February 3rd! YES!

Never have I been so excited about a new day. I woke up to a pleasantly Sonny-and-Cherless morning with the assurance I'd be driving north sometime today. It ended up being late; a wiring issue had cut power to some of the lights in the front cabin, so I watched a few good men rush to fix it by electric torch light at dusk. The whirlwind of activity seemed like just another extension of one really long day.

When I finally got on the road, my first order of business was filling my tires with air. I guess all the in and out traffic would put some unusual strain on the tires. Doug, the guy who sold me my car way back in April, said he put new tires on the car before he sold it. Another member of the giant revolving door of people I saw during my three days at Frank's place, he and I chatted about car maintenance for awhile and he suggested I inflate the tires. They were at 22 psi and needed to be around 36 to 38 psi.

So when I got outside of town (Valencia, specifically), I went through the general rigmarole of "helpless girl at the gas station who's never had to do anything for herself before" and found a guy to help me fill my tires. I tried to prompt him to tell me more about Valencia, since he said he lives there, but my interest was quelled when he said, "There's nothing here but Six Flags." Lame, indeed. Did they not hear about Disneyland being in Anaheim?

With air in my tires and gas in my tank, I settled in for a long drive to Northern California. I wish I had been able to allot more time for coast-driving and general sight-seeing and playing around, but I have a job interview on Whidbey Island (more than an hour north of Seattle) on Friday afternoon, and I pride myself on being places when I say I will. Good luck, me!