Thank you, TechGuy, for that great explanation and wonderful reminder. I have not been to California for many years. I sometimes forget about the beautiful, varying scenery it has to offer. I do remember travelling once on a beautiful, but very cold, trip on Donner's Pass (I hope I recalled the correct reindeer's name there) up into the mountains when it was covered with snow. I also remember the first time I saw a desert there. The heat was incredible that day and there was concern that the big truck would overheat, but it was an awesome view that made me want to immediately take out the cell phone to call friends back east and tell them about it. I had forgotten about the need for adding or removing layers of clothes several times over the course of a day while travelling the whole of the state making pick-ups and deliveries.
Sometimes I only remember the dang fruit inspectors stopping every truck, the terminal in Fontana near Riverside, City of Industry's warehouse district, the dreaded weigh station on the way out of the state heading back east, the near incident at Edward's Air Force Base or the sensation of Los Angeles morning rush hour traffic when I had been up for close to 24 hours by the time the sunrise happened.
Thank you for bringing back some good memories of your beautiful state.