Northern California 9 Nov 1997

Southern California 10 Nov 1997 11 Nov 1997

The Southwest 12 Nov 1997

Texas 13 Nov 1997 14 Nov 1997 16 Nov 1997

New Orleans 16 Nov 1997 18 Nov 1997

Montgomery, Alabama 19 Nov 1997

Monday 10 Nov 97 Southern California: Santa Barbara

Today was a coastal California run. Got a late start, but had only targeted Santa Barbara (whence I am writing), so we did all right. We drove along Highway 1, which hugs the remarkable central California coastline until it joins with 101 around San Luis Obispo. We have reason to believe that San Luis consists of more than what we saw, but are equally sure that coffee shops are not as common south of Monterey.

It was dark by the time we arrived in Santa Barbara, but the motel district (near the harbor) was easy enough to find. We have a nice “suite” at The Franciscan, complete with kitchen. Melissa often prefers home cooking to restaurants, so we set off for the nearest grocery store. The Santa Cruz grocery is, we feel sure, an authentic Latino grocery, whether we wanted one or not. Its vegetable section was decently sized, but more than half was dedicated to various forms of peppers, far more than I knew exist. One entire section of the grocery section features hot sauces by the dozens. More than one section offers the latest in tortillas, no bag having fewer than a couple dozen. Lard is available in 5-lb containers. As I passed the meat section, some customers had asked for the hot versions of the sausage products, but the storekeeper couldn’t find any more. Only thing left were the mild versions. Melissa’s search for decent bread proved in vain, as did any attempt to find a useful vegetable, so she ended up joining me at the Mexican restaurant we’d passed on the way to the store. Proved a great choice, as they even offered a couple vegetarian dishes (‘vegetarian’ being a somewhat flexible term).

We’re scheduled for Blythe (on the California-Arizona border) tomorrow, with Tucson the day after. We had rain showers much of the day, but it’s California, so it’s also warm.

P.S. We saw 3 rainbows today, and Point Sur (the California version of Mont St. Michel), and ate lunch at a Swiss restaurant in Carmel that takes only cash.