Greetings from Willits

I’m sitting on a bed in a Super 8 motel room in Willits, California right now. Jenny is zonked out beside me and my parents are both dead to the world in the other bed. I’m forcing myself to stay awake because I want to make a brave (read: stupid) attempt to watch all of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which we found on one of the cable channels that likes to repeat the same movie four times in a row. We caught the last half hour, so I only need to stay awake for about sixty minutes and I’m good.

My disorganization caught up to me this morning. Jenny and I rose early to take my car in for an oil change and then to Albertson’s so I could cash in my loose change at the CoinStar machine (eight bucks! WOO!) and pick up a frozen turkey loaf for Jamie to feast on while I’m away. We got back at around 10:30am and instead of stepping up my pace, I lazed around a little. We were supposed to meet mom in Dixon at 1pm to head out…wine tasting along the way had been duly planned. 1pm came and went, and by around 2pm I had to call mom and tell her to leave without us. I felt like such a whore.

We ended up leaving at 3:30pm to run to Dixon and make a quick exchange with Cutter…my video camera for his iPod stereo cable. Technically, we didn’t leave the area until 4pm. So I’m proud that we pulled in here at the motel just before 7pm. The drive was decent enough…I’d toyed with the idea of cruising straight up 505 to I-5 and catching Hwy 20 out of Williams, just to avoid any Cache Creek casino traffic, but I really do like to drive through Capay Valley. Call it a perverse sense of geological curiosity. There’s just something awesome about scoping out all the tipped layers of sedimentary rock bent upwards from the Great Valley floor by the colliding of the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate.

Sorry, seems I’ve gotten a bit of geek on your shoe there…

I thought the heat would be unbearable…it’s been getting hotter and hotter here over the past week. With my car loaded for bear, air conditioning is not an option while heading up over the hills surrounding Clear Lake. I drove with the windows cracked, and the air wasn’t too bad except for a small section of the lake where the breeze was humid and smelled stagnant. At one spot on Hwy 20, the traffic was stopped due to construction, and Jenny and I climbed out of our cars to hang out in the sun and warm breeze. Trust me, it was a lot cooler than being in our vehicles. A couple of bikers decided they were too important to wait and cruised up to the front of the line. We cursed them and shook our fists angrily at their backs. Later on, we somehow (unknowingly) got ahead of them, and so we experienced the joy of being passed by them yet a second time as we followed 101 up into Willits.

Once we got here, I had no idea how to get ahold of my folks to find out what room they were in. As I was calling Cutter to find out what mom’s cell phone number is (I know, lame. But she never uses it! So why the hell should I remember her number?), Jenny spotted my folks lounging by the pool with beer and champagne at the ready. The air was temperate and the sun had already sunk behind the trees, and we joined them around the pool to enjoy the cool evening breeze. Nearby a band warmed up for an evening outdoor gig. Life was definitely pleasant.

It’s almost excruciating that we have to wait until tomorrow to hit Fort Bragg. I so desperately want to be outdoors and enjoying nature again…the stop in Willits is some weird form of torture. My excitement for camping is pretty much what is keeping me awake right now. That and the three beers I had with dinner.

Jenny’s now talking in her sleep. If she wasn’t facing away from me, I could tell you what she’s saying. I’m sure it’s something funny and fantastic and in some way relating to coffee. God it’s good to have her around again!