Leaving the Monterey Bay Area

21 July

Last night I told Karen to make sure I was awake when she got ready for work. At 5:30am I was taking a shower, and a few minutes later she had water ready for my coffee, a Guatamalan blend that was quite tasty. We talked for another 20 minutes at her table as classical music piped through her cabin via her wireless internet and we departed at 6:30am. For the first time I felt that queasy feeling one

gets before departing a dearly beloved or good friend, and she definitely is a good friend. I promised to keep in better touch with her and to perhaps come back next summer, on my trip to Oregon.

A heavy fog once again was over the bay area. Luckily, though, the morning traffic was light and I never hit that notorious inbound-Monterey traffic jam on Hwy 1. Mexican farm laborers were already working hard in the cabbage fields right off the highway at 6:50am. I made it to Monterey before 7am, stopping only to gas up at the Moss Landing Valero gas station for $3.65 a gallon, the cheapest I've seen in the M-bay area

I parked outside the soon-to-be-closed Border's Books in Seaside to get on the WiFi and busy away with photo downloads. I had to wait until 9am to have Dennis arrive at his job to say good-bye to him, then drove into Monterey to say good-bye to John. We couldn't chat for long, but he thanked me for inspiring him to bike more so many years ago (sometime I honestly don't remember telling him), and now I must try to get back into cycling myself, and what better place than Monterey, which lies at sealevel?

As I drove off I said in parting "Take Care, John." John replied "See you later, Connie!" His reply caught me off guard, but John's perpetual optimism always had.

I lingered in town in the morning, walking along the "Path of History" and Colton Hall, where the state's first constitution was signed in 1849, and approved by the US Congress the following year, making California the 31st state. Its constitution mandates that all documents must be written in both Spanish and English, due to the many Mexicans who became legal citizens of California when it was granted statehood. The homes around Colton Hall and the Monterey Public Library where I lingered for a few hours, were built in the Mexican era of the 1830s.

I stayed in the library just past noon, delighting in the sounds of talking toddlers and teens around me. The MPL had always been very active in reading and activity programs for young people, and today was no different. However, by noon I knew that I had delayed my departure once again--as I am known to do--and finally joined Sadie for the drive south along Big Sur. My return to Arizona has now begun, with my arrival there Sunday. I plan on stopping tomorrow at the Salton Sea Rec area for the night and hit that hot drive across the Mohave first thing in the morning. I am ready to go back home.