The Oregon Trail--Part XV--TV in Santa Cruz

Friday
October 22

After driving two lane highways through most of Oregon, we were looking forward to getting back on an interstate and zipping along with just a pit stop now and then for gas. We thought it would be about a six or seven hour drive to Santa Cruz. As usual we were up for the early breakfast at about 7:30, and were packed and ready to go about an hour later. Our hostess packed Nancy a muffin to go, and we were off. We drove a whole block to the best coffeehouse in town where Nancy got a double cappachino. And then we were really off!!

Nothern California is very pretty with lots of mountains and trees and rivers. We passed by Mt Shasta, but could only see the bottom half of the mountain due to cloud cover. Our poor luck with seeing high mountains continued! Shades of Mt. Hood! We drove through Redlands, Red Bluff, and a number of small towns just off the freeway. We made a gas stop before we reached the 505 turnoff, I think it was Orland or Williams, whichever is the olive capital of California! We walked through a store selling only olives! But didn't buy any! They had good restrooms! Nancy said she would drive for awhile. It was the first time on our trip, and I was leery! We hit the 505 turnoff and soon were on the I-80 headed west towards San Francisco. After spending almost two weeks in low traffic on two lane highways, getting back to the 8 lane freeways of California was a big adjustment. Nancy wanted to turn around and go back to Bend!! We had to make a stop at Vacaville for a double cappachino to steady Nancy's nerves, and I had to again take the wheel.

We fought our way through the Friday afternoon traffic around San Francisco and San Jose, and were finally on Rte 17 heading towards the coast and Santa Cruz. We pulled in late in the mid afternoon, and we were both relieved to be through the congestion of the San Francisco area and back in the laid back comfort of Santa Cruz.

Both Sara's roommates were home, and we ordered pizza in, along with some good cheap wine. I hit the sack early. Saturday was going to be a busy day. I had promised Sara a new TV!

Saturday
October 23

It was still dark when I got up and out to the coffeetopia for caffiene and the morning paper. Sara and I had a discussion regarding her new TV. They had a 12 inch TV connected to their cable and their DVD player,, but the remote would not work to change the channel. It seemed to me that the TV was so small only one person could watch it at a time. They really needed an upgrade. Sara thought that I shouldn't get anything bigger than a 20 " so it would fit on their stand and wouldn't stick up so high against the window. I thought they should have at least a 25. But I agreed to try to find something a bit smaller, maybe a 23"!

I headed down to Costco sometime after 9 am, getting lost a couple times on the way. Costco in Santa Cruz is a difficult place to find, tucked away in the back of an industrial park!

Even at that early hour the parking lot was humming and filled with giant loaded carts being pushed by mega consumers like myself. I flashed my membership card, passed the terrorist inspection, and was waved into the pile of goods. I headed for the TV area. I looked hard for something mid sized. The 20" was to small, and the next available size was 27". Being a guy, there was no way I was going to buy a 20", so the 27" was it! It was at a great price and onto a cart it went. I took it out to my car, had to take it out of the box to get it in, and off I went.

As I was driving, I thought the TV probably wouldn't fit on the existing stand, and that I had better find a new one for them! Hey, it was Saturday morning--and there were garage sales. so I drove around town looking for garge sale signs. The second sale I stopped at had the perfect stand. She asked $10, I said $5, and we had a deal!! Now I felt really good!!

I got back to Sara's apartment just as she and Nancy were about to leave. When Sara saw the TV she said,"That's so BIG"! I hauled it in and set it up, and in comparison to the 12" TV, it certainly was BIG! But it looked great! One of her roommates was a real TV person. (She owned the 12", and had another 12" in her bedroom). When she came home and saw the new TV, she flushed and almost fainted!! It was World Series weekend and we were all set!

Sunday Night the girls invited over some guys, Nancy made meatloaf and mashed potatos, and we all sat around and had comfort food and watched the game. The consensus was that the TV was just the right size!

We ended the trip as we had started it, at Sara's in Santa Cruz.