# 434 Your Shower is Ready

We parked next to the well lit gas pump area, which also happened to be near the loudspeaker that regularly played music, announcements and ads. At about 3am, I was jostled out of sleep to hear an announcement blasting “#434 your shower is ready,” followed by an ad about the perks of being a member of the frequent something club of Flying J. It must have been louder now because there was less traffic noise to cover it up. I tried to get back to sleep, but noise kept rolling out of the loudspeakers… We heard about how Flying J Insurance Services can save us money, a silly love song by Taylor Swift, and a blast from the past, “Tequila Sunrise.” Then came the whistling song “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn & John. “If I told you things I did before, told you how I used to be”… whistle whistle…

That did it. Neither of us could sleep after the whistling song. Apparently, the world wanted us to get up. We went inside the Country Kitchen café, ordered coffee, eggs and hash browns and spent an hour hanging out so that we could wake up. We decided to get back on the road so we could make up for lost time.

We cruised through the black night until the sun started peeking through sometime around 7am. We kept seeing signs that Grapevine was closed due to snow. But we couldn’t see any snow in this area and didn’t know what Grapevine was. We actually liked this stretch of highway. There was hardly any traffic and it was flat so we could cruise at a comfortable pace. However, much to our dismay, the conditions soon changed. We entered a high wind agricultural area in the Central Valley and our rig was broadsided from the east for a several hours.

Seeing the signs for Los Angeles kept our spirits high thought and we thought we would soon be in a better climate. Little did we know, Grapevine had a treat in store for us. As the highway shifted west we headed straight into the area known as the Grapevine, with an ascent to 4,000 feet elevation at Tejon Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains. Grapevine greeted us with more snow and more treacherous, white knuckle driving conditions. By this time, we wanted to beat the hell out of I-5. We already felt we took a beating, so it seemed only fair to want to return the favor.

When we reached Santa Clarita and made our descent into Los Angeles, the road conditions became favorable again. The sun returned as we swiftly moved through the thick traffic heading east, through the suburbs, past the wind turbines near Palm Springs, and into the vast and tranquil Arizona desert.