Departure: Sparks, NV - May 14, 10:00am PST

Arrival: San Francisco, CA - May 14, 1:45pm PST

Miles:  ~225 miles

Cities: Reno, Sacramento, Oakland, Emeryville

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We stalled for awhile at Steve’s this morning, hoping to avoid any morning or lunch rush hours. There’s not much to say about Reno. I-80 didn’t give us much of a view, but it seemed small from what I could see. At that point, we were only about 20 miles from the California border. There was an agricultural checkpoint at the border. As was expected, we had to stop and open up the car. The man started digging around and kept saying things like “Am I gonna find something buried under here if I keep digging?” I said “well, suitcases”. I’m not sure what produce was illegal, but I wanted to let him know that I don’t even eat fruits & vegetables so I definitely wouldn’t waste precious cargo space on them. He sent us through without a problem, though. It was just interesting that California was the first place we hit that.

It was strange, though, because it seemed like the scenery changed as soon as we crossed the border. Most states had some overlap, but it felt like California as soon as we crossed over. Steve had told us we would mostly be headed downhill, as we were nearly a mile high when we were in Sparks and Sacrament was almost right at sea level. Sure enough most the trip was downhill grades of 5-6% but the road was miserable. It was like they had chiseled off the top of the road.  It finally smoothed out closer to Sacramento. The views were great but the ride was definitely unpleasant.

And as soon as we passed by Sacramento, crazy drivers emerged. The kind that just swerve through traffic, just missing clipping those they are squeezing between. I was not amused. My spirits were dwindling by this point. I was a little irritable from the lack of sleep over the week, tired from the driving, and I was scared out of my mind that my new home was less than a 100 miles away. I was in no mood for rude drivers. I was trying to keep from snipping at Adam, too. He was a wonderful companion, but like I said, other factors were making me less of a happy camper and it definitely wasn’t by any fault of his. So the last day was probably the worst. There were too many emotions going on and I’m not accustomed to never having true alone time especially over a span of so many days.

I got checked in to my temporary home, though, which is quite lovely. And I put Holiday away in her new home, which is in such a pretty part of the city. The landlord had such a huge and beautiful place and she was sooo nice too. I hope I can find a place out that way that I can afford.