The I-5

I drove up the I-5 two days ago. It's a highway I have driven on many times before, but never this particular stretch. The distance spanning between Sacramento and Redding California has to be the ugliest piece of land I have ever seen. The grass is golden because of lack of rain and high temperatures. Some days reaching up to 115 degrees. There are random bushes with white and red flowers to decorate the median. The wind blows them and the bushes wave in the breeze. They seem to be motioning me to go on further, not to give up. Palm trees stick out like a sore thumb in this dry farm land. There are rows of some kind of trees, maybe olive trees? I'm not sure. All this to say there is not much to look at on this two lane highway. Dead grass and farm land. However something caught my eye as I flew past semi's and vans with uhaul trailers. Roma tomatoes littered the freeway like red plastic balls from McDonalds. Some were on the side of the road in bunches, others were smashed into sauce under truck tires. Somewhere an Italian man weeps for reasons he knows not. I was so curious. Where did they come from? A truck? Did they roll out of a field. Thinking they had escaped a life of being eaten, only to be smashed on this desolate stretch of road? I found myself driving faster and faster to see if I could find an answer. I drove for fifty miles and found the truck piled high with tomatos. My curiosity was satisfied and my imagination was crushed.
Driving alone is a dangerous and amazing thing. You are completely alone, secluded, completely apart from the outside world. getting out of a car after being alone for a long period of time is like reentering earth's atmosphere. You almost forget how to communicate with people. I managed though. I met up with Caley as soon as I got to Redding. A town I think I will grow to love faster than I had anticipated.