San Francisco

Sitting tapping away at crud-filled keyboard in real rundown but uber-cool coffee bar on the corner of Polk and Sacramento, with verry cool jazz playing ... trying to catch up with this blog!

OK I've got 12 minutes left to catch up!!!

VANCOUVER - Monday: Went to Avis to collect the car ... "sorry we don't have any small cars (like you booked) can you come back tomorrow?" Uh! No! We ended up driving away in the BIGGEST thing you can find, a GMC Yukon SUV gas-guzzling monster ... took me a few hours to get used to the width and the length! Same price, so rather cool really, being that big and that comfy - just like 30 years ago we drove across the States in the BIGGEST Cadillac ...

SEATTLE - Monday: Picked up my guitar from Dusty Strings ... a great place, friendly, helpful. Big thanks to Rob and all the guys in the shop. Didn't get away until 6.00, though. Fremont's a nice side of town.

PORTLAND - Monday: Didn't get there until 10.00 at night ... pulled into the motel we had chosen, to find drug deals going on, drunk kids hanging around, dark side of Portland .. scary. Pulled out of there and didn't get into a motel until nearly 11.00 - but real nice friendly Quentin-Tarantino sound-alike called Jason at the Shilo Inn made us welcome and gave us "musician's rates"!!

PORTLAND - Tuesday shopping day. Wednesday set off at 7.30 in the morning heading South down Interstate 5. Stopped in Cottage Grove for coffee. Again, a bit of a nostalgia trip .. stayed in CG some 30 years ago. Back on I.5 headed South. Some time late breakfast stopped in a Gas Food Lodging for some gas and had brunch. Then ... on, on, on! Down through Shasta stopping in Weed (ah, because I just had to didn't I?) for a Subway sandwich.

NEVADA CITY - Wednesday: This can be the end of this short Blog - I mean, for the Road Trip Part One. After 12 hours driving we finally get to Nevada City (after a long drive down a great dusty back road through the olive groves going through Chico etc).
In Nevada City, luckily I decide that I NEED to drive down the Main Street before we go looking for a motel. And yes! right at the top of Broad Street we find a real nice motel called the Outside Inn, and they have one room left ... No. 6 at the end of the short row of rooms with it's own little patio with tables and chairs. I park the Monster Yukon right right outside.
We stroll down into town - do you know Nevada City? It's the sweetest little old Gold-mining town still looking like it did in 1900 apart from the odd T-shirted Harley Davidson bike rider or big pick-up truck chug-chug-chugging up that steep hill .. Have a good evening meal & a beer (or two) at Matteo's and tell them all to listen out for Kim Roger's show at 2.30 Thursday ...........