These questions got me out of bed. My Fred Flintstone feet hit the carpet. The room was cold from excessive air conditioning. A smell of stale wasabi hit my nose. The song of “Imagina-a-a-a-tion” ran through my mind, and put a smile on my face. The most annoying and ridiculous song that is… on purpose.

Then, a quick shower, some fresh clothes and a desire for a latte had me rushing out the door.

Again, Sonora’s ok. It was so named by Mexicans from Sonora, the Mexican state south of Arizona, who came up to California during the 1849 gold rush days. Now, it’s a town of roughly 5,000. Whereas it used to depend on timber harvesting, the communists have done much damage to this industry vital to California forests. Now, tourism is king.

I found a coffee shop. Got a latte and a pastry. Though Mr. Tummy appreciated frothy, sweet goodness, he wasn’t his usual chipper self. Frankly, burnout was hitting me. Monday was 13 hours of driving. Tuesday and Wednesday were long. Today would be too.

My travels can be more stressful than real life. I want to see it all, like Clark Griswald. Thus, I often rush from place to place.

I also rush because staying in one place can be hard when you’re all by yourself. There’s no one to share the experience with. This can make you feel lonely. So, you constantly change scenery to distract yourself from yourself. That sounds like a foolish thing to do, especially if you know you’re doing it. Today I knew I was doing exactly this.

My mind hearkened back to Yosemite’s Valley. It would have been nice to be by the Merced. It would have been nice to lay in the shade of an old pine, and feel the cold river flow by, and watch water fall. But, my predetermined route over the mountains to Lake Tahoe called. Go, go, go…

Yet, sometimes, the constant change of scenery works marvelously. Sometimes the emotions it renders are sweet. The past two days attested to such. Maybe today I’d experience something that would kill the burnout. Maybe today something even better would happen. You never know.

Driving CH 108 – the Sonoran Pass – was a good way to attempt such a thing. Even if I were wrong, it would still be cool.