Hawk Gets an A+ from the Doctor. Time to Go!

Hawk had her 6 week, and it turns out final, followup today with the doctor. It was a followup from her foot surgery in late January, aka Foot Surgery II: The Other Foot. The doctor collected new x-rays and quickly assigned her an A+ grade. "There's no need for you to see me again," he said. A moment later he added, "I mean, unless you want to." 🤣

The recovery from this surgery has gone better than the first one. After the first one, she got an infection in her foot, and a substitute doctor removed her stitches too early (and missed the signs of infection). That sub should've stuck to showing the class a film instead of trying to teach the subject. As a result it wasn't until week 10 the first time around that she was told her foot has healed well enough to walk in normal shoes.

We expected a passing grade today, but Hawk getting an A+ felt extra good. When I say we anticipated a passing grade I mean... by planning a trip out of town starting later today!

We're taking our first trip together since Thanksgiving. We'll be driving south to the lower edge of Central California, really kind of the northern edge of Southern California at points, to see the spring wildflower bloom at Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve and the Carrizo Plain National Monument.

Driving to the Grapevine. First Retired Trip!

Wildflower Travelog #1
Lebec, CA · Wed, 11 Mar 2026. 5:30pm.

Hawk passed a major milestone today in recovery from her foot surgery. She got an A+ grade from her doctor. So we loaded up the car this morning after getting home from the clinic and headed out on a trip, our first trip together since Thanksgiving!

Oh, we didn't leave right away. We puttered around the house for an hour or so first, then packed our pages, then loaded the car, then went out for lunch locally. We didn't hit the road until sometime after 12:30pm.

The trip we scoped out is to visit a couple hotspots for this year's wildflower superbloom. We'll visit the Antelope Valley Poppy Preserve and Carrizo Plain National Monument. They're down at the edge between what you could call Central California and Southern California. Especially the poppy preserve.... It's technically in Los Angeles County, though it's (a) 60+ miles straight-line distance to downtown LA from there, and (b) that straight line goes over a 10,000' mountain ridge.

We planned this trip over the past few days. We anticipated getting good news on Hawk's health and figured we'd celebrate. Plus, it's the first trip for me post-retirement. We've got to celebrate that, too! Though to really celebrate retirement I'd like to plan a trip way more special than just road-tripping around California for a few days.

Tonight we're staying at a roadside hotel in Lebec, California, just off I-5. We've stayed here a number of times in the past on similar trips. A few things hit differently on today's trip, though. Here are three:

1. Brown Mountains are Green!

A lot of the mountains in California are brown. ...Most of the time. That's because they're covered in grasses that turn brown when for all but 6-8 weeks of the year. Well, guess what: we're in that special time of year! Not only were the mountains bounding the east side of the Bay Area shining emerald green as we crossed them today, but the Grapevine— the imposing east-west ridge that conceptually separates the Central Valley from Southern California— was glowing green, too!



This picture shows "The Grapevine" as we enter the canyon at the bottom of the Central Valley. I've noted before that although millions of travelers call these mountains "The Grapevine" because of signs like the one you see at the lower right of the picture, Grapevine is actually the name of a tiny town site at the foot of the mountains. The mountains are the Tehachapie Mountains and the pass we're climbing is the Tejon Pass.

2. Hello, Officers, Check my Speed!

For the long trek down I-5 today I mostly set the cruise control to 70mph— which is the speed limit. It's the slowest I've ever voluntarily driven I-5. The difference was I just didn't feel like I was in a rush to get anywhere today. I figure it's because I'm retired now. I'm not trying to maximize a short trip squeezed in between working through Friday afternoon and having to be home Sunday evening early enough to get to bed in time to start the next work week Monday morning. Today I left home on a Wednesday after lunch, and I'll get back on Friday... or maybe Saturday if we decide to extend it!

One consequence of driving at 70mph is that I-5 felt like less of a race of jockeying for position. Driving I-5 through the San Joaquin Valley: IYKYK. It was less frustrating to queue up behind a slowpoke in the passing lane going 61mph to get around a truck doing 60mph in the slow lane when I only wanted to drive 70mph myself, not 80 or 85.

It's fortuitous I discovered taking-it-easy while driving today. CHP was out in force, not just on I-5 but on 101, too. I haven't seen as many police cruisers on this route even on so-called "maximum enforcement" holiday weekends. I wonder if they're trying to meet a quota.

3. Is this the end of Friday Night Halfway?

In the past a trip like this I'd post under a title like "Friday Night Halfway". That's another artifact of being a working stiff and having to rush out on mini-vacations on Friday evenings after work. Here I did my usual-up-til-now Friday evening drive on a Wednesday afternoon. Well, it's a good thing the tag I've used for these treks is 🎵 Woah We're Halfway There 🎵 (sung like the line from Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer). The tag doesn't specify Friday so I don't feel the need to change it.