Traveling

 

When I was a young person, I wanted to go to the Sacramento California State Fair because I had read so many travel brochures that I was convinced it was to be my new home.  

I managed to talk my girlfriend into taking a trip to California with me. We boarded a train to go to Sacramento to partake in the food and farm animal rides, roller coaster, forest hikes, strawberry picking, Ferris wheel, water slide and scenic view that I planned to move to.  

It was a long trip across this beautiful United States. Purple soil in Kentucky, mountains of Pennsylvania, flat lands of Kansas and Colorado. Steer country in Iowa, through the Mojave Desert of Nevada and finally into California.  

We had already booked a motel two blocks from the Fair. After a full night’s sleep and a breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon and coffee we were off to our first full day of entertainment. The next day we were going to check out apartments in the area.  

We found vendors selling Native American artifacts. There was a scruffy man selling local honey from his very own bee house, we bought some. We tried the water guns and toss the ring. We went on the huge swing for adults. By noon we were exhausted and hungry. Off to the food vendor for sausage with onions and peppers. 

This is where it got weird. The food was terrible, and we had to throw it away, there was a sudden storm and lightning hit the Ferris wheel and it fell over and started a fire in the farm holding all the animals. There was chaos, animals running everywhere, people panicking and leaving the grounds in waves. We stood under an awning frozen not knowing what to do. The police and emergency services showed up in about ten minutes. We were out of there and back to the motel. 

We were still in shock and collapsed on our beds. What just happened? After getting centered we went to the motel's cafeteria for some dinner. We couldn’t miss the chatter about the catastrophe at the Fairgrounds. We ate dinner and decided to get some rest and checked out some real estate the next day.  

Up early we ate breakfast, and the real estate agent came to pick us up to view two apartments in the area.  

The first one was near transportation making it easy to get around. The apartment was two bedrooms, wide kitchen, bathroom, yard, living room and laundry room. The price was reasonable. The only problem was it was located directly next to a strange commune of people who were incredibly noisy. So, it was a no go. 

The second apartment was in the same area, same amenities but it was up against a cemetery. Too scary. Also, a no go. 

Back to the motel. We had to leave for the train back to New York the next day. Our visit was not what I expected; I decided that I had to rethink this whole moving to California thing.  

Boarding the train, I could see the massive cleanup at the Fairgrounds.  I felt cheated in a way, but it was the lightning’s fault for starting the fire. Back across the beautiful USA. We sailed through Nevada, Iowa, and Colorado. I fell asleep through Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky. Woke up feeling the rush of the train and swept through Pennsylvania and finally to New York.  

As beautiful as the trip had been, there was not enough time to make plans to move there. However, the travel brochures did not mislead with their descriptions of beautiful, clean, breathtakingly awesome state of California.  

Ultimately, I did not move to California, but I did vacation there many times over the years and that satisfied my longing to live in California at least for some time in the year. 

Georgia