I voted absentee and am going to drive down the coast on November 1st rather than hanging around town for the election.
I’ll take the freeway to Monterey to save time since I’ve been up and down the coast between here and there innumerable times, but then I’ll hug the coast on Highway 1 down to San Simeon since I’ve been farther than twenty miles below Monterey only once—in 1972. The idea is to have plenty of time to do the basic Hurst Castle tour that afternoon so that I can set out first thing the next morning for LA, get to the Huntington Cactus and Succulent Garden right after lunch, and stay in the succulent garden until they kick me out as darkness falls over my squeal, “I brought a flashlight, dude, and I can just let myself out when I’m done. Leggo.”
Here’s a shot some Lithops in the Huntington. There are many tables of these:
I’m taking an extra set of batteries for the camera—and my charger. Ummmmm. Maybe need to get me another one of those little chips that you store the pics on. Better yet, I’ll just carry the computer in since I’m taking it on the trip in this excellent dedicated backpack that Bob gave me.
I mean, bring some bottled water, and what better way could there be to spend election night?
A conservative friend (he calls himself an independent, but we know) wondered whether I was fearful that California would slide off into the Pacific when Bush wins. I assured him that my fear is that in the depths of its despair after the election, California will not simply slide but actually jump into the ocean.
Which is why on Wednesday morning I’ll be hugging, instead of my usual tree, the coast—so as to get some neat pics of swarms of Californians going over the cliffs. I’ll get rich because these pics will sell like hotcakes in Odessa.
Oh, and speaking of cliffs: