North Coast Travelogue: 8/23-8/24

Yet another trip to UCSF. I can't complain as we only have to go twice a year now as opposed to every two weeks back in the dark years. We must be out of practice from the fumbling around we did right before leaving. 

Forgot any number of things, some of which I still can't remember, but I didn't think to pay our Golden Gate Bridge toll until I was about to shut off the computer. No big deal since they just send you a bill if you don't prepay, but I like to get that out of the way. Then Connie remembered she forgot to load up our water. We always take our own water. Then this and that, but we finally managed to get out of the house.

This was the first time taking Connie's new[er] car, the 2013 Hyundai Elantra. I'd be driving and was kinda looking forward to it, although I'm a worrier. I wondered what might go wrong with it. I soon realized it's a nice, comfortable car. Easy to drive with many bells and whistles I wouldn't pay extra for but were nice to have. Handled hills very well, among other things. I was impressed.

I told Connie to gas it up and bring it home before we left without doing anything else so we could check the gas mileage. She didn't, driving it around town and out to Hydesville, but all was not lost. One of the bells and whistles was a digital trip mileage tool that measures gas used per mile. I didn't understand how it worked. Still don't, but figured I'd just write down what gas we bought and our mileage. I'm still not sure as I write this whether I needed to do that.

So what is it with everyone complaining about the price of gas but doing nothing to get better mileage? I've found going 55ish can save 20 to 25% on gas so set up the cruise control for that as soon as we got on the freeway. Everyone was passing us. Maybe not too much faster, at least some of them, but going pretty fast. It was that way going down and coming back, with maybe only 3 cars that seemed satisfied going 55-57mph behind or in front of us. 

Oh, I get it. They just complain about the greedy oil companies. 

We get to One Log House for a break and realize something else we forgot: the other set of car keys. I'd actually thought about it before we left, but then forgot. I guess we both distrust electronic door locks and, If we locked the key inside the car, we're screwed. 

Why that would be any different than a regular car key, I'm not sure, but we both felt uncomfortable with only one set of keys. Oh, well. Too late at that point. I just made a point to give her the key whenever we left the car, whatever difference that would make.

One of the things I worried about with the car was how well the air and air conditioning worked. I just turned on the air at first. That was all that was necessary in my pickup truck. Once we got to Southern Humboldt and temperature started climbing, it got pretty warm with just air. When we left One Log House I turned on air conditioning, I was relieved to feel a blast of cold air come from the dash. It worked well the rest of the trip, with no noticeable drain on engine power.

Broke with tradition for lunch. We usually eat at Taco Bell in Willits. When we were at the Safeway intersection I was thinking Taco Bell might be packed with so many cars on the road. I suggested we stop at Jack In The Box. It was right on the corner next to us. If nothing else, their commercials make their burgers look good. Let's see how they really are.

I ordered the Portabello Mushroom Burger, or whatever it was called. Looked just like the TV commercial, except the commercial had me expecting it to be about half a size larger than it actually was. Good, but pricey at almost $6.00 just for the burger alone.

Got gas at Brown's on the south end of Willits. I can't be sure but get the feeling that place might not be around much longer. Went to use the bathroom and both toilets were out of order. They were out of order on our way back, too, with no sign I could see there were plans to fix them. The one urinal was working...for now.

First time I checked that trip mileage thing was at Brown's. It showed the supposed miles per gallon for that particular trip- the trip starting sometime before we left, whenever Connie reset the counter. It said we were getting something like 28.9 mpg, if memory serves me, but that was just Eureka down to Willits, with miles in Eureka before we left. Not bad, especially considering I only put a bit over 5 gallons in the tank to fill it back up.

Be careful heading south of Willits where the new freeway bypass starts. Bad curves. There's a sign saying Caution, or some such, because of a freeway onramp. I was thinking there might be a freeway onramp being built, but so what? You drive by onramps all the time. Turns out there's a couple fairly tight curves there that you might not make going 50mph. Slow down for that one. It's that way going both ways.

Going through Santa Rosa was easy enough but things clogged up through Petaluma and all the way through there and beyond. It was 15 to 25mph for most of probably 15 miles or more. I never saw anything to attribute it to. It was miles past the Petaluma River bridge that things finally sped up.

Then it clogged up again when we got to Marin County. Again, no reason I could see for it. We were thinking of stopping at the AW Root Beer in San Rafael to pick something up for dinner, but traffic was so clogged up we didn't want to have to fight getting on the freeway again. 

We had something delivered later. Called up this place, at least I think that's the place. We didn't want pizza, though. I ordered a couple turkey sandwiches. Connie ordered a salad. Good enough for less than $25.00 and I was actually pretty filled up with the sandwiches. Had we ordered from AW I probably wouldn't have been as satisfied. We decided to bring something from home, or buy something in Willits, next time.

No problems driving to UCSF next morning, despite bad omens from the local TV traffic news with shots from their traffic helicopter. They were saying all the freeways to the south of the bridge were real slow. No mention about north, although they did say "other freeways, too". But not a problem. We flew straight into UCSF and found all kinds of parking on our favorite level of the parking garage.

Sat and sat in the waiting room, but I was entertained for a while. This was the first trial test of my new tablet. Until I ran out of things to do with it, time seemed to fly by. UCSF either changed their wifi system, or the tablet works better with it. I didn't even have to log in. With my laptop, I often couldn't even log in. I couldn't get a few things to work at UCSF or the motel we stayed at, but overall it used up my time well and was able to take care of my daily online business.

We finally were called to an exam room at our appointed time. Doctor was at least a half hour late though...again. That pisses me off. After about 35 minutes went by I asked Connie if she was willing to leave if the doc didn't show up by 2pm. That would be an hour late. She agreed, but a few minutes later we saw the doctor walk by and shortly thereafter she came in. 

We left a bit after three. I'm still pissed, but what can I do? Unlike the day before, it was pretty smooth sailing all the way to Willits. Stopped at Brown's to get more gas. This time it was about 7 1/4 gallons I put in the tank. I didn't get that as it's usually pretty close when refueling going either way. Connie suggested maybe the real slow traffic the day before gave us bad mileage. Maybe, but 2 1/4 gallons more? I didn't bother checking that trip app to see what it said. Maybe today if I remember.

Got home right about 8pm and I'm pissed that we probably could have gotten home earlier had it not been for Doctor Come Lately. Oh, well. Back to normal for now.