On The Road

The trip up from LA to Berkeley went well, except we started out on one freeway, 5, which is the shortest route from LA and somehow while I was napping, we ended up on route 99 which took us through towns I'd heard of, but had never been to, including Chow Chilla and Modesto. We left at 9 am and arrived around 2, after having stopped twice, once at a big cheese shop and once at a funny restaurant outside of Modesto. It all went well and although my driving skills on freeways with plenty of trucks and traffic makes me a little tense, I managed. Steve drove probably two thirds of the trip.

We're in Berkeley right now, staying at our friends' house on Ward, a few blocks from the campus and downtown. I'm not that familiar with Berkeley, but I love to walk and this is a great walking town. Yesterday Peter, Steve's friend, took me downtown to buy a couple of games to take to the land, Banana Grams and Mexican train (I learned that one in Fire Island on the women's group retreat). We also took a long walk and wandered through the campus, which is so beautiful.

Zoe is going home today. She decided she's had enough of being with us and wanted to go back to NY to be with her friends. I think it's a good idea. When I was twenty, I didn't want to go anywhere with my parents, let alone a vacation.

We'll be heading up to Laytonville this afternoon and I will write from there. It was rough being in Los Angeles, driving everywhere, getting stuck in so much traffic, feeling isolated, dealing with family. It was great seeing my old friends, but coordinating times and dealing with long drives everywhere was difficult. I could easily stay a few days in Berkeley, but Steve's really anxious to get to the land and I've got several books to read, so it should be okay.

I have no ending for this post except to say that I'm feeling saner than I have in a week. LA was rough for me and I'm curious about how it's going to be when we're at the cabin. I miss NY and my friends. There's so much I'm doing there now, but Rudy, my real estate buddy did manage to sell a house we've had on the market for five months, so that is exciting. Steve and I showed the house to the buyer while Rudy was in Ireland, and then the negotiations lasted over a week, but it looks like we should have a signed contract soon. That is a big relief.

I'm also looking forward to getting back to New York and starting Level 3 of our workshop and having another performance of our monologues. That will be scary and hopefully fun.

More later...probably from the woods!