Last trip to Stockton

My afternoon started with an iced espresso from Gold Country Roasters as I took off for an appointment with my psychiatrist in Stockton, California. Stockton is the nearest city to Murphys, and between Stockton and Modesto, both Central Valley towns, that's where we in the mountains go for big city supplies. Stockton also recently declared bankruptcy. Today there was Peet's coffee, Trader Joe's, and the shoe repair. It's a big deal, going to Stockton; about an hour's drive through the foothills into the valley itself, on narrow, two-lane winding roads. They've just straightened out the twistiest part of the twisties on Route 4, but many challenges are left. Can I drive at all without putting on my brakes? That means anticipating all sharp and often badly canted curves, and using downgearing. Do you want new brakes or a new transmission? It's a tossup. Oh, and tire wear.

My Birkenstocks had been at the shoe repair since June 1. I tried to pick them up twice, but landed on their holiday or vacation both times. They didn't charge me shoe rent, because I'd paid in advance. Whew. Another bullet dodged. Life in the wild west. Trader Joe's is the mecca for all Californians to shop for inexpensive Trader Joe's special brand of groceries. As I thought about how close I will be to TJ's in Burbank (five minutes), my usual stocking-up TJ's shopping came down to a bag of Oh my! Omega trail mix, two kale edamame bistro salads, and five chocolate bars. It would have been foolish to drive over an hour for those items. A stop at Safeway for cheap gas - $3.999 a gallon. Just two weeks ago gas was $3.749 locally and now it's 4.099. How far does one drive sanely for cheap gas?  I've never done the math. Last stop Peet's coffee, for a great cup of iced decaf espresso and a new glass water bottle to hydrate my new Southern California life.

The first time I was ever in Stockton was almost exactly 20 years ago. I was in my third day of sobriety and my daughter had started college in Northridge, Los Angeles County. She had driven down on the Wednesday, and her step-father and I drove the balance of her stuff on the Saturday, and drove back on Sunday. I was not driving, nor was I firing on all cylinders on Sunday, and didn't notice that we had missed the right-hand turn for the left-hand freeway I-5, and were barreling up 99. The freeways diverge, going north, just before LA. This in the days before GPS. They diverge widely, and when 99 gets to Stockton, they are about an hour apart. A u-turn and several foggy hours later, we made it home. 

Today will probably be my last trip to Stockton.

p.s. Back to Look to the Mountain, my sister and I decided that Coruway is probably a variant on Chocorua that was in use in the mid 1700's. Oddly, last night I was musing on the Indian spirits in the mountains, and their anonymity causing the name change, and a few pages later in the book, the main male character was also musing on the Indian spirits of the Mount Chocorua! Eerie.