We spent the night somewhere around Oxnard...

...it was just where we ended up, not exactly a choice. After driving up Highway One through Malibu with it's extravagant beach houses and gorgeous views, we drove for a while in the dark and stopped when we were tired. The next morning we had breakfast and headed up the coast. Our next stop would be San Simeon, the incredible estate on the hill overlooking the coast, built by William Randolph Hearst.




This place is amazing! Hearst was fabulously rich, (although during the building of San Simeon he was also broke for a while). Our tour giude was brilliant, a true history buff; at one time someone asked him what our current president might have done and he answered, "In my mind right now, the current president is Calvin Coolidge!" He spent a lot of time describing who might have been gathered in a particular room during Hearst's heyday and how they might have interacted. Hearst was not a snob; movie stars, Churchhill, musicians and writers, royalty might have all been there at the same time, they just had to be interesting. Boring people would never be invited, no matter what. There was no room service; everyone ate in the huge dining room, where bottles of ketchup and mustard were always available on the long antique tables.

I love the indoor pool! Hearst's guests weren't all that fond of it however, so it was mostly used by the staff. The lamps are all made of alabaster and there are over a hundred of them throughout the estate.

San Simeon was only one of Hearst's estates; there were several others this size or bigger in various places around the world. No matter what you think about Hearst and his actions, he's still amazing; it's hard to imagine how one person could have accumulated this much wealth and had his hand in so many businesses and properties in just one lifetime.


We stopped a few miles north for some "magic time" pics as the sun began to set over the Pacific; the sunsets are always gorgeous. Once again, it got dark and luca drove the rest of the twisty way to Carmel on Hwy One with the casual skill of a seasoned stunt driver. We ate at a little place in a very ladeda little "shopping village" in Carmel; I counted a half a dozen Porches... and two Pilates studios... The restaurant featured Mediterranean cuisine and it was very good and very friendly; we chatted a lot with the owner, who had relatives in the New Orleans area, (he noticed luca's New Orleans shirt and showed us pictures of his family and their destroyed homes and businesses). He also confided in us; Doris Day often called for takeout!

We got back on the road and finally reached our goal for the evening; our inexpensive, but adequate motel in San Francisco! (btw, we never spent over a hundred bucks a night for a room, mostly around eighty actually, which we shared. Ocassionally there was even a guest. But please don't get any slutty ideas; we are good friends and we travel as such. It's a balance that works very well). We travel like perfect ladies! LOL!

If you haven't watched "Little Britain" on BBC, do so. It was a running gag as we traveled...

The next morning we had a very good breakfast at Mel's Drive-In in the Marina District and then drove across the famous bridge to Muir Woods, home of hundreds of ancient redwoods. This magic place was preserved only because it was so hard to get to; it's gorgeous!

It's hard to give a real perspective on how big these very old trees are. I took the picture above while lying on my back, (on a bench..). The paths through the forest were wonderful and we enjoyed the several mile hike very much.


We visited the gift shop because there's always time for shopping (!) and then drove back across the bridge, stopping at the vista point.

We actually walked about half way across the bridge, which is where I took the shot above. The views were stunning! But, I have to admit that I was woosing; if you look up the word vertigo online, you will see my picture there with the caption, "a typical expression of a person experiencing vertigo". We did Fisherman's Wharf and the cablecar, (which is both touristy and very cool, you have to do it) and then later that night, we met up with Daniel, another net friend and went to dinner at "Michealangelos", a little Italian restaurant that reminded us of the kind of place you see in Felini's "Roma", a family run place with the waiters dancing their way to the tables, singing... and laughing... wonderful!

The next morning we went to the old Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street.

Gorgeous place with the best food mall and the best farmer's market anywhere. We had lunch, excellent sandwiches from a shop, which we ate sitting on the bay. After a bit more shopping around and visiting the stalls of some vg cheesemakers, we were picked up by szel!, who was driving his "city car". After hugs and hellos!, he proceeded to take us on a personal tour of his favorite places in San Fran.

He showed us so much and his running commentary was priceless! The pic above is taken from the top of Twin Peaks. The pic following is of twin butts and I will only say that one of them is Peb's!


We were taken to so many places with incredible views! This one is from the Marin Headlands looking back towards the city.

We did some more of the city, including some of the steepest streets I have ever been on! Szel's driving was very skillful, I must say.

Finally, it was time for luca, pebs and I to head on, so we all went on our separate ways; szel dropped us off near our car and we drove Daniel to his car. We drove around the bay and off into the middle of California which does not, unfortunately, offer much of any interest for the Journal. We spent the night in Modesto and then powered on to Las Vegas. We met up with GC, had dinner and then met two very interesting guys from Pebs online friends group. We went to the new Wynn casino, had some yummy martinis, saw a giant glowing frog and then went to a little gay bar called Snix. It was a fun little bar, not at all Vegas...good time there. Then back to luca's place and up waaaay toooo soon and off to the airport.

Then "home" to Austin. I'll tell you the truth here: Austin isn't home, at least not yet... My apartment here is home for now... and I'm real content in my place here, but I don't have a real sense of "this is the place where I live". First of all, my job may take me somewhere else and second, I've just haven't yet bonded with the town, and thirdly, there's a lot of good places... I just don't know yet...

Bill's sister, Sue visited me this weekend and she knows more about Austin than I do, but as a San Antonian, she might, but it's wierd having a visitor who knows your area better than you do.

We'll see. I haven't been out much yet in Austin and I do know a few people here who do know everybody. I've been away as much as I have been here. A few social lunches, a few visits to the local watering holes... anything could happen.

Perhaps something will.


durlx

Just a quick break here between parts one and two of the California trip to mention that I watched the DVD of "Mysterious Skin", a film that is a very good adaptation of Scott Heim's very good novel. The story deals with what can happen to kids that are sexually molested, a popular indie theme lately, but this film is brilliant. Those of you who have not been fans of director Gregg Araki's earlier work should not be put off; he has come into his own here. The acting is very good and you will be really suprised to recognize the young alien from "Third World From The Sun", Joseph Gorden-Levitt. You need to see this one.




Also see Scott Heim's web site http://www.etherweave.com/scottheim/index2.html

Way out west...

I got up last Tuesday morning at 3:30 ayem to get to the airport on time for my flight to Vegas. I met Pebs at the Denver airport and we boarded the flight for Vegas. Luca met us there and we loaded up the car a moved towards Beverly, Hills that is...


Bok had suggested this place to stay and although it wasn't glamorous, it was enough and it was cheap and close to everything Hollywood.


We walked Hollywood Boulevard and then made our way to West Hollywood where we met Bok at the Abbey, a very Weho bar and a really fantastic place. This place has all these different rooms and courtyard areas and hundreds of candles everywhere; it's really very lush and the martinis are perfectly executed; worth every bit of what they cost.

We got in touch with J2 and he stopped by; wonderful to meet him! He's a good man and I wish that we had had more time... (This was a six day road trip and we covered a lot of ground).

After that, Bok took us here and there and we met some resident South Africans, stopped by a large gay resort type place, had a late meal and an even later round of drinks in another very gay weho bar.

After a few hours of sleep, we all got up and headed out; Bok off to his days business and the three of us off to sight-see, beginning in the park above Hollywood.

We drove back down the hill, had breakfast, and drove to the Getty; passing Hollywood High and thousands of zillion dollar homes on the way.


The Getty is stunning! If there were no works of art there, it would still be amazing; the setting high on it's own hill is dramatic, the buildings are beautiful and the gardens are masterpieces. No expense was spared anywhere; the amount of money spent on this complex is astonishing! The Travertine marble used throughout the complex comes from the same quarry that supplied the stone for the Colliseum in Rome. The view from the hill is breath taking, perhaps literally, as you can also see that layer of smog over downtown L.A.



After the Getty, we met the delish Mikey Salad for lunch! Another case of too little time, but a very good lunch it was!

We made our way down to the beach at Santa Monica. I hadn't been there in many years; it's an incredible expanse of sand and shore. (It brought back memories of my first time there when I was nineteen, very lost and very much in love with the wrong person, but that's another story..)

We walked along the shore sending our good vibes to Noah as we went. We also had a talk on the phone with Alex as we splashed along.

Then we headed up the coast on Highway One as the sun began to set.


More about the trip up the coast in the next entry...


What a trip this was!


durlx

It's certainly time for a more normal, pleasant sort of news.


I drove down to San Antonio Friday morning to get my hair done. Now, this might seem a bit much, even though S.A. is only about 70 minutes away, but you have to understand that Danny, who first did cut and color for me when I was still on the road and had no home to call my own, did such a fantastic job that I just had to return. Danny's brilliant and a very nice guy.

Of course, this is also where Sue and Ryan live, so it wasn't just for the hair... Ryan met me at Danny's place and we went to lunch at Teka Molina, one of my favorite Mex lunch places in San Antonio. We did some shopping downtown and then picked Sue up after work. We did some more shopping and walked the RiverWalk some, which I hadn't done for a while. All very nice. I got a belt in the Mercado and found some Mexican tin cutout things that I liked for the bathroom wall and some Day of the Dead skull necklaces to replace the one I lost in New Orleans. Then we ate at the Liberty Bar, which you can see in the pic above, (Ryan is on the corner). This place has a very eclectic menu, but all of it is very good. The building is amazing! As you can see, it leans to one side and inside there is not one wall that is parallel to another. The floor slopes to one side, each of the walls to another. It's been around for over twenty years, when a gay couple decided to go into the restaurant biznez and it's been consistantly loved by the locals ever since. This place is a treasure and I love it!



This afternoon, (Saturday) we went to the Mission San Jose, where they were having a folk art event with a lot of lovely stuff to see. The things that I liked were priced a bit above my budget, but the mission is quite beautiful.


This last pic is of my nephew Ryan, playing the harmonica...


After that, we went to the SouthTown arts district and walked around, visiting the shops and galleries there. The stuff was really good and interesting; lots of Day of the Dead stuff and you can't throw a dead cat without hitting some kind of Frida Kahlo artifact. Just a lot of really nice art and collectibles, all of it rather unique. This one artist, Oscar Garcia, I might buy something of his... it was a really fine afternoon. I really like San Antonio; the downtown area is kind of deserted looking, not a lot of people live there, but there are so many really amazing things to look at; there's a lot of culture there that's from there, the area is devoid of influences from outside.

I got back to Austin about 7:30 PM and spent some time checking up on my online biz. Happy Birthday today to Pebs! (We will have a belated birthday breakfast with luca on Tuesday sometime after arriving in Vegas. Pebs and I are on the same plane from Denver).

These last 48 hours were a welcome change to my recent state of mind and I am looking forward to next weeks road trip from Vegas to California and back.

I totally need this right now.


durlx

The hardest button to button.



I finally did the trip back to New Orleans. Honestly, it was a nightmare. People told me that no matter what pictures and video I had seen, (and I had looked at everything I could find online and there was a lot), that I would still not be prepared for what I would see. And it was true.

I left Austin Thursday morning with a nine hour IPod car mix; traveling music to last me well into Baton Rouge. It was the first time I plugged the IPod into the sound system in the car and it worked fabulously, helping to speed me along. I got to uno and John's about 5:30 PM after a little stop at WFM for some goodies. Robert had opted for going to New Orleans directly, which made sense since he was coming from the northeast. So, I got up early on Friday morning and headed to New Orleans. All along I-10 there are cars that failed along the journey; perhaps 200 or so over the 70 miles. I got off of I-10 in Metarie and went to visit my store. It's opening in a very limited way; the building has been stripped and sanitized and a small portion of the center space has been isolated to make a sales floor about one fifth the size of the original space. The store smells fresh and clean, like a new store. The area around the center will be rebuilt over the next few months and the total area will be reopened in the spring.

After that, I drove into the city and finally to my house. After saying hello to Robert, I finally unlocked my front door and took a look. The ceilings hadn't fallen in on my side after all! And the power was on, the ceiling fans spinning. I'm not sure why the power was on considering the roof damage and everything in my house had been shut off before I left. Still, it was dry inside and things looked undamaged, although messy, but that's the way I left it. Three months of working on a new store opening and a month of gimping around with a broken shoulder on pain pills had left little time or energy for housekeeping. It was a depressing sight.

As I stood in the doorway, my first thought was "I don't want to live here anymore." A convenient emotion, since living there was no longer an option. I walked through the place and nothing really seemed damaged, but there was this smell, or really a complex combination of odors that was hard to fathom. The refridgerator gave off a strong stench and there were maggot eggs all over the outside. After passing the fridge and almost opening it by reflex, I quickly duck-taped the door shut. And there was something else in the air as well, a sort of sour and metallic taste on the tongue and a smell to match. Allthough there was no visible mold on the walls, the mold spores were there in abundance.

I drove out to Metarie again, went to Lowe's and bought a bunch of 55 gallon heavy duty trash bags, some packing boxes and bubble wrap and box tape and went back to the house and started to sort and bag stuff and drag it to the curb. I stopped about 4:30 PM and went off to find food. I drove around the uptown area and realized that there was almost nothing open and decided to head back out to Metarie to the SavaCenter, which I knew was open until at least six PM. Along the way, I started to get a serious headache accompanied by a high fever and I nearly threw up in the car. I finally got back to the hood and landed on Robert's couch. The fever finally left about two ayem. I woke up around six and felt amazingly O.K., so I had a little breakfast and went back to work. I had obviously had a reaction to the mold, so I was more carefull to wear gloves and not touch my face and to eat every three hours or so. I got through the rest of the work on the house without any more problems.

All in all, I threw out or gave away almost everything. Actually, it was hard to give things away; there really wasn't anyone to give it to. I left things in the house just as they were, a TV or two, the books and the shelves, the bed, the washer and dryer... I could have just left the front door open, it didn't really make any difference; there wasn't anyone around to steal anything. I saved some things that I like; some things that I've had for decades, but there wasn't all that much. It all fit into the Element with a little room to spare. I took a break on Sunday morning to go to coffee at Virgil's, (don't know when I'll be able to do that again), and went back to the house, finished packing stuff into boxes and loaded the car. After one last look, I locked the door. We said goodby to Sammy and Mike, who were still packing their truck and then drove off to Baton Rouge to spend the night at uno and John's.

Perhaps you were wondering about all the pictures of the city that I was going to post?

Well. If you want to see pics, go to nola.com, there are hundreds there. I just couldn't take many pics; it seemed like taking pictures of a gruesome car accident... and truly, the pictures just don't tell the story. You could sit in your chair and look at pictures of what New Orleans is now for eight hours straight and you still wouldn't have an idea of what it's truly like.

Below is a pic of Sammy trying to sort through some of his 22 years of collected stuff. It's taken from the street looking through the front door; he's in the second room.


This next pic is of the front of the house as I was getting ready to leave. The trash is piled up on the curb, but the pile would have been much bigger if they hadn't come by the day before with a Bobcat and a huge truck and carted off the first load. And most of the furniture is still inside. Sammy's standing there and just to his left, you can make out the spray painted cross on the house; the zero in the upper left means that there were no bodies found in the house.


The picture at the top of this entry shows the dead fridge's that dot every neighborhood. "TFC" stands for "tetroflourocarbons" I think, a clue for those who are trying to recycle this Everest of trash. The other writing is of unknown origin; we certainly didn't write it.

Let me try to put this in perspective...

Where my place was is considered a "good area with little damage" and by comparison to a lot of the city, it is. Ten to twenty blocks to the east of where I lived, the damage is fairly bad, and beyond that, the destruction is almost total for maybe twenty miles. Almost everything north of the city, between I-10 and the lake is severly damaged or totally destroyed. When you drive down I-10 east at night, the city and the French Quarter is mostly lit up, but to your left, it is totally dark; between I-10 and the lake, nothing. Uptown and the Garden District is another area that is considered "relatively undamaged". Still, there is little commercial activity since most of the stores were damaged and looted. And as you travel along the streets, some things look normal and then you see an old four story commercial building collapsed or a huge old mansion burned. You know, I didn't even go to the parts of the city that were "severely damaged"; I saw a little of that in Metarie. I didn't wan't to see more.

It's hard to say at any given moment, but maybe 35 or 40% of the city has electricity and gas everywhere. When you take a shower, the water burns your eyes because it is so heavily chlorinated. There always seems to be a smell of some sort where ever you go; sometimes is just there in the background, other times it's strong and offensive.

People are tired and stressed. Those that have a place to live and work are dealing with an enormous load. Nerves are frayed and you can feel it in the air, part of that background.

At a time when the politicians of the city should be rising to the ocassion, they seem to be sinking into the muck; fighting over the scraps and pandering to what they hope is left of their constituancies. The city is broke, the state is broke and there is almost no tax revenue coming in. Charity Hospital, the only hospital in the state right now that could possibly set up a "trauma one" center will be out of money by mid-December and if there is no influx of cash, they will cease operations. The next convention scheduled for New Orleans is for April 2006; the revenue lost from this last September until next April is probably about six billion dollars. Businesses have left the city; the tax burden is less in other places and the cost of energy is going to climb in order to pay for the rebuilding of the energy services. There aren't enough workers in the city to get everything done and there aren't enough places for them to live or the services to support them.

The list goes on and on. The problems for the city are incredibly complex and they won't be solved anytime soon. This disaster totally eclipses anything that any area of this country has ever had to deal with before and so far, the resources to do so are very thin on the ground.

I think that the city has to survive somehow and I think it will, it's just going to be a mess for so many years. It's very sad; this city that I loved for so long is so damaged right now... so why don't I want to be there to help rebuild it?

I lived in New Orleans for thirty years and many, well most of them were wonderful, but the last ten years or so haven't been the same. A large part of what I was in love with about the city has been gone for some time now; maybe in ten years or so, New Orleans will be a lot like the city I found when I first came to live there, but there's the rub. All those years have gone by, I don't have a decade left extra to wait for things to come around.

It's something that I've been feeling for a while now; you know it if you have been reading this journal over the years. It's time to push off and see what else there is.

durlx