Weekend of August 22 & 23, 2009

It was a good week. Things went well at Hubbard College. Two weeks in a row now we have had a student complete the full degree program (and another will complete this coming week).

I am also in email communication with Elena (our completion last week who returned to Russia) and with Weber from Taiwan (where he had to return due to the visa situation).

On Thursday evening I met my friend Sue Z. at the Tea Leaf and Coffee Bean for an enjoyable hot chocolate and talk - and on Friday evening I went to dinner at my friend Suesan W's place and we helped each other out with some matters that each of us have some expertise in. I haven't seen anything of my friend Joe L. this week as he is on an 18 day straight work project.

I decided to be really energetic this weekend and leave on my trip Saturday after work at the College and to get as far north as Big Sur, far up the California coast.

Although it is 3:30 the College closes on Saturday, it was 5:00 pm before I was on the road north. At that time of day traffic on the 101 Hollywood/Ventura Freeway was heavy and slow so I turned off to the 170 to Interstat 5 (Hollywood/Sacramento Freeway) going a bit further inland and then turned onto the 118 Freeway west to the coast (through huge vegetable and orchard plantations). It was a fast run and I joined the 101 again much farther north at Oxnard where the traffic was lighter and much faster.

I crossed from Ventura County into San Luis Obispo county and Saturday night about 8:30 pm, just as it started to get dark, I reached the city of San Luis Obispo.

By 9:00 pm I had found a parking spot by the down-town certer and located the central movie huse and bought a ticket to "District 9" science fiction movie. I found a great little restaurant that made the most delicious chicken burritos and satisfied my hunger then went and watched that crazy movie. I can't figure out why they always think aliens with such highly sophistocated equipment would be such unsophisticated and crude creatures.

The movie finished about midnight and by 1:00 am I had located a safe place in the brightly lit parking lot of a Union Bank and was falling asleep in the comfortable bed in the back of my waggon.

I woke after a good sleep, found a place to clean up and discovered the beautiful coast-line I had planned to travel was completely fogged in. I would not see any of the beauty if I continued with my plan to travel the coast northward. So I made the decision to barrel up the freeway and get as far north as I could and then go over to the coast and come down the coast instead of going up coast - hoping that by then the fog would have cleared.

On the way I took a detour to see the little old-west style town of Santa Margarita and went on to see Lake Santa Margarita and take some nice photos there before continuing north again.

I made it all the way to Monterey County and the Monterey Peninsula highway, so from there I went west and reached the city of Monterey on the coast (about 100 miles further than Big Sur where I had originally planned to reach).

I had a good look around Monterey, went out on the huge (smelly - comercial fisherman) "Fisherman's Warf", drove through Cannery Row with its old quaint buildings and then started south along the incredibly beautiful but rather angry Monterey Coast towards Big Sur.

As I had hoped, the fog had cleared and it took me a very long time to get 100 miles south to Big Sur - as I kept stopping the car every few miles to take photos of the magnificent coastal views.

Big Sur was a total contrast! Not quite on the coastline due to the extremely ruggard nature of the coast at that point, Big Sur is a little town set amongst magnificent, tall, tall, green trees. In bright strong sunshine, I drove the road cut through this immense forest of ancient living beauty and was enthralled by the feeling of life that it emanated.

The road joined the coast again and I made detours here and there to check out beaches and views and take photographs and eventually made it back to San Luis Obispo after visiting the beautiful beach at the city of Morrow Bay.

At San Luis Obispo I immediately found the same restaurant and once again enjoyed their wonderful chicken burritos.

By now it was dark so there was no more sightseeing and I started the 200 mile drive back to Los Angeles on the 101 Freeway. I'll have to sightsee the coast between San Luis Obispo and south to Santa Barbara (the previous northern most point reached last trip) on another trip.

I got home at 10:45 pm having traveled 735 miled since I left on Saturday evening. (As San Francisco is only another 136 miles from Monterey I know I could easily do that trip on a 3-day holliday weekend).

I had a very good nights sleep after a rather exhausting but very satisfying trip.

I'll talk to you again soon.

Love,
Barry