awww you stud...

i miss you already.
There are experiences during this drive that give me a feeling of complete freedom and awesomeness. 

Like when I start my truck. Rousting the beast.

Its probably one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. Having bought it without a running engine and fixed everything on it myself, which is no small feat (I think at least) for having no experience working on trucks at all, when it doesn't start I usually have some kind of idea what is wrong by the sounds the thing makes. 

However, what's one to think when you turn the key and NOTHING happens at all? 

eff.

I had dropped doug off at the Airport in Oakland to fly home for a funeral. Having no real definite plan of where I was going I started driving east and decided to go to yosemite. so I thought i was killin it. all alone in my truck with 3 months of living on the road to back me up. 

I pull into yosemite and pull off the road to sit by a creek and read for a bit. Go back to the car, turn the key, nothing. 

nothing at all. what the heck. i had just driven over 100 hundred miles no problem and now it wouldn't even turn over. 

Anyways, there is no real point to me writing this other than to say that when your stuck 1000 miles from home with no one around to help you and next to no cash for a tow truck you feel pretty stuck. Me and doug have been stuck with the truck not starting plenty of times before. But at least then the engine would crank. And having Doug there to take out my frustration on didn't hurt. (JERK!)

 Nothing was going on. 

So I guess the point is that you feel pretty awesome when its all on you to get out of the present situation and through your own genius you figure out what is wrong with the truck and make it start. 

Or goin for a wave and it kinda jacks up a lot bigger than you were thinkin it would and your lookin down over the lip like AHHH what did I just get myself into. And then the lip usually tosses ya over the falls...and you get worked....but sometimes you make it! and you ride this wall of water and you don't even have time to think. just charge it. and you gotta dodge other surfers and control the energy of the ocean under your feet. and sometimes you make it off the wave and start paddling back out....thats the feeling im talking about. 

I'm sittin just south of yosemite right now. Doug is probably drooling all over Adam's bike back in Surrey and I got about a week or so to kill until we meet up again. I'm thinking the surf in ventura is probably fun this time of year. but not before another visit to santa cruz.

We spent about 10 days in santa cruz. The surf is the best I have ever seen, more pool coping than you know how to grind, and more free food than you can imagine. Easy Living. 

Seriously, if you surf and want to score, go to santa cruz. its not thaaaat far...

We're driving to the airport on the 880 and a truck drives by. Full horn the whole way. Me and doug look at each other and doug, in the drivers seat, reaches his hand out the window  and feels for the surfboards... and abruptly pulls over off the highway. 

"Hey man, you should take a look at this"

And its not so much what I'm looking at as much as it is what I am NOT looking at...

so a mile hike back up the highway and i find my surfboards. My beautiful surfboards...

Fearing the worst I dodge 3 lanes of highway to get to them and what do ya know. My 5'10" is obliterated. like, unrecognizable. Fubar. 

And the 6'10" gets away with only a huge chunk missing out of its tail. not SO bad. 

We even noticed the straps were loose earlier that day...

It's kinda strange how that leaves  you feeling. I guess just thankful you still have 3 more save on the roof. At least it didn't happen in mexico...yet...

Nikki split north to San Francisco about a week ago. We were walking down Pacific in Santa Cruz and this kid sitting with a bigger group of kids yells to us "wanna go to san francisco?" Nikki's all YEAH! lets go! And this kid is all YEAH! Alright! get your stuff we're leavin! So nikki walks back to our truck with this kid, packs her stuff and took off to san francisco with them. End of Story. Bye Nikki! We miss you. and We love you. You're the best. It was intense dude. Your gnar to the core. Go save Emily and lets savout. 

I'm gonna start trying to film surfing while I am surfing. Not sure how well thats going to work out. I'm thinking if I just get one arm really really really strong I can hold the camera with one hand and pop up with the other. Right? pff...

Doug, Jeremy, and I camped out on a beach somewhere north of Santa Cruz and south of half moon bay (Mavericks anybody?) a few nights ago. Beautiful spot. No body around. Hiked in through a farmer's field and down onto a long, windy, sandy beach with rocky shelves sticking out into the ocean. It's a nice spot. We camped out there for a night and drank our "Simpler Times" to sleep. We woke up and made breakfast which consisted of 2 potatoes, 6 eggs, 2 cloves of garlic and a few ounces of extra virgin olive oil all in a pot over a fire. From there we drove to some state park which wanted way too much money for us to afford to stay so we kept on keepin on to San jose! What a wonderful thing sikh temples are. To the wary, mostly hungry traveler free food is the best thing that can come your way. Where is there all the free food you can dream of? Any sikh temple of course! So we spent our evening watching a beautiful sunset in san jose full of fresh indian food. 

Another good spot for free food: Hare Krishna Temples. We were lookin at their weekly schedule and once a week there is an event in the evening called "Feast".

Heck yes it is a feast. Everyone sits on the floor in a big circle and people walk around and around with huge pots of the best vegetarian food you will ever eat. And apple crisp, and fruit salads, and smoothies....and oh you want some more? here ya go. No one asks where you are from, or what your doing there. You're welcomed in, sit down, and they feed you like a king. So cool. You can even head in early and get in on the chant fest, bang cymbals and hit drums. If thats your thing...