Living well on the West Coast

Wow, wow, wow.

I am just stunned by the incredible outpouring of hospitality at every turn on this trip. After Kim and Jack's royal treatment in San Diego, and Tony and Tara's spectacular tour of Los Angeles, we've continued to be greeted by the warmest welcomes a guy could hope to receive.



Leaving LA, we headed north along the Pacific Coast Highway, enjoying the absolutely perfect riding weather and coastal vistas that just beg to be appreciated: winding roads clinging to the hillside, foliage growing greener as we worked our way north, the sun glinting off the endless ocean to our left and always, always the crashing surf below us. These are the roads that road trips are made of, legendary roads and justly so.



Thankfully, each day's journey has also been rewarded with amazing company. First, we arrived on Monday to Tim and Camille's lovely home in Carmel. They met us, literally, with open arms in the driveway, helped us whisk our... expansive luggage into their lovely home, and served up a delicious meal and the kind of conversation that assure you that you're among kindred spirits. Tim and Julie served on moto crew together for the Red Ribbon Ride last summer (while I was nursing my busted wrist), where I met him briefly. It was great fun to spend more time getting to know him and his fiance Camille. They're both in Carmel working the Bach Festival, which opened last night, and yet were game to provide us a place to land and a feast to enjoy amid the flurry of their last week before opening. Even better, they invited us to attend a rehearsal of the orchestra the following morning, something I've never experienced by really enjoyed silently observing.



After spending the morning and early afternoon in Carmel, we made our way around Monterey Bay to Santa Cruz, visiting the charming, retro Santa Cruz boardwalk (which still features a wooden roller coaster, which Julie informs me is known by insiders as a "woody") and up to the picturesque University of California campus, nestled within a forest, where I'd contemplated making a run at grad school in the not-so-humbly named History of Consciousness program (known by insiders as "HistCon" for short).



Our next run was over the hills to Berkeley, where we had our first opportunity to lane-split! As traffic grew thicker, Julie, who was leading, looked back to say, "Wanna?" And off we went, thanks in no small part to courteous drivers who are acclimated to having motorcycles appear on the white line between lanes, and graciously made extra room. Traffic was backed up only momentarily, so our lane-splitting experience was brief, but great fun, actually. (The prospect of splitting lanes in LA traffic was terrifying, and not something I attempted. This seemed pretty tame by comparison.)



Shortly thereafter, we arrived at amazing home of my old friend Carol and her husband Bill. Carol and I know one another through our work together to end homelessness, and so it was delightful to see another aspect of her life, as we spent the bulk of the week with her and her family, enjoying the rhythms of their family life, relaxing, sharing meals and having great conversation.



Carol described her house as a farm house, and indeed it is: the greenspace surrounding it reveals producing fruit trees and ample garden, flowers, bamboo, palm and many nooks to sit and pass the time, listening to the children play at the playground of the neighborhood elementary school. Oh, and did I mention the outdoor hot tub?




We also had a chance to visit Chez Panisse -- me for the first time -- with Bill and Carol. It was a homecoming of sorts for Julie, who cooked there when she lived in the Bay Area, and so it was a great treat to lay eyes (and taste buds!) on the place. I know Chez Panisse was a hard place for Julie to leave behind, and visiting it, I see why.



We also had a chance to meet up with one of her best friends from culinary school, Paul, at the other restaurant where she worked in the Bay Area, Oliveto, where we also found occasion for laughter.



Finally, yesterday, we had to bid farewell to the Bay, rode our bikes into the city to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, shrouded in fog, destined for another oasis: Marty and Eileen's place in Marin County, up the coast. Marty and I met many years ago, again, through the work to end homelessness, and crossed paths again at Carol and Bill's, and when he offered to host us on our way northward, it was a easy decision to say yes. After a walk on the beach, a delicious meal together and more great conversation with their friend Larry, we can't help but feel like some of the luckiest people in the world.

Life on the road continues to be so, so kind to us.