Los Angeles - SLO - Daly City

It's odd to realize that Santa Barbara is only two hours from Lakewood.  Felt like a lot longer, and where is all that traffic going on a Sunday afternoon?  We realized as we left LA that we didn't have to be in Northern Cal until mid afternoon so we took the sort of scenic route.  It's actually not all that pretty til  you get past Santa Barbara, and the hills become empty and green and the traffic ceases to be white-knuckled.  Man, those Angelinos drive so close to each other and I simply do not trust them to not scoot stealthily into my lane, ignoring my presence and thus annihilating me and my passengers.  And yes, of course, I am just being a big baby, but there you have it.

From SB to San Luis Obispo (SLO) the ride is nice, and it was there we spent the night, much to the dogs delight.  Good rooms, really decent food delivered to our door from a sort of Waiters-on-Wheels service.  You can sit around and drink whiskey from the bottle and wait for the food fairy to arrive.  (We actually used glasses this time, how civilized!)  The drive north from there this morning (four hours to SF in case you were wondering) was lovely, sunny, warm, beautiful until we hit San Jose where the all-encompassing fog appeared.  But a good ride, a good week-long road trip with some good stops.  I would heartily recommend it, get on the road.

Tom and I were talking about that very subject.  Most of us live in a small bubble, in our small towns, in our small lives.  We venture out now and then but usually with a specific destination in mind and therefore we don't really do much wandering about.  But it's that aimless wandering about that gets us into towns or abandoned areas that we never see if we take the direct route.  There is so much poverty and desolation even in California that you cannot imagine unless you hit the small back roads.  It is even worse in places like north-west Texas.

And you ask "why do I want to see that?"  The reason is this:  because as much as we sort of know it is there, we do not really know it until we see it up close and personal.  Just as we "know" about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how many people have read a book about either of those wars?  How many of my faithful followers (and I love you all) have read THE GOOD SOLDIERS by David Finkel  or WAR by Sebastian Junger?  These books should be required reading before you can vote next time.  And seeing the small towns of California that once were and no longer are, seeing their remains, seeing mile after mile of what once was is important.  If for no other reason than to put our lives in perspective.  We are lucky.  Our work has paid off, we don't live in a shack.

OK. OK.  I am once again getting on the soap box.  But I really, really like driving around America and some of what I see is so incredibly awe inspiring and some is so incredibly sad.  Maybe that's why I like it.  The good, the bad, the ugly.  Seeing mouth-dropping gorgeous scenery after miles of road-side despair.  

Thanks for reading.  More tomorrow.