Time to begin the trek back to Texas.

The Treksas.

But first, because hope springs eternal, I did some circuits to various little towns that are near the flight facility, just in case they do hire me. (Have I mentioned I wasn’t all that enthralled with Davis?) And I found a couple, with the help of one of the guys at the company, that I believe might fit my little family perfectly.

Highest on my list would be the town of Winters, CA.

Center of town.

This is a brand new, huge playground area that Daphne would love. (The dedication for it is actually today.)

The Preserve is part of the farm-to-table paradigm that seems to be very big in this area. And I gotta say, my turkey pesto sandwich was the best I’ve ever had…and this was after it’d been catered out to us on the work site.

This walking bridge spans “Arroyo Putah.” (I guess “Whore Creek” didn’t quite have the ring they were looking for.)

Anyway, I really liked Winters. Should these things come to pass, this will undoubtedly be my first stop for potential places for us to move.

I also looked at Woodland, which was…also nice.  But very suburban. Lots of strip malls, fast food and mass market stores. All of which are part of what I’d like to leave behind in Texas.

At around noon it occurred to me that I was actually 2 hours farther away from LA than I was on the trip up, and so it was time to make my way back to the train station.

A VERY long drive ensues down I-5 (and there’s absolutely nothing to see but farmland and/or brown grass along the way) and, many podcasts later, I arrived at Union Station in LA. At which point I drive in circles for 15 minutes looking for the Hertz Rent-a-Car drop off, until I’m told by an attendant that you have to drive up to a plastic barrier (that has no signs), and tell a police officer (who is hidden in a chair) there that you want to return a rental car, at which point he’ll part the barriers so you can drive down a very small ramp into the parking garage.

Of course. How foolish of me. Such a tourist moment.

Who wouldn’t drive straight for the nearest cop and demand entry through a blockaded area and down into an impossibly obscured pit?
This is L.A., after all.

Speaking of L.A., Union Station is pretty sketchy at night. I had 2 homeless guys demand bites of my pretzel as soon as I bought it, and a jacked up crackhead pooped her sweatpants while passed out in a corner outside. But the pictures I took in there make it look really nice…

Like a trendy coffee shop.

It isn’t. Trust me.

I boarded my train at 9:30pm, and we were on our way back to Tejas by 10.

At which point, this became the scenery once again…

And as I’m writing this, we just passed over the Colorado River, and are about an hour and a half away from Houston.

I have yet to hear back from the company I interviewed with, but should anything come of that gamble I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say about it here.

Still has me a little nervous, though.

I mean, does the lack of correspondence mean they’ve decided they DO want to hire me and have to begin pushing it through the proper channels before calling me back and officially offering me a position?
Or maybe it means they’re undecided, and need time to sleep on it?
Or does it mean I was so not even close to what they were looking for that they’re not worried about getting back to me, and they’ll shoot me a “thank you but no” email next week?
Maybe more people interviewing/doing site visits?

Clearly I’ve had a lot of time to sit on the train, stare out the window, and ruminate on this.

Although, while I’ve been waiting, one Mr. Musk reopened the same position in McGregor that I already applied for once…so I just rang that bell again.

Can’t hurt.

So anyway… Here endeth the BumbleDadventure – California series.Thanks for coming along with me. And I’ll see you guys soon.

j.s.