Only had two jobs today.
Started the day from home in Concord, CA and went to Vaccaville where I picked-up from Novartis on Cessna Drive and took it to Bay Bioanalytical on Linus Pauling in Hercules.
Got a call from the boss asking if Clyde the Ride could carry 1400 pounds because the big truck couldn't make it over the mountains because he didn't have chains and would be stopped. If there is snow, trucks must carry them even if the road is clear in snow season.
I went to the World Courier Ground branch office in Sacramento, backed up to the lift gate of the truck and transferred the dialysate, the liquid used for at-home dialysis, to my pickup. 53 boxes. 1400 lbs.
The Garmin Nuvi has traffic warnings, so it calculated that I should go through Reno, Nevada to get to the northeastern corner of California. There, I took Hwy 395, 4,000 above sea level high desert through Alturas then the 299 to 447 to Lake City, a farm community of a couple hundred homes, at most.
To my left, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, not quite as Alpine majestic as they are mid-state, looking up from hwy 395 to the 10,000 ft. peaks, but still rugged and snow capped. To my right, flat high desert with only the slightest dusting of snow because the mountains had wringed out all the moisture from the east-bound clouds.
How flat was it? One long section, I suffered vertigo for twenty minutes as I was convinced I was going downhill while the truck, downshifting and Nuvi's altimeter, ticking up a foot at a time said I was slowly gaining altitude. That was weird. That is why pilots have; "trust your instruments" drummed into them. I still think I was going downhill.
"I raise hay on 600 acres," said the mountain of a man who helped me unload. I dragged the boxes to the tailgate with my trusty long handle hoe (cue joke: "because my wife won't let me have a girlfriend") and handed it to the 10 year old son who simply turned 90 degrees and handed it through he window of the guest house to him so he could stack them inside. You can do unusual things like that on a farm.
I asked who was the patient and he replied that it was his dad, who came to visit a few times a year. Pretty neat that modern American medicine can allow people, who would have died until the dialysis clinics came into being not all that long ago, now can travel almost anywhere. He told me of a woman who even went on an African safari.
It was after sunset in the shadow of the mountains when I headed back, Nuvi directing me home via Redding. It was dark when I passed through Bieber, where my sister was born when my father was principal of the high school. It was late when I fueled Clyde at the Safeway Store gas station in Redding, where I got the same price as the then closed Costco, both from a few cents to a nickel less than the competition, then I fueled-up with a Grand Slam and headed down I-5 and arrived home at 2:00 AM.
Long day. 871 miles over 18 hours. But what a great mini-vacation!
At home dialysis.
On the way to Reno. 1,400 lbs. @ 65 MPH = 15.5 MPG going from almost sea-level to 7,000 ft. Ick.
Pit Stop
At 5,000 ft. on the west side of the Sierra Nevada Range.
At 5,000 ft. on the east side of the Sierra Nevada.
Are we going up? Going down?
Looking westward, near Lake City, California.
The farm where I made the delivery. He said they have hundred deer herds too.
On the way home.
Linear Mode
