Earthwalk Day 1070 (27 December 2024), 10,957 km

Two weeks, so far, of heading east and a little north. I came out of the mountains across one of the most startling changes in topography I’ve ever seen.

I couldn’t just walk east on Route 130 into Patterson, though. No, at least Google doesn’t think so; I was routed 4 km south, then 4 km east, then 4 km north again. Looking at the Street View imagery I guess it’s clear why: The bridge over the aqueduct has virtually no shoulders whatsoever, and the posted speed limit is 45 MPH (72 km/h). It’s not very far, and I’m not sure you couldn’t wade the aqueduct if you wanted to, but I walked the long way. I passed fairly close to NASA Crows Landing Airport and Test Facility, a former airport belonging from 1993 to 2011 to NASA Ames, after which it was closed. So no, not a NASA facility destination for this tour.

After Patterson I passed through the city of Turlock. Then up into the hills to the east.

In Syracuse, it still seems to be December, and I had three bad weather days the past two weeks — and I’ve used the snowblower for the first time this winter – but I’ve gotten out walking every day since Monday this week, Christmas included, and I might get another bike ride in this year.

A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. Present coordinates: 37.642°N, 120.497°W.