Day 1 Turtle Mountain 2010
It’s that time again. It’s Turtle Mountain time! It really is a lot of work each year. But it’s totally fun and I don’t mind it. We all met in Berkeley to load up the van. I was super impressed by Anthony Nguyen’s skills and abilities in organizing the van. I was touched by Loc’s dedication to detail and care, inspired by his unconditional joy in service.
I was sleepy tired. I only had an hour of sleep last night and yet I was the most awake to drive out of the whole car. So I did and others slept. I was not familiar with the timing of a loaded minivan when it came time to break, when a truck towing a trailer without break lights stopped at a one lane section of the highway to make a left turn outside of Ukiah, I had to snake to the left of slow down to brake in time. It was a close call.
I was surprised by Michael’s crush in getting a speeding ticket. Really, he had just been rotated to drive on the CA side of the border on 101 north and had just gotten behind the wheel and it was super difficult part where there was a transition of local and highway section that is not easy to figure out where the exact change in speed limit is. The cop was waiting right there. And there was no speed limit sign anywhere to tell us this section is 55mph. He was clocked at going 68mph. The rest of the car ride from that point on, which was another 4 hours of driving, we joked nonstop to keep the car riders laughing and distract from the weight of worries and the burden of fear. This turned the car ride around from fatigue to comedy central. I had so much fun.
