On the pier

The pier at Huntington is interesting, with lots of people fishing and helpful signs all over the place. John and Elias had plenty to talk about -- including their long-time interests in the Middle East. I may have known Elias for almost 40 years, but John has only just met him.

Huntington Beach

Usually when we visit Elias and Jessica, we spend time at Seal Beach, but this year we diverted to Huntington Beach. It´s not far from where Jessica teaches kindergarten, and it´s got a very pretty shoreline.

Figuring out the blog

I´m beginning to figure out how to control these posts.
No more long ones with several photos. I´ll keep them short and a photo each and see how that works. Right now I don´t have my photos handy, so be patient for a day or two.

More California Dreaming

You must be wondering when we're getting on that darned truck -- in a few weeks, I promise. But if I'm going to keep a real record of our trip, I need to include another stop for California fun. We caught up with Elias and his daughter, Jessica, in Cypress (near Anaheim). I've known Elias for almost 40 years and he's the ONLY person who still calls me Austin. That makes him pretty special in my book. He'll always be an important part of the Austin family.

Overdue news

Sorry for the silence. Haven't meant to ignore you, but I guess the stars were aligned badly for the commentary, internet and photos to come together. I'll do a quick installment tonight while I have a Mac connection (gosh, I miss my Mac), and then do more in the next day or two.

As already mentioned, we made a memorable stop in northern California. They couldn't contain us in Alcatraz, so we moseyed up to Mountain View by train (John was very pleased to get a senior's discount) to catch up with Nona and Brad. Together we cooked up a storm and then saw the sights around Mt. View, Half Moon Bay and the great Yosemite. 

Assuming that everything works, the pics here are of Alcatraz, Yosemite, Nona's gorgeous cats and whatever else appears. And then I'm going to bed. 

Out of Australia -- but not yet in Africa

It will be a few weeks before we reach Africa -- we meet the truck in Gibraltar on 11 March.

But we're doing a fine job entertaining ourselves along the way. First stop was San Francisco where we 'escaped' from Alcatraz and tramped all over the city. We even climbed Nob Hill. Trust me, it's steep. The Hotel Carlton on Sutter Street was a reasonably priced and conveniently located place to stay. Highly recommended. So is Scoma's Restaurant. Fisherman's Wharf is loaded with restaurants, so we asked a fisherman for some advice. 'Only Scoma's.' he said, and he was right.

Next stop was Mountain View, California -- home of Google as well as our welcoming hosts Nona (Rinshinomori) and Brad. Nona is a RecipeZaar buddy. We had a great time sharing duties in the kitchen and never ran out of things to talk and laugh about. Her recipes are sensational and her pets are terrific entertainment. Nona and Brad showed us some of the sights including a day in Yosemite. The weather was perfect -- in the low 70s in winter.

Here we are!