The day before, driving the Salinas valley, from cold grey Marina (above Monterey).
40 miles of lettuces!
San Luis Obispo.
Breakfast at F. McLintocks SaIoon. Joe's Special. Scrambled egg, mushrooms, spinach, beef, fried potatoes.
In a surf shop surrounded by brands. Feeling threatened. VOLCOM. EIement. KR3W. Innes. Atticus. Split. Billabong. Quicksilver. Roxy. O'NeilI. Patahola. Reyn Spooner. Rip CurI.
Car show on Higuera Street. American classics - Stingray, Firebird, Hudson, Impala station wagon, pink Cadillac, Studebaker.
Back in the Astro van driving south on the 101 past Pismo Beach surrounded by the fanfare sounds of the Sponge Bob computer game.
Toward Santa Maria on the coastal plain the light is thin and misty where it had been sheer and sharp.
Past a huge estate with new houses being built the bare wood syrupy golden in the sunlight. It's something that stands out in the landscape all down the coast. New timber frame homes stark and bald, sheeted with raw wood, grain to sky, orange, shocking.