Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Biggest Flood SInce the Days of Noah?

I really don't know why it always has to be this way!  It seems as if every time I have to drive cross-country we end up in a deluge that would drown a dolphin.  This morning we woke up, very early, in the Dalles, Oregon...at the entrance to the Columbia River Gorge.  It was raining.  As a matter of fact we got into rain Monday evening just past Ritzville, and it lasted all the way into The Dalles area.  We hit the road just after 7 this morning, with a light rain falling, and it got heavier, and heavier and heavier.  Other than a couple of 10 minute drier stretches...one just south of Salem, OR and the other near Yreka, CA...it was non-stop.  All day long the windshield wipers were passing before my face, back and forth, over and over, back and forth.  The total was 29,761 times that those things passed before my face...I counted!  To make things even more interesting the rain turned into a heavy snow above 3,000 feet in the mountains of northern California.  There were some pretty slushy stretches, but that didn't seem to slow down anything with a California license tag..."Let them truckers roll...10-4 good buddy!"

We rolled into the Sacramento area just about 6pm, and just as the rain began to let up.  We are hunkered down at the Ramada Inn and Plaza (whatever that is?  I think that it's just a term to attach to the name so that they can hike up the rate about 25 bucks)  The room is decent, functional, and the toilet works, so we got just about everything we need.  For dinner we headed for what might be our favorite pizza place in the world...no second favorite, the favorite is a little place that we will never be able to find again in Naples, Italy.  Here in Sacra-tomato the place to be for pizza pie is Zelda's Gourmet Pizza on 21st Street just east of downtown.  We had the a sausage pizza and a pesto, and there is plenty left over for lunch on the road tomorrow.  Speaking of the road tomorrow, it's going to rain again.  There may also be a little snow up on top of the "Grapevine", and elevated stretch of I-5 that separates the San Joaquin Valley from the LA area.  Along the way we will be crossing over Badger Pass...which is a good omen for the upcoming Rose Bowl game on Saturday afternoon.

Time to wrap this up.  I am sitting next to the window of the hotel room, and there is a full gale blowing out there.  Any minute now one of those trees out there is likely to make an appearance in the room by way of the window.

More to come tomorrow...from the road to the Rose Bowl...On Wisconsin!!!

Oh, by the way, if you are looking for pictures...there aren't any.  We couldn't see much of anything all day!

No comments:

Post a Comment