Notes from Puzzle Palace

Monday, February 13, 2023

Travel time and arriving in California


This sign says it all.  We started out yesterday in Colorado, drove through Utah and Nevada and ended up in California.  I didn't post yesterday because all we had to show for the day was a bunch of photos of the beautiful scenery.  At one point we passed sleeping dinosaurs.  We then entered the arctic, only to be closely followed by the surface of the moon. The country truly is a beautiful space.  For two days we lost ourselves in a Ken Follett classic and the beauty of the world around us.  

I saw tumbleweeds roll across the road, we saw wild horses, we saw fields of cattle grazing.  Our route was US50 and while it was a very good road, at times it was four lane, and others it was only two.  It is dubbed the loneliest road in America and I believe it.  We saw very few cars. There is a booklet that you can get stamps on all the way across, and when you collect 5 the parks service will send you a certificate. Sadly, I only managed 3. The places that have hte stamps were mostly museums and closed when we arrived.  No matter, it was fun all the same. When crossing the Sierras if the sign said slow down to 50, I quickly learned it really meant 30.  There were numerous times that we just didn't know how we would get across the mountain only to be taken on a windy road through a pass.  

I've had friends tease me about how in awe I am of this place, but as a child vacations didn't exist for our family.  I've traveled I80 across from Illinois to California, but never had i gone this route.  If we don't travel any further on this trip, these past three days have been worth it.  













We were to go into Nevada and see George's old friend Wally Lee, but sadly his health took a turn for the worse and we had to pass.  It all worked out in the end because we got to make a few extra visits that we hadn't planned on, but more of that over the next few days.

Since we missed Wally, George decided we should go to Giga Nevada.  We've seen Freemont and Shanghai so why not?  We didn't get as close as we would have liked, and while I was sitting on the side of the road looking up the next address, the Tesla police came and shoed me away.  You can bet we will go to Giga Texas in a few more weeks.






We arrived in Livermore at around 6:30 at night.  The mountains are beautiful, but I didn't like driving through them.  George will drive when necessary, but prefers not to and so far it has all been me.  I'll admit, last night I was a lot grumpy.  It was dark, I was tired, my back ached from driving so rigidly.  We were driving due west so the sun was in my eyes while we had it and the tension was just too much for me.  We ended up staying at some suites place. The bed was soft and inviting, but they really didn't have a restaurant, but just a little bistro. Now I've been trying to stay away from gluten, and sadly, that was really all they had on the menu. In the end I ordered some buffalo wings with the batter removed and the worst tasting olives I've ever had.  

We awoke around 8 the next morning, had breakfast and drove over to see Harry Nelson. For my non-puzzling friends, he had a hand in producing a boatload of puzzles.  A rather brilliant man.  We arrived at 11:15 and spent quite a few hours chatting about puzzles and people we all know.  He was probably as happy to see us as we were to see him.  After a while his son came in and we all spoke for a while longer. We made a nice lunch as Harry is unable to really go out much.  
















Very kindly he let me go upstairs and rummage through a rom full of duplicate puzzles.  I filled up 4 boxes to take along for the museum with the promise of more to come in future.  The entire time we were there, I kept handing him puzzles and was surprised to hear that he had a hand in the design, or the invention, or the bringing it to market.  I guess my 'old puzzle people' knowledge isn't as good as I thought.  George and Harry reminisced about when they used to visit each other in the past.  It was a very nice way to spend the morning.

Our next stop was the lego store so I could purchase a gift for a friends daughter.  I also bought myself a monkey set. From here we drove to see our friend Dave Litwin, but my GPS took me to a different friends house. We got back on our way and the GPS told me I could save 5 minutes by taking a different route.  Sure.  Why not?  It took us down the most amazing road.  

We saw the giant redwoods, we saw a family of wild turkeys, we drove through the wiggliest road I've ever been on. The canyon to the right was so deep I couldn't see the bottom.

Eventually we got to Daves and he showed us his puzzle collection and his razor collection before we headed out for dinner.






 It was a great way to end a wonderful day. 


We stayed in a Motel 6 just down the road from dinner. It was the first hotel off the interstate.  OMG! The room was fine.  Cheap and it had hot water and a bed.  But around midnight, Johnny Walker and Peg-Leg-Pete took up occupancy in the room above us.  First they moved all the furniture around, then they stomped back and forth across the floor for an hour.  At 4 am I heard them wake up again from a shout sent by someone in a neighboring room.  Stomp Stomp Stomp.  George and I are convinced it was a traveling meth lab.  I turned the noisy room heater on to try and drown out that noise.  Oh what a night.  

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