The Epic Journey
We figured we would sleep in on Wednesday, seeing as how we had nearly killed ourselves with little sleep, little food, and tons of exercise. We were tired.
We had already planned to drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles using the Pacific Coast Highway; what better way to travel than with some of the most beautiful landscapes in America? Maybe if we were being driven. That would be better. In a limo. With a hot tub. Or maybe if we were being paid to drive, that would be nice.
But we didn't have all of that. We had each other's company, a yellow Jeep, and a bag of Sun Chips we bought from a gas station. We were going on a road trip, in the most primitive sense. And we were going to enjoy it, dang it.
It began at 11:00 AM with a detour, an unexpected kink in our "schedule" that would set us back 30 minutes. I use quotation marks only because our schedule was simple: drive to Los Angeles. We had no reason to hurry. So, when we got confused looks from the gas station attendants after telling them that L.A. was our destination ("You're going where on the PCH?"), we laughed it off and told them "Oh, we're not worried. We have all day." In jest, they replied, "and all night."
In jest. Or so we thought.
As soon as we got on the PCH, I realized that we just couldn't go the whole way without stopping for pictures and to soak in the scenery.
Érico, the driver, informed me that because we were stopping and because we were on winding roads behind slow drivers, we were averaging 40 miles in two hours. Again, we were cool with that. No hurry, enjoy scenery. But we were kind of worried about gas. It's not like there are tons of places to get off of the PCH, so once you decide to get on, you had better be certain you want to stay on for a long time. We never got close to running out, but to be sure we stopped at one of the few stations along the highway. It was a full service station and we told the guy to put in $10. That gave us about...hmmm...2 gallons! Breathe in, breathe out. That's alright. The scenery was beautiful.
After about six hours of driving, we had to stop and fill up both the tank and our bellies. You can imagine how much money we dropped for a turkey sandwich. A sign posted at the café had a bunch of cities and sites that were coming up on the PCH. At the very bottom, in menacing, 12-point, Times New Roman lettering: "Los Angeles - 5 hours."
We gave in. We were loving the trip and all there was to see, but we had to get there quicker so we could get a little sleep before our 8:20 meeting the next morning. After getting off the PCH and driving for another four and a half hours or so, we made it to our hotel room alive, in one piece, and dead tired.
Like I said, it was a road trip in the most primitive sense.
We had already planned to drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles using the Pacific Coast Highway; what better way to travel than with some of the most beautiful landscapes in America? Maybe if we were being driven. That would be better. In a limo. With a hot tub. Or maybe if we were being paid to drive, that would be nice.
But we didn't have all of that. We had each other's company, a yellow Jeep, and a bag of Sun Chips we bought from a gas station. We were going on a road trip, in the most primitive sense. And we were going to enjoy it, dang it.
It began at 11:00 AM with a detour, an unexpected kink in our "schedule" that would set us back 30 minutes. I use quotation marks only because our schedule was simple: drive to Los Angeles. We had no reason to hurry. So, when we got confused looks from the gas station attendants after telling them that L.A. was our destination ("You're going where on the PCH?"), we laughed it off and told them "Oh, we're not worried. We have all day." In jest, they replied, "and all night."
In jest. Or so we thought.
As soon as we got on the PCH, I realized that we just couldn't go the whole way without stopping for pictures and to soak in the scenery.
Érico, the driver, informed me that because we were stopping and because we were on winding roads behind slow drivers, we were averaging 40 miles in two hours. Again, we were cool with that. No hurry, enjoy scenery. But we were kind of worried about gas. It's not like there are tons of places to get off of the PCH, so once you decide to get on, you had better be certain you want to stay on for a long time. We never got close to running out, but to be sure we stopped at one of the few stations along the highway. It was a full service station and we told the guy to put in $10. That gave us about...hmmm...2 gallons! Breathe in, breathe out. That's alright. The scenery was beautiful.
After about six hours of driving, we had to stop and fill up both the tank and our bellies. You can imagine how much money we dropped for a turkey sandwich. A sign posted at the café had a bunch of cities and sites that were coming up on the PCH. At the very bottom, in menacing, 12-point, Times New Roman lettering: "Los Angeles - 5 hours."
We gave in. We were loving the trip and all there was to see, but we had to get there quicker so we could get a little sleep before our 8:20 meeting the next morning. After getting off the PCH and driving for another four and a half hours or so, we made it to our hotel room alive, in one piece, and dead tired.
Like I said, it was a road trip in the most primitive sense.
posted by Jeff at 6:48 PM
6 Comments:
Ugh!!! I am SO jealous!!! :) I reeeeeaaaaally wish I was there. no fair no fair. I'm glad you're taking so many great pictures though. but seriously, no fair. :)
i know, windy. i was thinking about you the whole time, wishing you could see everything with me. we'll come back together, okay?
that was the weirdest thing i have ever seen.
then you obviously didn't see my comment on day 2.
i meant day 3.
no i didn't- jeff told me about it after i wrote the comment.
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