It’s Wednesday afternoon. I drove about 700 miles yesterday and another 250 miles this morning. By now I’m a bit tired, but also glad I made it back to California. A few more days until my flight home, so it’s nice that I can relax a bit before that.
Yesterday I decided to take a scenic route through the mountains, from Telluride to Ouray to Silverton and Durango. The road between Ouray and Silverton is called Million Dollar Highway and is a beautiful high mountain road. It’s nice to visit those mountain towns which look like they’ve been the same in the last 200 years or so. They have basically one main road with restaurants, bars and stores and a few side streets with houses.
When I drive out of Durango the scenery starts to change and the mountains slowly make place for desert land. In one day I drive through five states: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. I’m trying to get to Los Angeles tonight and keep driving until after sunset. When I’m getting really tired around 10.30pm I decide that it’s probably smarter to call it a day and I drive to a truckers rest place. Next to a long line of trucks I park my minivan and climb in the back of the car. Because I’m at a much lower altitude, my air mattress has lost a lot of air and is a bit soft, but I’m so tired that I can’t care much about it. I quickly fall asleep despite the sounds of the trucks and the highway.
In the morning I wake up around 5am feeling well rested. I slept surprisingly well and am ready to continue driving. I realize that it’s an hour earlier in California and that I won a hour back. It’s still about 5-6 hours driving to San Diego. The road is relatively quiet at this time of the day and I enjoy the drive with the sunrise behind me. I continue listening to the audiobook of Arnold Schwarzenegger which I started yesterday. It’s very interesting to hear his stories about his time as a bodybuilder, actor and governor of California. It makes the drive also go a bit faster. I decide to drive to one of my favorite coffee places, Pannikin in Encinitas, for breakfast and coffee. Around 10am I arrive there and thankfully get one of the few parking spots right next to the coffee place. After I enjoy a great breakfast burrito, a cup of coffee and a cinnamon roll and some more coffee, I sit down for some reading and writing time. I write about my highlights of this trip, like visiting grandma and being in Telluride and Ouray. It’s just over a month that I left this place and I’ve seen and experienced a lot since then. The weeks have flown by. I’m thankful for a great vacation and I’m ready to go home again in a few days.
