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Published: November 28th 2007
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Greetings from San Diego,
Hello everyone. It has been awhile since I have written and I thought I would update everyone on how things are going. I am currently in San Diego, living with and helping out my Grandparents (Nana and Tata) while Tata recovers from hip surgery. The timing of my visit couldn’t have been better planned, and my six weeks here have flown by. When I last wrote, I was on my way down the West Coast via motorcycle.
The trip was spectacular, all 2000 miles, ten days of it. I headed out from Bellingham, WA after spending a few days with friends. Instead of taking the fairly familiar and often damp (read cold) route down the Coast via HWY 101, I decided to head East over the Cascades via Route 20. I went to Wenatchee, where I stayed my first night, and then headed South through Central Washington and Oregon. I traveled along the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge down into Bend, Oregon. It was really hot these days, reaching in the 90s during the day, but I kept hydrated and enjoyed taking naps in shady grass during the hottest parts of the afternoon.
There are an amazing number of parks and rec areas in Washington and it makes me proud to see that some of our tax dollars go to restoring and preserving Washington’s beauty.
In Bend, I couch surfed at a communal house for hippie minded people and I slept on their couch on the porch, enjoyed the calling of the cicadas in the approach of fall. Bend is a great town, small in its attitude and quaint in its construction, so I goofed around for awhile before heading to Crater Lake National Park where I camped that night. The drive around the crater is spectacular and I had to be careful to pay more attention to the road than the landscape. It made me glad I invested in a new camera (the one that broke in GT never worked again). While camping, I met some crazy (fun, not wild or weird) biker chicks who gave me the inside scoop on an amazing riding road down into California. It took me all day to go only a couple hundred miles, but it was worth every minute. I took some unmarked roads back into this valley and then up over this ridge
changing from wet cedar and spruce into dry and strong scented pines. And I was the only driver on the roads for most of the day, which makes riding on a bike so much more fun. I loved every curve, and there were hundreds of them.
Once I was in California, I seemed to make even slower time, stopping to hang out with friends along the way. I spent a day hanging with a friend in Eureka, and another two days hanging with friends in San Francisco before heading down the Coast via route 1. The drive down the coast was amazing, especially from Carmel into Morro Bay. I could never get above 40 mph because there were so many turns, but I just took it easy and enjoyed the scenery. I camped in Morro bay where the California Marine Layer became a constant weather pattern and then made my way into San Diego to have dinner with my family.
Since I have been down here I have been a combination of busy and bored, relaxed and stressed, enjoying myself and struggling against southern California. I am so happy to be around my family, have found lots of
time to pursue fun projects and spend time doing things I love. I have been riding my motorcycle constantly, have found a monastery to practice with and a yoga studio that is close enough to attend at least a class or two every week. However, the traffic, the California attitudes and the stress of things often keeps me struggling.
I crashed my motorcycle last week, without much damage to either me or the bike. I was going around a corner, a little too steeply I think, and the bike went into neutral, lost its momentum, fell on its side and slid out from under me. I was extremely lucky because I came down on the tiniest bit of fleshy shin near my knee (not on the knee cap itself thankfully) and when my other foot landed, I was able to hop up and jog off the road (limping of course). I am lucky I didn’t ruin my knee, that another person didn’t come up behind me and hit me, and that I have tank sliders on my bike leaving it virtually unharmed (I was even able to salvage the pants I was wearing… good thing because they were brand
new). It scared the color (and some tears) out of me and I am still waiting on a replacement clutch lever and the bruising to drain from my leg before I begin riding again. Thing can happen so quick and it was a good reminder that riding a motorcycle, especially down here, is dangerous. I recently bought a new, top of the line, helmet so you can be rest assured that at least my head is as protected as it can be.
I plan to spend the holiday’s here with family and to visit some friends around the country in the next few weeks. Just after Christmas, I am leaving for New Zealand to backpack (hiking in the mountains backpacking) for six weeks and hope to meet up with at least one or two friends while I am over there. After that, I am heading to India for another six weeks where I hope to do some volunteer work. Where and what kind is still up in the air. I also applying for a job in Guatemala with the Nature Conservancy so if that turns out for me, my plans might change some.
My address and phone are
listed below, and that address will always be a reliable one to get ahold of me while I traipse around the world. (Martha, sorry it took me so long to get back to you, thanks for sending the book when you get a chance.) I hope to get a webpage or blog page going soon so that instead of sending emails, you can just log on any time you want to check in with me. I can also put on there some of my pictures, etc. I will send out a link if I ever get that going. Its hard considering I dislike technology, but little by little, it is growing on me.
I hope you are all doing well and looking forward (not dreading) the Holidays. Best wishes and lots of warmth to everyone. Love……………Sarah
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Sally :)
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I would have subscribed had I known, sorry :). Anyway, good thing is that you have subscribed for me. Well I definately look forward to reading all about New Zealand and even more excited to hear and see pictures of India. Love you lots, Sally :0 P.S. I am listening to my parents aregue over this banjo and how to play it...I can already tell that this new hobbie isn't going to last long :)