It was supposed to be a long day chasing miles from Las Vegas to Phoenix, so I could spend time with my Aunt and Uncle. And it was a lovely visit with them, and we had some banging Mexican food. Also, I was given a painting created by one of my favorite uncles.
I have always been fascinated by Route 66. The Mother Road. Conveyor of not just tourists in the 50s, but generations of migrating families. The Grapes of Wrath, a novel by John Steinbeck, calls it the Mother Road. It helped people move west during the dust bowl, people who had nothing but the contents of their wagon or car. It is an incomplete road remaining of a complete cultural icon. (It’s been a long day, I’m tired.)
It was as I expected it to be. Lots of abandoned motels and cafes, a good number of refurbished motels and cafes. Actual Burma Shave signs. If you don’t know, look it up, it’s amusing.
It was about 68 degrees and cloudy. A bit cool for the top down. But this was 75 miles of Route 66, that top was coming down! And that’s what seat warmers and heaters are for!
I am tired and I am pensive, so it’s a short post. Tomorrow I begin the Great Crossing, driving from Phoenix to New Orleans! I’ll be stopping in some lonely harbors, so will have more time to pontificate.
Deets
License Plates: AK – Yes, Alaska!
States: NV, AZ
Departed: 7:32 am PST, 68 degrees
Original ETA 12:46 pm MST
Arrival: 3:20 pm MST
Warmest/Coldest: Death Valley 90°, Wallace ID 22°
Weather: Bit of drizzle, bit of partly cloudy
Food: BLT but they forgot the T, dinner was amazing Mexican
Music: Route 66 Road Trip playlist
Observations
What’s less than a drizzle?
My perspective of scale for mountains is all out of whack, and I think it’s because I’m used to seeing bluffs by the Mississippi, which are much smaller. Looking at distant mountains it’s always surprising to see a thin black line near the bottom – that’s a long train.
My car is my selfie stick
I like crows. I’ve been seeing them looking and acting like raptors, and doing rather uncrowlike things.
Pictures
Restocked water for the crossingI’ve been told this doesn’t countIt’s not route 66 if you don’t do something cheezyProper desert highway
One of the primary goals of this trip was to drive my convertible, top down, down the Las Vegas strip. Because I had always wanted to do that. It’s the kind of thing people would warn you not to do because of the traffic and congestion. Nuts to that! I have three more goals that fall squarely in the “not prudent” category, and I’m doing them. Dammit.
Left Death Valley behind with a slow drizzle. Didn’t take too long before the temperature rose and the rain stopped. Top down, no looking back. The fact that death valley, the most desolate place in the US – is less than 2 hours from the Las Vegas strip – is strange to me.
I’ve been having a logistical issue with laundry, but found a laundromat in Las Vegas that did it all and folded it for probably less than what hotel detergent and change would cost. Win. They did the work, I went to the Hoover Dam. Which was interesting, nice to say I’ve been there, but I’m good.
Coming into Las Vegas I had mixed feelings. I hate Elvis and the casino lounge act culture and vibe. Now most of the acts are magicians. Question: If you were a viral sensation and scored a show at the best casino, and then after 6 months when everyone got tired of your gimmick, do you just quit or have a show at the Flamingo? I’m looking at you Puff the Magic Dragon’s brother.
Had a good wander down and back up the strip. It’s all different but all the same as it was 10+ years ago. Tired feet, but great people watching. I feel exhausted but rejuvenated by the sheer volume or lighting!
Five hour driving day tomorrow, and I want to get it over with as quick and early as possible. Seeing my Aunt and Uncle! Very excited!
Deets
License Plates: MA, ON
States: NV, AZ, NV
Departed: 8:45am PDT, 76 degrees
Original ETA 10:57am PDT
Arrival: 11:00 am PDT
Warmest/Coldest: Death Valley 90°, Wallace ID 22°
Weather: Bright, warm
Food: Subway sub, Crepe from Paris (casino)
Music: Beastie Boys – Hello Nasty, Prince – Sign O The Times, Bush – Deconstructed, Lady Gaga – Mayhem
Observations
The drive to Vegas had much more desert like I thought I would see. Flat, lots of scrub, going on endlessly to mountains that are very far away
For a state that’s made up of dry stuff and has a shortage of water, they sell an awful lot of fireworks
Vegas has gutters crossing sidestreets, which inadvertently are speed gutters
Vegas drivers seem like they’ve been brain afflicted. Very aggressive but also very confused about what they’re doing.
I got my car searched at the Hoover Dam because I had two large black containers in my back seat. Once they saw they were full of sweaters and shoes, they waved me on like I was an idiot. Which I am.
Pictures
Target on the way – it’s a baby Target!Hoover DamBlurrily heading out for the eveningVenice!Paris, et alF1 preparationsF1 carAnd of course the Bellagio fountain
Up early to get a jump on any storm that may have deposited 2 feel of snow on us, but that didn’t happen. Got to drive through much desert and experience the long hot roads. Temperature only got up to the low 80’s until later in the day when we got to 90. Top was down most of the drive, which was lovely as usual.
I was thrilled to hear that just this morning, the road to Badwater Basin opened up after some flooding. I hadn’t counted on that opening any time soon, so this was great. As I headed down the road I passed a few other sights. The first was the Golden Canyon. I came back to this later and decided a 3 mile hike wasn’t in the cards. The Artists Drive (scenic loop) was flooded yet, but the devil’s golf course was open. I had read about this on Atlas Obscura but didn’t think it was near where I was going to be. It’s really a rock field of unusual shaped rocks – many of which are actually salt. Finally, got down to Badwater Basin. It’s the lowest place on earth – they had a map showing the other non-lowest low points. The record high temperature is 134° in 1913 at Furnace Creek, where I’m staying. The unofficial record is at the basin at 135° in 2021 – but there’s no official weather station there so it’s not official.
Walked out onto salt and looked around at the vast nothingness, then headed back. The rest of the experiences I had leading up to this were similar, so the thrill of being there was the depth and hope for hot weather.
Death Valley wasn’t on my original trip plan, like a lot of things. But I very glad I came. Experiencing the mountains again but in a desert setting was a great new perspective. Being able to immerse myself a bit in the desert has given me another environ to miss and want to come back to. Mountains, Ocean, Redwoods, and now Desert.
After language school I spent a summer in San Angelo Texas – the Oasis of west Texas. It was hot during the day, of course. But when the sun started to go down it turned into a magical world. We were living in a hotel on base for three months, and it was right next to an old flightline. We would sit at the picnic tables in faux gazebos and drink. I think we all knew we were leaving and going off to the different parts of the Marine world and this was really the end to our Monterey school experience. But the best part was wandering off to the flightline, surrounded on three sides by desert scrub. You could lay down out there and look at the stars, but no matter where you were it seemed there was always a light breeze, blowing hot like the afternoon. It was nice to feel that tonight.
I just went to dinner. Ribs, mediocre. This place makes me think of White Lotus, Dirty Dancing, Hotel California, and a cruise all rolled into one. It’s nice, and I could see spending a few days here to recharge. Sleep through the day and enjoy the nights. I think I can understand how some people like Palm Springs.
An “actual” saloon for dinner
My hotel is actually a resort. Because it’s the only non camping lodging in Death Valley. It’s lovely. Early to bed because I want to get a jump on any storm that may bring flooding. Holding my breath on that one.
Jets
Last night I heard the roaring in the distance (and not so distant) but didn’t see any jets. The military does training over much of these lands, and have since the 1930’s. The images below were from a vista point next to this canyon. It’s hard to get the scale, but it looked like a regular canyon, nothing huge. I don’t know if I could throw something to the bottom, but I could totally get there with a paper airplane.
It’s called Star Wars Canyon because of the technical skills it takes to fly your jet down there. In the canyon. Like in Top Gun. The fact that they have little silhouettes so you can identify the aircraft was very generous of them. I waited a bit but nothing came roaring through. That must be incredible and deafening.
Star Wars Canyon
Deets
License Plates: IL, LA, NJ, NY – also AZ which I already have, but this one had Japanese plates on the front!
States: CA
Departed: 7:01 am PDT, 50 degrees
Original ETA 10:15 am PDT
Arrival: 1:30 pm PDT
Warmest/Coldest: Death Valley 90°, Wallace ID 22°
Weather: Sunny, hot!
Food: Lunch – Sandwiches, Dinner TBD
Music: 70’s Road Trip Playlist, Complete Silence, Lady GaGa – Mayhem, Girl Talk – Feed the Animals, DJ Rap – Learning Curve
Observations
Driving
Passing through lots of “gas food lodging” (movie) towns
Bored a sheriff into passing me by not breaking any laws
Seeing a snowplow coming from the opposite direction was unnerving
Google fi is not winning any coverage awards today
I love “tummy drops” when you go over a quick rise, but don’t like it when they’re directly before a sharp curve
The image of the lonely road in the desert. Long, desolate stretches with nobody else around. You really need to paint in two minivans, a sedan and an RV. There is no lonely on these roads
I super love that so much of our land is National Park land.
I saw cacti
Long, straight desert roads make me wish I could lash the wheel and take a nap.
I am singing songs by America and the Eagles
Salt Flats look like snow. Taste like salt. I tried it.
walking in salt is like walking in snowy slush
Pictures
The Devil’s Golf courseLamest Burning Man EverMe at the bottom of the worldRocinante, my trusty steed282 feet below sea level.For scale, look at the rock face on the other side of the road. That white sign is sea level. (Click for embiggening)I swear I heard R2-D2 and some jawas in hereThere are sand dunes in the desert sometimes. They were fun to walk on
And today I will leave you with a little bit of the desert. This is an actual recording of the silence of the desert!
My day so far. Left the mountain lodge, which was really nice but had no laundry facilities. Rather than take the advice of both GPS (one in car and one on phone) I turned right instead of left. Both GPS units began a campaign to convince me what I was doing was wrong and would lead to no good. You know how eventually the GPS comes around and maps your route instead? It took them a long time to capitulate. I had to go back into the park (still nobody at the gate, no entrance fee) but that allowed me to take a picture of this cool rock tunnel right after you would normally pay:
The deviation in course was me going back into the park and taking a right turn, thus sending us over another southbound pass with all sorts of great twisties on it. This would be the Wawona road out of the park. The twisties were moderately gentle with a bit of excitement sprinkled in there, but with more traffic than would be fun. The scenery was amazing, in the microseconds that I could look away from the road. I couldn’t see to the bottom of the valley. Seriously far down there. The open side of the road was extremely close to the edge, and given the depth of the valley you couldn’t get a sense of how far down you would plummet to your death. It’s always funner when your stomach does flips!
I also learned the under car clearance on my MINI is about a millimeter shorter than a giant pinecone is when laying on the road. No issues, just a cheery noise.
From there things got a little boring. The first major city was Fresno, and it was a little early but I stopped for lunch. I had a hankering for a hot dog. You know, a fresh pink hot dog in a bun that’s soft and delicious. My hankering was misplaced. I did get a chili dog, and it was 3/4 pretty good, then 1/8 not as much, then 1/8 not finished. The picture on the left isn’t maybe a great representation, but it certainly looked like that. The Pepsi was good. I hate Pepsi. And on the right you get a sense of Fresno.
From Fresno we had a giant highway with trucks and other vehicles on it, but moving fairly quickly. Delano was halfway, and we hit 81 degrees! Then Bakersfield, which I can only represent by saying their Starbucks was wonderful as usual.
From Bakersfield I followed diminishing roads from the interstate to the state roads, then the pass. My stop for today is at Lake Isabella, a reservoir. Sequoia and Redwood groves are located in this region, and I just thought a big lake and big trees would mean this would all be forests and touristy lodges. Nope. It’s brown hills, a reservoir, and kinda that’s it. I’m only here a night, and this will be another good night to catch up on sleep.
The twisties on the way up though? Ohmygod. Proper twisties, nice sharp drop off, and enough tight curves that make you rethink your life decisions but still retain enough sanity not to just slam on the brakes. Which would be phenomenally bad. I was cruising these corners with glee – not too fast, but fast enough that it was on the edge of unwise. No squealing tires thanks to my new set of tires I got before the trip. But turns in which you get a core workout from holding the wheel with a death grip, clenching, and pushing your left foot hard to the floor of the car.
And then I looked in my rear view mirror.It was a while (of course) Mercedes SUV that I saw coming out of Starbucks, and has been with me ever since. Except, I’m in my MINI driving like a madman around these turns, sure that I’m being dangerously reckless. Torn between suicidal ideation and a fear of dying on the rocks a thousand feet below. And here is a soccer mom in a Mercedes SUV keeping up with me enough that I felt I should pull over and let her pass. Like it was nothing. She was just driving along. On the phone, I’m sure. Complaining about the yokel from Minnesota who’s slowing her down. I pulled over and let her pass. That was the last I saw of her.
I see it as her being a rockstar driver and me leading the way for her. Not me being a slow rookie and she’s a rockstar driver. I mean, I’ve done twisties for literal hours on this trip. I think I’m doing them well.
Hotel room is actually nice – remodeled recently. It’s an old motel that they incorrectly call a hotel. To check in the doorbell is broken, so a sign told me to call a number and they’ll come let you in. They couldn’t find my reservation because it was done online, and they didn’t look like their system was integrated with the online system. Because it involved pen and paper. Luckily she found the info, and I got room #1. I think that’s how many guests they have tonight. I asked about the dining room and she said, with a lot of pauses, that this being Wednesday, and because of the season, it doesn’t get too busy. My room key.. yes, a physical key, was really tricky getting into the lock, but it did eventually. When you close the bathroom door it scrapes on the floor. We expect these things from an old motel. If I get a ghost tonight I’m giving them a 5 star review.
The Trip logistics session #1:
I mean to explain my setup and processes, but don’t want to bore anyone. So those people should skip forward. Today’s session is about the boot. Normally we would say trunk but that seems misleading in the case of a MINI. Everything is MINI in a MINI. So I call it a boot. It fits my suitcase and my CPAP travel bag. Those go in and out regularly. If I’m stopped and have the top down I may squeeze my laptop having backpack in there too, but it’s intimate.
Below the luggage layer are three sections. On the left is a cute little Target rope coil basket that fits my car stuff: MINI vacuum, cloths, cleaning products. Directly beneath the suitcase is where the bottled water goes when I have a lot of it. Right now I’m running low, so that space is filled with a laundry bag filled with laundry. I would ask the hotel folks if they have laundry facilities, but I don’t want to make a big thing of it. Tomorrow I’m staying in one of the least hospitable places on the planet, but in one of the most hospitable places on this trip. They’re likely to have a laundry solution. Failing that, I’m sure a (spoiler!) Las Vegas hotel would hand wash it, fold it, and wrap it up in paper for me for a mere $300. Bargain.
On the right we have two gallons of water. Those don’t get used unless I’m in the middle of, say, Texas, and I’m dying of thirst. To prove that the boot is not completely full, you can see space above the water bottles, to the right of the suitcase. Wide Open. Could probably get a whole other MINI in there!
Deets
License Plates: None, but I thought I saw an Alaska, turned out to be Montana
States: CA
Departed: 7:54 am PDT, 51 degrees
Original ETA 12:12 pm PDT
Arrival: 2:20 pm PDT
Warmest: 81° at Delaney Delano
Weather: Partly to mostly cloudy, pleasant, cool in the mountains
Budget: Food below, Hotel below
Food: Chili Dog, dinner TBD
Music: Underworld, the complete playlist
Observations
I wear my VNS magnetic ring on my right pinky finger, usually. It allows for more stealthful waving over my VNS. I have learned that the point on both of my hands which contacts the steering wheel most, and quite strongly, is the base of the right pinky finger. So it goes on the left when I drive. Just another one of the fascinating details of my drive..
Mountains are pretty.
So many white vehicles. Is it because of the heat? (opposite of black, the sun soaker)
My uninformed opinion of the central valley based on half a day spent there: Flat, but with these weird mesa looking things. Lots of orchards, lots of casinos, and many instances of random or unknown vegetation al alone in a field.
Fresno tried to disguise a cell tower as apine tree, except it’s the tallest thing for miles, and looks like a cell tower that was disguised as a pine tree.
My uninformed opinon of Fresno based on half an hour spent there: Few parks, vibe is concrete in the hot sun, jack in box, and auto repair places. Like if you wanted LA but on a smaller budget.
Pictures
Not a lot today, everything was in the post! Expecting much, much more tomorrow.
On the way out of town I stopped to say goodbye to the Pacific Ocean. Sad, but happy for the experience of seeing her again. Was ready to leave Monterey. My head was getting tangled with memories of the past and knitted brows of the future. Tonight I’m getting early sleep and a good day of driving tomorrow. I got tired of memories and wanted something anew. Well, anew is what I’m getting.
Yosemite is the first new thing!
Yosemite
I have watched many climbing documentaries with my pro level bouldering daughter. We geeked out on Alex (just) before Free Solo, and I’ve watched the Dawn Wall (favorite) more than a few times. Often with her in the room, we like to trade looks of disbelief. But you can’t get a sense of a place from a movie or a show. You can’t fully feel the sense of scale from a flat screen.
El Cap has many faces, routes, and identifiers. The two I know about are The Nose, which is right out at the somewhat pointy point. The other is the Dawn Wall, which is just a face on the right of the mountain. It’s called that because the dawn hits it first, and it looks like fire. The movie Dawn Wall is a great one. Watch it from the comfort of your couch.
It was a lot of fun seeing them, but I was trying to figure out where the climbers were. It was an exercise in zoom on my phone camera, and even then I could only identify moving dots. That’s what gave me the super awe of seeing it in real life. Just knowing there are climbers you can’t see because they’re just so far up there. Amazing. Random points from Yosemite:
On the way in, you’re just amazed at the views and mountains around you.
On the way out, you’re no longer that impressed, having see the valley
The valley is just that, a valley. It got dark earlier there because the sky is a smaller slice when you’re in a slice of your own.
The road between the park gate and the valley itself is crazy long, just snaking your way to the valley.
The front gate was open but not staffed, free entry for all. Which is horrible. I donated in addition to my souvenir magnet purchase.
I’m glad it was warm and I could have the top down or open. Like the redwoods, you just have to be able to look up.
Deets
License Plates: Nope
States: CA
Departed: 7:12 am PDT, 56 degrees
Original ETA 10:32 am PDT
Arrival: 11:00 am PDT
Weather: Quite nice, if a bit cloudy. Top down for the second half of the drive
Budget: Food below, Hotel just below
Food: Egg Salad sandwich from Yosemite deli, not a vending machine. Burger from the hotel bar
Music: Early naughts electronica, Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen, Led Zeppelin – IV, Solex – Solex vs. the Hitmeister
Observations
Drove through many orchards in the central valley
The roads in the orchards made me grumpy with their bumpy. GPS told me to.
The twisties I encountered today I have deemed “diet twisties” or “cruise control twisties” despite what all of the minivan brake lights said. It’s like getting the generic version of the toy you wanted for Christmas. His name isn’t Luke Skystalker and he doesn’t ride a freaking motorcycle.
Pictures
The Dawn WallYosemite Waterfall (upper left)(squint)El CapitanWhat the postcard showsRealityDo you see all the climbers? Look at the branches just left of the middleSurely you can see them now, there’s bunches!Highest zoom here, those dots that look like gnats are climbers.Now look at the first picture again. That’s just jaw dropping.
Spent the day wandering about thinking of things and remembering things. Ate a few things. Bought a Big Sur Bixby Bridge fridge magnet. I joined the Marine Corps at the last minute of 1988, went to boot camp in the first minute of 1989. When I signed up they really liked me, so they let me choose an MOS (job) that they would guarantee. I think it was called “Data Processing” but I just heard “computers” which was fine with me. A friend of mine looked at the details and said the systems I would be working with were ancient, maybe not worth learning for my civilian future.
In order to figure out if you’re smart or not smart, the military has the ASVAB. It’s not too tough to get a good score, and I did. In order to see if you might have a thing for languages, they have the DLAB. Depending on how well you do, you might be rated for a fairly familiar language like Spanish, or a more complex language like Arabic or Korean. I did well on the DLAB – I did well on form tests in general. My brother said I had a great score, that he hadn’t see many higher in his years administering the test in the Army.
When you go to boot camp they give you all of the tests again, just for fun. For me, that meant I had a familiarity with the DLAB, and as a result, score crazy high. So the boot camp folks pulled me aside and said “Hey maybe you want to learn Korean instead of computers.” I can’t remember what the incentive was beyond the fact that language school was in Monterey. The other recruit who was in the same situation said his family used to vacation in Monterey, so I should do it! More background – I sucked at languages. I took German in high school and barely passed, and that was with an amazing ability to make microminiature cheat sheets. So the obvious choice was to throw away the computer thing and choose the hard thing that I had proven my failures in already. Because the school was in a nice town.
For as much as joining the Marines is a real “become a real man” type situation, they kinda lean on your parents a bit. When you leave for boot camp, you get a phone call home. When you get to boot camp, you get a (scripted) phone call home. When you change a guaranteed MOS to something else, you get a call home. Mom reminded me about German and said I was crazy to think Korean would be easier. She wasn’t wrong.
So boot camp, yadda yadda. And then I got some time home on leave before shipping out to my MOS school. In this case, Monterey. It wasn’t until I got out of the van from the airport in front of the barracks that I realized I had no idea what was happening. As I got out, three Marines jumped to my seabag and other luggage, and welcomed me to DLI, the Defense Language Institute. Really Marine Barracks, inspections and all. A nod to doing physical training, and you had to keep the uniform perfect. Beyond that though it was much like college. classes in the morning and early afternoon, and then you’re cut loose. You might do PT if you had a squad leader who cared to, but you were really supposed to be doing your language homework. Often we would take the afternoon off and homework late at night. Like college. And since we were there to learn something difficult, the command didn’t mess with us much. We were still Marines, but the focus was learning so we can do our job.
School lasts a whole year for the Korean course. There is time spent before classes begin for you while you wait for a “class” to be formed. I was held waiting for maybe two weeks. Some Marines were waiting for months. After you’re done with school, if you graduated, you could be held there for however long was needed before you were shipped off to your first duty station.
For most Marines in the Korean program, the Marine base in Hawaii was the first duty station. My squad leader had a world of advice for us, and the first was that we should request Korea for our first duty station. So I did. But between boot camp, leave, the waiting before, the class you’re in, the waiting after, and leave (often a month) before your duty station – it can be almost two years from signing up to be a Marine and getting to the first place you’re not just learning. So I had a good amount of time in Monterey, and it’s where I matured as a Marine, matured as a man, and immatured as a man. Because I may have learned a lot about Korean, the Marines, and myself, but I was still 21 years old and mouthy as ever.
I made some incredibly good friends here. I owned a motorcycle and would ride up and down the California coast. I went to San Francisco in the north and San Luis Obispo in the south. I spent a lot of time wandering the roads of the Carmel valley. And I spent an awful lot of time with my bike down at Asilomar.
There was an Italian deli called Compagno’s that had meatball subs the size of your head. And when we needed a Marine break some of us would dress in decent civilian clothing and go downtown to Rosine’s, a restaurant known for their signature Caesar Salad, and pancakes in great variety. Today I had that meatball sandwich for lunch, and had that Caesar salad for dinner. Both were just as good, 35 years later.
A million and one more stories about Monterey. Buying cowboy boots at K-Mart, because that’s what you did. Sitting in the woods up the hill with a few others, drinking Ancient Age whiskey – in the nonbreakable value size bottle. And then running down the steep hill for half a mile or more (in our cowboy boots) to the NCO club. Good decisions there. Going on a date that would turn into a chapter of my novel decades later. Renting cars and going to LA or San Diego for long weekends.
Coming so close to failing out so many times, and I think I got a pity pass in the end – not looking that gift horse in the mouth! Because I was so bad at school I had zero fucks to give when I got to Korea. I would babble along to anyone who would hear me — and they would correct my bad Korean. And I learned. The smart kids who were concentrating on properly conjugating their verbs made the Koreans nervous. They didn’t want to disrespect anyone like that by correcting them. So for being the worst student but the time I left country I was the one who would be tasked with being the linguist on the street – buying train tickets, talking to wait staff in bars, etc.
So in the end it worked out. Monterey was my launching point, and I will always love this little village, no matter how big it gets.
Tomorrow: Off across California to Yosemite. From there it’s up to the weather and mountain passes. Can I got over the Sierra Nevada’s, or do I have to go around?
Deets
Zero Day, no miles
License Plates: FL!
Observations
Somewhere before or after mountains I got in the car and the check seatbelt alarm was going off. As were the associated dashboard warnings. Unplugged and replugged the seat belt. Didn’t help. Turned car off, turned it back on, didn’t help. All manner of combinations of logic trying to figure out what the problem was yielded nothing. Until it did. And for a state or two I winced every time the alarm went off, worried I was going to have to hear that noise for weeks.. All good since then.
Passed the school track where we ran wind sprints when I was on the Marine Running Team. Wind sprints are a lap running all out as fast as you can, followed by a lap just running really fast, rinse and repeat. I hated those things.
After so many hundreds of miles, a new license plate!
Big Sur really is just a widening of the road.
Bixby Bridge is a famous bridge, you’ve seen it on Mac desktops, and I’ve seen it on a couple puzzles. It’s pretty iconic. It’s where Jack Kerouac scrambled down to the beach to follow the creek up to his friends cabin. And today it was fogged in. When I was on it, I couldn’t see either end or anything off the sides.
Got a meatball sandwich and drove to Asilomar beach and ate while I watched the waves. I have to say goodbye the the Pacific tomorrow and that’s going to be sad.
I also got a muffuletta for eating lunch on the road tomorrow, not sure if it’ll be as good 24 hours later..
I finally looked up the Waymo cars I was seeing in San Francisco. They’re like uber but with autonomous cars – no driver at all!
Heading out from San Francisco, I stopped by the Golden Gate bridge bright and early, got a spot in the parking lot, and got to walk the bridge. The bridge has been a thing for me for some time. There is a great documentary about The Bridge that I’ve watched countless times. Everyone gets that concerned tone when I mention I’m going out there. Fear not, I’m on a vision quest and I have no time for that. I’ve been on the bridge before, and it’s a great windy and wonderful place. Got to watch an ocean freighter go under the bridge, though I had to scramble to go close before it went under. Those things move fast!
Leaving San Francisco I headed down the cost, passing many beaches along the way. There were many surfers out and I couldn’t figure out how all these people could be skipping work to surf. And then I remembered it was Sunday. Traffic was a little busy on the way down, but nothing horrible. Stopped at Mavericks, a beach known as one of the best surfing spots in the world – but there were no surfers today. I suspect I was too late in the morning. Passed through Santa Cruz and stopped at their Target only to find new cable knit sweaters! Score!
San Francisco brought up a lot of thoughts and memories. Monterey is sure to as well. Monterey is where I grew up in a sense, during language school. It was like college in many ways though it was just over a year. I have a lot of things I want to say but need to figure out how to tell the stories. And to process them. I feel like I’ll be dropping in parts of these in posts for days.
Headed down to Monterey from Santa Cruz among fair traffic that gave way to worse traffic. By the time I passed Seaside it was stop and go. Eventually it cleared enough and I wandered down to Pacific Grove, then Asilomar, and finally back to Monterey proper to check in at the hotel.
Asilomar is a beach and a state marine reserve on the westernmost wide of the Monterey peninsula. When I was in language school in Monterey I would go to Asilomar on my motorcycle, park it all alone in the turnout by the road. I’d sit on the cycle and unknowingly do a mindfulness exercise. I would smell the smell of the ocean and the pine and the eucalyptus. I would hear the ticking of the motorcycle engine cooling and the roar and silence of the surf. I would taste the tobacco of a cigarette and I would see the ocean surf. More importantly I would look out at the horizon. Seeing the vast ocean and knowing that it held my future, I would wonder about things to come. After language school (if I passed!) I was either going to Korea or Hawaii, both of which were thousands of miles west across the ocean. I could just stare at my future and consider. Consider where my life might take me. I was young and knew I had a lot of future ahead of me, and I was not at all sure I knew where or how well it would take me through life. Asilomar was there for me on good days, and more importantly on bad days. It’s where I would learn the cycles of the surf and ponder the depths of that water. There were a lot of known and unknown things in the ocean, and I found that interesting and exciting more than scary. So Asilomar is where I well in love with the Ocean. A relationship that had been love at first site on that beach while I was in boot camp blossomed into a respect and awe. That’s why Asilomar is so important to me.
Fog is common on the peninsula. We would walk to school a block from the barracks and the clouds would be rolling over the top of the hill. The cloud would obscure the road just yards from our barracks view. It was part of the charm of Monterey. It would usually burn off quickly and we could enjoy the cool seaside weather. I always felt like I could depend on Asilomar to be clear.
And that’s why it was so disturbing to me today to come to Asilomar – in the afternoon even – and find that view of my future was of fog. See this entry for more info on that.
Deets
License Plates: None!
States: CA
Departed: 7:30 am PDT, 62 degrees
Original ETA 10:25 pm PDT
Arrival: 2:00 pm PDT
Weather: Warm, blue skies! Then hot and blue skies, then fog and warm, then warm and blue skies.
Budget: Food way below, Hotel way below
Food: Carl’s Jr for nostalgia, Chinese takeout
Music: Silence for a long time, then Thomas Dolby – A Map of the Floating City, Thomas Dolby, Astronauts and Heretics, Spotify mix based on those.
Observations
Saw a ton of Mini Coopers in San Francisco. Makes sense, they’re great for a crowded city.
Part of the reason I’m not getting so many license plates is because I’m paying attention to driving.
Went to Mavericks, a famous surfing spot, didn’t see any surfers.
I found two new Cable sweaters at Target! Got a baby blue one!
I was not prepared to be actual summer hot
The “smell of California” I’ve always wondered about is actually Eucalyptus
I found what I used to call the “Batman” road, because in a certain section it looks like where the batcave would spit out the batmobile. It’s a great shortcut across the peninsula.
Pictures
Top down, ready to go! This is the courtyard of the Hotel Del Sol, bamboo and all!I found where mail trucks spawnAlcatrazSan FranciscoSan Francisco SunriseSo much fencingMonterey shorelineI came to Asilomar to see my future, and it was.. fog
Zero day, no driving. Except I think I drove 100 miles, easy. And all of those miles WITH THE TOP DOWN! It was wonderful wonderful! I think the day started around 60 but got up to 75 at one point. Wind in my hair indeed! I’m feeling my depression more than any other day on the trip today and it’s frustrating. I just want to have my trip.
I drove down the twistiest street in the world – though not as fast as might have been fun. Golden Gate bridge (or not) and a trip to Oakland to meet a longtime penpal who I had never met in real life before. We email about our mental health, and have had some important conversations. She’s a very valuable friend. She was just about exactly as I expected, and we went for a drive and then a walk (they have redwoods in Oakland! Who knew?) and then we came over to the city for a walk in Golden Gate park. It was a longish walk and I spent a ton of it telling stories, but we had good conversations too. Off to a fish based restaurant that was casual but really nice, and I ate very good food and didn’t hate doing it. So there’s something.
At one point in Golden Gate Park, she found some stairs she hadn’t seen before, and we did a whole exploration by a waterfall and a lake. At the top of the hill was loud music playing, and we eventually found the source. It was someone’s 30th birthday, and they all had silly hats and we think they were pharmacologically entertained, as well. Sun was setting, so they had lots to look at.
It was a good long day and I’m tired enough I’ll hopefully sleep. I brought in the bins from my car and reorganized them and what I’m packing in my suitcase, things feel much lighter. Week or two on the road and I figured out some ways to streamline and optimize. Did not really take any pictures except one of my favorite poisonous plant, first time I’d seen it live. Did not sample or take any with me.
Tomorrow I’m going to try the Golden Gate Bridge again, and then it’s off to Monterey, which has a whole other collection of reminiscences.
Deets
License Plates:NM!
Weather: Glorious, top down the whole time!
Budget: Food below, Hotel below
Food: Latte, but the best part was dinner, Pork mini sandwiches with pineapple and coleslaw on them.
Music: George Michael
Observations
Got up luxuriously late, don’t remember what time, don’t care
I got stressed about getting up after 8, so I practiced mindfulness as I lay in that decadent bed that was so comfortable and chilled out. All good.
Drove Rocinante down Lombard street – see below
I’ve never seen tourists so dense at the bottom
Tried to walk the Golden Gate bridge, too many tourists no parking, will try tomorrow on my way out of town
Hadn’t even noticed the palm trees until I got to Oakland
The “Golden Gate” everything is named after refers to the Golden Gate straits, which the bridge spans. They were named that because so much gold had been discovered here.
Videos
Lombard Street and then a regular street for comparison. Not because I forgot to turn the video off and was too lazy to trip it. Not that at all. Also, the tourists were denser than they looked.
Not a bad day, lots of twisties, which I never get tired of. Hours of them, and I’m still happily bopping along, going quick but not foolishly. Had some issues with the sights today. The first one was Bowling Ball Beach. Hard to find the trailhead, and even then the closest I could get would require me to get down on the beach and go around a rock point – except that’s where the pounding surf was. It was a nice little hike. Astrid was with me, as I was following these trails through the (wet) tall grasses and I came upon a tree downed over the path. I was going to go back but then I heard Astrid’s voice saying “Come on, it’ll be fun!” and there I went. Nice. The second was some kind of arch or something about a goat. Bumbled down a unlined road for way too long only to find the final bit was closed. Could have used a sign for that one at the highway. Finally, the waterfalls. Supposed to be amazing. Turns out it’s something like a 7 mile hike to get to them. Ouch.
Love my hotel so much. Needed to go out and get something to eat, so I forced myself. I decided to Uber to the Castro, wander a bit with some window shopping and people watching. Wasn’t having luck finding a restaurant I liked because I was being too picky. Did go in an extremely busy bookstore to look for a book to read during dinners and such. Got Hemingway’s short stories, as well as The Pink Marine. It’s the book that was the basis for the Netflix series “Boots.” It’s a story about a young man foundering in college who joins the Marine Corps on a near-whim. Also, he’s gay. Sound familiar?
After having a cute guy yell to me from his friends table at a restaurant that he loved my outfit, I called it a draw. I took an Uber back near the hotel to a restaurant I had looked at earlier. Expensive hamburger surrounded by pretty and basic folks. So next time I’ll try harder to find the restaurant in the right spot, and not default to the restaurant in the wrong spot.
Turnouts
In California there is a law, or at least something so official they write it on signs, that if you have more than 5 cars behind you, you are officially a slow driver and must take the next turnout and let them pass. It’s awesome. Yes, it’s on the honor system, but people do it! Stuck behind an RV? They’ll just pull over and let you pass. Nice for me, so I’m not getting bored or angry behind their lumbering boxes. Also good for them, as it gives them a dignified way to deal with the driver riding their ass.
Today there were a few RVs who pulled over, except one jackwagon in a pickup with camper on it. Going so slow around some of those turns we all could have gotten out of our cars. But the best one was a set of two trucks. They looked to be carrying rocks or something heavy, and they had extension trailers, as well. Two, identical, not pulling over. But that was okay, because these drivers meant it. They were taking turns at near speed, whipping around curves at speeds much higher than I would have taken them. And I take those turns at foolish speeds. (Ignore the first comment saying I wasn’t foolish)
Fog
The fog was thick. It was claustrophobic. You could see the sun was up there, but you couldn’t see it. Visibility was so poor cars with and without headlights on would come out of the fog like sharks from the deep. I can handle a steep drop off of cliff into the ocean. But when it’s fog there’s just too much unknown about it, and it’s stomach droppingly intense. Equally unnerving, going over a bridge with fog all around.
3,000 miles
It seems I was just talking about crossing a thousand miles. That seems like a long way. But somehow 3,000 doesn’t? I think I’m just in the groove. On long drives in the past I have gotten tired, especially my right leg. Like a sharp but also throbbing pain. Even on long trips with my daughter, where we spent the whole time talking and joking and having a really great time. I’d still get too tired by the end of the day.
And yet here I am, alone. Hundreds of miles a day with admittedly not enough pauses to stretch. And I’m just in my element. I’m in my car, which is an extension of myself. It’s comfortable, it fits me like a glove. And the vibe fits me as well. Zippy, tiny, against the odds, ridiculous. Wonderful.
Can’t wait to see what’s next!
The real fog
Ok, so I came up with this one this morning and hate myself for conjuring it and buying it. Reminder, I’ve been haunted by crippling depression for years, and before that I experienced it in varying levels of horrortude. That’s a word now, BTW. And nobody can tell me it’s going to end. That things will get better. That I won’t always be depressed. That I have to have perspective. So many people have tried to tell me these things, but they never get through to me. And won’t, I imagine. So here is a simple observation about fog, having nothing to do with my depression.
Sometimes it’s so thick you can’t see ahead. They come out of the fog as a surprise and fly past you, sometimes frightening you. At times the fog will be bright, the sunlight trying to pierce the mist, but not wholly visible. You can’t see the sun, but it’s there. And it’s burning off the fog as fast as it can. Eventually, it will. You’ll go through patches of fog broken by patches of blue sky and sun, only to pass back into the fog for a bit. You’ll come through the fog, the sun having burnt it all off, blue skies above and warm sun on your face. And those are the best times. Wind in your hair, able to see for miles, and making you forget how thick it was just a little while ago.
You’re going to drive into more fog ahead. Don’t know when or how much. But you’ll go right through it for as long as it takes, and eventually those best times will be back. Rinse and repeat.
I was about 3/4 through those thoughts before I realized what I was thinking about. Kinda hate me sometimes.
Deets
License Plates: None
States: CA
Departed: 9:49 am MDT, 56 degrees
Original ETA 12:56pm PDT
Arrival: 4:37 pm PDT
Weather: Fog from thin to thick, also blue skies and sunny
Budget: Food above, Hotel above but awesome
Food: ABLT (Avacado + BLT) because CA. Also expensive burger at San Francisco restaurant
Music: Yacht rock playlist. All. Day. Long.
Observations
Went through the Robin Williams tunnel, as seen in What Dreams May Come
Golden Gate bridge was fogged in but still pretty
I could make fun of the people wandering Mendocino but it would be too easy. Also I’m a middle aged white man driving a mini.
When I’m talking and my VNS fires, does it sound cringe? Or like someone being choked?
The coastal plateaus of California remind me of Ireland. They’re richly green, clumpy fields, foliage looks like rock walls, and there are lone buildings in the middle of nowhere. Also, the fields end in cliffs straight down to a cold raging sea.
Point Arena headland is the closest land point to Hawaii.
Finally saw two motorcyclists. They were kitted up for a long journey.
Highway 1 is some sort of CA bike trail, so at any moment you could come upon one or a gaggle of bicyclists in the road. Even on twisties. Scary. And a little crazy on their part.
With the fog and changing weather I was chilled, chilly, cold, freezing, warm, and hot at the same time
The only thing that could make twisties any better would be a manual transmission.
Pictures
That’s a beach and the Ocean. It was foggy.And then it was 3,000!On the Golden Gate BridgeWaiting in traffic practicing for the picture of me On the Golden Gate BridgeMy favorite hotel in the world! I’ve been coming here since 1998.Castro fashion
Just posting to say that I might not be posting tonight. I just got checked into my hotel room at my favorite hotel on the planet. Hotel del Sol on Webster in San Francisco. They upgraded me to a suite, I got in the room and couldn’t figure out where the bed was. I was worried the couch was going to have to pull out. And then I found the other room that had the bed in it. I guess that’s why it’s a sweet!
I’m going to go out and try and find dinner but I think I’m going to get adventurous so who knows when I’ll be back. Highlight of the day?
This:
Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge, top down, wind in my hair! I swear I’m actually driving! (Ignore the fog, the bridge was fogged in but I didn’t care!)
The Windmill Posts 