Hangin’ in Santa Cruz

I had to carefully turn into the narrow gates of John and Laura’s long driveway – I managed not to scrape either side.   I love this big old house on Pinto Lake.  I helped them move in back when I was a professional organizer.  That’s how Laura and I met.  I adored her from the start, and eventually we became too good of friends to be working together.  I love that house, filled with fun and interesting and beautiful art and the wooden stair case that make me feel like royalty everytime I walk down it.

I left Rita at the shop first thing Monday morning.  I was feeling optimistic and added a couple other things I wanted checked to our extensive list.  Doug grimaced at me and said “do you need it back today?!” And I said “NO, I just need back when it’s ready!”.  That apparently gave them the green light to let her sit ALL DAY without getting started on anything.  A whole day I could’ve been getting some stuff done!  So I was a little annoyed about that. FOUR DAYS! That’s how long they kept her.  In the end there was a 4 page estimate of what she needs totaling over $13K.   A large chunk of that was for air conditioning – they were not able to fix the system because THERE IS NO SYSTEM…some previous owner had ripped it all out.

SO.  No air conditioning is happening. Ever. At least not in the original sense (there are ideas...more on that later).  We managed to get through the list to boil it down to what she needs just to make it safely across country.  Brakes, suspension, steering, oh and that pesky coolant leak, made it to the top of the list.   It’s considerably more than I’d hoped was wrong, but not hugely shocking, given that she is a 20 year old bus, without much of a maintenance paper trail.  I’m trying to just be cool about it all and not melt down about my credit card balance already, but I had a pretty stressful week and felt overwhelmed and a little lost about what to do.  But slowly I sorted it out and just accepted that I was in for some rough times, but believe it will all work out.  In the big picture, the overall expense will still be a deal for having my own home that can traverse the country.

The other side of that week was that I got to spend time with Laura and John and also get a lot of client work done.  I feel so lucky to have these friends who GET me, support me and make me laugh a LOT.  So although it was a stressful week in my mind, I was well taken care of on the outside!

I finally picked up Rita on Thursday night, and I swear I’d been homesick for her! It was such a great parking spot for her, I felt a little bad she didn’t get to be there longer.

I packed up my stuff Friday morning and headed out, to give John and Laura their space back and go hole up by the ocean for a few days.  I needed to get my head clear and up to speed on the latest speed bump. I managed to score a perfect spot right on West Cliff.  And I was so happy to see she JUST fit perfectly within the lines.  I just hung out and worked there all afternoon.  I also got to hear everyone’s comments as they passed Rita.  She seems to be unanimously loved.  Some people love her door, or the color, or just how darn cute she is.  But most everyone makes some comment, takes a picture, or has some sort of reaction as they pass by.  It was amazing to me (and a little distracting) that she got so much attention.  She seems to just invoke some form of happy emotions in everyone.  It’s a little surprising and more than a little cool.  I was happy just to be inside, minding my own business. Although I did have a conversation through the window with an entire family escaping the heat from Tracy, CA.

Since I had spent the day there on West Cliff, rather than running errands, I didn’t have much in the way of food.  I cooked up some pathetic pasta when I got really hungry.  Quentin came by for a visit.  He gave me some ideas for where I could park for the night, since the spot I was in was only legal till midnight.    I ended up leaving well after dark, and realized it was my first time driving Rita at night! I hoped I could see…  The headlights seemed fine, but made a sort of rainbow on the edges of the light. I didn’t mind that at all.  The first suggested spot was already loaded with cars. So I drove down farther and finally found a nice, quiet, mostly level spot facing the Pacific. I went into project lockdown and I closed all the curtains and set up my front curtain.  I ran outside to have a look around to see what it looked like when I had the lights on and the curtains drawn.  My blackout curtains are quite amazing – very little light can be seen and definitely no seeing in.  I really scored with these curtains, not only are they amazingly effective, but they are also my favorite color of purple.

I spent 2 nights at that spot. I ran a bunch of errands on Saturday, after a stop over to see Susan and Van, so they could meet Rita. They ended up feeding me breakfast as well, which was a welcome surprise.  I loved visiting with them and learning more about their life.  I discovered that back in the 60’s Van was on the cover of Sports Illustrated for an article about surfing making a debut on the east coast! I had no idea…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a quick stop at Home Depot – I got a very long handled, double sided squeegee/window cleaner.  Now I could actually clean my windshield and even reach the solar panels with it. So exciting! I parked way on the edge of the lot, right next to a group of Mexicans who were looking for work.  We chatted a little and I seriously considered asking for some help, but I couldn’t even sort out what I needed at the moment.

 

I went on to get some much-needed groceries.  I parked way in the back of the New Leaf Market.  When I came back with all my groceries, I was feeling pretty tired.  How fortunate that I was already home! I had a little nap before putting everything away.  I decided to just leave Rita in the lot and walk to the rest of my errands.  With the cost of groceries, I figured I bought myself a little longer in the lot (which was mostly empty and very quiet). I got some fridge organizing items at Goodwill.  When I asked if they had a shopping cart for my bulky items, the clerk just sighed and said “The homeless people have stolen them all”.  "The homeless" have always been an issue no one seems to be able to solve - and these days, it's hard to believe and so sad but it's just gotten worse.   I made one more stop - at O’Reilly’s to get some coolant, and then I lugged all my loot back down 41^st Ave. to Rita.

I was ready to go hole up again and I just wanted to go to the same spot, so I drove back to the West side and resumed my position. No one seemed to notice or care and it was nice and quiet.  I love being able to listen to the waves as I go to sleep.

Sunday morning was lazy and cozy.  I made my chai and walked out down West Cliff a bit, what a luxurious front yard.

I got a message from my friend Harriet, who I know from Zihuatanejo. She was in Carmel watching her brothers show is Labradors (and they were winning!). She was coming through Santa Cruz on her way back north.  Too good of an opportunity to miss, so I switched my original lunch plans with Bernadette dinner plans.  It was great to see Harriet and catch up on everything.  I am looking forward to seeing her at her new place back in Zihua one of these days.  I had the rest of the day to chill and enjoy being seaside while chipping away at projects.

 

Bernadette is over on Beach Hill, so not too far of a jump.  I managed to find a nice, flat parking spot in front of a gate (so no one would be parking behind me!) and ran up to B’s to get a parking permit.  It was looking like a good place to spend the night…  B and I had a lot of laughs and good eats. I even got a shower in there!  Spending the night on Beach Hill was considerably louder, but nothing scary happened.  I woke up super early and for some reason decided to just go out for a walk. I was right on main beach and the wharf.  Usually an over-crowded, hopping place – but at 6:30 am it is fairly empty and just beautiful.  I got to see a lot of sea lions barking and jostling each other under the pier. I also ended up walking the entire length of main beach, all the way to the river and train bridge. I could see one of the houses I used to live in.  It looked out over the boardwalk and we could always hear the joyfully terrified screams of people riding the Giant Dipper.  You’d think it would get annoying, but it never did, it always made me smile.

When I had my fill of walking, Rita and I slowly ambled back over to Deanna’s house.  Chris, the mobile mechanic was coming to check out Rita and see if there were any things he could help me with that week.  I had her scheduled for some of the heavy work the following Monday at the shop.  He seemed to think. He could help me with the coolant leak and a few other things. Unfortunately, he didn’t get back to me with any info, even though he said he would Monday afternoon, and Tuesday afternoon.  By Wednesday I checked in and asked if he thought maybe he was too busy to help me… He said he could come by Sunday (!) and also his quote was more expensive than the shop, so I just canceled everything and put it off till the next week.  Rita and I could stay put till then. I had plenty of work and there are lots of places I can walk to from Deanna’s. I lived at Deanna’s for around 2 years and a few years later I lived in a house across the street from here – so this is definitely a neighborhood I love and am happy to stay in.  I had some great walks – to run errands and just to get out into the redwoods.  I used to bike all the time up to DeLaveaga Park – it was a much longer walk and I was seriously missing my mountain bike! I am so looking forward to having all my stuff back/with me again!

 

 

My birthday was coming up and I wanted to use it as an excuse to see people/have some fun.  Kendall reminded me about Mobo Sushi – a place I’ve had many a fun nights and great food. I decided just to plan to go, and whomever could show up would show up.  It ended up being SO much fun!  I love to have cold beer and hot sake when I have sushi, so there was plenty of that, and an abundance of laughing, too.  One of the things about my life here is that all of my friends are separate, I never had a ‘gang’ here (well not since the late 90s anyway) – so anytime I tried to gather people, it always made me a little nervous, wondering if they would like each other. I have a wide variety of friends.  Saturday night was a great mix – the most fun I’ve had in a long time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday morning Deanna and I went up to Chaminade – I wanted their fancy Sunday brunch for my birthday!   It’s so beautiful up that way, and of course reminded me of when I used to live up past there at Araña Creek.  It’s too bad I can’t eat as much as I used to, but probably just as well!!

I talked with my family and friends a bit and also got Rita prepped for her big appointment the next morning.  I moved a bunch of stuff into Deanna’s, but I hit a wall when it came to my fridge (food is always so emotional).  I wanted to just take off and spend the rest of what was left of the day at the beach. I wanted to see sunset.  Deanna loaned me her car and I zipped up the coast.  I stopped at a farmstand to get some snacks and walked a track down to Panther beach. I have actually never been to this beach before!  It was gorgeous, but SO windy and pretty chilly.  I also realized sunset was like 3 hours away. I didn’t think I was going to make it.  It was a sketchy path from that beach, so just as well not to attempt it after dark.  I made it back up, after getting stuck letting a huge group of people clearly escaping the heat in the valley, and clearly unclear on what one should wear to a beach.

On the way back I decided to treat myself to something good for dinner…but what?? I spotted Pizzeria Avanti and remembered they have amazing food, of the ‘slow food’ local/farm to table type.  I ended up ordering a calzone (with homemade sausage!) to go (I wanted to eat somewhere with a view).  I did a tour through UCSC, thinking I might get a spot overlooking the bay or something.  I got lost in nostalgia driving through there – I honestly don’t remember the last time I was up there. I certainly didn’t go through there for fun after college/when I was living here.  Such a beautiful campus and so many memories…I ended up not finding a place to stop.  All the way back down to Natural Bridges, which was a loud and busy lot on a Sunday.  And it turned out my calzone was not in fact finger food…but I managed to eat half of it anyway.  Still an hour till sunset and I was kind of over it already and on West Cliff, which mostly faces South, so not a great spot for sunset anyhow.  I called it a night and headed back to Deanna’s.  I finished packing up/cleaning up Rita and she was all ready for her big week.

I dropped her off early Monday and tried not to have a heart attack while signing the work orders.

My friend Amy picked me up there and took me for a birthday breakfast.  She suggested The Silver Spur – which I had completely forgotten about, but it was always a favorite (and worth the hour plus wait there inevitably always was).  I learned that Linda (the owner, who also owned the amazing Linda’s Seabreeze breakfast restaurant on Seabright) passed away. The Spur was bought by someone who changed the menu and it was terrible and then COVID hit…then someone else brought it back with the original menu…which all means it’s open, just as good as it used to be, but no longer super crowded! We walked right in and got a table.

So now I will spend this week working as much as I can, and awaiting news on Rita.  I need to start heading East as soon as she is ready.  It could possibly take all week, but I am hoping for an earlier date.  Send good vibes!!!