Put 250km behind us today, from our Holiday Inn Express just south of SFO over the Bay Bridge, off the freeway through some surreal all yellow hillsides filled with windmills — and locals tail-gating me to push past the 55mph limit — into Modesto, ate at Denny’s, looked across the street and saw Lucas Plaza, where a statue commemorating American Graffiti has been erected (yeah, as if I wasn’t already looking for it; but it was by chance we found it nonetheless). Quick photo op, and then on down to Merced where we’re currently staying at a motel.
Lessons learned so far: Easy to drive over here, people don’t seem to be assholes about driving, like they are in Denmark. Everybody goes at least 5mph past the speed limit. At least. It took me a while to figure out where to turn on the lights on the Mustang. The Mustang has a USB port and line-in, making it hella easy to play music from iPods etc. Oh, and it’s a very nice ride. Oh, and automatics… Droooool. Finally, if it’s hot now, how will it be in Death Valley? The mind boggles.
Before we left the San Francisco area, we stocked up on various supplies and bought a TomTom XL 340-S, despite having bought the US TomTom app for the iPhone. But getting a signal on that was a royal pain in the ass, and I wasn’t going to bet our trip on something so frail, so… And what a pleasure the real thing is to use. How people roadtripped before GPS, I’ll never know. I’m currently updating the maps and hoping to install Homer Simpson…
Anyway, mind is melted. Tomorrow the mountains.
Nice to get updates. Happy trails.
Super cool with the updates. Just checked the weather in Death Valley (oh, the magic of the internets) and it’s actually only just over 30°C.
As a person who lives and works on the Embarcadero in San Francisco and graduated from Merced High School, this is a little surreal to read.
The great thing about this part of Northern California is you do not have to travel far to see a great variety in topography. Brief road trips for the weekend are one of my favorite pastimes, but I have never exhausted the selection of new places to go.
Good luck and make sure to drink it all in!!