Day 14

Around 6:30 this morning, I startled awake. Normally, wild horses couldn't move me at this hour. Behind my bed, the window drew my attention. The sky was glowing orange. Orange orange! I grabbed my camera and ran outside into the dark. The source of color was the sunrise. Honestly I've never seen a more explosive pallette of color, almost unnatural.

Threw some dirty laundry in a bag and headed south on Highway 1, stopping for coffee near Ventana. As I was leaving I grabbed the weekly newspaper, The Carmel Pine Cone. On page 8, an article headed, "Artist Gets Respite from Traffic, Smog. Chris Counts pretty much got it right. It opens with this paragraph, "Conservation groups are usually only concerned with saving plants and animals. But the Big Sur Land Trust has teamed up with the Big Sur Arts Initiative to create a pilot program to help preserve one of the regions most endangered human species: the artist. "..."I'm the guinea pig," admitted Thacker...."

Drove down the coast stopping about twenty times (conservative estimate) to take pictures, and it was foggy most of the way. The California coast from San Luis Obispo north is as rugged and treacherous as it is beautiful to drive. The views from that twisting, turning road are utterly compelling. It would be easy to miss the rock slide ahead or to notice an oncoming passing car when you're focused on Ragged Rock or Jade Cove. So happy to drive it alone though. I feel certain any passenger would have complained of car sickness. Listened to these tapes: Tom Petty and an audio tape by one of my heroes, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi about creative Flow.

Around Isla Vista traffic slowed to a crawl and stayed that way all the way home. Home. Home. While it's good to be home, when I close my eyes, I'm still in Big Sur. It is uniquely wonderful knowing I will return by the week's end. For now, I'm wiped. Going to sleep.