Passing Through Soda Springs

On February 2nd I wrote that that morning I was up at a normal time. I texted my departure to everyone. I grabbed a few things and packed up my rented four by four SUV and got ready to go to see friends in Soda Springs.

The bridge started OK but there was a collision at the island so it got slow. I drove through Vallejo to Fairfield. At Vacaville I got coffee and a pastry. My sister texted doom because of the weather and traffic reports. It was hard to organize the stuff but I managed to get out of town, on to Davis through light rain. A bit later I passed through Sacramento.

The landscape looked quiet until Auburn – very little rain. I stopped at Raley’s. In the store I was being really loud and was concerned about him messing up but I managed just fine. Later I got gas but had to go back to the store after receiving a text message.

At this point I was frustrated at the weather and my bad timing. However, I pushed on to Applegate where big trucks checked their tires and continued through Colfax where I saw a train on the tracks. I got nervous when I encountered chain control at Baxter but they waved me through.

From there I climbed to Yuba Gap and climbed into Cisco Grove. Visibility was OK but definitely impaired. At this point I was in the four by four mode and thought that I could trust it. It felt really strange to just click it on with the switch of a knob. I was driving slow to avoid trouble.

I was still nervous though. Cars started passing me near Kingvale but a bit later they slowed nearly to a halt because of a second chain control. I said thanks to the guy on the side of the road checking cars. Norden was interesting because the exit was easy. However, the way that the plough had serviced it made it hard to find where to drive – there was a bit of a lip in the berm.

As I was passing through Soda Springs I had to wait at the train crossing. I took a selfie. It was very exciting. Quietly waiting I’ve pointed at the different types of train cars. I braved the roads as I drove up into the residential areas but the car was great. I found that it was better to back into the driveway downhill after turning around.

I parked, my hostess helped unpack food and I shoveled a spot for myself and what I knew would be a second car. That was when the others returned from skiing. I was just about to go inside. I had to help them and it was not easy.

Dinner was served then and it was pretty loud. After this I wound down the room in which I had left all my bags. My hostess was there. When I was done I tidied and had some beers with the guests - mostly a couple of friends of the host and hostess. I did some writing and got ready for bed.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.