In: Travel, Well-Being, A Sense of Place
Peace is Never Far Away
A thought for those who want to escape the noise
There are two main routes out of Riverside, California, for someone who is travelling to San Francisco. Both routes converge at Interstate-5 south of Bakersfield.
The I-5 is the long, concrete spine that enervates the West Coast, stretching from San Ysidro on the Mexican border up to the northern edge of Washington, terminating just south of Vancouver. There are prettier highways you could take; Highway 1 runs along the coast, and I hear that it’s beautiful. Highway 99 will take you through deep farm country that will enchant you exactly until you reach Fresno. But the I-5 will get you just about anywhere you need to go, and fast.
I needed San Francisco. I needed this trip. I am uprooting my whole life; everything that I own has been fit into the back of my 2000 Toyota Camry and I am Alaska-bound. Long road trips like this one punctuate my life at odd intervals; this one, coming on the tail-end of my doctoral program, is a welcome break from several years of strain.
The San Francisco Bay Area is my old home, 400 miles north of Riverside. It is my first stop along the way, and the point where I say goodbye to everything I have been, here in California, for…
