Rest Stop on I5

On our way to Portland, driving north on the major north/south highway through California. It's getting hotter. I can't take my eyes off the thermometer in the car. Luckily I'm not driving, but snapping photos obsessively: 100, 102, 105. I send these pix home every few minutes. It tops at 109 near Redding. By the time we reach our stopover in Ashland it's back down to two digits, and once the sun goes down and the breeze comes up it is pleasant to walk around town in sandals and summer clothes, something I don't get to do at home. Ashland has always been one of my favorite places, with or without the Shakespeare Festival. Quiet streets lined with lovely shade trees, charming old houses, a climate and vegetation that resonates with my east coast childhood--it's relaxing to be here. I am on vacation!