Well i have returned from my trip to fresno all safe and sound. Actually i got back yesterday, but was a little too tired to blog about anything after driving back down.
The trip wasn't that bad. I managed to get out of San Diego in the morning. The guys at work were really understanding about letting me get out of there early. Well just as I jumped in the car and started for the gas station to fill up the tank the change my oil note came up. As the wife has a Cadillac CTS and I was taking her car it tells you when it needs service.
Well I figured since I had to go to the gas station I would go ahead and have them change it then. Mistake, big mistake. Well they changed the oil and I got on the road. A few exits down some guy started waving at me but drov off before I got the window rolled down. He was trying to tell me something so I got off at the next exit and checked out the car. Nothing wrong. I got back in and continued up the freeway. Well then I started seeing smoke from the back of the car.
I pulled off the freeay and there just happened to be a Jiffy Lube at that exit so I went over there and these guys were great. They found that the guy at the gas station did not have the oil filter seated right and I was leaking a little oil. There was a car wash next door and they recommended that i get an undercarriage wash. And then they wouldn't even take my money for helping me out. that is one chain that I will revisit. I gave them five dollars anyway andtold them to consider it a tip and got the undercarriage wash.
I managed to get back on the road and actually didn't have much traffic through Los Angeles. i had smooth sailing all the way up until I got to Fresno itself. Then there was a wreck on the freeway which held me up for a while.
Since it was just me I stayed in that High Class Hotel 6 chain as I am really cheap. If the wife would have gone with me I would have had to stay in at least a four star or five star place, but since it was just me, I just look for a place to flop. Well I had the address and then I found out there are actually two on the same street about a block and a half from each other. I of course immediately pulled into the wrong one.
Well I finally got that all straightened out and got to the right one, got checked in and called the wife to let her know I made it safely. I then called my old high school buddy and got directions to his house. I was shocked at how big Fresno has gotten over the years. And the lack of traffic was nice. I wouldn't mind moving back there someday.
I finally found my friends house, which turned out to be a trailer, and then was shocked to see what bad shape they were in. They were not in the greatest of physical shape, both extremely overweight. He has never held much more than minimum wage jobs and they have been on and off welfare over the years. I kind of felt bad for them. They were a walking advertisement for why you should apply yourself in school. Niether of them had applied themselves in school.
Well I took them out to a steak dinner at some fancy steakhouse. The food was great, though a bit pricey. I asked them if they wanted to do something else after dinner and they said there was an Indian Casino just south of Coursegold so we went up there for a while. They didn't have any money so I staked them a bit so they could play. Well we hung around there until 11 and after loosing all my money we headed back to Fresno. I dropped them off and hit the pit at my hotel. I actually got to sleep in until seven, which was awesome as I am used to getting up at 5:30 on weekdays.
I showed and shaved and then drove out to Pelco, which was where the field trip was going to see where we were supposed to meet, then went to McDonalds for one of those great healthy breakfasts. I then cruised back to Pelco and ate in the car and listenbed to the radio until folks started showing up.
The factory tour was great, and the folks at Pelco were great to us. They make security camera systems and are the only ones that don't outsource thier labor to other countries. They are very involvedin the Fresno Community and have many employee programs. It would be a great place to work if i were looking for a job. I won't bore you with our assignment there, as we were mainly learning about Quality Assurance.
We finished our Pelco tour and then i cruised over to see if any of my instructors were around over at State. The place was dead, and no one was around, so I figured I had better get on the road and head back to San Diego. It was smooth sailing until I got to Valencia (Magic Mountain) and then the traffic started. It was pretty much bumper to bumper and stop and go all the way to San Clemente. The traffic then cleared out and as I was hading into San Diego, I heard on the radio that the 805 was a mess so I decided to take 5 down to the Southbay and then take the 54 over to the house. The 5 was just as bad so as I got to National City I just got off and took back roads home.
All in all it was a seven and a half hour drive back. Then I get home and find that the wife had been in the hospital far Gallstones and will have to get her gall bladder removed. Wonderful. She is all bent because she can't eat anything that she likes. I went out today and bought her all kinds of the stuff she can eat, but she is stll moaning and groaning, about not being able to eat anything. Oh well, I did some research and after the operation she should be able to go back to normal eating.
I think this is all some after effects from her bought with e-coli from a few months ago.
Well for all of you veterans out there Happy Veterans Day and lets not forget our brace warriors that are currently deployed to protect the US from terrorism. I am glad to see the Marines kicking butt in Fallujah. It is about time we started kicking butt over there, and stopped being so politically correct.
So everyone have a great day. See you tomorrow.
