California 2025, Day 7, Fowler

Denny's

After yesterday was very tiring for everyone (I myself fell into bed around 7:30 PM and didn’t wake up until 7 AM), it was clear that today would be a day for regeneration and idleness. So there's not much to report. Since the breakfast at our current hotel is, let’s say, 'improvable,' we started the day at the Denny's across the street with pancakes, scrambled eggs, and the like. Thankfully, as a hotel guest, there’s a 15% discount. It was also nice that the 'normal' stacks of pancakes were included as an extra with the 'All American Slam' breakfast from Von-Von (also known as 'Daniel’s wife'), so they only charged $2 each. For my 'Stack of Cinnamon Roll Pancakes' (very tasty), we had to pay the regular price (just under $6). A minor downside: the coffee here also tastes terrible. Especially when you accidentally use the vanilla-flavored cream instead of the regular one. Thanks to 'Free Refill,' there was a second chance, but even black, the coffee is not very enjoyable.

Fowler Sightseeing Tour

The rest of the day in short: Splashing in the pool, playing cards by the pool, chilling in the room. The kids then went to McDonald's (no veggieburger) and Starbucks while Von-Von and I used the time otherwise. Von-Von and I also went out and did a little Fowler sightseeing tour in pleasant 38°C. At the railway crossing, we had a run-in with a dust devil, which luckily didn’t cross our path. Otherwise, there’s not much new from the tour (it feels like every Christian denomination has its own church in Fowler: Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, and more like 'Church of Christ' and 'Armenian Apostolic Church') and a lot of old (typical American 'Desperate Housewives' neighborhoods with perfect front gardens, security systems, and all that stuff) to report.

Evening Run

In the evening (at a pleasant 34°C), I was able to put my running shoes to their true purpose. Until now, I had only used them for walking, but today I could finally use them for running again. My plan had been to run a small round regularly in America. However, I underestimated how hard and long the jet lag would affect me, and our previous schedule left little room for such activities. Running itself went quite well (ha ha), except that Strava had a glitch at kilometer 6 and only tracked properly again 1.5 kilometers (?) later.

To be continued...

Ran kilometers: 12

Steps taken: 13,500

Pancakes eaten so far in total: 5 large and 9 small