The Journey Continues
Leg 3 - Moving North
Leg 3 - Moving North
October 24, 2007
I’ve always said I was going to Sonoma. That was a lie and I knew it. But I said it because most of you have at least heard of Sonoma and have a general idea where it is. If I said Rohnert Park I’d have had to explain.
So, I’m actually in Rohnert Park. Sonoma State University, site of my tennis tournament this weekend, is also in Rohnert Park. Sonoma is around 20 miles to my Southeast.
The drive from Santa Cruz was fine. No adventures. I took Highway 1, hugging the coast. It’s 2 lanes and narrow, but not nearly as steep nor curvy as it is between Cambria and Big Sur or Big Sur to Santa Cruz.
On my son-in-law, Brian’s, suggestion, I was looking for a famous surf spot, Mavericks, in or around Half Moon Bay. Somehow I missed it. There were no big signs or anything. And, I didn’t stop to ask. Besides, the sea was very flat everywhere I could catch a glimpse of it. So I guess Mavericks is an experience I’ll have to save for another day.
Got a couple of pics from the road – one hand on the camera and one on the wheel -- that aren’t too terrible.
So, I’m actually in Rohnert Park. Sonoma State University, site of my tennis tournament this weekend, is also in Rohnert Park. Sonoma is around 20 miles to my Southeast.
The drive from Santa Cruz was fine. No adventures. I took Highway 1, hugging the coast. It’s 2 lanes and narrow, but not nearly as steep nor curvy as it is between Cambria and Big Sur or Big Sur to Santa Cruz.
On my son-in-law, Brian’s, suggestion, I was looking for a famous surf spot, Mavericks, in or around Half Moon Bay. Somehow I missed it. There were no big signs or anything. And, I didn’t stop to ask. Besides, the sea was very flat everywhere I could catch a glimpse of it. So I guess Mavericks is an experience I’ll have to save for another day.
Got a couple of pics from the road – one hand on the camera and one on the wheel -- that aren’t too terrible.
(I sort of have a thing for light houses and, had I not had a lot to do other than sightsee, I'd have stopped to explore this one. There was also a student hostel associated with this light house which gave it double appeal - another day, I guess.)
(Just a coastline shot coming up on Half Moon Bay.)
(And, I believe it's illegal to drive across the Golden Gate bridge without taking some sort of picture.)
Notice how blue the sky is in all of the pictures from Santa Cruz and these? I am fully prepared for cold, foggy, overcast, drizzly, dreary weather. Good gosh, it's the end of October in Northern Cal. When I got here yesterday it was about 90. Shorts and flip flops rule the day.
The RV Park I’m at, Wine Country RV Park, is really sparse. It’s basically just a place to park with no character at all. And the spaces are so small there’s not even a picnic table nor room for one. This is the first of many, many RV parks I’ve been in that didn’t provide at least a picnic table. So where do you set up your bbq?
I’ll get a pic of my spot later.
The RV Park I’m at, Wine Country RV Park, is really sparse. It’s basically just a place to park with no character at all. And the spaces are so small there’s not even a picnic table nor room for one. This is the first of many, many RV parks I’ve been in that didn’t provide at least a picnic table. So where do you set up your bbq?
I’ll get a pic of my spot later.
October 25, 2007 – Rohnert Park, CA
It was HOT again yesterday.
Worked basically all day with a break to find a grocery store....meaning a little motorcycle exploration around the area. It’s very pretty here. Quite pleasant.
Tuesday night (the night I got here) I went over to a public park that’s just around the corner from the RV Park where there are 8 lighted tennis courts to see if I could find someone to hit with. No luck, except I found a teaching pro giving a lesson and so asked him for advice. His name’s Harvey. Harvey took my number, said he knew a couple of guys who might like to work out, and said he’d give them my number.
So yesterday Harvey called and invited me into a doubles game with him and a couple of others.
Beautiful day. Nice doubles. Close all around except for the one set where my partner and I got bageled. I won’t say which one of the guys I was playing with when we were totally and completely humiliated 6-0. I don’t mind embarrassing myself, but I’d hate to rain down humiliation, right here in public all over the Internet, on Harvey, so I won’t mention any names.
Anyway, here are the guys. Note the trees, the colors, and the bright blue sky in the background. What a day!
(Left to Right: Banda Bill – He took the last bandana off for the picture, but Bandana Bill had a variety of color coordinated bandanas that he wore a la David Nalbandian style. Confessed that how you look is way more important than how you play. Street Clothes Steve – Steve came out in street clothes with hard shoes. I confess I’ve never actually experienced this before. I think it was just his way of saying, "I’m so darned good, I can beat you schmoes without even bothering to put on tennis shoes." And, finally, Used to Be Harvey – Used to be able to jump, used to be able to move back better, used to....well, you get the idea. Good players all and a lot of fun. Thanks for the game, gentlemen. I hope we get to do it again someday.)
It was HOT again yesterday.
Worked basically all day with a break to find a grocery store....meaning a little motorcycle exploration around the area. It’s very pretty here. Quite pleasant.
Tuesday night (the night I got here) I went over to a public park that’s just around the corner from the RV Park where there are 8 lighted tennis courts to see if I could find someone to hit with. No luck, except I found a teaching pro giving a lesson and so asked him for advice. His name’s Harvey. Harvey took my number, said he knew a couple of guys who might like to work out, and said he’d give them my number.
So yesterday Harvey called and invited me into a doubles game with him and a couple of others.
Beautiful day. Nice doubles. Close all around except for the one set where my partner and I got bageled. I won’t say which one of the guys I was playing with when we were totally and completely humiliated 6-0. I don’t mind embarrassing myself, but I’d hate to rain down humiliation, right here in public all over the Internet, on Harvey, so I won’t mention any names.
Anyway, here are the guys. Note the trees, the colors, and the bright blue sky in the background. What a day!
(Left to Right: Banda Bill – He took the last bandana off for the picture, but Bandana Bill had a variety of color coordinated bandanas that he wore a la David Nalbandian style. Confessed that how you look is way more important than how you play. Street Clothes Steve – Steve came out in street clothes with hard shoes. I confess I’ve never actually experienced this before. I think it was just his way of saying, "I’m so darned good, I can beat you schmoes without even bothering to put on tennis shoes." And, finally, Used to Be Harvey – Used to be able to jump, used to be able to move back better, used to....well, you get the idea. Good players all and a lot of fun. Thanks for the game, gentlemen. I hope we get to do it again someday.)
Friday, October 26, 2007 – Nothing Happening in Rohnert Park
Yesterday I did nothing but work related EXCEPT....
Got a tennis racket strung.
I know that’s not exactly News Worthy or Blog Worthy EXCEPT....
It goes to show you how little things can become big things when you’re on the road.
On Wednesday I broke a string while playing tennis with I Used To Be Harvey, Street Clothes Steve, and Bandana Bill.
Asked where I could get a quick string job done.
Was told the closest place is Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa? How the heck far away is that? That’s a good piece up the road, not just down the block.
Yesterday morning I called “The Competitor” in Santa Rosa to make sure they could get the job done overnight (many stringing places are 2 to 5 days) and they said yes. So I headed up there, not realizing when I started it was going to take about ½ hour just to get there.
So I’m thinking ½ hour up and ½ hour back to drop off my racket and then Friday another ½ hour up and ½ hour back to pick up my racket and I’ve got a whole lot of time invested in this stringing job.
So when I got to The Competitor I schmoozed my butt off with the stringer to get him to give my racket priority and give me a “while you wait” string job. Since I’m a terrible schmoozer, the schmoozing wasn’t doing me much good. So I dropped the I Used To Be Harvey name. That didn’t seem to get me any mileage, either. What was left? I was forced to whine, cry, and beg.
That worked.
Got my racket strung in ½ hour.
The stringer said that they are probably the only stingers between San Francisco and Oregon anywhere out close to the coast. Amazing when you’re used to a tennis shop, pro shop, or something everywhere you turn.
So, you take your little adventures where you can find them. And, deal with the frustrations.
I was going to go out and get a hit in today, but honestly, my strained groin and that weird hip thing are not doing very well. In retrospect I shouldn’t have gone out and hit on Wednesday. I tried to not run much and to protect the injuries, but they surely didn’t get any better. So I spent all day yesterday with ice and Aleve and am doing the same today. Hopefully I’ll be able to move around the court for my match tomorrow morning.
We’ll see.
Yesterday I did nothing but work related EXCEPT....
Got a tennis racket strung.
I know that’s not exactly News Worthy or Blog Worthy EXCEPT....
It goes to show you how little things can become big things when you’re on the road.
On Wednesday I broke a string while playing tennis with I Used To Be Harvey, Street Clothes Steve, and Bandana Bill.
Asked where I could get a quick string job done.
Was told the closest place is Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa? How the heck far away is that? That’s a good piece up the road, not just down the block.
Yesterday morning I called “The Competitor” in Santa Rosa to make sure they could get the job done overnight (many stringing places are 2 to 5 days) and they said yes. So I headed up there, not realizing when I started it was going to take about ½ hour just to get there.
So I’m thinking ½ hour up and ½ hour back to drop off my racket and then Friday another ½ hour up and ½ hour back to pick up my racket and I’ve got a whole lot of time invested in this stringing job.
So when I got to The Competitor I schmoozed my butt off with the stringer to get him to give my racket priority and give me a “while you wait” string job. Since I’m a terrible schmoozer, the schmoozing wasn’t doing me much good. So I dropped the I Used To Be Harvey name. That didn’t seem to get me any mileage, either. What was left? I was forced to whine, cry, and beg.
That worked.
Got my racket strung in ½ hour.
The stringer said that they are probably the only stingers between San Francisco and Oregon anywhere out close to the coast. Amazing when you’re used to a tennis shop, pro shop, or something everywhere you turn.
So, you take your little adventures where you can find them. And, deal with the frustrations.
I was going to go out and get a hit in today, but honestly, my strained groin and that weird hip thing are not doing very well. In retrospect I shouldn’t have gone out and hit on Wednesday. I tried to not run much and to protect the injuries, but they surely didn’t get any better. So I spent all day yesterday with ice and Aleve and am doing the same today. Hopefully I’ll be able to move around the court for my match tomorrow morning.
We’ll see.
October 27, 2007 – Saturday
My first round at the Sonoma State Tournament was at 10:30.
It was cold this morning – mid 40’s plus damp and foggy and overcast. Like you’d expect in Northern California at the end of October.
The Campus is nice....small....nothing to write home about. They only have around 8,000 students I was told. (I think Golden West Community College has close to twice that.)
The campus is only 5 minutes from my RV Park. I bundled up and played my match without taking off my warm-up pants or sweat shirt. If I could have held my racket with my gloves on, I would have been wearing them, too. I did remove my warm-up jacket about ½ was through the second set.
I played a really old guy (40), Ben. Big guy. Made me feel like a midget. Huge serve (1st & 2nd) and huge forehand. Plus a very solid backhand...just not quite as huge as his forehand. Really a nice guy and we had a whale of a good and very fun match.
He pummeled me with his power, but I made a few lucky shots at opportune times for me and he made a few unforced errors at inopportune times for him and I squeaked by 4 and 3. Whew!
Here’s Adidas Ben. I nicknamed him Adidas Ben because he was dressed head to toe in Adidas. I hope they’re paying him. Shirt, shorts, shoes, even his socks were Adidas. He looked sharp. I looked homeless. I don't have any tennis things that actually match.
My first round at the Sonoma State Tournament was at 10:30.
It was cold this morning – mid 40’s plus damp and foggy and overcast. Like you’d expect in Northern California at the end of October.
The Campus is nice....small....nothing to write home about. They only have around 8,000 students I was told. (I think Golden West Community College has close to twice that.)
The campus is only 5 minutes from my RV Park. I bundled up and played my match without taking off my warm-up pants or sweat shirt. If I could have held my racket with my gloves on, I would have been wearing them, too. I did remove my warm-up jacket about ½ was through the second set.
I played a really old guy (40), Ben. Big guy. Made me feel like a midget. Huge serve (1st & 2nd) and huge forehand. Plus a very solid backhand...just not quite as huge as his forehand. Really a nice guy and we had a whale of a good and very fun match.
He pummeled me with his power, but I made a few lucky shots at opportune times for me and he made a few unforced errors at inopportune times for him and I squeaked by 4 and 3. Whew!
Here’s Adidas Ben. I nicknamed him Adidas Ben because he was dressed head to toe in Adidas. I hope they’re paying him. Shirt, shorts, shoes, even his socks were Adidas. He looked sharp. I looked homeless. I don't have any tennis things that actually match.
Don’t think I did too much damage to the groin/hip situation, but I left quickly, came home, took an Aleve, made oatmeal, wrapped my groin in ice, and here I sit, eating, writing, and watching SC losing to Oregon 7-0.
Tomorrow I have an 8:00 match (that time typically favors my “morning” nature, but I expect it will be really cold and wet which doesn’t favor my Southern California nature).
Now get this. If I’m lucky enough to win, the next round is at 11:00. So whoever wins gets probably between and hour and an hour and a half between matches. Ah, I love a challenge.
Not sure what I’m going to do this afternoon. I have a lot of work related things I might dive into. I also have a publications called 101 Things To Do For The Sonoma Visitor. But, honestly, I’m not seeing even 1 thing of the 101 things in there that seems the least bit either interesting or fun, let alone both.
I asked both Ben and the tournament director what might be fun to do. Neither had a suggestion. I think everyone who comes up to this area comes so they can pretend they’re interested in wine (other than just guzzling it) and traipse around from one vineyard’s wine tasting room to the next to the next all day slowly, persistently, patiently getting drunk. (While still driving from one to the next, by the way. Think about this. They encourage you to DRIVE from one wine tasting room to the next. Does this make even the least amount of sense?) No one I’ve talked to about it had any suggestions other than wine tasting.
Not sure what I’m going to do this afternoon. I have a lot of work related things I might dive into. I also have a publications called 101 Things To Do For The Sonoma Visitor. But, honestly, I’m not seeing even 1 thing of the 101 things in there that seems the least bit either interesting or fun, let alone both.
I asked both Ben and the tournament director what might be fun to do. Neither had a suggestion. I think everyone who comes up to this area comes so they can pretend they’re interested in wine (other than just guzzling it) and traipse around from one vineyard’s wine tasting room to the next to the next all day slowly, persistently, patiently getting drunk. (While still driving from one to the next, by the way. Think about this. They encourage you to DRIVE from one wine tasting room to the next. Does this make even the least amount of sense?) No one I’ve talked to about it had any suggestions other than wine tasting.
At least that’s one activity I can eliminate from consideration.
October 28, 2007 – Let The Healing Begin....
It was cold this morning when I set out for my match. But not as wet as yesterday and the sky was clear.
At 8:00 I met Too Good Jeff.
After the warm up, I spent some time at the Sonoma State Tennis Courts watching tennis balls zip past me and saying, “That’s too good, Jeff. Nice shot.”
It was a long morning for such a short one.
Need I say more? He’s 24, already owns his own insurance agency, and is very nice and a very good player. The only negative thing I can say about Too Good Jeff is that he really didn’t show very much respect for his elders.
I GUARANTEE he’ll win this tournament. He’s just too good. Beat me 2 and 1. Haven’t been that beat up in a while.
Here’s Too Good Jeff:
Here’s the bright side. I’m out there at 8:00 AM on a totally beautiful, cold, clear morning, playing fairly respectable tennis against someone less than half my age and younger than both of my daughters, being destroyed, fully engaged, having an absolute blast, and loving every minute of it. Well, maybe not every minute. But all in all, I had a smile on my face and in my heart all morning.
I am so lucky/blessed to be able to do this. And the really great thing is that I recognize how lucky/blessed I am and I am, therefore, extraordinarily grateful. I savor every moment. I know this could all end in a heart beat...or the lack of a heart beat. So I aim to take advantage and keep my appreciation level high for as long as I can keep playing and keep competing.
After the match, I came back and cleaned up my Motor Home-Office stem to stern. Did some grocery shopping so I’m stocked up before I leave for the coast on Tuesday. Next to the grocery store I got sucked in to this place...
...and had a pork burrito for lunch. It was completely different, but almost as good, as Los Primos Cantina on 17th Street in Costa Mesa. And, so big I only ate about ½. And, it was only 5 bucks.
So if you ever find yourself in Rohnert Park and if you like Mexican Food, find this place. Next to Safeway.
Since I couldn’t find anything else interesting to do (and this will give you an idea of just how bleak the opportunities for finding something to do around here are), I then took my 7 iron (the only golf club I have left) and went to this funky driving range (no golf course or anything....just a driving range) and hit some balls for an hour or so. Off real grass. Second time in 5 or 6 years, I guess, that I hit a golf ball. Brian, my son-in-law, took me to his driving range just before I set out on my trip.
Since I don’t think I’ll find any tennis in my foreseeable future, the groin and hip (and all the other minor sore parts) go into rest and healing mode for a while. It's a necessity now. Sad, but true.
2 comments:
Hi dad,
Glad you won your match today! Maybe a snazzy tennis outfit for xmas would be a good gift! Well, we are home now and Brian is quite upset...to say the least about his Trojan loss, Blake is napping, and I am enjoying reading your blog. Good luck in your match tomorrow and if you win, good luck playing 2 matches in a short time. Don't stay up too late tonight (we know how much you love to do that) and get lots of rest!
We love you,
V
Hi dad,
I am just sitting here at work, reading your blog. Sounds like you are really getting some good tennis in, which I know you love! Great job in the tournament. Yesterday, I met Vanessa, Brian, and Blake for lunch in Dana Point and then we went to the pumpkin patch. Blakey was so cute! I think he thought all of the pumpkins were balls and the goats were dogs. We had a great time. Well, I love you so much and miss you like crazy. I hope your injuries are better.
Love,
Chel
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