From a30c790edea652494e7481f6798047a3bc1fd4ea Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: luxagraf Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:43:36 -0500 Subject: added a backup of old pages that are no longer live --- .../jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.html | 425 +++++++++++++++++ bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.txt | 42 ++ bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.html | 459 +++++++++++++++++++ bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.txt | 25 + bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/index.html | 113 +++++ .../terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.html | 507 +++++++++++++++++++++ .../12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.txt | 31 ++ bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.html | 436 ++++++++++++++++++ bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.txt | 54 +++ 9 files changed, 2092 insertions(+) create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.html create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.txt create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.html create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.txt create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/index.html create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.html create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.txt create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.html create mode 100644 bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.txt (limited to 'bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12') diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.html b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6b8be7a --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.html @@ -0,0 +1,425 @@ + + + + + Aquarium Kings - by Scott Gilbertson + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ +

Home → + +
+ + jrnl + + +

+ + +

Aquarium Kings

+ +

King City, California, U.S.

+ – Map +

+ December 10, 2017 + +

After so much time away from the bus it was good to be on the road again. We headed out the morning after we got back, picking our way south through the Bay Area and down to, as it turned out, Silicon Valley, the epicenter of what’s wrong with America, and, as you might expect, a terrible place to try to camp. After an abortive attempt or two we gave up and got a hotel room.

The next day we drove the rest of the way down to Monterey, hoping to visit some friends and take the kids to aquarium. There’s a well located campground, right in the middle of Monterey, up on a hill. There’s too many trees to see the ocean, and there’s not even the pretense of a level site, but it’s far better than what you’ll find in most California cities so I won’t complain. It also had a nice playground for the kids.

+ +

playground, monterey, ca photographed by luxagraf

+ +

Being centrally located also allowed us to explore the town and see the aquarium.

+ +

I’m probably just a twisted person, but after a few hours at the Monterey Bay Aquarium I was starving and really craving sushi.

One night I managed to sneak off one night to spend some time with my friends, who I’m pretty sure really didn’t understand why I refused to drive the bus up the hill to their house. I’ll tell you why in the next post. For now, rest assured that I made a wise decision.

From Monterey we were supposed to head south to Santa Barbara to visit some more friends, but honestly, we were a bit sick of being damp and wanted to head away from the coast for a while. This turned out to be a smart choice since the Santa Barbara fires started a couple days later. The first day out of Monterey we were headed down 101 (probably the roughest, consistently awful road we’ve driven, Californians I know you don’t want to hear this, but you are living in a third world country and you’re the only ones who don’t realize it. But I digress), I stopped for gas and when we pulled out of the gas station there was a horrible grinding noise that really sounded like wheel bearings to me.

My wife on the other hand thought the noise was coming from further back, near the transmission. I crawled underneath the bus but I couldn’t see anything amiss. Unfortunately I crawled from the engine and wiggled backward, which meant I missed seeing the problem. We drove back into King City and searched out a mechanic who, fortunately, had time to look around. He and I took it for a drive, then crawled under it from about midway back and immediately saw the problem — the forward driveshaft mount had dropped down and the driveshaft was scraping against a crossbar.

A quick lift with a floor jack and we tightened up the bracket and everything was fine. It took less time to fix than it did for my wife and kids to eat lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant next door.

By this time it was midway through the afternoon and no one really felt like driving anymore. We had spied a county park on our way into town so we headed there instead of back on the highway. It was a nice place, virtually empty and there was plenty of stuff for the kids to explore. We ended up spending the entire weekend there.

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campground, King city photographed by luxagraf

+ +

down by the river, king city, ca photographed by luxagraf

+ +

+ + +

+ +

+ + + + + + +

+ +

Thoughts?

Please leave a reply:

+ +

All comments are moderated, so you won’t see it right away. And please remember Kurt Vonnegut's rule: “god damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” You can use Markdown or HTML to format your comments. The allowed tags are <b>, <i>, <em>, <strong>, <a>. To create a new paragraph hit return twice.

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+ + + + + + + diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.txt b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b8469c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/aquarium-kings.txt @@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ +Aquarium Kings +============== + + by Scott Gilbertson + + Sunday, 10 December 2017 + +After so much time away from the bus it was good to be on the road again. We headed out the morning after we got back, picking our way south through the Bay Area and down to, as it turned out, Silicon Valley, the epicenter of what's wrong with America, and, as you might expect, a terrible place to try to camp. After an abortive attempt or two we gave up and got a hotel room. + +The next day we drove the rest of the way down to Monterey, hoping to visit some friends and take the kids to aquarium. There's a well located campground, right in the middle of Monterey, up on a hill. There's too many trees to see the ocean, and there's not even the pretense of a level site, but it's far better than what you'll find in most California cities so I won't complain. It also had a nice playground for the kids. + +

+ +Being centrally located also allowed us to explore the town and see the aquarium. + +

+ +I'm probably just a twisted person, but after a few hours at the Monterey Bay Aquarium I was starving and really craving sushi. + +One night I managed to sneak off one night to spend some time with my friends, who I'm pretty sure really didn't understand why I refused to drive the bus up the hill to their house. I'll tell you why in the next post. For now, rest assured that I made a wise decision. + +From Monterey we were supposed to head south to Santa Barbara to visit some more friends, but honestly, we were a bit sick of being damp and wanted to head away from the coast for a while. This turned out to be a smart choice since the Santa Barbara fires started a couple days later. The first day out of Monterey we were headed down 101 (probably the roughest, consistently awful road we've driven, Californians I know you don't want to hear this, but you are living in a third world country and you're the only ones who don't realize it. But I digress), I stopped for gas and when we pulled out of the gas station there was a horrible grinding noise that really sounded like wheel bearings to me. + +My wife on the other hand thought the noise was coming from further back, near the transmission. I crawled underneath the bus but I couldn't see anything amiss. Unfortunately I crawled from the engine and wiggled backward, which meant I missed seeing the problem. We drove back into King City and searched out a mechanic who, fortunately, had time to look around. He and I took it for a drive, then crawled under it from about midway back and immediately saw the problem -- the forward driveshaft mount had dropped down and the driveshaft was scraping against a crossbar. + +A quick lift with a floor jack and we tightened up the bracket and everything was fine. It took less time to fix than it did for my wife and kids to eat lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant next door. + +By this time it was midway through the afternoon and no one really felt like driving anymore. We had spied a county park on our way into town so we headed there instead of back on the highway. It was a nice place, virtually empty and there was plenty of stuff for the kids to explore. We ended up spending the entire weekend there. + +

diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.html b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f53de35 --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.html @@ -0,0 +1,459 @@ + + + + + Funland At The Beach - by Scott Gilbertson + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ +

Home → + +
+ + jrnl + + +

+ + +

Funland at the Beach

+ +

Newport Beach, California, U.S.

+ – Map +

+ December 20, 2017 + +

I suck at waiting. We all suck at waiting actually, which is why after four days waiting around in the desert left us feeling a little stir crazy. We thought, screw the calendar, let’s do Christmas now. And so we did. We headed down to Orange County to my parent’s house, where the kids got to do some Christmasy stuff, like decorate a tree and, eventually, have a Christmas morning a week early.

+ +

Early Chrismas in orange county photographed by luxagraf

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+ +

We also got to do some decidedly un-Christmasy stuff as well, like head down to the beach since the weather was plenty warm enough to play in the sand and even go for a swim one day.

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the beach off blackie's photographed by luxagraf

+ +

It wasn’t quite Christmas, it was early Christmas, but it was what we had. Then we headed back up toward the high desert to collect the bus, but it wasn’t quite ready so thankfully Bill and Crystal were willing to put us up in LA for a couple nights. We road the subways, explored Union Station and kept ourselves generally entertained until the call finally came — come get the bus.

+ +

On the metro, Los Angeles photographed by luxagraf

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Union Station, Los Angeles photographed by luxagraf

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Shoe shine stand, Union Station, Los Angeles photographed by luxagraf — Before middle class mediocrity took over Americans used to make beautiful things, even shoe shine stands could be amazing.

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1 Comment

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+ Gwen + December 30, 2017 at 10:30 p.m. +

+ +

Love the picture of your kids with your folks. Brings back memories of posing in the their yard for many a picture on holidays.

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+ + +

+ +

Thoughts?

Please leave a reply:

+ +

+ + +

+ +

+ + + + +

+ + + + + + + diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.txt b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f5b8b07 --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/funland-beach.txt @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +Funland at the Beach +==================== + + by Scott Gilbertson + + Wednesday, 20 December 2017 + +I suck at waiting. We all suck at waiting actually, which is why after four days waiting around in the desert left us feeling a little stir crazy. We thought, screw the calendar, let's do Christmas now. And so we did. We headed down to Orange County to my parent's house, where the kids got to do some Christmasy stuff, like decorate a tree and, eventually, have a Christmas morning a week early. + +

+ +We also got to do some decidedly un-Christmasy stuff as well, like head down to the beach since the weather was plenty warm enough to play in the sand and even go for a swim one day. + +

+ +It wasn't quite Christmas, it was early Christmas, but it was what we had. Then we headed back up toward the high desert to collect the bus, but it wasn't quite ready so thankfully Bill and Crystal were willing to put us up in LA for a couple nights. We road the subways, explored Union Station and kept ourselves generally entertained until the call finally came -- come get the bus. + +

diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/index.html b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/index.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1efecde --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,113 @@ + + + + + Luxagraf - Topografical Writings: Archive + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ +

Home →
Journal →
2017 →
December

Archive: December 2017

Funland at the Beach + Dec 20, 2017 +
The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week + Dec 14, 2017 +
Aquarium Kings + Dec 10, 2017 +
The City + Dec 02, 2017 +

+ + + + +

+ + + + + + + + + diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.html b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eef53ca --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.html @@ -0,0 +1,507 @@ + + + + + The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week - by Scott Gilbertson + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ +

Home → + +
+ + jrnl + + +

+ + +

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

+ +

Palm Springs, California, U.S.

+ – Map +

+ December 14, 2017 + +

I don’t really feel like telling this story, so here’s two pictures that do it instead.

+ +

the blue bus being towed photographed by luxagraf

+ +

engine blown piston photographed by luxagraf

+ +

If you’re not real familiar with cars, that second photo is what your pistons look like after your head gasket leak destroys them. Or one of them anyway.

It all happened climbing or trying to climb over Tehachapi pass, to get out of central California. We’d been holed up in Bakersfield where I came down with a sinus infection that gave me a fever of 104 and took three rounds of antibiotics to put down. I was pretty doped up on cold medicine, but we really wanted to get out of Bakerfield so we went for it. About half way up oil was spraying out the right side of the engine and that was that. I pulled over and called AAA.

We got towed over the pass and, in the beginning, when I thought it was only the head gasket, we piled into a tiny, dingy Motel 6 room with 2 double beds and prepared to wait for a couple days. The next morning I got a call from the mechanic that I need to come down to the shop. That second picture is what I saw.

It was demoralizing to see the exhaust manifolds, spark plugs and other things we had just done sitting there destroyed. I called Corrinne and we discussed what to do. We seriously considered cutting our loses and parting it out, in fact we decided to do that, but in the end we couldn’t give up now. We’re too stubborn apparently. We had to stick with it. But there was no way we were going to hang around for weeks in a Motel 6 in Mojave, CA. We rented a car and set off for Palm Springs, where they at least have things to do and more than one restuarant.

We managed to get a great deal on a condo for a few days. It was a golf resort, the sort of place where I feel far more comfortable talking to the employees than I do my fellow guests, but it had a kitchen and the nicest foldout bed for the kids we’ve ever had. It also had a pool. And weather nice enough to use the pool.

+ +

playing in the pool photographed by luxagraf

+ +

Palm Springs is possibly the least Christmasy place you could think of, so we compensated by doing some Christmasy stuff, like going to the living desert museum’s night time Christmas party. Lights, a carousels, and a pretty massive outdoor train setup were all hits, but our kids really can’t stay up past eight so they didn’t last long.

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Christmas at the zoo photographed by luxagraf

+ +

Reading over this it really doesn’t sound so terrible actually. It always sucks to be homeless, but when you live on the road it’s pretty much inevitable. One of the prices you have to pay to live this way I suppose. It could be worse.

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6 Comments

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+ classical_liberal + December 24, 2017 at 9:27 a.m. +

+ +

Ahh Crap!!!

If it makes you feel any better I’m spending my Christmas working 14 hour shifts, hundreds of miles from my family and girlfriend, the high temp wont get above 0 F. I do, however, have plenty of snow.

Keep the adventure alive!

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+ scott + December 24, 2017 at 4:35 p.m. +

+ +

@classical_liberal-

Sorry to hear that, hope you find some way to celebrate. We’re all down with the flu right now, so it’s looking to be a bit dismal here as well.

+ +

+ DREW ELDRIDGE + December 27, 2017 at 2:33 p.m. +

+ +

Dont stop now. Youre the only thing that gives me hope sitting in my cube all day. Fight the good fight!

For a cold- Here is my cant miss home remedy- I just told Cathy and Bill about this last weekend and ill swear by it 100%

14-16 oz distilled water in some sort of bottle you can shake up. +add 2 tsp baking soda and 2 tsp non iodized salt.

shake it all up until it disolves 100%

Take a turkey baster with bulb syringe and squeeze into each nostril (HARD) twice per nostril. 2 times a day for as long as it takes.

I promise it will work. I was desperate when I came across this- had 2 rounds of antibiotics prior and even tried to snort fresh lime juice (a terrible idea).

To entertain you while you are down….

https://youtu.be/JpmHXIbqpB0

Makes the Neti pot look like a wus!

+ +

+ Scott + December 27, 2017 at 3:06 p.m. +

+ +

@Drew-

We’re not quitting yet. Although we’ve all now had the flu for six days and if ever there’s been a time I wish we lived in a house, the past couple of days would have been it. But it will pass. I think.

Funny thing about your nasal cure, that’s more or less what I usually do, but I use a neti pot and add some goldenseal. I’ll have to pick up a baster though, looks more powerful and less likely to break when traveling. Thanks for the tip.

+ +

+ DREW ELDRIDGE + December 28, 2017 at 9:09 a.m. +

+ +

Just got word that Cathy has turkey basted twice so far- Ill let you know how this saga plays out. She has already gone through 2 rounds of antibiotics with no results. I predict the turkey baster to cure her within the week.

Good luck out there! 2018 is your year!

+ +

+ Scott + December 29, 2017 at 12:39 p.m. +

+ +

@Drew-

I have an alternative to the turkey baster, when you’re short a baster… use the neti pot, and then… just snort it like it’s 1985 and you’re at Studio 54…

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+ + +

+ +

Thoughts?

Please leave a reply:

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+ + + + + + + diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.txt b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e72c431 --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week.txt @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week +============================================== + + by Scott Gilbertson + + Thursday, 14 December 2017 + +I don't really feel like telling this story, so here's two pictures that do it instead. + +

+ +If you're not real familiar with cars, that second photo is what your pistons look like after your head gasket leak destroys them. Or one of them anyway. + +It all happened climbing or trying to climb over Tehachapi pass, to get out of central California. We'd been holed up in Bakersfield where I came down with a sinus infection that gave me a fever of 104 and took three rounds of antibiotics to put down. I was pretty doped up on cold medicine, but we really wanted to get out of Bakerfield so we went for it. About half way up oil was spraying out the right side of the engine and that was that. I pulled over and called AAA. + +We got towed over the pass and, in the beginning, when I thought it was only the head gasket, we piled into a tiny, dingy Motel 6 room with 2 double beds and prepared to wait for a couple days. The next morning I got a call from the mechanic that I need to come down to the shop. That second picture is what I saw. + +It was demoralizing to see the exhaust manifolds, spark plugs and other things we had just done sitting there destroyed. I called Corrinne and we discussed what to do. We seriously considered cutting our loses and parting it out, in fact we decided to do that, but in the end we couldn't give up now. We're too stubborn apparently. We had to stick with it. But there was no way we were going to hang around for weeks in a Motel 6 in Mojave, CA. We rented a car and set off for Palm Springs, where they at least have things to do and more than one restuarant. + +We managed to get a great deal on a condo for a few days. It was a golf resort, the sort of place where I feel far more comfortable talking to the employees than I do my fellow guests, but it had a kitchen and the nicest foldout bed for the kids we've ever had. It also had a pool. And weather nice enough to use the pool. + +

+ +Palm Springs is possibly the least Christmasy place you could think of, so we compensated by doing some Christmasy stuff, like going to the living desert museum's night time Christmas party. Lights, a carousels, and a pretty massive outdoor train setup were all hits, but our kids really can't stay up past eight so they didn't last long. + +

+ +Reading over this it really doesn't sound so terrible actually. It always sucks to be homeless, but when you live on the road it's pretty much inevitable. One of the prices you have to pay to live this way I suppose. It could be worse. diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.html b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..044dad2 --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.html @@ -0,0 +1,436 @@ + + + + + The City - by Scott Gilbertson + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ +

Home → + +
+ + jrnl + + +

+ + +

The City

+ +

San Francisco, California, U.S.

+ – Map +

+ December 2, 2017 + +

We continued our slow meandering southward, stopping for a week to visit our friends Kate and Josh, whom we met back in Durango. They’re in the process of building a yurt on some friends’ land and there was enough room to tuck the bus under some redwoods as well. There was plenty of woods, fields, and streams for the kids to play in, and we got to wake up to the sound of hooting owls. They also loaned us a car, which was super nice.

Our thanksgiving plans were to return to my uncle’s house in Wellington, but I wasn’t about to drive the bus back over the mountains. Fortunately Kate and Josh’s friends (who actually own the land) said we could leave the bus there for a week. And that’s what we did. Since the bus was safely stowed, we figured we’d head into San Francisco on our way to visit some old friends there.

I’ll be honest, I was kind of dreading San Francisco. I’ve about had my fill of the whole entrepreneur-as-hero, techno-utopian bullshit that’s been spewing out of the Bay Area for the past decade or so. I was worried that that mindset had taken over the city, that the wealthy had squeezed the life out of it as they do everything else. I was, in short, prepared to hate what had become of the city I once loved. Fortunately for me, San Francisco hasn’t yet entirely succumbed the banality underlying the agendas of a handful of wealthy residents (and their acolytes). Which is to say, San Francisco is still pretty close to what it’s always been — San Francisco.

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San Francisco bay photographed by luxagraf

+ +

It probably helped that we arrived on a weekend of gloriously warm weather with wide open, deep blue skies filled with scattered clouds to match the wide open deep blue of the bay filled with scattered sails and whitecaps. We spent a lot of time outdoors, almost all our time in fact. Walking the city streets, the parks, the shore, the marina, we even made an attempt to visit the wave organ, something I’ve been meaning to do for decades now, though it proved too far of a walk to go all the way around from where we parked out to the organ, we could at least see it, but then, seeing is not really the point of an organ. Next time.

We stayed on Lombard, down toward the touristy stuff because I thought the kids would like it and I was right. Hyde Street Pier was a hit, as was fisherman’s wharf and the liberty ship we toured, of which I have no pictures since helping three children navigate a giant metal ship with stairs and railings built for grown sailors did not leave a free arm to snap any photos. But the real find was the Musée Mécanique, an antique penny arcade museum.

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arcade museum photographed by luxagraf — First game of air hockey.

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And of course, you can’t visit the city with kids without a trolley ride. See how thrilled they look?

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None photographed by Corrinne Gilbertson

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One morning we made made the long trek out to the Academy of Sciences museum, mostly I think because the kids had heard there was an albino crocodile, which the really wanted to see. It turned out to be pretty cool, especially the rainforest area with all its butterflies and birds flying around right next to you. And yes there was an albino crocodile.

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Butterfly Academy of Sciences, SF photographed by luxagraf

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Snake, Academy of Sciences, SF photographed by luxagraf

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Albino Aligator, Academy of Sciences, SF photographed by luxagraf

+ +

You want to know how out of touch with the modern world we are, we took our first Uber in SF, actually it was a Lyft, which I’d never heard of before we got there. Our friends in the city got it for us and it was probably faster than a taxi, certainly faster than the bus we’d taken earlier in the day. But I felt weird and little bit dirty about the whole thing, like I was somehow contributing to the demise of something, though I’m not sure what.

The next night I went to run a quick errand by myself, mostly just because I wanted to ride some public transportation alone, with headphones on. I have a whole essay on this site¹ about what a magical thing it is to put on headphones on pubic transportation in pretty much any city. Twilight is the best time, but there’s no bad time. You slip into an otherworld of music in the city, riding public transportation you feel the city around you as if it were just you and the city, a kind of intimacy of place I know of no other way to achieve, at once isolating and communing, not with man but what we have wrought, what we have made collectively greater than ourselves. Cities are living things and I don’t mean that in some quasispiritual kind of way, I mean it very literally. This thing, this consciousness, we call the city for lack of a better word loves to commune if you ask it to. Paris and I get along best in this regard, though we have had our moments of disagreement. New York is all about flash and color, but here in San Francisco the conversation is always more sublte, warm yellow light and cool gray fog mingling in narrow streets, the glitter of shop windows and restaurants, blurring by as the bus lurches up Van Ness, inbound, coursing toward the heart the city. It was one short bus ride, another back but it was enough to spend some time alone with the city.

After four days in the city we headed back over the Sierras to my aunt and uncle’s place in Nevada. We had good Thanksgiving, I got to see some cousins I hadn’t seen in ten years and few relatives I hadn’t seen ever. The sunrises were nice too.

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sunrise over topaz lake photographed by luxagraf

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volvo graveyard photographed by luxagraf — Volvo graveyard

+ +

It was a good trip, but a week in hotels was quite enough. We were all ready to be back to the bus and when we got there Olivia jumped out of the car and ran to give the bus a hug. Home again.

+
Surprisingly, for someone who changes their mind constantly and generally crings when reading anything I didn’t write today (and often then too), I actually still really like that essay and agree with every word in it. ↩
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Thoughts?

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+ + + + + + + diff --git a/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.txt b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0326588 --- /dev/null +++ b/bak/oldluxpages/jrnlold/2017/12/the-city.txt @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +The City +======== + + by Scott Gilbertson + + Saturday, 02 December 2017 + +We continued our slow meandering southward, stopping for a week to visit our friends Kate and Josh, whom we met back in Durango. They're in the process of building a yurt on some friends' land and there was enough room to tuck the bus under some redwoods as well. There was plenty of woods, fields, and streams for the kids to play in, and we got to wake up to the sound of hooting owls. They also loaned us a car, which was super nice. + +Our thanksgiving plans were to return to my uncle's house in Wellington, but I wasn't about to drive the bus back over the mountains. Fortunately Kate and Josh's friends (who actually own the land) said we could leave the bus there for a week. And that's what we did. Since the bus was safely stowed, we figured we'd head into San Francisco on our way to visit some old friends there. + +I'll be honest, I was kind of dreading San Francisco. I've about had my fill of the whole entrepreneur-as-hero, techno-utopian bullshit that's been spewing out of the Bay Area for the past decade or so. I was worried that that mindset had taken over the city, that the wealthy had squeezed the life out of it as they do everything else. I was, in short, prepared to hate what had become of the city I once loved. Fortunately for me, San Francisco hasn't yet entirely succumbed the banality underlying the agendas of a handful of wealthy residents (and their acolytes). Which is to say, San Francisco is still pretty close to what it's always been -- San Francisco. + +

+ +It probably helped that we arrived on a weekend of gloriously warm weather with wide open, deep blue skies filled with scattered clouds to match the wide open deep blue of the bay filled with scattered sails and whitecaps. We spent a lot of time outdoors, almost all our time in fact. Walking the city streets, the parks, the shore, the marina, we even made an attempt to visit [the wave organ](https://www.exploratorium.edu/visit/wave-organ/), something I've been meaning to do for decades now, though it proved too far of a walk to go all the way around from where we parked out to the organ, we could at least see it, but then, seeing is not really the point of an organ. Next time. + +We stayed on Lombard, down toward the touristy stuff because I thought the kids would like it and I was right. Hyde Street Pier was a hit, as was fisherman's wharf and the liberty ship we toured, of which I have no pictures since helping three children navigate a giant metal ship with stairs and railings built for grown sailors did not leave a free arm to snap any photos. But the real find was the Musée Mécanique, an antique penny arcade museum. + +

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+ +And of course, you can't visit the city with kids without a trolley ride. See how thrilled they look? + +

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+ +One morning we made made the long trek out to the Academy of Sciences museum, mostly I think because the kids had heard there was an albino crocodile, which the really wanted to see. It turned out to be pretty cool, especially the rainforest area with all its butterflies and birds flying around right next to you. And yes there was an albino crocodile. + +

+ +You want to know how out of touch with the modern world we are, we took our first Uber in SF, actually it was a Lyft, which I'd never heard of before we got there. Our friends in the city got it for us and it was probably faster than a taxi, certainly faster than the bus we'd taken earlier in the day. But I felt weird and little bit dirty about the whole thing, like I was somehow contributing to the demise of something, though I'm not sure what. + +The next night I went to run a quick errand by myself, mostly just because I wanted to ride some public transportation alone, with headphones on. I have a [whole essay](https://luxagraf.net/jrnl/2005/03/one-nation-under-groove) on this site[^1] about what a magical thing it is to put on headphones on pubic transportation in pretty much any city. Twilight is the best time, but there's no bad time. You slip into an otherworld of music in the city, riding public transportation you feel the city around you as if it were just you and the city, a kind of intimacy of place I know of no other way to achieve, at once isolating and communing, not with man but what we have wrought, what we have made collectively greater than ourselves. Cities are living things and I don't mean that in some quasispiritual kind of way, I mean it very literally. This thing, this consciousness, we call the city for lack of a better word loves to commune if you ask it to. Paris and I get along best in this regard, though we have had our moments of disagreement. New York is all about flash and color, but here in San Francisco the conversation is always more sublte, warm yellow light and cool gray fog mingling in narrow streets, the glitter of shop windows and restaurants, blurring by as the bus lurches up Van Ness, inbound, coursing toward the heart the city. It was one short bus ride, another back but it was enough to spend some time alone with the city. + +After four days in the city we headed back over the Sierras to my aunt and uncle's place in Nevada. We had good Thanksgiving, I got to see some cousins I hadn't seen in ten years and few relatives I hadn't seen ever. The sunrises were nice too. + +

+ +It was a good trip, but a week in hotels was quite enough. We were all ready to be back to the bus and when we got there Olivia jumped out of the car and ran to give the bus a hug. Home again. + +[^1]: Surprisingly, for someone who changes their mind constantly and generally crings when reading anything I didn't write today (and often then too), I actually still really like that essay and agree with every word in it. -- cgit v1.2.3-70-g09d2