Go West Young Men

We didn’t get an altogether early start this morning. But that’s not too bad since today’s outline is all about driving. We noticed when we were trying to pack our stuff up that we had sort of moved into Pope’s place. Well, I did anyway. The other guys actually had a reasonable amount of clothes and whatnot. I had enough things with me to live at his house for a month. What can I say, I like to acclimate to an environment and get cozy.

Before long, we were saying goodbye to our new friend and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Our travels took us up the 101, and eventually we transitioned to the 1. If you haven’t taken this drive, you need to! Highway 1 really is amazing. It skirts the ocean offering stunning views of the jagged coastline and rock mounds sticking in the water like miniature mountains.

The downside of this road is that driven at anything but a snail’s pace it tends to function like a roller coaster with all the loops, dives, twists, and twirls. As Jasmine sings in A Whole New World, “Unbelievable sights, indescribable feeling. Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling!” Now, those words don’t only apply for a magic carpet ride but also driving on Highway 1. If you do ride on it (Highway 1, or even a magic carpet for that matter), don’t eat too much beforehand but do have your camera ready.

Sipe had the unfortunate lot of lying in the back during this twisty-turvy route. I don’t think he enjoyed it as much as Faro and I did in the front. Apparently luggage kept shifting and toppling onto his head with each bend in the road. If you ask me, the back sounded like quite an adventure during that portion of the trip. But Derek had quite his fill of the 1. The novelty of picturesque shoreline scenery (that he couldn’t see all that well anyway) combined with slight queasiness, and a bombardment of bags seemed to suck all the joy out of it for him. Oddly, he developed an unusually strong desire for Subway.

Derek’s dreams of a sub went unrequited for the longest time. He would mumble between bouts of napping about a Subway. Like a thirsty man in the desert seeing an oasis, we would see signs for gas stations or hotels and blurt the word “Subway” with excitement in his voice. His conditioned only worsened as the journey continued. He grew more and more agitated when no Subway emerged even in likely places.

Garberville changed his life.

A long, loud, soul-powered scream filled my ears, the van, and most of Northern California it seemed when Derek spied a sign for Subway. We stopped at the gas station with the attached Subway and all purchased a now infamous $5 Footlong. For your information, Garberville doesn’t have the smoothest operating Subway. Between finding someone to make our subs, getting the gas pump to work, buying the sandwiches, changing cash registers so I could buy one with my credit card, getting my money back from them overcharging me $2, and finally pulling out of that vortex of slow movements and slower thinking, we wasted the better part of a half hour. On the up side, I bought a sheet of beef jerky! Any day’s a better day if it’s a jerky day.

The next couple hours get a little hazy as I drifted in and out of sleep. All I know for sure if that we ended up in a very woodsy rest stop where we parked for the night. Faro and Sipe made dinner in the bathroom while I tried playing soccer with a tennis ball. I’m not sure anybody won.

After soccer, I took a new book I started, Eragon, over to the water fountains. A good light shown down for some quality reading light (mom always reminded me of the importance of good reading light.) While reading, I heard a soft rustle in the forest beside me. I looked and saw something like a cat paw silently onto the pavement. It turned out to be a small, gray fox. It trotted near me, pausing to look me in the eyes. For some reason I can’t really explain, it was one of my favorite moments on the trip. After tarrying for a second or two, the creature glided away back into the darkness.

We slept in the van again tonight but we were able to finagle some serious room and crack the windows so it wasn’t as hellish as before. In fact, I slept rather swimmingly, for the second half of the night anyway. For the first half, I suffered the ever-cooling air of the moisture-laden coast. I tried to cover myself with spare pieces of cloth around me: Derek’s jacket, a beach towel, and a long sleeve t-shirt I found crannied somewhere in the car. My life changed when I turned the car on to roll up the window and grab my sleeping bag. Finding warmth when you’re cold and trying to sleep has got to be one of the Top Ten sources of contentment in life.

Didn’t read much Wooden lately. How about this snippet from Tolkien.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

- JD and the boys