The train station in San Luis Obispo
Talk about one pretty train ride. Going out of L.A. the train went through La La Land, just on and on, and then the west side of the train becomes prime ocean viewing seating. The train tracks were nestled between the Pacific Ocean, and Highway 1. As I thought of how everyone knows that California will one day fall in the ocean, I could only hope that today wasn’t that day. The pending earthquake could just wait, right?! Right? We loved the view, in and out of the fog, this was a train ride spent entirely in the viewing car. The tracks were bumpy, and the lady on the intercom suggested we go over the Emergency Instruction card, that on this particular route it was important to be prepared, which didn’t exactly ease my mind. But it did prepare me for some jerky train riding, and I didn’t park my coffee near my electronics. From L.A. to San Luis Obispo takes about 7 hours, and we got to the station in SLO on time.
Back in the day, the summer I turned 25 (1998) I took a job at a summer camp in Nevada City, California. I had driven through the town, which was incredibly cute with that old mining town touch, and met a person who turned me on to the amazing opportunity to wash dishes for hundreds of kids. Well, obviously that was a pretty poor career choice, but what made the summer worthwhile was the people, and in particular, my boss Renee. She was not only a fabulous cook, which made working in the kitchen fun, but a wonderful person, who helped launch my hungry brain onto the next level. Whatever that means. Renee was a single mother of two great kids, Essie and Ginnie. Yep, they were youngens, and all us camp counselors (ok, dishwashers) really loved them. Yes, time marches forward, and Ginnie and Essie are now real adults, like all grown up and EVERYTHING!
Ginnie and Essie, all grown up.
And they lived in SLO. 18 minus 12 equals 6. So they were 6 and 8. And then after I met Zac and was married we went through Nevada City for a quick visit, and they were maybe 10 and 12. And now they are 18 and 21. It was amazing to see them! What great people they have become, and I am so glad that someone in this world has their act together, so that when your itinerant musician friends come rambling through you have the resources to take care of them. Maybe it is good for young people of today to see exactly what can become of you when you don’t finish school. Maybe that has nothing to do with any of it! Yikes!
Ginnie and Essie met us at the train station, and it was such a big surprise to see them after so long. We crammed our luggage in Ginnie’s car, and walked back to their house.
We talked for a while, and then it was decided that Ginnie would indeed cook dinner, and we would all go our separate ways till then. I think Essie needed a nap, and we went to the park to run the kids and practice some tunes. We have learned the song “Dear Okie” by Doye O’dell, and since it is about California AND Arkansas, I figured we needed to get that in our set list and quick! We went to the park, and as usual, as soon as you start playing, all the homeless drunk guys hobble over and start heckling you and the california moms start gathering their children to leave. I have always known our music really was for people who are a little off kilter. Well, that just meant our kids got the playground to themselves.
Practice makes perfect.
We walked back to the house and had dinner, I stopped to get some wine, and jeez, you can’t beat the prices here. Two bottles=$6.50. And it wasn’t bad!! And two bottles of wine did the trick, and by 10 we were all fighting our yawns, and went to bed.
This morning I went through the pantry of real live college students to find something to feed the kids, and I realized not much has changed. Still Ramen Noodles are the food of choice, and pasta and condiments are the dominating food groups. We fed the kids, and then headed on to our lunchtime gig at Sally Loo’s.
Sally Loo, the dog, never even came in to hear our set.
Sally Loo’s is a cafe about 400 feet from the Amtrak Station. The cafe was well attended, and the famous dog, Sally Loo, sat sleepily on the sidewalk, wishing she had her own laptop. We met up with Jen, the owner, and she greeted us with coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. This place was good! There was a piano in the corner, and a great feel in the air (unless that was the wi-fi tickling my brain). We played about an hour, and the audience was super appreciative. It is always endless fodder to talk about Arkansas, it is a little bit of a mysterious otherworld to Californians. Arkansas? What? I don’t think people here spend too many brain cycles wondering what happens in Arkansas.
Even though we don't have a car, we can still get a flat on our luggage.
Essie, America, and us at the SLO Amtrak Station
We loitered in the cafe for a few more hours, waiting for our train. We broke a wheel on the luggage on the way to Sally Loo’s, so our big suitcase is now more of a dragging suitcase than rolling suitcase. Darn! I guess I’ll have to go thrift shopping in San Fran. Nothing worse than that!!!!! What torture.
Our friend Erin Bowley sent her friend Dale to come and see us, and she came and we made friends. And she brought two friends who also play the accordion, and we got to talk shop. I have to look up Accordion Apocalypse in San Francisco, and there is an accordion music festival (banish the thought!) that we will research. After we fully exploited Sally Loo’s generous offer of “we will feed you lunch” for four hours, we walked over to the train station, dragging and pulling our luggage and bode Essie farewell, and hopped on the train headed north for Oakland.
Vineyards, lavender farms, avocado groves, how can you blame people for wanting to be here?! The sights from the train are amazing. The hills never seem to calm down. Wouldn’t you imagine there would be somewhere flat in California? I’ll let you know if I see it.
Leaving SLO, the train about curved back on itself. You could see the front and the back of the train at the same time-WO!