Route 99
4. Tiretracks
Tuesday, July 18th 2017
4:15 AM
Freddie was riding a Greyhound Bus, heading north. After leaving Seattle, he had ridden the bus to Anaheim, California. He had checked himself into one of the dozens of hotels located on Harbor Boulevard and taken himself to Disneyland. He'd had more fun than he'd had in years. Unfortunately, it just made him lonely… He had stopped two women, blonds that could have been Samantha Puckett from behind. Of course, they weren't.
He had more money than he knew what to do with. He had cashed out his retirement from Pear Research, but he was bored, so decided to get a job. He knew how to cook, so… He explored Los Angeles and greater Southern California. He didn't like it, the people were nice enough, but he wanted something a little (or a lot) smaller. This place made Seattle seem like a village.
From here he could go east, toward Las Vegas or north. Going north provided two routes to choose from if he was going to be a cook in a café. I-5 split off from US Route 99 just north of 'The Grapevine'. The infamous mountain pass separating Central California and Southern California. I-5 traveled north along the coast range of hills, while Route 99 went straight up the Central Valley. There was hardly any population along the I-5 corridor. The Route 99 corridor was dotted with farming communities large and small all the way to Sacramento, and beyond. So, it looked like Route 99 was the way to go. Boarding the Bus at 3:50 AM, he had about a two hour trip until they would stop just south of Bakersfield for breakfast. That's good, he was hungry.
Freddie napped on and off for the first leg of the trip, waking up completely when the bus came to a stop at a huge Soaring T truck stop. He'd been in these types of places before. The food served in these corporate restaurants was generally barely edible as far as he was concerned. Also, while seeming to be clean on the surface, they rarely stood the test he had in mind for food preparation areas. The name of this place was 'The Cookery'. He thought he'd just pass. Going into the quasi grocery store attached to the mega truck stop, he purchased a small bag of apples and two bananas. This and the water he had in his backpack should keep him going until he could get something decent to eat.
Tuesday, July 18th 2017
4:45 AM
Sam's shift started in fifteen minutes. She was a little tired this morning. She hadn't got to bed until midnight. Four hours sleep was not quite enough by a long shot. She was a little short on cash again this month, so she had 'entertained' last night. It wasn't something she had to do often, but when the need arose, it was good to know that she had that to keep herself afloat. The day went along pretty normally. The Greyhound bus arrived at six, as usual. Not as many passengers today, she noticed. At around six forty five she looked up to see the bus pulling out. Wow, there's another one… Sitting next to the window on the departing bus was another guy that looked just like Freddie. That had happened to her a lot since she had taken this job at the 'The Cookery'. Many times she had run out to see for sure, only to be disappointed. She had given up on that nonsense. Even though this guy really looked like Freddie. What were the odds of that happening?
Tuesday, July 18th 2017
7:45 AM
About a half hour north of Bakersfield, Fred had pulled out a map of California. He was tracing Route 99 with his finger, all those cities and towns… Bakersfield, Tulare, Fresno, Madera, Merced, Turlock, Modesto, Manteca, Stockton, Lodi, Elk Grove, Sacramento… And those were just the larger ones. Dozens of smaller towns dotted the map in between. His bet was that in one of those medium sized places, he'd find a spot to settle in. His ticket was good up as far as Redding, north of Sacramento. He started looking in Tulare, too small. Fresno was a bit too big. All those 'M' towns were small-ish, Turlock as well. Stockton was a tad too big, but Lodi… Besides, like that old song. He could be stuck in Lodi. He got off at the bus stop there Tuesday evening and got a motel room. By Friday he had a job cooking at a mom and pop diner located right on the freeway. Yep, 'Earl's Diner' looked like it just might be the place. The owners, Earl and his wife, Stella were good people. The same went for the folks that worked for them. The only reason he got hired was he was willing to work the night shift, since the former day cook just retired and the night cook was switching to days. This could really work out, he thought.
Alrighty then you lovely people. Soon I'll be posting chapter five. I may be able to finish it with that, we'll see…
Go ahead, press the button there…
Give me some of those tear stained comments.