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- Denny's #0392
- Gilroy, California
- 12 October 2001
- 4:20am PDT
- 8425 San Ysidro Avenue
- (408) 842-7678
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- Attendees: P7A77, Amie
- Wait-person(s): Tania
- What we ate: P7A77 - Triple Play Deal (eggs o/e, wheat toast), Coffee; Amie - All American Slam (wheat toast), Orange Juice
- I think we're officially old. Well, Amie is, anyway. This trip was from San Jose to Las Vegas for two reasons. One, we live in San Jose. Two, Amie went to high school in Las Vegas. So what? Who cares? We were going there for her ten year High School Reunion. Bwahahah.
- We woke up bright and early around 3am, fell asleep during our respective showers, and hit the road. We detected a faint garlic smell, looked up, and saw the Denny's sign. Looked across the highway at a bank sign, and it read 4:20. The gods, they do smile upon us.
- The place had a strange vibe to it. Well, not strange so much as long forgotten. It was the feeling of the place gets after the hump of the overnight is over, when the truckers are coming in for a jolt of coffee, and the employees are a bit punchy. Tania was prompt and attentive, taking us to our seats right away, and returning with our drink orders immediately. But she screwed up who got which drink, so we knew our moment in the sun was over.
- As faintly indicated by the commercials, the $3.99 Triple Play prices and participation may vary. $5.99. Welcome to California. It also didn't taste so good. The sausages were a bit weird. I had trouble cutting my ham, when Amie pointed out that it's easier to use a knife and I should put down the fork. She was right. No matter, the ham tasted weird, too.
- WAY: no
- Free Stuff: Night Menu
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- Denny's #1241
- Coalinga, California
- 12 October 2001
- 6:30am PDT
- 25026 West Dorris
- (209) 935-3529
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- Attendees: P7A77, Amie
- Wait-person(s): n/a
- What we ate:n/a
- WARNING: not for the feint of heart.
- Here's the situation. My body is rather finicky. Part of the problem with getting old. In the middle of the San Joaquin Valley desert, at least half an hour before the next rest area, in the dead of the night, with no sort of soft paper or tissue on hand, I got an urge. Not the kind I can write my name with, either. At least, not without some practice.
- The only spot on the side of the road that didn't have all sorts of scary nasty desert vegetation was up at the top of a hill, so people driving by must have gotten a great flash in their headlights. All I gotta say is that it's difficult to stand as if you're sitting. Get some awful leg cramps. If anyone comes upon a little present with a piece of crumpled legal pad paper in it on the side of I-5 southbound, enjoy it with my blessings.
- The reason there's no information for this Denny's is because when I got there, feeling rather stinky and crusty, it was already pretty crowded. All I wanted was to use the washroom, and it was full of people. I was grumpy and didn't feel like standing around or talking to anyone, so I left. I didn't even know what city I was in. Figured I could determine by the address on the building in the photo. Actually, I didn't think about that until after I was on the road, so I'm really just lucky. Well, one notch less unlucky, anyway.
- WAY: n/a
- Free Stuff: n/a
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- Denny's #1138
- Lost Hills, California
- 12 October 2001
- 7:30am PDT
- I-5 & Highway 46
- (661) 797-2606
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- Attendees: P7A77, Amie
- Wait-person(s): Berta
- What we ate: nothing
- Talk about Lost Hills. My Mapquest directions didn't include this one on our list (yes, we're that lame), even though our directions had us change roads at this exit, so this was a found Denny's. But I'd have to be an idiot to miss it, since I had to drive right in front of it. So not really "found" as much as "not missed".
- While I sat at the end of the exit ramp, waiting to turn, I noticed that, crossing the road in front of me, were two sheep! Just walking across the road! I supposed it was farm country out there, but it was a rather barren intersection, and it was just strange to see. Amie had been sleeping, and so was probably a little confused to be woken by me freaking out about barnyard animals while pulling off the interstate next to Denny's.
- I quickly parked and jumped out to get some photos, noticing that nobody else seemed terribly concerned about livestock wandering through traffic. I chalked it up to being a local thing, but Berta assured me that it had never happened before. While she was telling me that, yes, live grazing animals investigating their parking lot was not an occurance one was likely to witness regularly, she seemed not at all even slightly intrigued. She responded much as one would expect someone to respond as if I had walked calmly in there and informed her that the sky was blue and the moon wasn't made out of cheese. Now that I think about it, some strange slightly deranged person walking up to me and telling me basic well-agreed-upon facts of time and space would probably freak me out at least a tad, so my ranting and raving about large animals likely wasn't the norm for her, either. In that case, she handled herself quite well. Brava.
- WAY: no
- Free Stuff: Menu
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- Denny's #7135
- Tehachapi, California
- 12 October 2001
- 9:00am PDT
- 9000 Magellan Street
- (661) 823-7380
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- Attendees: P7A77, Amie
- Wait-person(s): Sherri
- What we ate: nothing
- Now THIS was a found Denny's. We were driving through some beautiful mountains, but we were running out of gas. I stopped at the best chance I saw for a gas station, and thought to myself that it would be amusing to happen upon a Denny's right then in the middle of nowhere. Pull around to the gas station and... a Denny's right next to it.
- Of course, when I got out of the car and looked around, I saw there was a town up the hill a little bit, so no offense to the fine residence of Tehachapi. Speaking of which, I think that's a wonderful name. I had Sherri repeat it a couple of times just because I liked the sound of it. She knew everyone's names as they walked through the door. Ah, the regulars. Speaking of Sherri, she was super duper polite to me. And by "polite to" I mean "tolerant of".
- WAY: no
- Free Stuff: Frequent Diner Card (good at Tehachapi location only)
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- Denny's #6451
- Mojave, California
- 12 October 2001
- 9:20am PDT
- 16262 Sierra Highway
- (805) 824-1748
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- Attendees: P7A77, Amie
- Wait-person(s): Regina
- What we ate: nothing
- We walked up to this Denny's with the intention of using their restrooms. A sign on the front door informed us that restrooms are for customers only. We weren't going to buy anything. We risked it.
- It was a busy morning, during a shift that's usually not too friendly towards me, and we just barged in to use their facilities. In spite (or perhaps oblivious) of all of that, Regina was friendly and gave me a menu. As Amie wisely spoke soon after: You can't judge a Denny's by its front door sign.
- WAY: no
- Free Stuff: Dessert Menu
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- Denny's #0349
- Barstow, California
- 12 October 2001
- 10:45am PDT
- 1201 East Main Street
- (760) 256-0022
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- Attendees: P7A77, Amie
- Wait-person(s): Sandra
- What we ate: P7A77 - Chicken Parmesan Sandwich (w/ french fries), Water; Amie - Bagel w/ Cream Cheese, Fresh Fruit Bowl, Coke
- We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the hunger began
to take hold.
- Sandra was friendly and attentive, but it was difficult to understand what she was saying. But then, it's usually difficult to understand what I'm saying, so that's okay. Amie flicked a wadded up straw wrapper at me (while I wasn't looking, even... the nerve), but missed and just barely missed grazing the ear of the guy sitting in the booth behind me. I was too busy admiring the big cardboard pies in the display by the register to pay it much mind.
- The bagel was burned on both sides, and the fruit - initially forgotten by Sandra - was only some bananas with strawberry sludge. Hardly "fresh". My sandwich was delicious.
- Sandra was a little too weirded out by us to feel comfortable handing over a cardboard pie and summoned her manager, Micki, who unsuccessfully tried to pan Sandra off to us (this has happened a few times to me... maybe it's in the manager training guide). Amie did a bit of her smooth-talkin' and was able to get a cardboard pie out of the deal. Huzzah.
- WAY: no
- Free Stuff: cardboard pie
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- Denny's #6364
- Baker, California
- 12 October 2001
- 12:30 PDT
- 350 West Baker Boulevard
- (760) 733-4316
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- Attendees: P7A77, Amie
- Wait-person(s): Jason
- What we ate: nothing
- Sooooooo many signs. So many. There was no missing this Denny's. We saw billboards advertising this Denny's when we were "45 minutes" away. Then again at 35 minutes. Then 25 minutes. Then 22 minutes. Then 20 minutes. Then... nothing! I got a little worried. Then after a bit we saw that the next two miles of litter pickup was thanks to Denny's, so I knew we were at most 2 minutes away.
- When we got there, we saw why they didn't have more highway signs... they were saving them for the actual restaurant. There was a big one by the highway saying "THIS EXIT", one across the street from the restaurant pointing across the street, one on the same side of the street, and then the actual Denny's restaurant sign. It's not like this is a bustling town, either. The whole purpose of it seems to be to give you somewhere to stop off the highway. In fact, the exit and re-entrance to the highway involve driving through the main drag of the town, as if the whole thing were one big exit ramp.
- On a side note... earlier in the day I saw signs for a town called Yermo. Being the childish buffoon I am, I giggled every time. While walking back to the car, I saw a sign advertising it from the other direction. A quick bit of photo editing gave me a sense of closure.
- WAY: no
- Free Stuff: Coffee Mug
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