Travel Diary

While I wanted to wake up early, it was around 10am when I got up. Just no real reason to wake up tired, so I snoozed a bit. Then got up and prepared for my day of walking and jogging. I was bringing the drone so my travel pack was on my back. I knew the extra weight would make running much harder, but drone shots were important to me.

First, I headed down Hopyard for a ways. I knew pretty quickly that there would not be a lot of running on this occasion. Just too much weight on my back. And I was carrying my water bottle, though only half full. Yeah, no fun running 20 miles with that kind of weight to carry.

I turned left at the creek and headed down the creek path. It was deserted as the day was warm, and very few birds could be seen. By this point in the summer, it was incredibly dried out, though water still ran in the creek. I reached the Pleasanton Sports Park and took it all in. The weather was warm but not especially hot. The park was quite empty as well, though it was a weekday afternoon. Next, I traveled to my old neighborhood and sent up my drone. I wanted to capture how it looked and see if anything changed.

No, not really. Same ol’ place.

As usual, I lost track of it and spent a lot of battery life getting it home. I did bring a charger battery this time, so I connected that to it. An actual spare drone battery would have worked better, but no point investing that kind of money in the drone now.

Then it was over to the fairgrounds and eventually to Sunol avenue where I crossed under the freeway and over to Foothill Road. The Pleasanton Ridge was my next stop, but it’s tough to reach as there are no sidewalks out that far. I had to jog along the road and step off as far as possible when cars whizzed by. And it’s a long ways to the Ridge. It’s a scenic path, especially with the very expensive mansions, but also not a path I enjoy taking due to the difficulties. Just no other way to get to the Ridge, outside of Uber I guess.

Finally, I reached it about 10 miles into my run. I filled my water bottle and then headed up the steep hills. I imagine they don’t feel steep to most people who drive out there, but after 10 miles, yeah, it’s hard for a long while. My legs were empty.

Few people were on the trails. Almost no walkers. Mostly just mountain bikers here and there. Seems like the trail is more catered to that activity now. Kind of a shame, but there it is. I guess someone has to use it.

The trail does have a water fountain near the top ridge line and that is quite helpful. I stopped there and filled my bottle and then rested a bit. My legs were quite tired from all the uphill walking. Then it was onward a few more miles.

I guess I reached about 13 miles when I decided to turn back. First, I sent up the drone and looked around. It was too early for the sunset, which was a pity, but I recorded what I could and started the long walk back.

I believe it was about 17 miles when I exited the park. The downhill helped a tiny bit. Less fatigue on my muscles but my knees were not pleased. I got more water, used the restroom there, and started the long walk back along the dangerous road. I guess it was at least good it wasn’t night yet.

When I reached town, I crossed under the freeway again and was now safe from traffic. I could wear my earbuds once again (I don’t keep them in during hazardous areas). My next goal was to reach the ice cream place and it was closing in an hour.

I wasn’t able to run or jog any longer, though I noticed my legs were getting better since it was flat ground. I mainly kept up a brisk pace, reaching the ice cream shop with plenty of time. It was busy as always during the summer with many waiting in the drive-thru. Just so crazy that an ice cream place has a drive-thru. But it’s efficient with many workers taking remote orders on iPads. That makes it a very short wait. I had tried chocolate and vanilla swirl the previous time so I wanted something new. It was a tough choice as they had strawberry and pineapple. Since it was an option, I got a swirl of both. The price for a small is cheap. Maybe just under $4. I wasn’t even going to eat the whole thing; just wanted a taste.

And it was great! Well, the thing is the swirl factor does make it tough to isolate one flavor alone, and they do have greatly contrasting flavors, but that was fine. I ate about 70% and threw away the rest. Couldn’t go too high on calories as I still had my leftovers at the hotel.

I continued down Main Street, past the Amador Theatre, where I once performed in dozens of shows, and then down to Valley and up to Hopyard. I passed on walking past my old home. No real reason to and the Sports Park would be too dark at that point.

On Hopyard, I headed north and when I passed by Chick Fil-A, I entered. It was about 10 minutes before closing. I just wanted to get something small, so it was a small french fries for my order. I also asked for a plastic knife. That way I could cut my burrito back at the hotel and not have to cook everything at once. I really should get some type of meal kit for my travels.

When I was near the hotel, I realized I only had one more mile to reach 26.2 miles, so I continued around the block until I hit the magic numbers. Then it was back to the hotel to shower and relax. I knew I would be tired having to wake at 3am, though I then thought, “Why not see about a later flight?” So I used my Alaska Airlines app and sure enough, there was a flight later in the morning. I was able to change for no extra fee. This was nice. I even got to keep my first class seat since I had in fact paid for it—something I almost never do. I had just thought I was getting extra miles for that purchase.

It was great having more time. It was tempting to just take the 2:30pm flight like last month, but this was fine. 10Am would get me home at a decent hour and I wouldn’t be stuck in heavy rush-hour traffic. Yeah, 10am seemed smarter and smarter by the minute.

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