Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Yesterday, I made a roughly 600 km / 375 mile trip to visit my father, who I haven't seen for some years.

( The Trip Outbound )

I pulled up at my father's house just after Noon. I masked up before coming inside. Neither Dad or his wife (my stepmother) said anything, but I volunteered right away that because of my father's health and because I have no idea who I might have encountered lately, I wanted to protect him. To my massive relief, they responded enthusiastically about that. They still go out masked to stay protected.

We visited for around four hours, and could have gone longer, but Dad was starting to look tired, and I had a long way still to go, so I left around 4 PM. I decided to drive out of the way to go visit my childhood home in Challenge. Those of you who have followed my journal for a while know that I inherited that house from my grandfather through my mother, and that the property had fallen into severe disrepair, but that I sold it to someone who initially was only interested in salvaging lumber from an outbuilding. What I found was surprising, but I think it's good news.

( Taking the Long Way Home )

Then it was back down the La Porte/Willow Glen/Marysville Roads to CA-20 and home via Grass Valley/Nevada City. I was rained on off any on during the drive, but nothing serious. I did not take any more photos, which is perhaps too bad because there were some interesting views along the way. I made a lot of bathroom breaks, as I've had to do a lot these days, and picked up a take-out burger on the edge of Reno that I ate on the way home.

Most of the snow that engulfed the Donner Summit rest areas is gone, although there's still plenty of snow nearby. To my annoyance, both rest areas were closed, and furthermore, the scenic overlook on CA-20 that used to have pit toilets no longer has them. Because I anticipate making this trip a few more times, I explored a couple of the campgrounds, and found at least one where it looks like I could park at a trail head and use the toilets there.

CA-20 is also under an immense reconstruction project that appears to be meaning to, as the Dukes of Hazzard TV show theme song says, "straightening the curves; flattening the hills." I'm glad I didn't come through on a weekday when they are working.

Lisa did not come with me on this trip. We had contemplated spending the night in Oroville and then driving home through the Feather River Canyon. However, not only was Lisa not up to the trip, but CA-70 is apparently closed all summer except for a few windows to clear landslides from this past winter.

I'm glad I made this trip, and hope to be less of a stranger and visit my father more often. I was very tired when I got home, but I'd had so many caffeinated drinks to keep me moving during the day that it took a couple of hours to come down sufficiently to sleep. Surprisingly, I only slept for six hours overnight, plus a two hour nap late in the morning. Maybe I'll be able to get back on schedule for tomorrow.

This is the first of two trips I have scheduled over the mountains in two weeks. I'll have more to say about the second trip later this coming week.

I was overdue for lab tests, and my doctor is still in the Bay Area. Palo Alto Medical Foundation is part of Sutter Health. The nearest lab to me that is open on weekends is in Auburn, but if we had to go that far, there were a couple of places in Roseville and Sacramento that we figured we could visit on an out-and-back day trip. Today was the first day we had available in a long time that was clear enough that we felt safe making a trip over the mountains and back again in one day. I decided to go to the lab in Roseville, which is open 7 AM - Noon on Saturday. In order to be sure of having plenty of time, I planned for us to leave at 4 AM.

( But First, Breakfast )

After enjoying our breakfast, we got moving at 4:30 AM. The sun doesn't rise until about 7 AM, and I reckon this portion of the trip was probably the most hazardous part, what with potentially icy conditions and some difficult keeping track of the correct lane due to the pavement markings being a little tricky to see due to snow removal having obscured them in places. But on the flip side, there was very little traffic.

( Snow Up Top )

We made it to Roseville about 8 AM, and there was hardly anyone else at the lab. I was in and out in under ten minutes. The presented a quandary: the two places we wanted to which we wanted to go today wouldn't open for another two hours. Lisa made a suggestion, and it led to us doing something we've wanted to do for a long time.

( Waylaid by an Aerospace Museum )

We only spent a couple of hours at the museum, and could have spent more, but we did want to get home (or at least back over the mountains) before dark. We may return to explore in more depth some of the museum's offerings, like their Flight Zone simulator. By now the shops we wanted to visit were open, so we moved on after I got a coffee from the museum's Old Crow cafe, named for and with decor inspired by the aircraft of WWII Triple Ace Colonel Clarence “Bud” Anderson.

There is a Ham Radio Outlet store in Sacramento. It used to be in Oakland, but relocated to Sacramento some years ago. Lisa had never visited this store. She bought a new antenna, but is still searching for the right mount for it. Now that we own the East Lot, she has more ideas for things to do radio-wise, with no danger of annoying the next-door neighbor.

Next is was back to Roseville and Railroad Hobbies. Lisa bought nothing here, but I'm a sucker for books and magazines.

( More About Tonopah )

After Roseville, we headed to Auburn, where we stopped at the Raley's grocery store and bought stuff for lunch. We initially planned to go up to the Gold Run rest area, but I had a better idea that turned out much better as it happens that Gold Run (not the same as Gold Ranch in Verdi NV) is closed for repairs.

( It's a (not very) Secret )

No trains came by while we were there, although we did see several other trains along the line both going to Sacramento and coming home.

We stopped at the Donner Summit rest area eastbound. The contrast between the pre-dawn darkness and under bright afternoon sun is striking.

( Still Lots of Snow )

We made one more stop, this time at Gold Ranch where I cashed my $7 of winning lottery tickets, but then bought $20 more because the PowerBall is up to more than half a billion dollars.

By now, Lisa, who did not get as much sleep as I did and was very fatigued, let Kuma Bear move up to the front seat of the Astro and set herself up to nap in the rear seat as I drove the remaining fifty miles home. We got home while it was still light.

( Not Much Snow Left )

I'd put a lot of wood in the fireplace before we left this morning, and there was still plenty of heat in the fireplace when I got home. I brought in more wood from the main box so that if I wish, I need go no farther than the front porch tomorrow.

All in all, it was a plenty good day, although driving 300 miles is more tiring than it used to be. I'm glad we got to see the museum, and got out for a good day away from home, which is good for our mental health.

Saturday was the first SFSFC Board of Directors meeting after we won the Tonopah Westercon bid, and my committee's report was longer than all of the other SFSFC committees combined, in large part because we don't really have a full-blown Westercon 74 committee in place, and so I'm having to lean upon the SFSFC board (some of whom will be part of WC74) for now until I get everything arranged.

After the meeting, I had multiple errands, one of which was time-constrained. At the recommendation of Andy Trembley and Kevin Roche, I drove down to a thrift store in South San Jose near where they live and bought a large crockery drink serving container they'd seen there. That should be useful for Tonopah hospitality, but it's heavy. It was very inexpensive, however. I might have spent more on fuel in the Rolling Stone than the cost of the crock.

Then the time constraints started to kick in. Lisa had asked me to go to Ham Radio Outlet to buy 50 feet of a particularly type of cable that she's not been able to locate in the Reno area on account of all of the electronic stores are gone. The HRO in Sunnyvale closed a while ago, so the only one available was in Oakland, and it closes at 5:30 PM. However, I'd not had lunch other than a food bar after the SFSFC meeting, so I really had to stop and have something to eat. After that it was an annoyingly slow slog up I-880, which even on a Saturday included a long slowdown that stretched from Union City to near Oakland Airport before finally freeing up. I made it to HRO with 20 minutes to spare and picked up the cable.

Having now pointed in the direction of home, I either needed to back-track to Sunnyvale (not desirable) or keep going. Fortunately, other than another slowdown around the Caldecott Tunnels, it was pretty smooth sailing up to Sacramento, including another meal stop at Cordelia Junction and a fuel stop on the edge of Sacramento at the Pilot 49er Truck Stop. I didn't get to the nursing home until around 9 PM, just as Kelli was getting ready for bed, but I delivered a package of chocolate to her and some other things she'd requested, briefly filled her in on my adventures for the past week, and promised to come visit her around her birthday (first weekend of August).

( Making the Best of the Layover )

After a relaxing breakfast with a cool Sierra breeze wafting through the window, I set off for home, stopping at Truckee for more coffee and at the Pilot truck stop just before I got home because I was concerned that I might run out of gas. In fact, I was down to only three gallons, which is only 27 miles' range on the RV, but it wasn't quite running on fumes.

Lisa helped me unload the RV, we went and got some groceries, and I'm working on unpacking things and getting back to "home normal" for a few days.

I was prepared to sleep in this morning, but the bed wasn't very good and I did wake up in time to watch the very end of yesterday's Australian Open coverage. That, however was as much due to the last match ending quite late down in Melbourne.

( Leaving the Coach and 4 )

I had time to look around this morning after I checked out and before I had breakfast, so I sought out one of the last remaining bits of railroad history in Grass Valley.

( A Little Late for the Train )

I had breakfast at Lumberjack's Restaurant (which is okay, but not as good as the Wigwam or Black Bear Diner). Rather than getting on the freeway, I ambled around surface roads (mostly old CA-20) the short distance to Nevada City. Lisa and I have meant to come spend a few days here exploring the area, probably sometime when we can stay at the hotel that is connected to the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum by rail.

Along the way my phone buzzed at me. I pulled over to look at it. It was a text that purported to be an alert telling me my bank account was locked and providing a phone number to call. This sounded phishy to me, so I called Bank of America at their contact number (not the number in the text). Not to my surprise, they confirmed that there was nothing wrong with my account and this was a fraud attempt that I could safely ignore. With that, I got on CA-20 and headed west.

While I hate driving this road at night or in bad weather, it's not bad at all when the pavement is dry and the weather good. I still can't keep up the pace that other vehicles want to set on this twisting mountain highway, but I use pullouts and get out of the way when I can. As I climbed into the mountains, snow appeared on the trees.

( Pretty When You Don't Have to Drive in It )

I had a couple of errands to run in Reno, and as I completed the last one, the clear sunny skies that I had at Cisco Grove and over Donner Summit had given way to gloomy gray. I was glad to get home. The forecast tonight is for snow, and while the roads are still open with no restrictions as I write this, should the predicted snow arrive, that won't last.

This was my second time across the mountains in two weeks. I'm scheduled to do it again next weekend, weather permitting. At the moment, the long-range forecast looks good. We'll see what it's like in a few days.

I needed to go see my sister at the nursing facility in Sacramento as I continue to sort out things on her behalf. In addition, there are some things Lisa and I want for the Worldcon trip that can't be easily had in Reno. So this morning, we set off for Sacramento. Neither of us had had a good night's sleep, in part because of the heat. Until we got near Truckee, there was a whole lot of smoke in the air, mostly I think from the Long Valley Fire north of Reno. The Farad Fire that closed I-80 for quite a while last week is reported as 100% contained, and the areas near the freeway are burned out by now.

We went to the Roseville Galleria (nearest Lush store) for the after-shave ointment I use and some "toothy tab" substitutes for toothpaste I prefer to use on long trips because it's neater than tubes of toothpaste. Then it was on to Fry's for some bits of electronics that Lisa and I wanted. By then we were already wilting from the heat, which wasn't more than a degree or two hotter than Fernley, but significantly more humid. I suggested lunch, but neither of us was very hungry. So we went to the nursing facility, which at least was cooler.

( Errand of Telephone Mercy )

After spending time with my sister, Lisa and I were hungry, despite the heat, so we set off east, stopping at In-N-Out in Rocklin (we've given up on the Auburn location because it seems to always be over-crowded), ate burgers, and turned for home. We stopped only at Donner Summit for a rest break and just before home to get some milk and yogurt for my breakfast tomorrow.

( The Summit Snow is Finally Gone. Well, Mostly )

It was pretty comfortable at the summit, but we needed to get home, so we pressed on. The house was, as expected, very hot and stuffy, but the overnight low is supposed to get down to 18°C tonight and once the sun went down it started cooling nicely. We have the fans and coolers running full-tilt. Once it's cool enough to do so, I must get some sleep. It's another busy week at the Day Jobbe, and a number of both Westercon and WSFS tasks, plus personal preparations for the Helsinki trip, are looming.

I confirmed with my mechanic in Fremont the arrangements for me reclaiming the Astro this weekend. It's a good thing I didn't try to go on Saturday when he had gone away on a trip; it was parked trapped behind other vehicles in his yard. I have therefore purchased a one-way ticket Reno-Emeryville-Fremont for this Saturday. I'll collect the minivan and stay in a hotel somewhere between Fremont and Sacramento, visit my sister on Sunday, and drive home. Theoretically I could just drive home on Saturday, but I don't want to risk it. Unlike the RV, I can't just easily pull over and take a nap. (I did once stop for the night at the Gold Run rest area on I-80 when driving home in the Rolling Stone because I'd gotten away from work so late that day.)

I'm looking forward to the train ride through the Sierra with all of the snow they've had up there. The drive home is less fun, of course. I'm glad that I don't have to make the trips as often as I used to do.

Bandwidth restrictions through the Sierra kept me from including the photos I took yesterday, but here they are now.

( Yet More Train Pictures )

Later in the day, as we left Colfax, I was able to get a few pictures of views you can't get heading west because the westbound track is in a tunnel and misses "Cape Horn" on the original Central Pacific route.

( Rounding Cape Horn )

This trip is worth it just for the scenery.

Lisa and I managed to get away from Fernley about 10:30. We stopped at the Carson City Nugget for lunch, and Lisa then drove us on to South Lake Tahoe, where we intended to just make a quick coffee stop; however, we wandered into the alpaca shop there and Lisa found something very nice, which I offered to buy as her Christmas present if she didn't object to me having no wrapped present for her on Christmas day. She then further offered to drive on up to Echo Summit and beyond to give me a chance to actually look at the scenery over US-50, which I've never been able to do before, particularly inasmuch as I've not driven that route many times.

Both Lisa and I accumulated tails of cars wanting to drive faster than us. It wasn't snowing, but it was wet and US-50 had chain controls yesterday, so the conditions weren't ideal. I was happy to be able to see some spectacular scenery, although I took no photos until after we'd traded places again (pulling over to let a train of cars go by) and I decided to pull out to take a picture of Bridal Veil Falls.

( Roadside Waterfall )

After confirming where we have to be tomorrow morning, we continued on to El Dorado Hills, where the upgrade-fu at the Holiday Inn Express was strong and we got one of the better hotel rooms I think we've had in our many travels.

( The Room Goes Ever On and On )

Not wanting to do any more traveling around tonight or go out to dinner, we walked to the Nugget Market (high-end grocery) at the opposite end of the shopping center in which this hotel is located. There we bought fixings for dinner, including some of the high-end eggnog that Lisa likes. (I like it too, but I shouldn't drink much of it because of my diabetes.) We were perfectly happy to come back to the room and have a nice leisurely dinner and relax in our nice hotel room. Tomorrow morning we have to be up and about and get into our nice clothes to go back up the hill to Placerville to be at my friend Rick Hallock's wedding, a planned simple civil ceremony at the county clerk-recorder's office.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted some photos from the Donner Summit area. Because the westbound vista point doesn't have a good view of the lake, I was not able to do the lake justice. On my most recent eastbound crossing, I corrected that.

( More photos from the Sierra Nevada )

I made excellent time driving from San Jose on Friday, managing to avoid most of the traffic tie-ups except for a small one near Reno due to a traffic accident. Because I got to Reno early, I stopped and did an errand there, and therefore didn't get back home to Fernley until a bit after 8 PM.