Motel hell

[tikistitch]

So, after a refreshing visit to FedEx/Kinko's to offload 8 packages of Star Warsy goodness, some caffeine jamming at Starbucks, and then a quick session of "how to pack 10 gallons of luggage into an 8 oz trunk (it helps if you played a lot of Tetris as a kid) we were off at the crack of noon,

We were actually making good time until we surrendered to the siren song of Mexican food. We asked our driver if he'd be ok after the toilet bowl-sized Margaritas, and he assured us, yes, but after piling on the carbs, we decided instead to stumble over to a nearby Motel 6 which advertised free internet. The town, whatever the hell it is, was innundated last night with clouds of small bugs, which we took for mosquitoes, whose favorite food, as it happens, is fresh tiki. But, oddly, we weren't being stung. "Rice bugs," the motel guy explained, "we have rice paddies."

Rice paddies? OK, California, has any explained to you that you're living in a freaking DESERT?

Comments

[keeper1st.livejournal.com]

Now now, Southern California does not equal California. Southern California is a desert, indeed... except for the bits that use water pumped out of Northern California.

But Central and Northern California, agriculture galore! 98% of the world's artichokes come from the small town of Castroville. Loads of strawberries out of Watsonville. Cherries from all over. Garlic from Gilroy (oh my but the Black Bear Diner in Gilroy has the most garlicky garlic fries ever! with solid chunks of garlic, even! yums!). Apples all over the place. And that's just in a 40-mile radius of where I live...