So the plan was to make it to Arcata today. And to spend some quality time in the Redwoods. Here’s what went down instead:
Even though Joelle generously gave up her bedroom, we had a rough night. Allison was running a fever and took over the bed. Gunny ended up in the floor nest that was meant for Allison. Suffice it to say that no one had a particularly restful night.
But Allison was in decent spirits in the morning. She colored with Auntie Joelle and we visited the beautiful Stanford campus.
It was during lunch at the delightful Tacolicious that things started to go sideways. Allison suddenly seemed lethargic, she felt feverish again, and she complained that her head hurt. She sat on my lap and I fed her chicken soup like a baby while Joelle and Dana searched for the nearest urgent care facility.
So we spent the next two hours at Palo Alto Pediatric Urgent Care.
And…she’s fine. No ear infection, no nothing. Just probably a cold coming on.
Our departure delayed by 2 and a half hours, we hit all the stupifyingly awful traffic in and around San Francisco on a Friday night. Even up 101 where you’d think you’d be free and clear traffic was moving at five miles per hour. Allie, who had fallen asleep almost immediately in the car, woke up crying and miserable. She said her tummy hurt and by this time it was definitely the dinner hour for little girls. So, seeing a sign for gas and food (including an Italian restaurant; Allie likes spaghetti) we pulled off the highway and ended up at a restaurant called Piacere in Cloverdale, CA. The food was very good and surprisingly reasonably priced, but the whole town gave off a semi-creepy “we don’t like strangers” vibe.
We drove through beautiful Sonoma County but due to the late start and the traffic we still had three hours to drive to reach our hotel in Arcata. And it would be dark when we drove through the Redwoods, which defeats the purpose.
So, we ended up stopping in a little town off 101 and calling it quits for the night. We’ll reassess the situation tomorrow. We may forgo the Redwoods and head back to I-5 and just power through to Redmond in two long days of driving.
If you’re keeping track, we’ve been on the road for three weeks today. It’s been a discouraging couple of days and I think all three of us are pretty much done with this adventure and want to get home.
I do have one cool stat for the three-week milestone though:
Victory Lap 