Heading East

I finally had to say goodbye to San Diego and the Pacific Ocean Friday morning. Before getting back on the road, I stopped in at a service station in Ocean Beach to have some maintenance done on the car - oil change, wheel balancing, and shocks. I got a perfect score - they didn't have oil filers for a 72 Caddy; their wheel balancing computer only handled cars back to 1980; and of course, no shocks. So I went with it as is. I did buy a headlight and had it installed, and found a police station where I could have the summons signed.

I got off the Interstate highway and took a state route so as to ride closer to the land along more winding mountain roads, and closer to the Mexican border. Back on the road again, it felt distinctly different from the earlier part of the trip. Going west, I was not only going through more fantastic landscape every day, but constantly chasing the sun as it headed for the horizon. Now, I had the setting sun to my back, leaving it behind for the darkness of the east; and with every mile I drove, I was bringing the sunset a bit earlier. The inner voices battled: "It's the beginning of the end" vs. "You've got the whole country to cross again, and the Southwest is gorgeous". The return trip is never as exciting, but I'm determined to enjoy it. And of course, the family in Texas pulls me onward.