Rock 'N Ride: The Journey Continues

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9 days in search of something. Some have said it better than I. “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.” "In the end you don't so much find  yourself  as you find someone who knows who you are. Don't spend all of your time trying to FIND  yourself . Spend your time CREATING yourself  into a person that you'll be proud of." “I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there.”  “Life is painful and messed up. It gets complicated at the worst of times, and sometimes you have no idea where to go or what to do. Lots of times people just let themselves get lost, dropping into a wide open, huge abyss. But that's why we have to keep trying. We have to push through all that hurts us, work past all our memories that are haunting us. Sometimes the things that hurt us are the things that make us str

Friday, May 18. After 9 days on the road, I found myself back in the direction of home. There must have been a reason. I woke up about 6:45 and called California Highway Patrol, trying to find out the status of Interstate 10E to Phoenix. It was still down to one lane and the officer said: "Ever been to the Salton Sea?" I always wanted to go there. It is the largest dead sea, and not just because of the salt. Even Great Salt Lake has a few fish from runoff and you can even float in the Dead Sea in Israel. But this one is deader than a doornail. " The  Salton Sea was formed  in 1905 when massive flooding caused the Colorado River to break through an irrigation canal headwork and flow freely into the  Salton  Basin for 18 months." It has a rich history, having been a huge vacation spot in the 40's and 50's, complete with hotels, aquatic shows, skiing mermaids and more. Then the petrol,pesticides and chemicals came in and within just a few years, every f

Thursday, May 17, So..on my trip back from Yosemite, I told myself if I hit Palm Springs by 1PM, I'd continue home to Scottsdale. I took the long way home and went through Boron (home of Borax) and lots of correctional facilities. I am so fascinated  by prisons. Don't know why. I headed south from Yosemite on 99, to some  other road, then south on 395 to Palm Springs. I WAS IN BLISS. Open roads, small towns, farms. As I headed south to Palm Springs and headed east on I-10 to Phoenix, I ignored the warnings of a 90 minute delay, 40 miles east of Indio. I was on my way home..or so I thought. As I went east of Chiraco Summit, I ran into a two hour standstill. Turns out, there was an accident 8 hours earlier. Tragic and the crash ripped up the asphalt, bringing it to one lane. I SAT FOR AN HOUR, PULLED OFF AND THOUGHT: BACK TO PALM SPRINGS FOR THE NIGHT. I crossed the median and headed back an hour to PS. I used hoteltonight.com and found the trendy Sahuaro Hotel.

Wednesday, May 16, I departed Carmel for Yosemite. After a speeding ticket by a totally friendly CHiP's officer, I took my time going to Yosemite. Local roads, no highways. Through Merced and up the mountains from 500 to 5000 feet. After many twists and turns, I reached the Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite, just outside the park. A 'big' lodge, which gets alot of bus tours, it was my first encounter with big hotels, having enjoyed inns along the way. Though the staff was less than friendly, I figured they were harried. I hit Yosemite at 10:30am (I usually get up at 5:30) and proceeded to drive the park. There was a mist of light rain and I opened my roof to get the showers. I might add, nowhere on my trip after leaving LA, did I have CNN or news on my Sirius/XM. I had it on the Spa Channel and left it. No news noise, just serenity. I drove slow enough that people behind me flashed their lights but I graciously extended my middle finger out the roof and waved them ahead. G

I left Carmel the morning of the 16th. I needed coffee and Carmel being...Carmel..I could not get my Starbucks fix. I found a local roastery down the street and chatted with a group of local before I went in. Not tourists..real locals. Told them about my trip to find purpose. One guy laughed and said: 'Let me know how that works out for you!" I was going on the road and I said: let me try that egg on an English Muffin. 'do you want sausage?' Sure! Well, it came with melted cheese and though I'm trying to get back to my birth weight, I thought I NEVER eat this stuff. I got in the car and savored every bite. Since I stayed in Carmel, not Monterrey, I was in no rush and took the 10 minute detour. part of me thinks I should have stayed there but there'll be another chance. The Cannery Row area, the beach..Definitely a return trip. I decided that to get to Yosemite, I'd stay local. (Flashback: I was on a route i don;'t remember and passed a distribut

So, back to Carmel. Tuesday, May 15. As I noted, nice little town. And whenever I go somewhere alone, I have two requirements: good martinis and a bar where I can sit and eat. They recommended Grasings, a popular Carmel eatery and bar. Rather than tell a story, $1.00 per bleu cheese olive. Not to mention that attitude when I told the bartender: "Kevin at The Getaway Inn" told me to come here. The bartender replied, brusquely: "I don't know him." Most people with class would say: "Great. Nice to hear that! What can I get you?" What can you get me? How about a check! I then stopped someone on the street and said: "where can I get GOOD seafood and not pay ridiculous prices. They said Flaherty's which I went to, had the sand dabs and the mussels and clams, all a hit. And that's where I met Donna and Erik, referenced in the previous post . Right from the start, we engaged each other. Then the conversation turned to politics and then, t

Tuesday, May 15-The Road to Carmel Two very different places, clearly and two very different experiences. I left Cambria Tuesday morning for a tour of Hearst Castle. It was..'interesting.'  I'm amazed at the wealth of the time but more interested in the life of WRH.  The tour told me where he lived and kind of how he lived, but really nothing about him. That I need to get from a book.  Sorry, but not alot to post on the tour. I still savored the solitude and the lack of a planned schedule. something I surrendered to only days before. My next stop would be Carmel. With US1 being closed, I was left with taking 101 north to Carmel but not before I passed through Pasa Robles to the east, on a mission. The night before, at the Organic Roastery bar, where the aforementioned stitches were removed, I had a vodka made from apples. The brand is Azeo . Not apple infused or the other kinds of flavored vodkas where they add syrup: no..this was vodka distilled and apples (or g

Well, breakfast on Monday the 14th was great with old friend Anne whom I worked with back in the day- and her husband Phil. No biz.just discussing life. It was 1992 all over again. They were on my route! lol. After being packed with the remaining frittata, blood orange and home grown avocados, I began the journey to Cambria. It was always 'planned' as my next stop but State 101 would have been easy so I stuck with US1. Leaving Montecito, I took the long way home. Along the way, I went through small towns and came upon Vandenburg Air Force Base. I decided to exit and found out they did NOT give tours and they politely, but firmly, bid me goodbye. I told him about my retirement drive and while he thought it was funny, they didn't give 'tours' to civilians.     Control is a pretty interesting thing. Not in the dark Orwellian way we think it happens but the way we run our lives. We like to be in control. We believe a plan keeps us on course. But we can’t contr

Is there a hereafter? To quote old Rock N' Roll NY DJ, Murray the K (no relation) "If you're not here after, what I'm here after, you'll be here, long after I've gone!" ok. This was back in the days of watching submarine races. The conversations today have been pretty intense. Life is final. When You Die, you die. When someone dies, their soul lives on and comes back to you leaving clues. There must be something beyond. The assumption is in Judaism, there is no heaven and hell. It is just an assumption. It is vaguely referenced in the Bible. But this is not a discussion of religion. This is a vibrant discussion of what we imagine as children, what we witness, what we fear, what we welcome and what we want to believe in. Sound tree-huggy?  A little. I won't go through the people we have lost. We each have beliefs where they go, if anywhere and if they do go somewhere, there's an iota of a chance we see them again. I'm on the fence here.

29 hours into my trip of purpose, I'm realizing that this may not be so much about being deep as much as it is about dealing with 19 years of claustrophobia. Allow me to explain. Having moved to Scottsdale in 1999, running my own firm, I worked from home. It was new to me in 1998 when I started my company in NY, with daily trips into the city and a social network based around friends and business associates. http://burbank.com/column-story/Welcome-to-KlugerTown/The-Future-Is-Now/1468 I was unprepared for Arizona, both in career short-circuiting (I'll explain later) and solitude. Used to being the toast of the town in terms of being out there, I made friends easily here, but was still hemmed in by the four very lovely walls I call home. Career short circuiting? Scottsdale was not NY which is a double edged sword. The plus being the rat race had one less rat, the negative being where I worked and who I 'had been' was of little interest but this was my new home.I

Ok..White Dinner Jacket for the Orgels.CHECK! Cigars. CHECK. Meds. DOUBLE CHECK. Mousse. DEFINITELY. Wedding Photo: REMOVE Kate Beckinsdale pic and re-insert Hope's. Eyeglasses: ONE PAIR, PLUS TWO BACKUPS. Since I have a huge trunk---- and the back of my car is enormous (joke, there!) I can keep my reputation of overpacking. I hate to disappoint the sexists, but I have more shoes than Hope and I plan to bring them. Casual Cole Hahns, one pair dress black shoes, thongs--for the beach-for walking-shoes!, sneakers, platform shoes since some coast towns still live in the 70's. I'm taking one piece of luggage. Power cords included. Keepsake. I've been deliberating this but in deference to Waldo, and love for Erica, I am thinking of bringing her Snoopy so he can see the sights I always hoped she would have. And of course, Snoopy posing along the way. Even a winery, since he's over 30 year! Now, the sights. Hearst Castle, Winchester House, wooden roller coaster a

Next Thursday, May 10, I will embark on a 12 day road trip..to find purpose. What does that mean? I turn 65 in just 12 weeks. We create triggers in our lives: when we graduate, when we lose our virginity, when we get married, when we have children, when we hit 40, 50. When our parents die. When our children die.When we have health issues.When WE die. I have a great life. Erica's mom, Carol was a great wife and mom. Hope embraced Erica as they both dealt with her loss in their own w ays, they helped me through mine. Extraordinary bold and compassionate women. I told Hope that I wanted to find purpose in life. Not a mid-life crisis. I had been through that. I wanted to 'go on the road,' for a few weeks. See old friends, people who impacted me from youth to career. People I wanted to see. Kinda simple. I don't know about most couples. I just know about me and Hope. She gets me, and I get her. We're not always on the same page..or the same planet…but I never d