Monday, August 21, 2006

"Imagination is the voice of daring." Henry Miller

I know I've said it before, but the comments you all leave on the blog pages are so valuable to me, and not just because you all say such nice things about the site, either! I cannot emphasise enough how much I miss everyone - it's the only downside to travelling. The homesickness comes in waves and makes me more aware than ever of the amazing relationships I have with everyone back home. God, I miss my Mum, I don't care how sappish it sounds, you're my best friend and I swear you know me better than I do. I miss talking to you about everything I see, hear, think and do. I love Dad and Amy, obviously, but life on the road together in such a tiny space is hard on all of us, and we're very different people in our own ways. We've discovered a lot about each other, not all of it good, not all of it bad either, but I think we're all starting to suffer from cabin fever and from not having the people we normally turn to to bounce our thoughts and feelings off. I miss my Bean, because of the poetry in everything he says and the way he understands the brain in me and the heart of me, and the relationship between the two. I miss my brother, because he knows what it's like to be a child in this family and how to make me laugh when all I want to do is cry and/or become homicidal/suicidal. I miss Kate and Shonagh for their ability to understand so much that I don't say, and the feelings that lie between the words that come from my mouth. I miss Lisa Clark for her ability to make me feel that there is always something good that comes out of the darkest moments. I miss Stephen Baily because he inspires me and makes me work harder and better than I think I can. I miss all the women in the office where I work, especially lovely Norma, Miss Sally, pretty Miss Louise, and the late night worker Miss Dru. I miss home. Just writing this makes my throat ache and little knives of tears appear in my eyes.

But enough of such things. You want to hear about the road trip!

We left San Simeon bright and early, with no little regret after the fantastic evening the night before. We're heading up the Pacific Highway (route 101) heading for San Francisco with plans to stop along the Big Sur coastline. This stretch of the highway, between San Simeon and Monterey, is amazing, the road stretches right along the coast and is all up and down the cliffs, twisting and turning in and out. I am in the Navigator's chair today, but there's no navigating to do, we're on this straight stretch of road until San Francisco now, which we are all looking forward to. We have the radio onto a station called Pirate Radio, which plays a bizarre mixture of eighties hits and twanging American rock, but the less said of the latter the better, I think.

Because we have started in the morning, once the Beast starts climbing, we are at eye level with the mists, which haunt this coastline like the remnants of campers' dreams until noon. Thank God we are driving on the right hand side heading north, or we'd be driving on the cliff edge, and for large stretches of the journey I mean that literally. In a car this would be pretty intimidating, but in the RV it's downright terrifying. How people are driving them going south is a miracle to me, but once you're on this stretch of road, there's pretty much no getting off until you climb down again, so if they didn't know what they were letting themselves in for, they have my sympathy! What I love most about this route though is that the lay of the land rules and has necessitated that the road be built around it.

The cliffs are hard on the eye at first, unyielding, then the bare rocks give way to ferns and sparse little yellow flowers, then, as the eye travels inland further, thick copses abound - sometimes with trees growing almost horizontally, rising as they can towards the sky. Signs by the roadside every so often warn of rock slides from the unforgiving cliffs above. Sometimes parts of these cliffs are copper green, other times a deep, imposing grey, interspersed with streaks of bright yellow in vertical lines, where inland freshwater streams run down to meet the sea.

When we round a corner, we can see parts of the coast road entire as it stretches to the next peninsula. As the (unnecessary) navigator, it is comforting to see that we cannot get lost! This section of the highway sits within the Los Padres National Park (I think it means the fathers, or the parents) and all the signs with Los Padres carry the byline, "Land of Many Uses," which for some reason really tickles me. We see a lot of work that has been carried out recently, or that is still in the process of being carried out, to clear the roadside of falling rocks. On the worst parts of road, where rocks must fall quite often, there are long, strange-looking, thin stretches of netting that seem to hold the smaller debris back and to prevent it reaching the road itself. Later, huge nets are erected vertically to 'catch' the rocks that fall more frequently. I find this quite humbling. We're strangers in the coastal ghetto where mother Nature is the number one gangsta (it's all that time in LA, it's like, completely changed my lingo, dudes).

Farther along, the predominantly rocky landscape becomes verdant forest on either side as we approach Big Sur, although I note that all the flowers we see are either white or yellow, which really puzzles me. After about an hour, I see some elephant grass on the verges alongside us, like the stuff you see back home, but it's pink! Nature has a way of proving your careful observations entirely wrong if you give it long enough, and this sudden burst of colour reminds me of Lisa Clark and the pink world she has built all around her (if I give you any more plugs Miss C, you're going to have to think about giving me a percentage!). Gradually, colour seeps gently back into the landscape: tiny red flowers, purplish plants that look a bit like heather, and these small round pink flowers, like large pink cotton buds on green stems. I even see what looks like a solitary red hot poker!

As we come into Big Sur, we pass the Henry Miller Library (he lived in Big Sur), advertising books, music and short-film screenings (on Thursdays). Check out their website on http://www.henrymiller.org/ because any library that has a fire dancer on their homepage is cool beans as far as I'm concerned! There are also a lot of art galleries along this stretch, we pass at least three or four. I would love to live along this stretch of highway for a few months, but would settle for a sneak around some of the houses of those that do, they are eclectic in style, with people building where they can. We pass one town, Harmony, that has a population of only 18! In my imagination, living along the Pacific Highway would be a rustic, back-to-nature experience, but in reality you are miles from anything a city kid like me would recognise as civilisation and I might not survive a winter. This route is also a big draw for tourists, which can be a real mixed blessing.

Speaking of tourists, we stop at Big Sur for something to eat and to give Amy a breath of fresh air as the twisty turniness has made her a bit unwell. She is an absolute heroine about it though, not at all like my drama queen self when I'm sick! Breakfast at the Big Sur River Inn is fantastic and the service is inspiring, the cute little waiter is courteous and attentive, characteristics that I should also think of looking for in my next boyfriend. Shonagh, for information, I had the Ben's Breakfast, which consists of eggs, bacon, lettuce and some particularly heavenly cheese served in a large English muffin, with a huge latte. Dad and Amy had the Captain Cooper's Omelette, which is a three-egg omelette with fresh vegetables, served with hash browns, which are utterly different to the ones they serve in England. We have a long discussion over breakfast as to how American hash browns are made, and conclude that they parboil the potatoes, grate them and either grill or fry them until the top is crisp and the underside soft.

After Big Sur, Amy and I swap places so that her tummy can have a little rest (we don't want her spewing hash browns, Americano or otherwise, across the back of the RV interior) and I sit right up back at the table, listening to music on my MP3 player. Because the RV engine is so loud, I can sing along at the top of my voice to my tunes without disturbing anyone and this makes for one of the most stress free journeys for me so far. I felt so happy gazing out of the window and singing as the landscape flew by. We get to San Francisco in what seems like the blink of an eye and before we know it we are heading for the Golden Gate Bridge!

Unfortunately, we accidentally get in the wrong lane and find ourselves in the narrow toll lane that only fits cars. For a terrible moment, I think that we will be too wide for it and that a toll attendant will have to come and close the lane to allow us to reverse back out, but we lean out and fold the mirrors in, everyone takes a deep breath and we just manage to squeeze through. A bit stressful at the time, but a story that I will dine out on for quite some time, I suspect, particularly if my Dad is present. After the Golden Gate bridge (which is immensely huge!), we fall into an absolute bastard of a traffic jam which manages to stretch the last 30 miles of the trip into about an hour and a half, but before we know it, we have found our little campsite at Petaluma (about 30 miles north of San Francisco), and are all hooked up enjoying a nice dinner of southern fried chicken and tasty rice. This is our last stop before New York and the place that we will say goodbye to the RV, with some sorrow and some joy - especially in light of the fact that in New York we can stay in a hotel, and that the flight home from NY is only 6 hours long. I can almost taste the bad plane food now.

The next day, Saturday, we spend settling into the campsite and winding down after a long couple of weeks drive. We spend a lot of time sleeping - I don't think we had realised that the journeying had taken such a toll on us (worse for me in some ways because I will insist on writing my blog until one in the morning when everyone else is asleep!). I'm running a day behind on the blog now, so I'll tell you all about our first tour of San Francisco, which we took today, tomorrow (are you with me? If not, blame it on the time differences, I do!).

Did I mention already how much I miss you all?

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I really miss you too darling saa. I know exactly what you mean about travelling and the things and people you miss about home. I cried at least once a day when i was in Vietnam and Cambodia. Travelling makes you look "up" and take notice. Not just of the world around you but of all the people that are in your world.
I cannot wait to see you when you get back..............
I am so looking forward to the NY part of your blog, how different it will be for you to be in such a massive city rather than by the sea side, knowing how great you are with your writing i am sure this will be reflected really well.
Thanks for the description of the breakfast, please have a huge burger in NY and also go into a deli and get a sandwich, fuck Twigs, that will be a proper sanger experience!

Can't wait to hear the next installment lovely lady!

Love you heaps.
Shone. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

9:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey pretty lady! This 'missing you' thing works both ways you know. You are missed loads too. Even the Pompey sky misses you - must do 'cos since you've been gone it keeps shedding tears for you (weatherman says it's showers but I know better!).

Good photo to start off with. when enlarged, past the silhouette you see the landscape through the window and also in the wing mirror. But the picture of the drop - ooohhhhh......mmmyyyyyyy......goddddd!!!!!!!!!! I just couldn't!! I wouldn't like to walk up it let alone drive (well I know I don't like to walk at the best of times but you know what I mean).

I've loved your reports so far and like Shon I'm really looking forward to the New York ones. Let me know if you buy another bag there (restricting yourself to just one so far is admirable).

I'm sure you'll all have a great time there and having some space of your own will be good too (try and get in the bathroom before Amy in the mornings. You know how long she takes to get ready!).

Take care and love to you all but especially to you. xxxxxx

11:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Saa,

sorry to use your blog for this but i am trying to get as many people to sign this petition as poss!

Please could you and all your readers have a look and sign.

www.petitiononline.com/eaves/petition.html

It is a campaign to stop channel 5 broadcast a sticom on prostituion! Yes you read right a "SITCOM"!

You can find out all info by website address above.

Sorry again to use your blog.

Love ya.
Shonagh. xx

12:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Sarah,

Couldn't wait to get to work to read the latest postings. Loved them both. Felt the wonder of the night sky and felt your pain of homesickness. Thought I'd send you a quotation that someone sent to me once . . . . .

"Blessed are the homesick, for they shall journey home." Jung-Stilling

Keep on with blog - it really is so good. And your enjoyment is ours too.

Bridget X

1:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

really enjoy you words and pictures. adventure away bold monkee; bean will watch over the griffins until you return... return you must because that damn SPANISH circus is on the common, trees have been sawn through and are felled, and in the night hours conquitadors tread silently across the grass...they do, they do.....
love you xxxxxxx

5:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Flower,

I think there are enough 'missing you' vibes to last a lifetime!

The photo's are fab. What a highway to travel on. On our travels if we venture along such gradiants we are hiring out a driver (maybe your butler) so I can sit in the back pissing my pants! Amazing description lovely one-chuckled at the 'Coastal ghetto'!

Hearst Castle sounding, again, like another amazing and breath taking venture. I could well picture me having a paddle in the baths!

Roll on NY, some well deserved 'Sarah time'. Lou says you have to try the real McCoy corn fritters, apparently bloody lovely.

Party on Dude!

Big love, MISS YOU X X

7:17 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey gorgeous girl - phew! finally caught up...Not to make it all about me, but I slept in a tipi - yep, me! There was no electricity, nowhere to plug my hair straighteners, but I still did it...There were sheep and moo cows and everything, yet I STILL did it!

Anyway nuff of all that, I miss you too miss chevverchops, don't make me make eye water...Your adventures have been amazing and your ability to make me feel like I'm right there with you is outstanding lil miss writer girl, you wait til you get home and read through it all, you'll blow yourself away with your incredible talent!

I love Henry Miller quotes y'know.

So...New York baby! Oh, that's what I'm talkin' bout! That city snows like one of those shaky-shaky sno-globes in my heart, I really hope you love it too...A NY breakfast is a joy to behold, i'm salivating at the thought! Not that it's all about food, well, it is just a little bit. Big hugs chevverchops...

L x

8:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Me again sweet thing, I can't believe I forgot to mention your trip to San Fran...I'm itchin' to know how you're finding it, hope it's beautiful for you...tell me all soon missy x

10:09 PM  

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