07/31/2026 Entry

This was a long travel day. I woke up and got up around 6:00, Ann did too. That seemed like a good start, we had a shot at getting through the LA area before heavy traffic. Packed up the camping gear and ate a quick breakfast in under 2 hours, we were rolling before 8:00. Took a different route down out of the Sierras into Visalia, it was still really winding for an hour and a half, had to stay focused throughout. We got down to near the 99 and stopped for gas and a bio break. I made the mistake of getting a large fountain drink. Got to the 99 and headed south, but soon after I needed to pee again. I waited until just before climbing the Grapevine before stopping again. Didn't totally get relief, but it was enough to keep going for a while. I made it to past Santa Clarita before needing to stop again, and then it was Ann's turn to drive. She got the worse shift. We avoided the LA traffic but had terrible slowing all the way through Pasadena and out the 210. The 71 interchange was awful, and we ended up driving on surface streets through Corona, still running into traffic as we got closer to I-15. And of course it was slow on this freeway. What surprised me was that it was slow all the way into Temecula, for no reason other than lots of cars as far as I could see. There might have been an accident earlier, but it was cleared by the time we drove by. The car temperature said it was 107 deg in Lake Elsinore. Traffic finally cleared toward the south end of Temecula, and we drove the rest of the way home without incident. Got home just before 4:30, at least an hour and a half more than I thought (hoped) it would take. We unpacked the car, stowed the camping gear, and put the food away. I ate some leftover enchiladas for dinner and had a nice, quiet evening, watching a little TV and reading as well.