Well, somehow I managed to get packed up, clean up my room, and finish all my paperwork today. We're in San Luis tonight at a Best Western Motel. Edie's resting peacefully at the foot of the bed, and I guess John is in the jacuzzi.
Our finally faculty meeting of the year was a strange mixture of hostility and triumph. Michael Lee's departure had been announced about a week ago, and Melissa's departure was announced on Tuesday. Today we had a perfect sweep as Suzie announced that Kurt was moving on to an assistant principal job in Encino. Suzie harangued us with comments about how "I am the only principal here" and "The buck stops here", but nobody was particularly listening. Instead many of us were exchanging smiles and whispers of "Three out of three" while Michael sat there impassively and Melissa almost seemed to be frothing at the mouth.
Anyhow, we had our usual end of the year luncheon, and the food seemed particularly good this year. John stopped by to pick me up, and he was eager to show off our new rings. Suzie again tried to recruit him to teach the open kindergarten class, but he said something like "Let me think about it. No." Now that Vershawn has also departed from our lives, John does not seem to eager to return to the classroom.
We left Third Street and headed to Universal City where the Arts Education Branch had scheduled its end-of-the-year luncheon. It was the usual kind of hotel and banquet food, so we were happy that we'd eaten at Third Street. It was nice to see Jill and Christina and Don and a few other people I knew, but the warm feelings evaporated once Rich Burrows began to pontificate about how he had said this or that to some person and how they had said he was so right and so clever. . . . After about twenty minutes of that we slipped out.
Traffic was pretty good as we went through the Valley and into Ventura County. Our rain was so sparse this year that the hills never seemed to really ever turn green, and now they look so parched and dry. It was a hot, hazy day, too, and the dreariness of the endless suburban sprawl and the drought-stricken landscape seemed deeply depressing. I was tired and I drifted off to sleep. We stopped briefly off the highway because it seemed like Edie needed to relieve herself. She did, but managed to get herself covered with those little burrs of grass. We pulled a bunch off of her, but she still covered a good bit of the back area with them. John asked me to put on a book from his iPod. I am not sure what the title is; the author is named Jane Smiley; and it is some kind of murder mystery about some friends in New York. It put me back to sleep, and when I woke up we were already in Santa Barbara.
We took the San Marcos Pass, and we reminisced about taking that road with his old Mazda, a wreck of a car which wheezed and panted as it climbed that hill. The chaparral was thicker now, though it still looked dry, and there was more water in Lake Cachuma than I thought there might be. We stopped briefly in Los Olivos so John could get a cup of coffee. I remembered being there for my 30th birthday. I felt so old then, though when I look at pictures from that party I look like I was barely out of high school!
We continued on through the new and ugly sprawl of Santa Maria and Nipomo - even I remember when these were barely more than villages - into San Luis. John had made reservations for us at a Best Western not far from the Madonna Inn. It would hardly have been our first choice of places to stay in other circumstances, but when you are traveling with a dog your choices are somewhat limited. It is the usual ugly cement building with the usual ugly cement pool in the central courtyard, but for tonight I guess it will be home.
The dog book had recommended this place in part because there is an off-leash dog park just a short walk away. John and I went looking for this, with Edie in tow, of course, and we found it without any particular problem. It was a nice place. Unlike Laurel Canyon Park, there was still some grass left and the dogs were particularly friendly. It seemed like many of the people there came there knew each other, and there dogs also were long-time friends. Edie was a little reticent at first, but she was soon frolicking around with several dogs, particularly a German Shepherd named Zeus. There was a small lake at the edge of the park and we walked over there to take a look. Edie refused to get on the gangway that led down to a floating platform, no matter how much we pleaded or pulled.
We went back to the car and went to downtown San Luis for the farmers' market. John had read about the Thursday night farmers' market here, one of the only evening farmers' markets in the country. He also knew that dogs were strictly prohibited from this event, so Edie had to stay in the car. We had fun. It was a farmers' market, but it was also a street fair with performers and crafts sellers and booths for everything from the the Libertarian Party - two old guys with a sign demanding "Stop Compulsory Compassion!" to the United Church of Christ. There were enormous lines for barbecue, so I had a really good Oaxaca-style tamale. We watched some kids doing tumbling, and heard some guy with an electric piano croon out bar ballads.
Edie was glad to see us when we returned to the car. She was even happier when she had her dinner. Now it's late, but I cannot keep my eyes open a moment longer. So more later.
