Wednesday Outing

OUTING
Another Wednesday - another outing! I t should be interesting. We will visit our State Capitol in Sacramento. We leave at 10:45AM. There are ten of us aboard: Tony, our driver par excellence, Kelli, our Activities Director, and Fabi, our Concierge, who is training to replace our Activities Director, while she is on maternity leave. Also, there are ten non-paying passengers. Tony does a good job. Not only is he a very safe driver, but he has a great disposition! He has a lot of patience and understanding, dealing with us older people. For example: He had to operate the power lift to load the person on the bus, in her power chair, and secure her. A staff person said that she couldn’t go because she had a doctor’s appointment. Tony was un-phased by undoing all the work that he had just finished. This inconvenience delayed our departure 15 minutes. Kelli is very good with the passengers. She is friendly and understanding and firm. Fabi was very helpful. She did the “heavy lifting” - by pushing a large man - first on his walker, and then all around the Capitol building in a wheel chair. All three were good company, and made the trip that much more pleasant.
We passed the Shell station on North Texas Street, and I saw the price of gas sign - $2.09 and 9/10c a gallon. A little farther on, Chevron was a penny more per gallon. I wonder why the service stations still use their archaic nine tenths of a cent pricing? Originally, it was a marketing gimmick. But when gas moved above $1.00 per gallon, there was no further need for such foolishness. Too, it’s a lot more work for the station operator, with their numerous price changes.
We are heading East on I-80 to Sacramento. The traffic is light. The hills are finally turning green. But we need a lot more rain before they become lush. Otherwise, there will be water rationing this summer. The bus rides like a truck! But, it is a truck! The cabin is mounted on a F-350 chassis! I will bet that most trucks give the driver a better ride than this - certainly those that are fitted with the Air-Ride system. Our bus just came off warrantee, so not much chance of getting replacement springs and shocks.
We are passing through Vacaville = the formerly famous Nut Tree complex on the left, and the Factory Outlet stores on the right. The new Kaiser Hospital, and Medical Center, is on the left. There are large fruit orchards on both sides. This Sacramento Valley is flat - as far as the eyes can see.
A mileage sign, on the right-hand shoulder, says, Davis -8
Sacramento - 20
We are passing the old Milk Farm signage on the left. Forty years ago, our family used to stop there for a delicious milk shake. There is nothing like “cold” to cope with 100 degree ambient temperatures, and no air conditioner in the car. A large fleet of bottom-dump sugar beet trucks are sitting idle on the right. We are now by-passing Davis. The large University of California campus is off to the left.
We are leaving Solano County and are now traveling in Yolo County. The main line -rail tracks run parallel to the highway, and a freight train is heading westbound in the opposite direction. Auto row dealers on the right side. There are beaucoup new and used cars crying out for an owner. We are traveling now on the Yolo Causeway. When we moved to Vallejo, from Hawaii in 1962, this area flooded about every winter. Cal Trans finally provided some flood control, by raising the road bed 12-15 feet.
We take the Highway 50-Lake Tahoe exit - off I-80 - and cross the Sacramento river onto Capitol-Mall in downtown Sacramento. I can’t believe all the tall buildings in the area. They weren’t here in 1952. At the time, Marie and I lived in Sacramento for two years, during the Korean War, and those buildings weren’t here then. Of course, Sacramento has grown a lot, too. At one time It was the fastest growing area in the country. We arrive at the Capitol at 11:30AM. It is a beautiful sunny day. The temperature is about 65 degrees.
Since 9/11, one can’t get away from Security. So, we were screened. There are a lot of people moving around inside the capitol building - many school kids on a field trip. We couldn’t get a guided tour of the capitol building, as we needed at least 20 people. We walked past the exhibits of all of California’s counties. I particularly enjoyed seeing Solano county’s. (Our county) It was established in 1850 - a year after the gold Rush.
We stopped by the Old Governor’s Office, and it was very interesting. A docent was explaining things, and his narration was very informative and interesting to me. It took 14 years to construct this magnificent building. They broke ground in 1860 and the building was completed in 1874. The Great San Francisco Earthquake was on April 16, 1906. At that time, San Francisco had a population of 150, 000 people. One half of them left the city afterwards. Many of them came on ferries up to Sacramento. They set up tents on the capitol grounds to house them. This was interesting to me, because Marie has told the story of her Mother coming to Sacramento by boat, afterwards. She was 23. But, the story seemed to end there. The docent went on to say that the Legislature and Staff also have to go through Security. A few years ago’ a truck slammed into the Capitol building. Now, they have a fence surrounding the building. There was some smoke damage to the building.
We had a nice lunch at 1:00 PM, in the cafeteria, in the basement.
I don’t know who does the catering but the food is very good, and is reasonably priced.
When we got outside, there were a lot of news trucks. I thought that there must be some breaking news - like they agreed to a budget. That would be news! The budget is already a few months overdue. The State plans on issuing I.O.U’s for the 2008 income tax refunds!
We leave Sacramento at 2:30PM, and head down L Street. (There are a lot of one way streets in Sacramento.) We pass the old Greyhound Bus Station on the right. Next was Macy’s and the Westfield Downtown Plaza. Raley Field is off to the left. The Sacramento River Cats (AAA affiliate of the Oakland A’s) play there. While driving in the Davis area, I can barely see Mt. Diablo to the south, through the haze. Visibility is about 50 miles.
We are back at Quail Creek at 3:30PM. Tony told me that our round trip covered 88 miles. While it was tiring, it was a very nice day! I was disappointed that we didn’t get to see Arnold, and his Governor’s office. That can wait until the next time.
RCL - 1/29/09.