Follow your 7 P’s.

Prior

Proper

Planning

Prevents

Piss

Poor

Performance

The day before we leave I get my RSV AND Covid booster vaccinations.

I had not had a reaction after my last one.

I wake up on Friday at 12:35 AM shaking with chill, a fever, my feet are freezing and aching all over.

I get up a few hours later to leave for the airport at 4:50 AM.

A little better, but very wiped out.

Off we go to the airport,hoping no one notices.

1st leg of trip I slept the whole way. We transfer

and I sleep again.

We get to the hotel in OKC(Oklahoma City) and I sleep again for another hour and a half, go to dinner,return, sleep for another 10 hours.Saturday we’re back in fighting shape

On the agenda for today Saturday is Myraid Botanical Park and the Oklahoma Museum of Art.

This park is an oasis in the middle of a windy dry, flat environment.

This is an example of one of the small areas inside this park .

There are numerous water features, ramps , stairs ,paths ,sidewalks, places for kids, a misting and spouting water play area numerous plant varieties etc. They use Corten steel for great effect in borders and for retaining walls. Several waterfalls and numerous streams of varying velocities. Then in the middle an excellent arboretum, that wasn’t real excited to go into. Snapped my head right around. The multiple levels, the excellent signage and explanations kept your attention and lit up your curiosity

Hats off to all that have created this oasis.

Next the Preston Singletary exhibit at the OKC art museum

Let’s start with a video of the Hockney exhibit

Today we took the Tube to Battersey Power station.

This was built in the Victorian Era, was coal fired and finally shut down in1983.

It was about this time that the train came off the track and the back pain worsened. Within a few days we decided to return home and cut our trip short The health care I received in London was excellent.

I had used both the private and public systems.

I understand that I used them in a very limited manner. The care I received was through,empathetic and well thought out..

Pretty scary not having much control over the pain. There is a lot more to learn about prevent and treatment based on what I can do.

We’ll see what happens next time.

We arrived Monday morning and walking was not fun.

Pretty much discomfort with each step. When I had received massage treatment at home that had helped immensely.

So I found a phisotherapist and saw her that afternoon.She was very through and I was walking better.

Had dinner on the way home, but the walk back to the hotel after dinner was not good.

Very restless night, Marlina helped me get the insurance underway and found a very nice Md atPrincess Grace Hospital.

He changed my meds to some that were a little stronger and we discussed that it will take some time for the inflamed nerve to “settle down “

We had a nice breakfast on a sidewalk cafe in the Marleybone neighborhood. Quiet streets with lots of people walking and riding to and fro. We then took the tube to find artist David Hockneys exhibit at the Lightroom in Lewis Cubitt Square, which was an industrial section that has been completely redone with great architecture,lots of walk ways, gardens, small pools and fountains for kids to play in.

It was so relaxing to just walk about and enjoy the atmosphere.

The Hockney exhibit “Bigger and closer,( not smaller and further away) was excellently done. For those of you who saw the Van Gough Immersion Experience in SF, this is what it wanted to be. Walls 40 feet high on 4 sides. Open floor with a few scattered cubes to sit on, on the carpeted floor. A retrospective of some of his work is projected on all four walls,ceiling and the floor.He is giving commentary and narration about his process.You just let your eyes travel all over the place. It’s as if your a little kid and your just taking in all the images and colors and sounds. It was truly immersive. Speaking of kids. There were a. Bunch of toddlers and kids slightly older,who were running about,some chasing the colors on the ground,trying to catch the images on the walls and having so much fun. Your heart just lightened and your cares just disappeared,watching them.

You really were transported into another world. It’s my idea of what art at its best does for us..It was worth the plane flight over to see it!

We the headed over to The National Portait Gallery to see Paul McCartneys photographs titled “The Eye Of The Storm” These were photos he took on the Beatles 1st tour to the US. One forgets how young they were. These were working class youths coming to the US, which was so very different from England or Europe. It was quite fun to relive those times, to feel the excitement of sitting in front of our televisions on a Sunday night and hear Ed Sullivan exclaim “Here are The Beatles!”

Had dinner in a 700 year old wine bar that we’ve been to before, but now there is a line to get in, that wasn’t there pre Covid. I’m sure social media has something to do with it also. Kinda fun eating where someone else ate in the 1300’s

I’ll say good bye for now.

Paul

.

How not to end or start a trip.

12 days ago I was in the backcountry,minding my own businesses, doling some wash twisting back and forth, when I felt my left lower back tighten.Oh crap!

It stayed tight but by the end of the day, it started spasming.

Of course my heavy duty meds were 3 miles back at the trailhead.

So I moved carefully for the next two days and was able to hike out on Friday. I spoke with a PCTA rep and told her the situation. If I’m careful, I can cook for the second week trip and leave as originally planned.

SundayAM I got up and walked a couple of blocks,got coffee and pastries for myself and my roommate.

My hands were full so I bent down ,WHAM! A back spasm.

When my roommate offered to set up my tent for meI knew I wasn’t going anywhere near camp.

Back up plans put into place and I headed home.End of that trip.

Over the next week I got better,and prepared for our trip to England and Portugal

Sunday afternoon I’m getting ready to leave the next day.

I bend over and WHAM I feel tightness shoot across my lower hips on the right side and into my right thigh. I’ve done it again.

I grab the ice, the muscle relaxer. Then lie down to take a nap.

I wake up and can hardly walk.I’m in the deep end of the pool now.numerous phone calls and we head to the ER

The fantasies of back injury, having to cancel the trip, Spinal fusions are running amuck.

After 4 hours and a MRI ,it’s decided I’m having bad muscle spasms, muscle relaxants ,pain med and explanations. I’m loaded for bear,

A rough night last night, but I’m writing to you from 38,000 feet .w We’ll see what this body and London have in store

….ITS. MY BODY CAUSING PROBLEMS

Several times when I was working the night before leaving the sprinklers would spring a leak.

If

Several weeks ago Marlina asked if there was someone I wanted to se at the Freight and Salvage. I procrastinated and then saw this singer guitarist named Ruthie Foster.

I listened to a couple of samples and thought she sounded intriguing . I told Marlina but we realized we could not go because of a previous commitment . Marlina checked the web site and saw she was playing at the Sofia in downtown Sacramento. “Let’s Go!” We arrive and Marc my brother had said there was easy street parking near the restaurant, which is almost next door to the theater.

We can’t find parking on the street, pull into a lot, car pulls in behind us when we see some outrageous price for parking. We head out the back and as we pull out there this an open diagonal parking spot in front of us. The space is less than 100 yds from the theater.We meet my brother and have a nice dinner. His partner Mary was unable to join us.

Sofia is a 400 seat theater very similar to the Freight and Salvage layout. There are great sight lines , even short people can see very well, and the sound was very good.

Light go down and the place erupts, people calling out to Ruthie and she calling out to them.

She works the front of the stage, then settles in behind the mic. She is solo tonight with two monitors, a medium size amp, and a microphone on a nice carpet.

She has a welcoming smile, a voice warm, joyful, and lots of laughter. She keeps saying how grateful she is to be in front of a live audience again , making it sound as if we are doing her a favor. That favor was about to get repaid with some serious interest .

She could not hear her vocal monitor so she starts singing a gospel chorus about it, until the engineers get it working.

She starts into a story and it is as if we are sitting at her kitchen table listening to stories about friends, music, family, and travel.

People ask what genre she sings, the easier question is what genre doesn’t she sing. Lucinda Williams, Johnny Cash, Mahalia Jackson, Mississippi John Hurt, not to mention her own great compositions. One of the wonderful things about her is how she reworks this music to impart her message and sound.

Then she started to sing and one immediately understands that you are in the presence of a powerful voice whose tones and inflections can carry you to a mountain top or caress you in a gentle murmuring stream.

When her voice ascends it is with a secure unforced power filled with the aforementioned tones and inflections. I would close my eyes and let her voice and guitar surround and fill me. It is as if you are cradled in this warm loving palm of a hand , completely secure, lifting you into a warm sky while floating amongst the clouds.

Such power .

At the peak of the crescendo you find yourself cradled on a leaf, gently rocking as you float downward, when WOOSH, her voice slips under you, lifting your physical and spiritual being into the heavens.

Now your back at the table and she is telling a story about the Mississippi John Hurt Festival held in Mississippi. There are stories of his cabin, the people who have preserved his legacy, stories about Taj Mahal, cream pies and church ladies.

She then is asking someone off stage about this Amp and if it is ,indeed made by hand. When it is affirmed she says” Hmm, I think that may just fit into my suitcase, I’ll come back for my clothes later”

What a wonderful way to acknowledge someone else’s skill and craft.

My eyes close and I’m carried away in another song. So now it is as if, her tones and inflections are fingers and palms caressing, massaging your physical spirit. Her voice ascends again even higher still with a strength that there is no doubt of her not reaching the notes she desires.

More stories and promises to return.

Song after song, each feeling refreshingly new. A feeling of amazement that her music can find so many parts of you with it’s tactile presence.

Her lyrics are supported, made more brilliant, and accentuated through the infusion of her guitar work.

This is completely captured in there song 4 AM from her latest CD titled ” Healing Time”. She captures what it is like be unable to sleep at 4 AM in a wholesome way that allows one to create instead of fret.

Her cover of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire is unlike anything I have heard or imagined. I never realized the depths of love being expressed until I heard her version

Top 3 concerts I have been to in my life I enjoyed every song and did not want it to end.

Christmas came early this year. Try to see her live, 2nd option is put on a set of headphones close your eyes and let her voice caress your spirit and let you drift away.

I am a lucky man.

Paul

The alarm went off after a wonderfully restful sleep. It’s 6:15 and dark outside.

Someone is washing their car because I hear the water splashing . I look out to find rain. The weather forecast was for overcast. Well, they got that part right, they just missed out on the precipitation part. Well I guess I’m getting another baptism because this is the first time on this route.The rain gear will get tested again.

We pack up and get some breakfast , while enjoying a nice conversation with a couple of the guys who were so encouraging yesterday while we were dealing with the 15 mph headwind.

They were wearing Bo Boo Records jerseys. I have one from that great record store in San Luis Obispo. So we had a mutual admiration pow wow about the great store owner of Boo Boo records. Defiantly worth a trip when your in the area.

Off we went the meeting place to start the days ride. Took a group photo and Mike and the group took off.

Just then the rain stops.

I followed in the car and helped set up the first rest stop 26 miles away.

We weren’t there 15 minutes and the first riders arrived. My calculation, they were going at least 20 mph. So I got on my bike and started off. Mike would ride to that point and pick up the car. Then follow and we would meet at the next rest stop, which was at the top af a climb at mile 50.

When I stop I have a rubber band I put on the brake levers to prevent the bike from rolling. About 4 miles from the top I stopped to eat something and get some water. I get back on the bike and head up the climb.

I had been warned that you will know your climbing for these last 4 miles, translated, it’s steep. True to the authors word, I knew I was on a climb.

The mind is a wonderful thing because I was talking with someone as I was riding, and totally distracted. We arrive at the top, I’m panting like a dog in the desert.

I get off the Bike, Guess who left the rubber band on? Nothing like climbing with the brake on. Who is mass macho? Dumb but mass. macho.

The next 30 miles are primarily down hill through forests, along creeks al along the Carmel valley.

Got lucky and got in a pace line, so by drafting I got to go a lot faster with less effort.

It was a great 4 days of riding , got to meet new people , saw some magnificent country, got to do some rides I had wanted to do for many years,

Got inspired to try new things and reminded how I enjoy bike touring.

Was reminded ” how much better the world is when we appreciate the loads each of us has to carry instead of looking at how we carry it”

Oh yeah, and Keep my eye on my license.

Until next time

Paul

Mike picked me up about 6AM and we headed to Carmel.

We arrived to a dark parking lot filled with people arranging belongings and getting bikes ready. The plan was Mike would ride the 1st 55 miles down the coast to Lucia. I would drive the car to Lucia and start my ride there. He would pick up the car and drive to the hotel where I would meet him at the end of my ride.

The coast was spectacular giving the Amalfi Coast a run for it’s money .The ocean was like glass and as the waves broke over submerged rocks a line of white would appear ,then become blue glass again. A ribbon of fog lined where the ocean met the cliffs. Far out there was a bank of clouds and when you rose high enough the ocean extended beyond the bank of fog. The sky was clear and a rich powder blue.

I arrived at Nacamiento Rd and looked at the face of a mountain . There is a one lane road carved into the side of a cliff. I Slipped into my pedal cages, went to my 1st gear and started up.After a minute my calves were screaming” What are you doing?” Pedal, Pedal Pedal. After a half hour I couldn’t believe how far I climbed and how close the car seemed to be. I didn’t dare look up.

Another half hour you see the curvature of the earth and you get to see the earth as described above. It is worth every screaming muscle, every gasp for breath, every doubt about if I’ll make it to the top.

After an hour the road flattens slightly and I find myself in a redwood grove. Easily 15 degrees cooler ,it is as if I am on another planet. Out I go and up, up, up I go.

In two hours I reach the top. Well 8 miles down and 42 to go. It seems hardly possible. I descend through a steep forested canyon and emerge into Fort Hunter Leggett. Takes a hour of riding to cross the base.

I notice that my phone has 15% charge left, No problem I have a battery pack. I grab the pack,reach for the cord,no cord.I organized it into the wrong bag. I frantically write the directions down before the battery dies. One of the event organizers is driving by asks if I need water.I thank him as I have enough, but does he have a charge cord? Bingo!

I’m charged and running.Only 18 miles to go……..straight into a headwind for 18 miles.Who says it can’t be uphill both ways?

I arrive tired and happy. This is a ride I have wanted to do for many years

I am a lucky man

Paul

Thursday afternoon I checked into the hotel.During check in the manager is having a running argument with her partner.She says I want to check something in your room, have to talk with someone,so I’ll meet you there. I put my bags on the bike and head down there, she says everything looks fine and hands me the keys. There is a restaurant across the street that we have eaten at before, so I go there and have a nice meal. Also a glass of Champagne and toast my grandparents and my parents.

I’m up early this AM, do the back exercises read, write and I head over to the recorders office to get the death certificates for Ralph and Johanna. I fill out the forms ,he asks for ID,and I can’t t find it. I take everything apart in my wallet and bag……..NOTHING!

The clerk says not to worry about it, he can still process the request. While racking my brain( This is very different than reflecting, since there is a healthy dose of self admonition going on). I think I remember that the manager never gave my drivers license back. But I’m not entirely sure.

The clerk says he found Johanna’s death certificate but not Ralph’s. He says he has a few more places to look. 15 minutes later he returns and tells me Ralph died in Alameda county not Santa Cruz. A dim flicker of remembrance comes to me. I had heard that many years ago. He gives me the info for Alameda county,which I will visit in the near future.

Johanna did die of a self inflicted gun shot to the head. Her mother was the one who identified the body. I went to the address on the death certificate and the house is gone, replace by an apartment complex. To my best guess there is a grove of Redwood trees near about where the house would have been.

Marc Jeanine,Patti and Lauren, we saw a house many years ago with Henry and Maryann, but I am pretty sure that is different than this one. We’ll see what Ralph’s death certificate gives for an address.

I get back to the hotel and ask for the manager, the partner says,he will get her.He does a futile search, she comes out after 30 minutes and can’t find it anywhere including the clothes she wore yesterday,we review the security tapes, that show me handing it to her but she never handed it back.

Now my new problem is that I can’t go to my hotel in Monterey because I don’t have a photo ID. I call the hotel directly,can’t get through,you need a code to talk to the desk, you can only talk to an operator at a reservation desk.They get me to customer service,who contacts the manager,but she won’t budge on the ID rule. Visions of sleeping in a homeless shelter in Monterey and not lollipops are floating in my head. The manager in Santa Cruz offers to let me stay there for free and promises to keep looking. I call Mike who is suppose to pick me up in Monterey and he readily agrees to pick me up in Santa Cruz.

Nothing more I can do, so I start to make arrangements to get a new license and take a anxiety filled walk. Several hours later I get a phone call “ I found it!” She had reviewed all the tapes and saw where she had set it down.She went there and found it.

Upon returning it we had an in-depth talk about not being distracted where handling documents. I-had an in-depth talk with myself about paying attention when handing over documents.

I’m off to dinner,then finish packing for tomorrow’s ride over the mountains from the pacific to King city

Paul

After 10 minutes of riding In San Jose commute traffic I was on a bike train and 10 minutes late I was on the quiet streets of Los Gatos. 10 minutes after thatI was on the Los Gatos Creek Trail, with a creek on one side and surrounded by beautiful trees.It is a narrow trail with many users, so you don’t go flying around while on this delightful trail.

It is a gentle grade that rises towards the source of the creek which is Lexington Reservoir . As you get closer to the reservoir the trail turns to gravel and increases in gradient, to the point that I ended up pushing the bike for several hundred yards. It then returns to a rideable climb, but finishes with a very steep but rideable climb across the face of the dam.

The road then goes up and down around the east side of the reservoir until you reach the south end of the reservoir. Of course you are surrounded by threes the whole time, At this point you climb into the Redwoods.Yes it is a hard climb at times, requiring me to push the bike at times. I guess my panniers are carrying around 20 pounds. (A good reminder not to gain weight) So it was slow going but breathtaking.

I reach the top and had a 6 mile descent into Scott’s valley on a one lane poorly maintained road. Scott’s Valley and then into Sant Cruz. After dropping my bags at the hotel I rode to the cemetery where my maternal grand parents are buried.After some help from the staff I found their gravesite.

I was looking for the plaque but could not find one.It was an unmarked grave. Given that my grandmother died in 1931 and grandfather in 1942, there probably wasn’t the money for something like that. Which got me to thinking, Why didn’t my mother later in life when she had the means do something like that? She really did want to put that part of her life behind her. The thought occurred to me that my grandparents work did not get completed in their lifetimes,but there was enough there to give my mother as basis to work from.Yes it had it cracks and imperfections, but it was solid enough to launch my brother sister and I on our way.

Let me keep this in mind when I see others struggling, who knows what they have started to grow in their(our) imperfect lives. Thank you Grandma Johanna and Grandpa Ralph

A good reminder