GoodBye Sacramento--Hello Road

Hello ZigZags All, Need to add some comments to our Sacramento sojourn. I forgot to mention that on the day we arrived at John and Cindy's we watched LadyBird, which Cindy calls a love letter to Sacramento. I had it on my to watch list so was really thrilled to see it, especially since I didn't realize it was primarily filmed within blocks of their house. it was fun to watch with them since they told us where each of the locations were. Also a bit about the writer/director of the film since it is semi-autobiographical. When they took us to our motel the first time, I rode with Cindy and John rode with Barb in our car. Cindy gave me a tour of the locations, which was really cool. The blue house, for those of you who have seen the movie IS blue though not as vibrant as it filmed and there IS a flag in the front. It has been sold since the movie was filmed and, were I the new owner, I'd repaint it so that rubber neckers like me couldn't pick it out and slow down and stare at it! LOL The other thing I forgot to tell you was that one of the nights when we were left off at the hotel we decided to have a drink before bed. A young woman was sitting at the bar also while we were gabbing with Germaine, the bar man. It was getting close to 10 and there were about five people behind the bar getting it ready to close. Finally, the young woman spoke up to ask where her brussel sprout bowl was. Germaine knew nothing about it and asked the others, none of whom owned up to knowing about her order. Germaine, very embarrassed and flustered, got going on the order. I could see the woman was getting quite angry and I apologized for having tied Germaine up and commented that she looked tired. She admitted that she had just arrived from North Carolina on a flight--a long trip--and was tired and hungry. I told her that I could relate to late arrivals after a long trip. To make a long story short she is a nurse involved with kidney machines and she travels and teaches doctors and nurses who are using the equipment. Seems she had done the same thing at Med Ctr of Vt in Burlington and loved Stowe. By the time the sprouts arrived I'd gotten her calmed down and relaxed. We left her to enjoy her meal and left Germaine safe from complaint. Back to last night--Cindy texted us to ask if we could go to dinner earlier since her friend,Dana, who was joining us had her meeting canceled. We said sure and John came to get us. We walked up to the corner to one of the local small restaurants in their neighborhood. We all had the chicken balsamic walnut apple salad, except Cindy who had an arugula + pizza. She had red wine and Dana, Barb and I shared a bottle of Lava Cap chardonnay. Lots of fun conversation, including Dana's experiences on the African safari from which she returned about a month ago. What a delightful person--we all clicked immediately--and felt sad that we hadn't gotten together with her sooner or that we weren't staying a bit longer. But, the four of us had been running the roads and having such fun that we were all pooped. Plus, Barb and I really need to get a move on toward home, sad though that makes us on one hand, anxious to get home on the other. So, today--I awoke at 430 and was restless until 7 when we finally got up. We went out to the car to rearrange our new acquisitions before taking out our luggage. We had stopped for a black cherry old fashioned night cap last night and Hazel was working once more. She was our waitress on our first night . A delightful 31 year old with two young children and husband. We'd chatted with her quite a bit that evening and last night we chatted some more before she left for the evening. She said she'd be on this morning and would look for us. As we were finishing our drink, Lisa came over to our table--the nurse from Carolina. She said she was getting a flight this morning but wasn't sure she'd be able to fly to NC with Michael causing so much havoc. I asked if her 14 year old son was safe and she said, yes, he was with her ex. We didn't see her this morning but Hazel was not only working but HAD looked for us and purchased large coffees for us. She had celebrated her 31 st birthday with her family in the two days since we'd seen her. She went to the back to bring out the sparkly tee that her girls had bought her. Such a doll. It was hard to say good=bye and she said she'd miss us, too. The whole staff at the Marriott was wonderful and we got to know many of them--it was almost like family saying good-bye to many of them. I called Cindy once we were on the road to thank her once more and let her know we were on our way. She said she slept well last night and was rested but that she was just taking it easy today--lol We took 99S that does eventually go to LA but it curves more Eastward than 5 and we are staying in Bakersfield tonight. The road and traffic weren't too bad though one town just runs into the next with grape vines, cotton fields, fruit and nut trees and various agricultural businesses or plants interspersed among them. Familiar names, Lodi, Merced, Fresno--Dad spoke of them all when we were young. We had planned on stopping in Fresno to tour the underground home and gardens of the Human Mole. We got a late start today and decided to forgo it. Barb was there in the 60's with our parents and I visited them with Roger and Cindy back in the 70's so it isn't as though we haven't seen them. It is a fascinating underground home and gardens that a farmer in the early 20th century built for himself and family to escape the heat of the desert. Would have been nice to see them once more but we covered almost 300 miles today and wanted to get to the motel early. Now, I'm going to have my leftover Matteo pizza for dinner and figure out where our next stop will be. I'd like to aim for Kingman Az but it may be too far for one day's drive. We shall see what we shall see. Until then, take care, with hugs from BarbZig and KatZag