On the road to the Eclipse August 2017

We left Klystronia central at oh dark 30. Stopped to grab a doughnut and we’re off. Took the back roads from Oxnard California to highway 126. Headed east to the 5 freeway. Turned north and up over the grape vine (the mountain pass from LA to the central valley of California).

Starting up the grape vine I set the cruise control to the limit, 65 miles an hour (and yes I was the slowest car on the road). The old Prius will keep it at 65 up hill and down. The car does make a moaning sound when the battery is fully charged by regenerative braking.

Hit the flat strip in central valley and the speed limit went up to 75. Except for a restroom stop and a Subway lunch we made time till we hit Stockton. I don’t know what the problem was, but it took us 45 minutes to go a couple of miles.

We drove into Weed California where I was planning to stay over night. It was still daylight and my friend said to drive on.

I had my friend dig out the tour book from the glove box. He cell phoned in a hotel reservation in Klamath Falls, Or. We now had a new goal. At Weed we turned onto US 97. The scenic route. It was late when we pulled into the hotel in Klamath Falls. The air was heavy with smoke form a forest fire. The hotel was three times the normal price. It was only the 18th and still days from the eclipse on the 21st, but all the hotels in the town were over priced.

What does this have to do with writing? The car was on cruse control most of the way. Would not be that hard to image a self driving car. Would you trust your car to drive itself safely and take a nap. Sitting in a car for over 13 hours is a pain. Don’t forget to add that to your story. How many characters get out of a car after driving to some remote spot and they’re fresh as a daisy. No stiff legs. No sore bottoms. No exhaustion. Even having someone else drive it tiring to ride in a car. Also the air conditioning is good in my car, but in over 100 degree temperatures outside it’s still hot. The black dash board in new cars radiates heat.

Over 700 miles traveled in one day, and over 100 miles of that on two lane roads. Over 13 hours of driving. There’s nothing like doing it to be able to write about it.

Stay strong, write on.        Professor Hyram Voltage