Goin' Out To Cally – Part 44, Touching The Pacific

Sunday awoke the next morning acting like our revealing conversation the night before had never occurred. Apparently she had ripped a page right out of my relationship moron handbook. Having authored the book, I played along.

We packed the Acura and said fond goodbyes to Paul and Anne, thanking them profusely for their tremendous hospitality. We followed their hand drawn directions and quickly found the interstate.

Weaving up the Pacific Coast Highway.

The thing about driving on highways in Los Angeles is that speed limits aren’t really important. Apparently, since traffic often comes to a standstill on these six to ten lane interstates, if the roads are clear and the traffic moving, all bets are off. As the Acura neared eighty miles per hour, we still found cars zooming passed us.

There are two ways to get to San Francisco, the interstate, which takes you about four to six hours, or you can take the historic Pacific Coast Highway, which travels up the coast of California, but it adds an additional two hours to the trip. Having never been in California and never knowing if we would ever return, we decided to offer up the two extra hours to the travel gods and take the journey up the coast.

The Pacific Coast Highway is a winding multi-lane road that weaves up and over and around the natural landscape that looks over the Pacific Ocean. For the first few hours the mountains and the view were breathtaking. Every turn seemed to offer a unique and exciting view.

The sun beginning to set on the highway.

After about three hours, however, the back and forward motion of the car, along with the speeding up and slowing down, had caused everyone in the car, including the driver, to grow increasingly nauseous. We cracked the windows and let in the cool evening air in an attempt to subdue the waves of gastric discomfort rising in all of us.

After another hour of weaving and swaying and slowing and speeding, we decided to take a breather and do something none of us had ever done… touch the Pacific Ocean. We pulled the car over near a scenic overlook and walked down to the beach. As the sun began to set we cautiously approached the water as it rippled onto the beach. None of us were dressed for a swim, so we took off our sneakers and tip-toed toward the water.

In near unison we all bent down and placed our hands in the salty ocean water. As the water quickly wrapped around my feet and my toes sunk into the dark sand I was shocked to discover the water to be so cold.

Near the beach, the sun dips below the Pacific.

I smiled to myself as I thought back to swimming in the Gulf of Mexico on the west coast of Florida and fighting the waves of the Atlantic Ocean in Daytona Beach. My mind then imagined how the explorers Lewis and Clark felt when they had finally reached the end of this great land and felt the cold surf of the Pacific Ocean. There was something monumental in being able to touch one of the world’s oceans.

After that rather quick respite from the to and fro of the drive up the Pacific Coast Highway, we re-entered the blue hatchback and drove into the night, heading toward the great city of San Francisco.

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Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)