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· 9TH OF JULY, THE YEAR 2006

ROAD TRIP 2006, WESTWARD: FIN

Day 22 (6/28) and on: Ze End

After a brief trek through Zumwalt Meadow, wherein we lost some apparently unnecessary liters of blood to the local mosquitoes, we went west, out of Kings Canyon, down through the foothills, through Fresno, up the Central Valley, past the windmills of Altamont Pass, over the Oakland Hills, and we were back in the Bay Area. Well, I was back, and Dave was here for the first time.

That night, we went to The Greens in San Francisco. The Greens is vegetarian restaurant, very Bay Area, so chosen to maximize irony at the end of a journey largely fueled by animal protein, and (probably more realistically), animal lipids. Archie, Maggie, and Big E joined us, along with Archie’s brother. Dave made sure to dress in his full barbeque judge’s attire, but sadly forgot to politely ask the waiter why the chef had forgotten the meat. The Greens is in Fort Mason, and looks out upon the Bay and the Golden Gate bridge. The fog mercifully held back for once in its soggy little life and we bathed in the amber California sun as it set behind the most beautiful bridge in America. Great food too. I had some excellent mushroom ravioli, and we had a kind of wine I’d never heard of before, grenache blanc. Fruity like its red brother, just not as big. Nice.

Over the next few days, Dave toured around Cal, we went and saw Superman with Jessie, and I generally did a poor job as host. I never know what to do when people visit, I know even less when I’ve been on the road for the past month. So, uh, there was a lot of sitting around and reading, and watching movies. Oh well.

We met up with Dave’s cousin, checked out Urban Ore, and, as the last meal of the trip, went for barbeque. I wanted to go to T-Rex, which is probably the most unbarbeque barbeque place I’ve ever been to. Trendy design, white napkins, assurances of ethically raised, organic produce, etc. Dave balked at the mere presence of a wine list, to my delight. Tony and Dave’s cousin joined us, and politely unfocused their eyes and thought of more interesting times as Dave and I disputed the finer qualities of the brisket. The Judge ultimately found it good, as did I, but he disqualified the pulled pork entirely for having too much sauce. “Can’t even tell if it’s been smoked,” he declared, and I agreed. A waiter took some time to talk to us about their methodology, how they actually use different woods and different temperatures for different meats, and just talked a bit of ‘cue with us. He brought us a bit of their homemade jerky, which was most generous, even though it was a bit sweet for me.

Dave and I rushed off to OAK and we parted without ceremony.

Before	After

I wanted to drive across the United States and back again to see my family and friends, to see my country, to witness more than the coastal enclaves I’ve inhabited to date. I’m pretty sure I did all those things, but like most journeys, the trip taught me just how much more there is to explore. California has untold riches I haven’t experienced, and I live here. People keep asking me questions about it. Did I have a good time? Yes, but I’m glad to be back. I think 4 weeks anywhere is enough to make me antsy for normality, and not enough to establish a new norm. What were the highlights? For flash and pizzaz the Sierra was hard to beat. For food it’s between the Blue Ridge BBQ Festival and Smitty’s in Lockhart, TX. For naturalism its a tough race between scissor-tailed flycatchers in Texas, the collared lizard in New Mexico, zebra-tailed lizards in Joshua Tree, snow plants in the Sierra, and on and on. And shooting a shot gun, and finding Leetha’s in Hattiesburg, etc, etc. Highlights are hard.

Well, back to 2 more months of my semi-real life, and then I start a new adventure called grad school. Hopefully it will involve less driving.