Saturday November 27, 2004

Acton, CA [to end of Sierra Highway] and start of San Fernando Road.

Well, another cold, sunless Southern California day. Do they have this kind of weather all the time, or are they just trying to make a guy from the Northeast feel at home?

Speaking for home, as we entered Aqua Dulce (they say the water really was sweet there once upon a time) I saw big trees for the first time in quite a while. Along with the weather it made me feel like I was in New England.

But even better were the folks who came to greet me. Not as many as yesterday, because we were leaving the area where the newspapers circulate. But it was very welcome anyway.

I walked through a spot where they cut through a hill to make way for the road. The result was a sheer wall of very unstable sandy dirt. You could see the gouges from water running down and there were erosion holes. At the bottom were piles of the dirt that had already washed down. I wondered how long it would be before the whole thing collapsed.

Then, a few miles down the road, I saw houses built on the edge of the same kind of hills. They're going to collapse some day. Maybe soon. Definitely soon, if there were an earthquake. To me it looks like playing russian roulette with your house. But I'm sure these folks know something I don't.

The Sierra Highway takes the long route through the hills, so we lost some miles today (we were basing our estimates on I-14 milage). May have to walk Monday to make up some of the lost miles. Even so, we're only 30-40 miles from LA and maybe another 30 from Long Beach.