The Road (Trip) Less Taken - Part 3.. 965.3 Miles Later!

Last blog for this weekend!  Yesterday was a bit of a tough day, due to the disappointing visits coupled with unproductive overanalytic thinking (which is never good) during long bouts of driving.  However, today's had a happy ending, but more on that later.  

Thanks to another work bestie (I work with great people) Wendy for giving me the suggestion of listening to Audible while driving.  I spent my drive today listening to Big Little Lies, which is a really good book - I finished 30 of 84 chapters, so I have something to listen to on the way to London.  The narrator is Australian, so that makes it extra whimsical :)  I'll have to download other books, so any suggestions are appreciated!

I began with a drive to Sacramento to see a giant Coke cup and was not disappointed.  It was definitely larger than yesterday's artichoke, so it was worth the drive.  (I may hold a grudge for a while.)

Look - how original. I'm holding the giant coke cup in the palm of my hand!

After this, I made the drive to Turlock to see the bulldozer building, which is just a building in the shape of a bulldozer.  

I was filling up and had to take a picture at the gas station.  I hardly ever pay attention to gas prices but I've never seen gas as cheap as $3.49 in LA!

The final stop of the day before I sped home was a good one.  If you know me pretty well, you know I love (or used to love, before my appetite went south) cheese!  So I was thrilled that the Hilmar Cheese Company was a few miles away from the bulldozer building and on my way home.  

They had a pretty cute visitor's center and store with plenty to look at.  In case you ever wanted to know how to milk a cow, below is a handy dandy guide.

As a dairy farmer, milk processing technician, and veterinarian. Plus my free hairnet.  (The helmet says "I am a cheesemaker")

After this, I was excited to finally head home.  Here's some concluding thoughts:

1) I went on this trip to prove to myself that I could, which I definitely accomplished.  I didn't want to go and thought I'd grow to enjoy it, which I did.. kinda, but not as much as I thought I would.

2) I have really wonderful friends who presented awesome suggestions, offered to host me, checked up on me, and were immensely supportive, in regards to this trip, as well as with the upcoming London excursion.  I'm not sure if I can ever adequately express how thankful and lucky I am to have you in my life.  But if you want personal thank yous, contact me and I'll delve out much-deserved adulation :)  (And Ste, I need to come back and go shooting with you.)

3) I kinda dig these offbeat roadside attractions.  I don't have an immediate desire to plan another road trip to see others, but if so, I'm also not sure if I'd do this solo.  If anyone is interested in seeing oddities, maybe you can join me on a hypothetical future trip.  The Roadtrippers website/app was essential in mapping my route, and according to their guide, there's plenty of other giant things I'd be interested in seeing, such as a rocking chair, Campbell's tomato soup can, and Adidas shoes, ball of twine, among many, many others.  (Chcck out the full list here: https://roadtrippers.com/lists-itinerary/larger-than-life/809171)  As I learned from the artichoke debacle, it better be giant for it to be worth my while!

4) California is amazingly diverse and scenic.  I only went up and down the coast but feel like I ventured across other states.

5) One day I saw a dead deer in the freeway median.  It was sad and gross and I've never seen that before.  I just forgot to mention this earlier and thought it was somewhat significant.

6) There's a lot of selfies on this blog but I promise I'm not narcissistic.  I figure a lot of these images you can get via Google but I took selfies to personalize the blog and so you know I actually went to these places.  The proof is in the pictures!  I think I need to get comfortable taking selfies and being in pictures before London.

Anyway, I did promise a happy ending at the beginning of the blog, so here it is:

Ice cream while watching The Simpsons marathon.  But don't tell my gym buddy, as he's already vociferously expressed his disappointment that I followed up my achievement of swimming 100 pool lengths (2500 yards) with more than a week of inactivity.  Sorry, buddy.. don't give up on me!

Until next time, smell ya laters!  (And thanks for reading!)