Nighttime in Yreka
Obviously, I wasn't getting much exercise driving for eight hours today, and the 179 blood sugar reading I got an hour after eating lunch in Vacaville showed it. I went for a brief walk after lunch, because I remembered that there was a Luggage Center store in the shopping center there and so I was able to buy a couple of TSA luggage locks to replace the one that I think the Portland TSA kept for their collection.
Anyway, after eating dinner here at the hotel and watching the Giants hold on to a reasonably impressive win over the Brewers, I decided to take a walk to downtown Yreka. Yes, it was 10:30 PM in a town in which I'm not too familiar, but I think I know Northern California, and this was not a big deal. And so I got about 3 km done, which what I normally get after lunch at my office. (The office walk is more exercise due to the hills.) I'm so pleased that 3 km seems like a pretty trivial walk. A few years ago, I wouldn't have wanted to walk from one side of a shopping center parking lot to the other.
One of the things I continuously realize since I started my walking regimen is how much you miss driving through an area. I've been through Yreka a number of times going up and down I-5, and sometimes I've even driven down Main Street, which is old US-99. But walking let me look at all of the shops and see how things relate to each other. Now, I'm not going to say Yreka is all that exciting -- it's not -- but now I think I know the city just a little bit better.
Here's an example of small-town life. Around 11 PM, as I was coming back down the far side of Main Street, I needed to cross the street to get back to my hotel. I stopped at the crosswalk, and saw that there was one car coming down the far side. I was wearing dark clothes, and not in a hurry anyway, so I figured I'd let him go by. Much to my surprise, he slowed down and blinked his lights at me to wave me across. Polite, they are here.
Anyway, after eating dinner here at the hotel and watching the Giants hold on to a reasonably impressive win over the Brewers, I decided to take a walk to downtown Yreka. Yes, it was 10:30 PM in a town in which I'm not too familiar, but I think I know Northern California, and this was not a big deal. And so I got about 3 km done, which what I normally get after lunch at my office. (The office walk is more exercise due to the hills.) I'm so pleased that 3 km seems like a pretty trivial walk. A few years ago, I wouldn't have wanted to walk from one side of a shopping center parking lot to the other.
One of the things I continuously realize since I started my walking regimen is how much you miss driving through an area. I've been through Yreka a number of times going up and down I-5, and sometimes I've even driven down Main Street, which is old US-99. But walking let me look at all of the shops and see how things relate to each other. Now, I'm not going to say Yreka is all that exciting -- it's not -- but now I think I know the city just a little bit better.
Here's an example of small-town life. Around 11 PM, as I was coming back down the far side of Main Street, I needed to cross the street to get back to my hotel. I stopped at the crosswalk, and saw that there was one car coming down the far side. I was wearing dark clothes, and not in a hurry anyway, so I figured I'd let him go by. Much to my surprise, he slowed down and blinked his lights at me to wave me across. Polite, they are here.