Continuing…


The nicest couple is camping next to me. They are new owners of a VW Westfalia Camper Van, and they love it! I told them this was my third, and that once the bug bites you, it’s a lifetime relationship. I remember when these pop tops first came out, back in the ‘60’s. I was about 7, and our family test drove one. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! My heart was broken when my dad said, “ This is a dog, it doesn’t have any power.” Little did he know, but he’d been bitten too. Years later (once those German engineers figured out how to power them up), he and mom got their own“ Westie”, and used it for many years.

At age 14 I read James Michener’s The Drifters” and it sparked my desire to travel Europe in a pop top VW. Haven’t made it to Europe yet, but about 20 years later, along came my beloved Ted, with this wild trip he planned for us during my 3rd year of med school. We drove from Albuquerque to the Belizian/Guatemalan border, along the entire Gulf coast of Mexico and the Yucatan, down into Belize (and back) in a specially purchased 1967 VW pop top. I can’t imagine being without one now… Guess I’ve always had some wanderlust, now that I come to think of it…

Anyway, “Westie” campers are a special breed, and it was a pleasure to meet these new converts. They convinced me, and gave me some awesome directions to follow the Pacific Coast Highway(PCH) all the way to where I’ll be camping for the next 5 nights, in Marin County. After a mellow morning, a bike ride, and watching a pod of dolphins, and a couple of seals through the binoculars, I took off...

One of my favorite things about being on the road is the music. Some people sing in the shower, but I sing in the car. I feel energized, and enlivened by the beat and lyrics of music that I love (who doesn’t?). So, my ipod has been a good companion for these days on the road. But, I also borrowed some books on CD from the library before I left. Julia Alvarez’s
In the Time of the Butterflies is awesome so far. The Indigo Girls , Melissa Ethridge, and James Taylor make great road companions. But today was the PCH along the Northern California coast to San Francisco, so it just had to be the Grateful Dead! Sing it to me Jerry!!!!

More farmed fields jutting right up to the seaside; brussel sprouts, huge orange pumpkins, and strawberry fields forever… A beautiful, lightly overcast day, keeping it cool enough to have my windows down instead of the A/C, I hugged the coast all the way to San Francisco, sea breeze blowing through the van.

Just before the PCH turned into the Great Highway, skirting the beach that borders SF on the west side of the city, I saw a whole hillside scraped away, covered with enormous earth moving machines. It looked like they were mining or something. As I approached, I read a sign; “Devil’s Slide Tunnel Project”, and saw that was what they were up to. On the other side of “the slide” were 2 enormous concrete pilings that were hundreds of feet tall. The span between hadn’t been erected yet, which looks as if it will be another SF spanning bridge. It’s amazing what we humans can construct.

The Golden Gate is still orange, and still felt thrilling to cross. San Francisco loomed wondrous across the Bay, not a wisp of fog in sight. Up into the Marin headlands, and back to the picturesque coast. I love that shimmery water as the afternoon sun bounces off of it, the sea glimmering like jewels. Another California treat that I had forgotten about, driving through tall, majestic eucalyptus groves. What a “scentsational” trip this is turning into.

Finally made it to my campground, so different from where I stayed last night. This is dark and damp, under the canopy of those tall and mighty redwoods. Silly me, I was surprised that I had no cell signal way out here, so I drove 20 minutes into the nearest town in order to make contact with loved ones. I thought that the whole internet thing would be a convenient way to keep in touch. It’s actually a bit of a challenge to keep the computer charged, and to have a cell phone signal so I can access the internet. I would have thought the whole of this state would be wireless, what with all those dot commers of a decade ago. Anyway, these postings may indeed come in spurts. Love to all...