We left our house around 8:55 p.m. and headed towards Rainier. We stopped and got gas on our way towards I-5, the freeway we will be on for a very long time. Doug drove all of Washington and all of Oregon. We crossed into Oregon around 10:45 p.m. Our first stop was just after Salem, at a rest stop called Santiam. We used the restroom and Doug got some free coffee. During our long trip down Oregon, we watched Friends, the complete collection that my friend Shauna let me borrow this summer.
July 4
I watched and he listened to it while he drove. It was time to get gas when we got to Sutherlin, Oregon. We used the bathroom, got gas (which Doug almost got out and pumped himself) and got a couple of snacks while we were at the gas station. From there we drove all the way to the border. We entered California around 3:45 a.m. A few minutes later we had to stop; at what it looked like was a toll. We were like what? A toll on I-5? Neither of us remembered coming down to California in the past and had to stop before. We started digging for some change. We stopped and the guy asked if we had any fruit. We were like, no. He said okay, thanks and we continued on our way. We did have some fruit in the car, canned peaches and pears, but the guy probably wasn’t looking for that kind of fruit. A bit later, we stopped at the first rest stop and I took over driving because Doug could not drive in California because of his DUI.
This was the reason why we were going down there in the first place. It was around 4 a.m. at that point and no one was on the roads except the random semi-truck every now and then. I drove throughout Northern California near the mountains and you could see Mount Shasta as dawn approached near the horizon. We came out of the mountains and into Redding, where we stopped for gas and a potty break. To our surprise, not a darn thing was open. We expected things to be open at 6 a.m.
First we got gas but the store wasn’t open, so we looked for another store that was open. We found one after Doug had walked over to the Denny’s to use the restroom. I bought a little thing of milk to go with our doughnuts we brought with us on our trip. I had a few and drank some of my milk. A while down I-5, I really needed to brush my teeth and wash my face, so we found the nearest rest stop. It felt so nice to get a little cleaned up, since we had been in the car from about 10-12 hours already. We started to hit up the boring-out-in-the-middle part of nowhere of California.
As we approached Sacramento, something all of a sudden hit me and I needed to find a bathroom NOW! Thank god we were near a rest stop. As luck would have it, the women’s potty was being cleaned and we had to use the porta potty across the parking lot. Just my luck once again, the porta potty I picked had no toilet paper in it. I couldn’t call anyone to bring me some because I left my phone in the car. So I sat there pondering what my next move was. I was so thankful that the porta potty had seat covers. I took a bunch of them and saved the day. I went out to look for mom and she was walking around because we’ve been sitting for at least 150 miles. By the time I caught up to her, I had to rush to the other porta potty, the one that HAD toilet paper in it. Oh man it was awful, mostly because I knew me being in there was wasting precious minutes of our drive. We still had a long way to go. I thought it was over so I got back in the car and it was mom’s turn to drive. We got going almost out of Sacramento when the uh oh feeling came back. “Uhhg…I hafta poop again!” “Well, let me find a place to pull over.” We stopped at a convenience store, went in and died. A while later I returned the key and bought a Gatorade, thinking that I was dehydrated after all the pooping I’ve done so far. I got back in the car and we were off once again. A bit later it hit me again. This time we had another convenience store at our disposal. While I was in there, mom and Doug made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I bought some Peptol Bismol to see if it would take the horrible away. We got back in the car and we were off again. I was so tired I passed out for about a half hour-45 minutes.
Then it started getting hot in the car and it was uncomfortable. I don’t know if it was a side effect of the tummy meds or not, but I had to pee so bad, we pulled off on the next exit and peed off of the side of the road. We then started down the road once again. Mom said we should stop and get gas soon. We found a Shell station off of the next exit near the Fresno county line. I got out to help mom get gas and to wash the wind shield, when we heard this very loud hissing sound. We looked down at the front driver’s side tire and it was losing air so fast, it was already flat. I got into the car to move it into the parking lot out of the way. Our hearts sank. More time wasted. It was hot, we were frustrated and we were out in the middle of the San Joaquin valley. Mom went inside the store and asked about getting the tire fixed. They gave her a bunch of business cards and she chose to call a 24-hour tire repair from Firebaugh and he would be at the gas station in about 20 minutes. My phone was on the verge of dying so I scouted out an area to plug it in. I found an outlet near the ice machine in the front of the store while we waited. I also looked at my road maps while we waited. I tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible. The truck finally rolled in and he got to work finding out why the tire was flat and mom hoping that the problem wasn’t too expensive.
He had trouble getting his air pressure machine going. Once he did get it going, it didn’t take him long to jack it up, take the tire off and to find out why the tire all of a sudden became flat. He got our attention and showed us the plastic pointy piece that was poked into out tire and the tire tube. We looked at it as it almost looked like it came from a bumper of another vehicle and we only could have run it over while getting on the short road to the Shell station. We paid the man $115 bucks for an emergency holiday flat tire fixin’. After an hour of waiting, we were finally on our way again. We stopped again to get gas and to go potty once again at the rest stop just before the Grapevine. That’s when mom decided that it was time for me to drive again. From there, I drove the entire trip until we got just north of Salt Lake City on the way home. The Grapevine was not that bad, there were a few trucks, cars and SUV’s on the side of the freeway with very unhappy people waiting for some help. Once we got up and over the Grapevine, you could see the smog indicating we were getting closer to L.A. I’ve been to L.A. a total three times and all three times were horrible horrible traffic. This time through was a miracle. I didn’t have to stop or slow down or wait to have California drivers cut me off or swerve in front of me. It was actually a nice drive through L.A. Probably because it was the 4th of July and everyone was either camping, at an event or celebrating it at home. I found out fireworks were illegal in California. I was still bitter at my brother for being stupid and taking my favorite holiday away from me this year. Just my luck huh? Oh well, there is always next year. While we drove through the L.A. area, we pointed out certain things mom has never seen before. This was her first time to L.A. since she was a teenager. Things had changed a lot. From L.A. there were still lots of miles to go before we were in San Diego. A few hours later we finally made it to San Diego and it was over case and much cooler than we were used to. We got to I-8 and headed towards El Cajon and Descanso, where Genna and Nate lived. Doug even showed us where he got pulled over as we passed that exit. I thought San Diego was a lot closer to where Genna and Nate lived. We thought we should stop for gas so we pulled over in Alpine for a few minutes. We kept driving east and the drive kept going and going. When would we get there? Doug kept on saying oh, it’s just around the corner. Yeah right, 20 miles later we finally hit the exit and got off. At this point, Doug and I have been up for over 36 hours. We got there and they welcomed us to their house and had steaks BBQing in their pit.
Genna showed us the little guest house where we were going to stay. We started unpacking the car. The food was done so we went inside and had some steaks, homemade bread from flax, that Genna made, we had some of our potato salad we brought with us and she made a cake to enjoy after our meal. After I finished my food, brushed my teeth and washed my face. I watched some Friends on the portable DVD player we brought and then passed out. Doug stayed up longer with Genna and Nate as they watched Hot Tub Time Machine. He ended up spending the night on the couch. Mom and I were in the guest house, she on the futon and me on my sleeping pad/sleeping bags. For some reason it was the best sleep ever.
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