Morning all:

Here it is, our final day in California, and probably it is high time since people here seem to be in a bit of a panic with the recall election and all. Moreover, I have devoleped this fear that I’ll wake up one morning and be locked in a fumigation tent – it’s absolutely horrible! Marcia’s beach time was probably a bit more Fall-like with haze keeping the sun at bay most of the time. With a pool in the complex though, she did OK. It is an amazing climate out here. Right at the beach the daytime highs were a hazy 65 to 70 degrees. Fifteen to twenty miles inland where I was spending my days it was a sunny 85 degrees. One day I drove into the valley and the town of Madera for a meeting and it was their normal 104.

Today should be just a nice relaxing time in that we’ll be visiting with Art, Jolene and the gang. My plan is to first swing through the town of San Juan Capistrano and have a look at the old mission. After this we’ll cut across the mountain range on the old, curvy, now two-lane, wagon road called the Ortega Highway. This way Marcia will get to see a little of what old California looked like. Art has promised Pizza made on their new outdoor, wood fired, Pizza oven and this should be enough to keep us heading in their direction. Promises to be a wonderful time.

Yesterday, I discovered, was our anniversary. A little stranger in the celebratory aspect from other years. We had eaten out with a couple the evening before and now had to use the scallops we had purchased earlier. I ended up making dinner and we ate by candlelight. Not knowing where to go Pieter called and suggested renting a Gary Shandling movie, “From what world are you?” so as to relive last weekend. Madam did not want that and much like a pouty kid would, mumbled “I want ice cream”. OK, so off to the village we walked, only to discover that there is no ice cream store in town. Over to Trader Joe’s where, surprise, surprise, they only have frozen Soy products. The answer was an emphatic “no” to all of that. Bottom line, we bought a case of “Two-Buck Chuck” and went back to our lovely borrowed beach condo – at $1.99 per, you can’t go wrong – except possibly getting into the overhead compartment tomorrow morning. I’ll allow you to vote on how this one stacks up in our long list of anniversaries.

Now, since it is five AM here I can start my couple of miles and watch all the surfers jogging to the beach. It sorta reminds me of photos I have seen of turtles returning to the water on the Galapagos Islands. First, better have a cup of coffee to get me primed. Before I forget, thank you so much Pieter and Jeanne for the use of the condo, what an absolute delight it has been!

Cheers, and have a great week.

Dirk