North-South Wrap-Up

Friday – Road Trippin’ to San Simeon

Never leave too many things for the day of – I already know this. I had a schedule set in my mind of when everything would be done. In my opinion, I had allotted ample time for unforeseen events short of someone needing an intervention. Ale x somehow convinced me to come out to Inner Sunset and pick him up (after working on me for an entire week). Since he is the least “morning person” of all the people in the car, I figured it would be in my best interest to go ahead and cave. That way, my schedule could remain intact…or so I assumed.

To tell you the truth, I neither want to relive the experience nor blast every detail of it on the internet. Suffice it to say that after an extra hour and a half of errands that I didn’t know would take so damn long, we were on the road at around Noon coming from SF on 101 South. We stopped in Gilroy to be sidetracked by another snafu in the 100+ degree heat, then again when we almost ran out of fuel on the 100-mile stretch of Highway 1 that has no diesel stations. Relying on the kindness of strangers (or even friends) is not a position I am comfortable in. In fact, that may have been the most stressed I have been in quite a while. Driving soothes me, so at least I had that working in my favor. We finally made it to San Simeon around 6PM. I had calmed down a bit by then, but I knew what was coming as soon as I got out of the car. I called it a couple of hours earlier. CT and I have spent enough time together for me to know exactly what he’s gonna say.

“So, how was the drive?” He asked. I looked around at Martina, Alex and KB.

“I’m not ready to talk about that yet.”

“What time did you leave?” He said it all exactly the way I predicted! “How long did it take you to get here?” I had to walk away and get started unloading the car. It was too fresh and I wasn’t completely over it yet. Yeah, I’m a bit of a control freak about certain things, but I assure you that it’s for a reason. I had hoped to put my cruise control on 80mph and just let the road unfold before me. That’ll teach me. Seriously, when you have a bunch of passengers on a road trip, something always goes wrong. I comfort myself with the knowledge that I suffered the most distress. Everyone else seemed to come away from the experience relatively unscathed.

While waiting in the car earlier that morning for KB, I picked out our weekend drink. I plugged Vodka into the drink recipe app on his iPhone and got an uber-long list, so I scrolled down to the J’s and saw the “Jackson 5”. Perfect! Here’s to you, MJ. For those not in the know, the Jackson 5 works very much like a Long Island Iced Tea. It has an element that hits you immediately and a creeper that quietly builds with every drink you consume, waiting for that moment when you think you’re on top of the world to bring you back down to Earth. After my second (and a pot cookie), I attempted to finish off the evening with a beer but only made it through a couple of sips before excusing myself to crawl into the tent. At that point, standing up was a feat in itself. Lying down turned out to be an adventure full of twists and turns as well. When KB got in with me, I clung to him for dear life. The spinning stopped long enough for me to get a few minutes of sleep before the cacophony of snoring and snarling. I tried getting up to escape the sleeping bear, but the spins returned. Damn it!

The rest of the camping trip was awesome. We all got sauced, swapped funny stories, did a little dancing and walked along the beach at all hours of the day and night. There were countless displays of intoxication that served to further entertain us. The hammock CT brought was a very tempting trick. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried mounting/dismounting a hammock while drunk, but it’s not pretty. What a great weekend! I can’t wait ‘til the next one.



Thanks to errrrrybody who came out (for traveling way out yonder and putting up with my attitude).

Thanks Kim for keeping us grounded and out of trouble.

Thanks CT for providing the minefield of inappropriate humor and intelligent fireside conservation (fire hot – lol).

Thanks to Tracey for making that long ass drive just to spend one night with us – awww it makes my belly feel funny inside.

Thanks to Alex The Puppetmaster for providing most of the intoxicants and then using us all for his own entertainment.

Thanks Martina for being the good-spirited buffer that we desperately needed.

Thanks to the Wonder Twins, KB and Burly, for getting drunk on Bourbon and geeking out for the rest of us to laugh at – and then retiring to the tents and passing out before sunset so we wouldn’t have to keep an eye on you two (awesome).

Becky, Rolando, Mark and Eden, we missed you guys – see you next year.

Oh YES! Thanks to the generous guys at the Park Ranger Station 20 or so miles North of Cambria. Without you, I probably would have snapped and made it a Donner Party weekend...