(Again I have stuck on italics so I have to copy and paste)
Woke up at the campground in Ashland. Again I woke up early (maybe 5/6am) and got ready to face the day. Since it was the last day camping I went through all my stuff and sorted out what I was going to mail back to myself, and what I would for the next couple of days/ want to take with me to New York. I also found a place to ship the stuff.
Our campground in the morning was pretty, quiet, and had a nicely laid back vibe to it.
On our last day of travel, Ria and I actually had a fight. It was relatively small and over quickly, but I was impressed with us that we didn’t really fight before that. I had apparently tried to start one over postcards at one point before this but was too tired to really make a go of it so we ended up laughing. I remember when I was a little kid if I spent more than one night and day together with my best friend we would end up fighting horribly, and then be back to friends after a day apart. Now I didn’t expect to fight every other day (I have grown up a good bit from age 7), but considering that we were ALWAYS together with the exception of a few hours at the KOA I would not have been surprised if there were more issues. I don’t even think married people were together as much as we were in a typical couple of weeks. Then again we were both very sleep deprived as evidenced by our little nap in Dunsmir CA.
After driving for an hour, we pulled over into this tiny town and found a shaded spot on the side of the road and slept for like 45 minutes. I slept so deeply that I didn’t notice until I woke up that my arm was being stretched past the point of comfort. I had a little owwwies when I woke up. However we were right by this local drive up place with blended coffee and scones on one side and hot dogs on the other. I got the last Sun dried tomato and artichoke veggie dog they had. It was excellent. I also got some coffee. After the nap, then the food and drink I was good to go for the rest of the day.
As we drove into California the temperature outside climbed to 108. There was also a haze from the forest fires blanketing everything. I have never driven in Northern California, so I have nothing to compare it to, but it was obvious that amount of haze should not be there. We passed by helicopters loading up for water drops.
After having been through so many areas where there had been forest fires, including Yellowstone, I kind of looked at forest fires as the earths way of regenerating and cleansing itself out there. In many instances it seems natural, and I don’t have too much sadness for it. This was especially true in Yellowstone, sometimes fires just happened, and sections burned down. As long as it is not through man’s carelessness there is little to be done other than let nature cleanse, and let people contain the damage. However driving into California you could see that it was excessive. There was too much smoke and haze and there had been too many places burned. (as of 7/18/08 there were estimates between 16-38 fires left that were partially contained out of the 2000 some fires there were)
It made me wonder what it would have looked like without the fire, and whether Sausilito would have looked different. We drove into Sausalito to Marco’s studio. Marco is Ria’s ex-boyfriend. Marco was interesting.
He did beautiful work with sculpture. He seemed to listen well, and at times was blunt about his opinion. We went out for dinner to this Thai place, and I think he and I were observing each other a great deal while Ria talked. I don’t feel like I got the full sense of him. Ria said that was because he was in work mode. The impression I had is that I probably wouldn’t see the person Ria saw in him because I was not dating him. I imagine based on what I observed that he is the type of person who is wholeheartedly there for the person he is dating while he is dating them, and will continue to be a presence in their lives afterwards, but the person he is in relationships to the person he is in a relationship with is different from the person he is to the whole rest of the world. Not in a bad way, just that his relationship with Ria was obviously intense, and my impression was that other relationships of his would be too. Then in everyday life he is slightly less intense, which is probably a good thing. I am glad that he was Miss Ria’s first love, because I think she got a lot out of the relationship, and I think she will be happy with it in retrospect which is important.
After Sausalito we drove over the golden gate bridge and into San Fran. 
(Obligatory palm tree shot in California, complete with haze.)
Ria and I went to Haight st and did a little shopping, and then had ice cream at the Ben and Jerry’s at the corner of Haight / Ashbury, where I gave her a Tarot reading. She said it would have been worth 40 bucks if she was a paying customer. (please note I’ve never had paying customers, but I will have to pass on the compliment to the lady I’ve taken classes from.)
Then it was time to go to the Hostel and check me in. Ria had planned to return home that night, and drop the car off in the morning. Tomtom got us to the place, and we managed to get my stuff in and bother Josh the cute guy at the desk. The place was cool, and I had good roommates. Ria said she would have liked to stay if it wouldn’t have been too much trouble in the morning. We organized a shuttle for me the next day and then we said our goodbyes. We talked about how the trip made things different. Ria also said “we touched a lot of lives” and I agreed. We hugged and Ria took off with Joey, and I wandered around the Hostel getting the flavor of the place. Ria’s epilogue had begun, and my trip still had one more chapter to it.
Just so you know we finished American Gods before the end of the trip. I don’t remember when, but we finished it sometime between southern Washington and California.
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