Hi there

Sorry for the long delay in posting (again). Life seems to be of more importance than the blog for some strange reason.

Well we left off in Cayucos on the way to Big Sur. From Cayucos Hwy 1 takes you up to San Simeon home of Hearst Castle. I don't know if you have ever been to Hearst Castle, but if you haven't definitely take some time and check it out. Just knowing that this spectacular place was built at the beginning of the 20th century in the middle of no where is astounding. I mean the wealth Hearst had must have been incredible.

Up the road from the castle is an elephant seal breading ground. In case you haven't seen one just let me tell ya, those things are BIG. Just something else to make you go hhhuuuummmm.

Well about another hour goes by and I am blissfully cursing down the scenic Central California Coastline without a care in the world. AAAhhhhh, this is the life. I can see a vista on the other side of the road comming up, and Lynnette is siganling that she wants to stop there. Cool. I pull my trusty Roadking (TM) to a stop and look back at Lynnette and notice somthing is not as well with her as it was in my world before we stopped. Before she could pull off her helmet she said, "Darn it! I got stung by a Bee! (ed. note darn it is actually mild, but as far as we know this is a family blog and lets just leave it at that). Being the caring husband that I am I instinctavly reached for my camera to doccument the bee vs wife impact. If you look carefully at the picture you can see the stinger still imbeded in the left side of her nose. That bee was a great shot as he managed to hit her in the only uncovered spot on her face, right between her goggles and her bandanna. Ouch! Well with some coaching from some well meaning bicycle riders I managed to pull it out, and after some time to get back in the riding mode we were back on the road.














We finally got to The Big Sur Lodge about 2:00 pm and because we had some time to kill we looked for a little grub and grog. Aways up the road we found the little village with a pub and restaurant. The Big Sur Pub & Restaurant was just what the doctor ordered, a peaceful spot surrounded by trees and a stream just below us.

















Don't you just wish you had a stream like this in you yard? I do.

I don't feel like blogging anymore, I think I am about to go back to the stream in my mind. see ya.

Hope it makes sense to you, 'cause right now it makes sense to me.

Sad & Happy

I just got some very sad news. My old neighbor Jack called to let me know his wife Liz passed away Sunday. Liz had been fighting cancer a little over five years and was about my age 47. She leaves a husband and a 14 year old son, as well as her mother and sisters. I am sorry Lynnette won't be able to chat with her over glasses of wine again. I am sorry we won't be able to share another back yard BBQ or birthday celebration, or any part of life with her.
Why God?

About an hour later I got another call, this one from an old friend named Fuzz. He was calling to let me know his wife, also named Liz had given birth yesterday to their first child. Fuzz was totally stoked and who could blame him
Thank you God.

Our time here is short and there is sooooooo much I don't understand.
Help me God.

20 years in the rear view & forever in front of us

If you remember our last visit Lynnette and I were getting ready to celebrate our 20th anniversary with a ride on the Harleys up the coast to Big Sur. As you can see from the photos she is the one with the style poise, and grace and I am the one with the confused look of a man that isn't sure if that was actually fish in his fish taco.

The ride was great, once you get past Santa Barbara the Central California Coastline just opens it's self up to you. It is a far different experience that driving offers. The wind carries the scent of the ocean and the coolness of the summer air can catch you by surprise, (like it did us).
We rode to Morro Bay the first day and spent the night at a place called The Inn at Morro Bay. Morro bay is a nice quiet little town that has a rock called Morro Rock on it's shore line as it's main claim to fame. Here you can see Lynnette with Morro Rock in the Background.
When we first pulled in I could see The Inn was a pretty nice place with an ocean view and I know that means, I want to go in with Lynnette to check in. Ya see I know I can get some pretty good stares from "the well to do" as I walk in looking like the worst kind of scooter trash and get a room where they stay. Lynn knew what I was upto so she didn't protest very much, and man was I glad. As Lynnette was giving the counter girl our reservation info. she looks at us and is kinda excited when she says "are you guys on motorcycles?" It was kinda a no duh situation, but we tell her yes and that we are on Harleys. It is then that I look at her co worker who is dealing with a couple of well to do 50 something year old yuppies that are staring at yours truly like the I had just cut the worst beer and pickled egg fart in the world. I remained pleasant smiling and nodding hello to them. In hind site I realize I blew it. I should have walked upto them said hello, asked them in they were Christ followers and handed them a Bikers for Christ Tract. Oh well. I have to give them credit though , they kept their distance and kept their hostile looks until we left the lobby. I wish I could have heard the conversation when we left.
The Inn offered a nice restful room with a small hot tub on the balcony that overlooked the ocean. I am bummed that I didn't get any photos to share of the local watering hole we found, but if we get a chance to stop in again I'll visit the Fuel Dock for a quick Coors. The Fuel Dock is a few blocks from the water and is in fact a former gas station, so you can probably guess the motif.

After leaving Morro Bay we stopped at a nice little coastal town called Cayucos, with Big Sur on our minds. Cayucos is another sleepy little town on the Pacific Ocean, the kind of place that makes you think "Man I could move here and be a small town local". The town has a main drag right off the 1 with little shops, a small grocery, a garage and a............ Saloon !!!!!!!!!!
Cayucos saloon is a left over from the stagecoach days. It's a place where 19th century stagecoaches, cowboys, locals, and wanderers would wet their whistle and play poker. I rely like going to places like this, it reminds me of the wild wild west when men were men, and women were as tough as men. One of the cool things about Cayucos Saloon is the murals in the pool room and the fact that they have a card room where Texas Hold'em is still played.



To the right you can see me outside the saloon and to the left is the pool room and two of the murals that cover the walls. Pretty cool eeehhhh.

Well I hate to stop before I can finish my story, but for times sake I have to.

Hope it makes sense to you, 'cause right now it makes sense to me.

Tomorrows the day

Tomorrow Aug.2, 2006 marks our 20th anniversary. Hard to believe that a guy that hardly ever looked for a girlfriend has been married this long. Hard to believe Lynnette was looking for a guy like me. For those that don't know Lynnette was keen on the marriage idea well before I was, in fact we broke up once over my hesitation to "take the walk down the isle". Dating just two years didn't seem long enough, we were having so much fun. Although she told me marriage would be fun too, I kinda felt there was a lot of work to it . It was during that break up that I decided I couldn't do with out her and while my proposal wasn't one for the movies it was scincere, and here we are 20 years later. Go figure. Oh, we were both right. It has been fun but it has been work too, and usually the fun had been worth the work!

So tomorrow morning we are headed up the coast for a few days on the Harleys. The central California coast is some primo riding and our final destination is Big Sur. I am looking foreword to stopping at the Cold Springs Tavern, Old Cayucos Tavern, & The Union Hotel and Saloon. If you see a pattern in these sites all I can say is "oh well". Well I hope to have a bunch of memories and pictures to share on the old blog when I get back.

My funk that was so much a part of my last entry is a thing of the past and as I suspected a large part of it was doing a little bit of life with friends. Sunday I rode with some of the bros from Bikers for Christ, (no need for the link you've seen it before), to Sunday service at Friendship Baptist Church, http://www.thefriendshipchurch.org/ . This was a real treat for me getting to worship with some bros that I won't see until they get back from Sturgis http://www.sturgis.com/ , but also to worship with a primarily black Baptist congregation! Worship was great and the Spirit was everywhere, although there wasn't as much dancing in the isles as in The Blues Brothers.

A pictorial tribute to Jake & Elwood Blues







Found an article on line about a dude that converted a 1994 Saturn automobile worth about $2000 into an electric powered vehicle at a cost of about $9000 just to save about $30 a month in gas. Maybe I am not a visionary but I just don't see it. Doesn't that figure out to about 25 years for the payback? http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16987713&BRD=1719&PAG=461&dept_id=25271&rfi=6 .

What are you doing Sunday mornings between 6 and 9 AM ? Try listening to KFI 640 AM to "The Jesus Christ Show" http://www.kfi640.com/pages/JesusChrist.html?feed=128001&article=444961 . To some it is blasphemous I am sure, but it seems to me the "holy host" is doing a good job of trying to bring outsiders back in.

Well that's all for now. Hope it makes sence to you 'cause right now it makes sence to me.