Road Trip!!!

Tomorrow I'm supposed to pick up a piano, and I've spent the last couple of days contemplating my best option. On Saturday afternoon, I decided that I shall try to fit it into the van. However, the van was not in my driveway, the van was in my son's possession. ROADTRIP!!!

I started my engine at 6:10am and headed out. It was a dark and stormy morning. My early pictures are a bust. The stone fruit and nut trees are beginning their yearly blossom cycle, and I was bummed that you can't see how gorgeous the orchards are.

Fast forward an hour or so, and you reach this beautiful stretch north of Madera. Here, they've seeded wildflowers...and they're going wild.

Obviously I am not stopping for pictures. I tried to zoom without looking, and took multiple frames of asphalt.

The orange is spectacular, and it all seems to be a blur...

I am the only one on the road this Sunday morning. The views are lovely, and I have them all to myself. The wildflowers are growing on both sides of the freeway.

I made a pitstop at McDonalds in Ripon. As I pulled back towards the freeway, I got a nice, still shot of an orchard. Look at those trees. They're working to feed you and me. Yay, trees!!

My destination?

That doesn't help? How about this? (Notice the yellow bike sign?)


Or this?I arrived in Davis at 10:15am. After waking both of my boys, I took them out to breakfast. Then I swapped vehicles with the youngest, and was back on the road by 12:30pm.

Davis may be an Ag town, but it seems a bit unkempt, compared to the farming communities I've driven through on my way up here.

It's looking a bit gloomier than it was a few hours ago.

Have you ever seen a rice field? Rice is planted under the Causeway, between Sacramento and Davis.

Wow. The weather is really picking up. I'm still one of the few people driving in it.

I'm getting a bit restless. I look around. One scene hasn't changed much in the past 7 hours...

The sun began breaking through in the west. As I squinted from the glare, I glanced to the east. Grab the camera, point and shoot! I can't believe I caught it. The rainbow was picture perfect, and you could see both the beginning and end.

Finally, here is the last shot I was looking for.

I don't see sheep very often. They magically appear, and then they're gone. I don't know where they live, but I saw them yesterday. From a distance, they look like lumps of cotton on the green grass.

Once you get closer, you can see, "Aha! They are sheep!!"

And so they are.

That's the end of the picture show, folks. I always enjoy driving up and down our fertile San Joaquin Valley. Thanks for traveling with me!!