MANNING UP THE SUPERBOWL-A SHORE REFRESHER-THE WEEKENDER

HERE'S HOPING

    Peyton Manning exemplifies excellence. He is testament to the virtue of hard work, preparation and discipline. He's a role model as a leader and he could be the best, or smartest, quarterback to ever play the game.  He might be both. I became a fan of both the football player and the man when we were both in Indianapolis. I didn't like the way Jimmy Irsay, owner of the Colts, handled Peyton's employment when he was injured and fighting to recover and I've told him that.  So with all of this as preamble it is no surprise who I will be rooting for this weekend.  It would be a sweet thing if Peyton can steer the Broncos to a win, gaining himself another ring and validating the extraordinary effort he's put into rebuilding himself and proving the power of overcoming.

THE SHORE

   The Pacific Coast is forever fascinating and begging for a camera.

WEEKENDER VIDEO

     If you are feeling landlocked, suffering cabin fever, tired of winter or maybe just a little tense, this weekend's video may be for you.  Three minutes of peace by the pacific.

See you down the trail.

DO YOU JUST STORM THE OFFICE? & AFTERNOON MELLOW

HOW ABOUT AN OLD FASHIONED PUNCH IN THE NOSE?

    For those of you who riddle life's frustrations with the  old chestnut "WWJD-what would Jesus do?" or who seek a Taoist path of "going with the flow," my questions are out of your comfort zone.  

      But growing up on the south-side of Muncie Indiana taught a direct course of action gets results. My ire is simply one of a chorus who legitimately ask are there any thinking people who manage or supervise in CalTrans? (For readers outside California, CalTrans is the agency responsible for highway planning, construction and maintenance)

      Since last year a 25 mile stretch of iconic Highway 1 north of Cambria to the Monterey County line has been the object of puzzlement, frustration, controversy and anger. It's been the cause of broken bones and windshields. We can attest to the windshield issue. Bicyclists have been injured.

      Caltrans resurfaced the road and they blew it. Man, did they ever?!

      Apparently because it was cheaper, they used a larger than normal crushed rock in what they call a chip and seal repaving.  The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports the rock they used was twice the size of normal.  

       Twice the size?!  Hello CalTrans?  Anybody with a measurable brain wave in there? Did the Caltrans District 5 Director Tim Gubbins personally look at, approve or maybe even think about the implication of that?  Did anyone called a supervisor ever take their brain to work during the long repaving project?

       You probably know the Pacific Coast Highway is one of the most visited, scenic and bicycled roads in the world. Since the idiot job was first done, bicycle riders, clubs, organizations, federations and race planners have all tried to reason with Caltrans over how they have practically ruined a highway.  Caltrans, to whom we give hundreds of millions of tax dollars so they can maintain our highway has put on one of the best shuck and jive, obfuscate, divert attention bureaucratic bull shit Stepin Fetchit fests in history.  Sorry, I apologize to Stepin Fetchit (Lincoln Perry)  and his fans. Though controversial his laziest man in the world character made him a millionaire. Unlike Caltrans, Perry had talent. Caltrans is foot dragging because they are real fools.

       What are they doing about it?  Studies, they say they will do.  Analysis and comparisons, they say they will do.

      How about dragging your public dollar paid fannies out to the road where you can walk it, drive and bicycle it?  I suspect the rough ride might even jigger on a synapse or two in your apparently dimwitted and certainly intelligence starved cranial cavity, which I hesitate calling a brain, because so far there has been no evidence of such higher  function.  Other than to collect your salaries that we paid while you have tried to ruin a highway and evinced nothing but arrogance since, that is.

     Well, the battle is being stepped up.  A Chamber of Commerce, hotel and motel owners, travelers and visitors bureaus, antique car owners and their associations, even organizers of the public service Best Buddies bike ride are chiming in.  Business owners say they are in jeopardy of loosing seasonal income.

     County government representatives and state assembly men are getting involved.  As one county supervisor who has been on this for months told the Tribune, Caltrans response has been "frustrating?"  Frustrating?  How about like something from cold war era Russian government.

     So, back to riddling questions. How to get through to these dunderheads?  Reason seems to be a skill set they are not capable of.  Back on South Ebright Street, back in the cinder alley, we found that a few rounds of bare knuckle logic could work wonders as a motivational device and behavior modification.

      But, let me take a few deep breaths, look at the rolling green mountains and cobalt blue sky and trust that enough citizens, groups and local government officials can, figuratively, draw a little blood from Caltrans and get them to repair their mess.

AFTERNOON MELLOW

    See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER-PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY

ON HIGHWAY 1

     This was the scene this week on our most recent drive through Big Sur. It was that magic stretch of Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, which took hold of our hearts on our first journey in 1969.
      As our pal Jim, who introduced us to Big Sur, said, "It never disappoints."

      There is something new along America's iconic coast highway.

   The extraordinary construction between Lime Kiln and the 

Bixby bridge continues.

   The shot below shows the massive bridge like cover that is being built in an area prone to slides and washouts.  The stone edifice is being connected to the mountain wall.

    It was just north of there where we caught up with the past.  Our Weekender Video shows you something you likely have never seen.  Enjoy.

A UNIQUE SCENE

    See you down the trail.

JACKSON BROWNE STILL NUKE FREE

BROWNE TELLS SAN LUIS OBISPO

"THE REST OF THE STORY"

       "It was just a stupid mistake" Jackson Browne said about not being quoted in a recent piece in the San Luis Obispo Tribune detailing his 1981 involvement and arrest at an anti nuclear protest at Diablo Canyon.
       "The article made it sound like I've lost interest. That is absolutely not the case" he told an enthusiastic and adoring full house at the Cohan Center on the Cal Poly campus.

Photo by Ken Chen San Luis Obispo Tribune 1981-printed again 3 February 2013

     Browne said he would have welcomed the opportunity to tell about his continuing involvement with MUSE and Nukefree.org.

      The Tribune piece included an old quote that implied Jackson was no longer an activist on the issue.

    Many in the Cohan Center audience applauded as he said   

 musiciansunited4safeenergy.org

 it was a victory of sorts that no new nuclear plants had been built in more than 30 years.  
    He acknowledged that some 17 hundred people in the San Luis Obispo area worked at Diablo Canyon, still he said nuclear energy is unsafe and creates continuing problems. 

   "No more nukes, y'all" he said after his few minutes of commentary.

7 FEBRUARY UPDATE

Seems like Jackson's PR firm missed a chance

San Luis Obispo Tribune responds

    THE CONCERT

    I've seen Browne several times over the years and am always impressed by his lyrical power. He is a marvelous troubadour. As Lana said on the way out of the hall "...his poetry truly captures our age and hearts."

    He is also a great performer both as musician and singer.

His work on piano and on several of the almost 20 guitars he had on stage is still that of a virtuoso.

     Five large oriental rugs lined the playing area and he alternated between sitting while playing the guitar and the piano. It provided an intimate, house concert feel.

     But he also rocked the hall and had a couple of friends who helped blow the place away. Val McCallum  was killer on guitar.  He also performed his hauntingly rich and textured Tokyo Girl. Taylor Goldsmith of DAWES contributed mightily on keyboard, guitar and vocals.  
    Browne told the audience that Dawes is his favorite band now and that having Goldsmith play has been a bonus since he was on "a bus man's holiday" waiting for the release of their new album.  Goldsmith premiered his new FIRE AWAY and with Browne and McCallum they created a musical charge that electrified the hall.  Fire Away will do very well.
    The house was full of Browne fans and there was a continuing chorus of call outs for tunes.  Finally Browne abandoned the set list and moved through a pastiche of his decades of music and the time flew by.  There was no opening act and the group took a short break and still ran out of time.  Browne thanked the promoter and hall management for permitting them to play overtime.  Showtime was 7:30 and we left the hall around 11:00.
     During the evening he told of being a youngster who'd hitchhike up to the Central Coast. 
     "This is the most beautiful part of California.  My dad called it Steinbeck country.  Mom would drop us off outside Ventura and we'd start up Highway 1. That's when the fun started."
     He told about attending a concert a couple of years ago
at the Cohan where he was told about a flamenco guitar maker from Nipomo, just south of here.
     "I've got a couple of his guitars now," he chuckled.
Browne has spent a lot of time here and he sprinkled a few of those memories and anecdotes through out the evening. It was apparent to him that he was not only among fans, but with friends and California neighbors as well.
     Jackson Browne on the Central Coast where spring comes early and memories are continually being made.  

The first blooms-oxalis in our green winter.

        During the short break I was looking out the angled windows of the modern designed Cohan over looking part of the Cal Poly campus.  People around me were in rapture of the music, others were discussing the local wine being sold while I was lost in a reverie of my own early Highway 1 memories.  I saw something a little wobbly out of the corner of my eye.  I turned to see a young man zipping his way along the bike lane on a unicycle, with a head lamp around his head like a headband.

    As Browne had said a few minutes earlier  "California, it's all good!"

    See you down the trail.