After we left San Francisco Friday morning, we headed South on I-5 again, this time through the dry and dusty Central Valley. There were huge almond groves, olives, truckloads of oranges, and a lot of other fields we couldn't identify, all watered by irrigation, and with water an increasingly scarce resource in California, many of the fields and groves looked pretty parched. We also passed a large brushfire, with numerous helicopters and airplanes swooping around, attempting to get it under control. It was a reminder of how fragile life and work can be in this enormous, beautiful, but frequently unpredictable state. We arrived by late afternoon/early evening at Gilmer and Steve's house in Sherman Oaks. They welcomed us to their home and ushered us to their backyard patio, an oasis of plant life and relaxation that
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