Reunion, Part 1

It had been nearly five-years since I last visited the North Coast. I was a little nervous and excited at the same time and wasn’t sure what to expect.

My trip began on a rather rocky note as I had worked the night before and didn’t make it home until after midnight. Then because of nerves or what have you, I found it hard to fall asleep, so I was dragging by the time the alarm rang at six that morning.

My plan was to get on the road by 7 a.m., but an hour and a half later I found myself pumping gas into my truck, still in town. I’ve learned over the years that when a trip begins this way – that’s the pattern it’ll maintain.

By the time I rolled into Susanville, my bladder was kicking at me to let it out of the barn. I had drunk three cups of coffee and it was obvious I needed relief.

My wife used to manage the Port of Subs sandwich shop in S’ville.  So I knew right where to go – the gas station that shares the same parking lot as her old business.

Not only do they have bathrooms – they have coffee. It was the perfect choice.

Unfortunately, a team of Cal-State Hotshots were at the station and they were busy with the bathroom. I waited about three-minutes before I decided to us the women’s restroom, which was not marked as being exclusive to the fairer sex.

Minutes later, I bought another cup of coffee and found myself back on the road, turning from U.S. 395 to State Route 44. Fortunately the only time I had to slow down between S’ville and Redding was when I made the stop sign connecting 44 with route 36.

As usual, I stopped in Redding to fuel up. The gas station that I frequent had been a service station, then gas and food mart and is finally a coffee kiosk and fueling station, today.

The first bit of slow traffic I met was shortly after I hopped on Highway 299 from Interstate 5. I found myself tucked behind a couple of travel trailers that made the corners very slowly, but managed to speed up and pull away from everyone in the straight stretches.

Eventually, I made it around them and was able to go jus’ slightly faster than the speed limit from there until I run into highway construction. This brought everyone heading towards the coast to a complete stand still for about 20-minutes.

I was actually thankful for the opportunity to get out and stretch a bit, so it wasn’t bad.

It took me another four-and-a-half hours to cross over the Del Norte County line and race across the Bear Bridge. Too bad I couldn’t stop at the time and walk around my old stomping grounds.

I had a an appointment to keep.