Central Cali

---

Central California is a desert at noon, a paradise at nine. It is now 9:51 (in the evening, of course--we know very little of this hour's AM counterpart), and the sun's fading rays have given way to a hundred tiny reflections of head- and taillights off the metal-plated rubber tabs lacing the lanes of I-5 North.

Nevada looms along the right-hand horizon, impeding our progress east--a fact I'm learning to regard as irrelevant (with the rest of self and future).

Today marked the end of a lovely stay in the woods bordering the still-foreign city of Santa Cruz. (We never really made it into town.) Brad and Colleen--friends of Tim's from his early Scotland days--welcomed us yesterday to their gorgeous, garden-lined driveway on Forest Drive. The redwoods towered on all sides, upward to the left and down and out the slopes to a deeply hid creek where Tim and I skipped rocks and threw sand with Brad and his darling daughter Gracie our first day in. (TIm, this would be a great place for a picture or two.)

The trail down led us back to Brad and Colleen's comfortable abode and a much needed, home-cooked meal of chili, rice, fresh-tossed salad, and bread. Remind me never to write about food when we're down to rusk in our pantry (which almost certainly has a leak . . .). Dinner bled into a ukelele-dominated jam session that lasted till a reasonable bed time, when we retired to our home in the driveway and created this blog (definitely gettin' me a banjo-uke when I get home . . .). By the time we were through, it was a less reasonable bed time, but word has it we all slept well. Ben got his rest in a public-access hammock mounted a few yards down the hill and across the road. Lucky. I slept wonderfully till a ridiculous dream stressed me back to consciousness. It's true: stress can survive in a stress-free body--through even the most laidback of circumstances--for periods up to and exceeding two weeks in duration. Ugh. But I think I'm learning to breathe now. Again. We'll see when the roads are less nerve-racking.

It's 10:35 now, and the dominant source of light is aimed our way from three lanes of oncoming traffic. I hadn't known it, but in California, everyone travels at night. Or so it seems. And that, I think, is a sufficiently random throught to end on.

Love from the road,
n/a

---