Driving the freeway

Southern California is defined by its freeways. Period
Not the beaches, not the mountains that I love.
It is not defined by the big cities or the small quaint towns,
nor by the huge agribusinesses and entreprenurial spirit.

When you go somewhere or are looking for someone,
its the freeways you have to deal with first, and most of them are crap.
There used to be a rush hour, now its a rush twelve hours.
Usually from 6 am til 6pm you can figure on horrendous traffic jams wherever you wanted to go, and stupid drivers who go too fast, follow too close and talk on their phones too much.

On my recent vacation I drove a lot, on six freeways going and on five coming home plus one blessed highway. We, however, did not see much traffic since our departure time was well after the rush twelve hours. Our car zoomed through the worst areas of congestion with hardly a tap of the brakes, getting great mileage and spewing hardly any deadly greenhouse gases.
The many lanes they keep adding for daytime drivers makes night passages a breeze for crazy guys like me. At midnight I needed a shot of love ( bob dylan) so I got gas for the car and cappucino for me.
I was tired by 1 am, but not near as tired as the manager at the SHORES INN in Ventura. He was tough to wake up! I called, I rang the bell, I finally resorted to saying "HELLO!" through the open window of his unit. 15 minutes to get this guy to turn on the lights.
I am obnoxious, yes, but paying for the priveledge. He wants to be in the hotel business and have a limit on what times guests can arrive. anyway, to his credit he does not curse me aloud, but tells me clearly that he "does not work nights" and is moving very slowly with his eyes half shut. His complaining that he gets no sleep is lost on me who thrives on five to six hours a day.
Plus, this guy is in his thirties (maybe)! He should be full of energy. I mistook him for the owner of the establishment, it seems to me now that he was not, for he did not have the look of an owner, nor did his wife have a bindi on her forehead.
( I lost my freeway thing, better take the next exit, merging to the right>>>>>>
there I go down the offramp ~~~~~~ )

Telling it backwards - or not

I can't post this backwards, too hard on myself and on my beloved readers
I dare not tread on your voluntary submission to my quirkiness.

Here is stage one of the fix.
Theme: Why we always leave so late to go on vacation.

Its nice to IMAGINE yourself arriving at your destination in time to unpack, see the sun go down and have a nice dinner before falling into bed early so that the first full day of your vacation begins with you rested.

The reality is that everything in the universe hates a vacuum of work and will try to fill your last day at work with as much crap as possible. You also are your worst enemy at this moment, as you remember everything you put off for weeks that CAN NOT wait two more days. Unpaid bills get into the act, as do cleaning of the car so you can actually fit people in next to you. Please take extra time packing the seven outfits you won't wear, and forget to pack shoes, then spend your vacation in fuzzy Duck slippers.

I knew from the start that this would be a late start, so I worked til 4pm, figuring on leaving between six and seven pm for a three hour drive, and that lateness would save me time as traffic would diminish. ha ha ha ha
At ten minutes til nine I was grilling chicken for lunch the next day, not on a hotel BBQ but here, with "stops" to make piling up faster than my son's dirty laundry. Drop off this, pick up that, find this person, pay the electric bill....
You know I am only telling you all this since I stayed cool, figured I was getting a vacation and only had to do the driving which I am good at, and that my companion, friend and gift giver would sleep like a baby as we made our westward journey to the seaside town of San Beunaventura.
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end of post - do not read further - because this part comes later OK?


My vacation in reverse order:

And then we drove into the driveway, tired and happy to be home
in the beautiful mountains.
It was midnight, the street was deserted.
We dashed from the casino before the slots could grab our last few dollars.
Ike Turner was walking in front of us with his Barbie proportioned blonde escort.
The concert was finishing up and Gail was very tired, so we left before the final song.
(I wonder how long I can keep this up)
The treat of the evening was Kenny Wayne Shepherd web site playing a perfect version of Voodoo Child by my favorite guitarist Jimi Hendrix. UNBELIEVABLE, I cried!
BB King blues festival was so much fun - Thanks Nancy for scoring the excellent seats

Three hour drive from Ventura to Redlands, 1 hour at least of intense conversation.
Shopping on Main street for used books, and just having fun being away from home.
Super luxury of napping in the middle of the day.
Sleeping in late and watching Today, with Katie in a really UGLY outfit.

more later ( I know I am nuts, so dont even say it)

this is my brain - on "no stress", my feet on "no shoes" , and my soul on vacation 

We seem very close

I think we are getting the "tree house" that I
am interested in, My realtor has a counter offer for us to look at
( what a lovely present) It will cost me more per month for less
space, but I will be making payments on my own place.
Now I just need to work smarter.
Thank you for all your continuing prayers.
For those of you not in Calif I will do a cost per square foot
analysis in a later post.
Now off to the beach!!!
No blogging or email for two days :-(
Sun and fun! :-)

tri tip  

I'm going to read now

I am going to get comfy on the couch and read till my eyes close
I am onto a good book that may help me
and YOU ALL KNOW how I need help.
So instead of writing about terrible drivers,
beautiful cloud formations, putting an offer in on the tree house, I will read
about me and what makes me tick.

If you think the recent stuff is too sad go through the archives.
May I suggest May? I just did.
June did not have too much gloom.
and we still need submissions for
movie reviews of pictures you never have seen
( the purpose of which is to keep others from wasting their time and $)
links to mold pictures are welcome as Johan and I may do a joint venture.
If any of you won the lottery, please consider sharing so I can get into my new tree house and blog from a new point of view. You know I would share, in fact, ten thousand future winning dollars to the best comment posted.
The sun is setting and casting rays across my keyboard
my hands are quite amazing tools, Thank you God for the gift of working fingers!

Vacation on the horizon.....

Just when you thought you would never make it to Friday
much less to Labor day.
When your busy mind can think of no more tricks to play
on your tired body and sagging spirits.
As the tolls add up for driving too far too fast
and you have no coins to pay at the booth, there appears an exit sign
on the Expressway of daily life.

I am turning 50 this week - and not too weirded out by it (denial).
I am a half century old, as I quipped to my dear old dad at this point in his life.
He took it well I think, at least he did not hit me.
I was fourteen then, and full of smart sayings, but still a good kid ( false memory).
He and I were close, and I never doubted him or his love for me.
For an old guy he was reasonably cool, we camped and hiked together for
hundreds of miles. He was good as gold, and set the pattern for my parenting style.

We are very different of course, since we encountered such different worlds as we developed. I in the stupid seventies, he in the era defined by the World War.
He picked up his college education in bits and pieces, I blew mine to bits.
We share a lot of the distractedness that makes your family shake their heads
and makes a spouse pull their hair. I was ADD before add was cool.
Dad had depressive times, but did his best to cope and cover these.
There was not the awareness or literature or plethora of drugs that help so many these days.
I only understood him as I became him. Now I love him more for the added knowledge.

So what about the vacation, you say
( bothersome readers expecting continuity!) ?
It happens that a friend to whom I gave the caring advice "you need a vacation!" thought that I was right, and that I needed one too. So we are going.
Close by California standards, the beach is far enough away to feel like paradise.
Three hours of driving will yield two full days of relaxation.
To be sure we don't relax completely, there is a day trip to Santa Barbara Island, with a sea kayaking tour. Yes I am very excited. I love the ocean, and I love paddling.
To have this much gift presented was quite overwhelming.
Its way more than I expect, or deserve, but the timing is perfect
and a chance to recharge in the midst of our hot humid summer
by spending some time at the cool misty beach is so valuable.

I am older tommorow, Tuesday, but I promise not to act like it
I most certainly will not feel it while I am laying on the sandy beach
or chasing otters in my kayak.

Oh, the love of a friend
The caring of a close companion
the gift of time well spent
together, and apart.
quiet peace and nature.
Harmony