Off On Another Adventure

Well we are off again. I mean gone...not like the normal off we are. Now we are in Van the Man (our VW Bus) and headed south...to Cali (that is fornia for the unfamiliar). We pack up Van on Sunday night, get up early Monday morn and head south. Van running clean and smooth. But if you know Oregon, any car can run clean and smooth for the first 2 hours heading south...then you hit the mountains. But Van did an awesome job getting us over all the Oregon passes and we made it to Cali in great time.
But NorCali has it's own challenges...like it's own mountains, dried up lakes (like Shasta), and of course the nearest to ell as I ever want to get...Redding...I hate that place. Like Elaine on Seinfeld says about Hell; "it's the heat, my God the heat. And the ragged clothing...bleeeeahhhh!!!!" That's Redding. The one redeeming fact about Redding...that's right...it's the closest In-N-Out Burger to Oregon...oh yeah...Double Double with cheese baybe!!!
So after Redding it is flat...but hot. Mimi takes a turn guiding Van down the road...Pa takes a little nap. Fortunately for us, we got the AC fixed in Van before we left.
Now most uninformed people would think...well duh...of course you have to have AC . But AC and VW Busses is a bit of a stretch...not only is it Yuppie Bourgeoisie to have it in a bus, but it cuts your power in half. It is a big sacrifice to use it and have it in a bus...only for the perfect conditions...like the Cali Central Valley...flat and hot. Perfect AC time...and it was awesome.
Our first stop in Cali...Napa Valley.
Now even though I grew up about an hour or so from Napa, I never really spent much time there as a young person. In my early days of young adulthood I was never really interested in Napa because it was a scene I wanted nothing to do with. So to be where Mimi and I are now, with wine tasting as a high on the list hobbie...we were wonderfully surprised at just how cool it is in Napa Valley. We found a great campspot, cooked some great grub, and drifted off to sleep in Van the Man...what a joy.
Day two of the Cali Adventure has us stopping and sampling some of the fine products produced in the region...very responsibly I might add...but then we headed south again. We were Santa Cruz bound. But on the way...we made a little detour...through my hometown of Concord.
Now Concord is another hot and dry town...but it is where I grew up. We saw the train tracks I used to walk on to see how far I could balance on the track. It is now a part of BART tracks...not sure I would get too close. Then we found my old house where I grew up. It looked pretty much the same. After shooting 5 or 8 pictures though I realized I was standing in front of the wrong house. But it was good to see it and know it was a really important part of my life.
Going home is really important to the soul I believe. It helps us to remember from where we have come and to see that we may not be perfect, but hey at least we're not still the same. And it's good to know that despite the changes we may go through, some things remain the same.
So then we headed for Santa Cruz...of course there is no where for a hundred miles to camp...and we were lucky to find a reasonable hotel at 11 PM. But we did, and had a good sleep.
The next morning, we got to go to the famous Cowells Beach...it's the place I learned to surf. I remember that day so well...1971...no wetsuit...cut-off levi's...sweatshirt...March in NorCali ocean...cold...and colder. But brother did I surf...I caught wave after wave...I was hooked. It was awesome to be there on such a beautiful day with Mimi...but we needed to head south and so we were off again...this time we were bound for SLOtown...more about that tomorrow.
Goodnight.