"Road Trips" by The Old Squid
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step into the
Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you may be
swept off to."
Bilbo Baggins
Monterey 2003, Part 5
Getting My Aura Aligned In Big Sur
posted 10/15/03
My wife wanted to see the Golden Gate because every time her family went across the bridge when she was a child, it was foggy. We went and it was foggy. She wanted to see the coast…and it was foggy. She wanted to see Big Sur. Yeah, you guessed it right. It was foggy.
We decided that one day would be enough at Laguna Seca this year and so, planned our ride to Big Sur for Friday. The races would be on Sunday. The weather report was good Friday morning so off we went. In previous years I'd stayed all three days at races so never explored this part of CA #1. As we left Monterey, traffic was heavy all the way down to Carmel. Stop and go in the southern CA style but we were on a bike so we could lane split to keep moving. At the intersection with highway G16 the fog hit. And the wind! Huge williwaws whipped off the cliffs and buffeted the BMW. This is a big bike and it was getting batted around like a motor scooter! At times the wind was at cross-purposes with the fog only 50' higher up the slope! Very scary to ride in, especially crossing the scenic, low railing-ed, concrete arch bridges. My wife commented that she'd never seen me slow down so much for wind.
As we went inland just before Big Sur Canyon the wind finally stopped and the sun came out. We crested the last hill and looked out at the ocean again. I don't know what I was expecting. I've driven the coast from Neah Bay to San Francisco. Big Sur is nothing like any of them. Lower than the Oregon headlands, more rugged than the Northern part of California. The fog would lift over the ridges behind us and sometimes seemed willful in its attempt to catch us but it always teased and never pounced south of the park.
We stopped on a rocky pull out to look and listen. All the sport bikes were coming up from southern California for the big race so the road was rarely quiet for long as the rising and falling moan of a four-cylinder motor would suddenly shout from a point several curves away. This was interspersed with the staccato roar of a twin and in between packs of bikes, the sound of the long, blue, surf arriving from the far pacific. 400' below us a lonely sea lion barked his ownership of a lovely cove accessible only by shipwreck.
There are other coves that are gems and more accesible too. Julia Phiffer Burns State Park has a Turquoise cove and a wisp of a waterfall in a setting so beautiful you would swear that it was "imagineered" by a Disney crew. This was magically beautiful and it was easy to see why this coast attracted the mystics and dreamers. Its reported that 50's sex symbol Kim Novac made a pile of money early on in her career and then retired here to walk barefoot on the beach for the rest of her life. More power to you Kim. I can see the attraction.
We drove south to the wide spot in the road called Lucia and stopped to turn back. Along the way, I looked at real-estate ads. (Sigh!) If I ever write a trashy best seller, this will be the location of my second home but it's going to have to be a real big seller because a fixer upper here is $1.5 million. I was thinking about maybe a short vacation instead when a sign caught my eye as we zipped by… Esalen! Yes! Of course, here was the mother of all the Human Potential resorts. Suddenly, my aura needed adjustment. My chakra was out of sync! Esalen's laid back hippy charm that I'd read so much about in the 60's would be a perfect place to relax and enjoy the Big Sur coast.
A quick U-turn and I was at the gate. "Yes", I could have a catalog but "No visitors or casual tours are allowed". Well, the driveway was steep so I asked the (naive!) young woman at the gatehouse if I might turn the bike around on the flats at the bottom of the hill. She allowed as how that would be OK so keeping my eye on her in the rearview, I coasted down and as she turned her back on me to address the next car in line, I quickly pulled in behind a large garbage truck blocking her view.
Trespassers Rule #1 Act like you belong! We did and strolled along the garden and out towards the swim pool and hot tubs. The tubs are legend. Just over the edge of the cliff and clinging to a rocky ledge, the sun sets in front of them in a stunning display. The gardens are lovingly maintained by work-trade volunteers. What a wonderful location. "This would be a perfect week long getaway," I told my wife as we walked back to the bike. Then I pulled out the catalog.
Yeow! Human Potential, meet New Age capitalism! It would cost me $1535 to spend a week learning about Creating the Work You Love: the Anti-Career Workshop. The same to find out about Deciphering the Romantic Attraction Code: How We Choose Whom to Fall in Love With. I could also just do a weekend and learn How to Experience Joy in the Modern World for only $545. Well, I'm retired so to heck with the first one and I've been married to my Fearless Wife for 31 years so that workshop on Romance seems moot too.
As for Joy, a good road and a fast bike work for me. Call me a skeptic, but I feel inner truths should be easy and free, not doled out by experts and gurus for a high price. Time and tears are the price we all pay for love and joy and that seems quite enough thank you! Give me the free wind and an asphalt curve and I'm a happy man. The coast at Big Sur has plenty of what I needed and I'm sure that was Kim Novac that waved at me as we left the last long beach behind and headed back to Monterey and the races.
The Old Squid
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