At Costanoa near Pescadero
We needed to make a short flight to test a portable oxygen concentrator that would make flying feasible for us. We took Southwest Oakland to Seattle (the oxygen worked!), rented a car, drove to a ferry, took the ferry to Vashon Island, checked in to a nice cabin, and had a very nice few days in a place with very little to do.
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Shortly after Vashon, I flew to Dallas to get car registered with state. Similarly to the same trip last year, the flight was delayed and the next day was a marathon of Toyota dealership, Texas Department of Public safety office closed, a second office where they don’t do what I needed done, and then a third office where the entire process, including waiting took less than 20 minutes!
I saw John, David O, Chuck, and Jeff, my mate from the Marine Corps came for a three day visit. Jeff and I talked endlessly. One of the things we talked about at length was Gunnery Sergeants (E-7), a rank unique to the Marine Corps. We had had two Gunnys, one, Gunny Evans (the company Gunny) we feared and the other, Gunny White (commander of weapons platoon) we loved. When I was at Love Field, waiting for the flight home I fell into a conversation with another old veteran sitting next to me in the wheelchairs by the gate. It turns out he was a Gunnery Sergeant AND he had been exactly where we had been operating near Hill 55! He was in 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment which relieved us, 1stBattalion, 26th Marines! He seemed about my age and I guess he would have been a corporal or sergeant back then. Wow! Wow! Wow!
View from Costanoa
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We went to a party at Bill and Lisa’s in LaHonda, where some of Ken Kesey’s and the Merry Prankster’s shenanigans took place. Good times, good fellowship. Jean was with her art tribe and I had a good time talking with an IDF veteran and some of the old hippies that were there.
The plan after the party was to go south and toward Pescadero on the coast rather than make the long drive home tired and late. We had a plan for how we were going to drive to Pescadero, but before we got to the highway there was a sign for a road to Pescadero, so we turned down Alpine Road and drove through the coastal range on the hairpiniest roads either of us had ever driven on and both of us have spent a lot of time in the mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and elsewhere. There were very few houses or other signs of people for about 25 miles. Finally we got to a little town called Loma Mar (pop. 114) and a few miles further on, Pescadero (pop. 1600), and from there on to Costanoa, where we were going to spend a couple of days with Janet and Larry and Peter and Nancy. The
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y were “glamping” while we had reserved a room in the lodge.
The next day we all had breakfast together at a picnic table and then Janet, et al. went to see some sea lions and Jean and I drove back to Loma Mar – there was something about that town that called to us. We got a sandwich and some deviled eggs in Loma Mar and drove back toward Pescadero. We saw a turn-off for Pescadero State Beach and went there for a picnic lunch in the back of the van and a nap on the low headlands. As we were finishing lunch there was a rumbling roar and a highway patrol motorcycle officer pulled up next to us, then another, and another, and another, until there were 16 motorcycles and highway patrolmen parked next to us! They were
Home
there just to hang out, though the two guys sitting on the beach right below us passing a joint back and forth may have had a few moments of anxiety. After lunch we split to find a quieter part of the park so we could nap with just the sounds of the surf. In the evening very nice dinner with Janet, Larry, Peter, and Nancy. Back to Berkeley the next morning.
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A few weeks ago I was having coffee with a friend and told him about challenges I was having uploading the pure autonomic failure (PAF) booklet Jean and I created. He had recently self-published a memoir and he introduced me via email to the typographer who worked on his book. I wrote to her and told her what we’re doing. She wrote back and said, what we’re doing is a good thing and she would like to help at no charge! She and I have been sending files back and forth and we’re allllmost done!
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First Aid: Compression bandages, hemostatic bandages, tourniquet, etc.
Standing in line at Monterey Market and a woman asked me if my go-bag is ready. Yes, it is. What times we live in when a conversation like this happens! I just finished updating the go-bag to include improved first aid supplies. We have sufficient supplies. House: 2 months food, medicine, water. Van: one week food, medicine, water.
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Other than this it’s the magical life of Berkeley: Mornings in bed drinking Peet’s coffee and enjoying the today show of the SF Bay, fruit for breakfast, going to Monterey Market for fruit and vegetables, Berkeley Bowl for other food, Cheeseboard for bread and cheese, walking the Berkeley Hills…