If it's Tuesday . . .

Welcome to Long Beach. We pulled out this morning at 6:10 AM, but not before the Patient decided, at 5:45, that he needed to vacuum. Oy! The drive was easy, weather good most of the way, traffice heavy only around Fresno and again, of course, in the LA basin. We sped by the off-ramps for those bustling metropoli (metropolises?) of Galt, Goshen, Taft, Lebec and the like. Who lives there, I wonder? The fertile Sacramento valley was in bloom; acres of pear and almond trees covered in delicate blossoms. The Grapevine hills had a lovely dusting of snow at the northern end. We buzzed by Mulholland Drive, the Getty Museum complex, and that round building that was once a Holiday Inn but is now an apartment house. We made it to Alex's house in 7 hours flat, with three stops, a total of 420 miles. You do the math.

We have had a lovely dinner, the Patient doing justice to Alex's fine cooking. Now it's time to get to bed so we can get up tomorrow and head off. Next stop: San Diego.