This post will be entirely personal, so feel free to skip it if you only come for art or Mineral King.

Did you know that Israel is 236 miles from north to south?

Recently, Trail Guy and I drove the equivalent of that distance 11 times over, and we only saw parts of 5 of our 50 states.

We live in a HUGE country, people. HUGE.

The first day of the road trip took us up Interstate Five. The further north we went, the easier the traveling became, due to diminishing traffic. (We avoid 99 because it seems as if everyone on that road is trying to kill us.)

The most interesting thing we saw that day was just south of the weird town of Weed: a lot full of rainbow colored water trucks. It is so remarkable that I looked it up online. They don’t have a website, but I found that their name is Truck Village. You can see a photo here.

Weed is quaint. It was named after Abner Weed, not after pot. Mount Shasta dominates the town, but I don’t have photos because the sun was directly over it when I took my morning walk. Here are a few photos showing the quaintness:

Our second day driving took us to our first real destination of Salem, Oregon. That leg of the trip was the shortest driving day and the prettiest. We saw wind machines in a few orchards, something we only associate with citrus in the Central Valley. So, we went exploring to see what needed frost protection, and this was the surprising answer:

Then we detoured to a landmark that I have been enjoying for years as we burn up the petrol along I-5.

It is called “Grave Creek” because of something sad a very long time ago, not because people are serious here.

Salem was all about Golden Delicious apples and making fruit leather. Had to do something while it rained; we had a very enjoyable time with family and apples.

The day after tomorrow I will continue to show and tell about the very long way there, and where “there” is.