same as the picture below, but I just thought even though it was accidental and short it was so cute.

I was smiling so big when I pulled up that the guy was laughing at me. He said that california is mainly worried about Fire Ants from Texas.

The highway was like this for a while too. :) so pretty.

 As I finally made it into California after such a long drive I was delighted to find myself welcomed by a few friendly police officers just doing their job! I made it down this hill but apparently I was too happy about being in California, I was running about 80 miles an hr as I came off the mountain from Lake Tahoe National Forest. They pulled me over and told me I was going 80 and then told me I had a very nice passenger riding with me. :p I told them this was the first time I've been pulled over, and I thought it was kind of ironic that it was as soon as I got into california, I'd heard it was so laid back! He replied with "It is!" lol Do I even have to say they let me go? :p

This is the highway median on the way to Benicia. A quaint little town in the bay area. I loved being there! Stay tuned for my stay in Benicia with family friends Susan and John!

That's All Folks!

Madgkul

The Mad G

<3

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