Josh emails: I woke Elise* at 4 am. I turned on the light. I said, "Let's get up. We're going."
"You're crazy if you think can get me out of bed at this time," she said.
I took a cold shower, brushed my teeth, took my vitamins, munched some greens, swallowed some energy chews. I pushed her into the shower.
We hit the road at 4:30 am. I needed her guidance on the road. I was taking the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and somehow we ended up on the 118 East. Not helpful.
She got me back on the right track. Lost 20 minutes.
She may have saved my life. I passed someone driving north on the PCH. With traffic coming right for me, I did not realize I was in the wrong lane. She pushed me back to the right one. Thank you!
After Santa Barbara, she picked up the video camera when I asked and interviewed me for my blog.
We had our only tiff in Morrow Bay. She wanted to walk around the town. She'd stayed here several times. I wanted to push on for Big Sur.
I eventually went along with what she wanted when she made clear that it was looking like we couldn't travel together.
She thought I was crazy wanting to get to Big Sur but I insisted.
We hit it 30 minutes after Morrow Bar. What a gorgeous drive.
We drove to a secluded spot. We parked. We walked through the trees to the cliff. We look out at the ocean and up at the sky and we felt very close.
We took pictures.
She told me a story about me brutally seducing an Orthodox virgin in a long dress. She has such an imagination. She knows how to excite me.
Her openness and her words and her sighs and her expressions and her intense emotions and passionate presentness drive me wild. She is the greatest girl.
We drove on and had lunch on another cliff.
We drove on to Big Sur National Park. She had never been this far north. I made her scream my name.
We hiked for an hour.
Then I insisted we head for Monterey.
She had never been to Monterey. I wanted her to experience some first. I wanted to show her how exciting and creative I am.
We arrived at 4pm. I had coffee, my first coffee in about a year. I needed the pep for the long drive home.
We had an hour of daylight to show her my old stomping grounds. We walked past the Monterey Convention Center, the site of my father's evangelical swings in 1980 and 1981.
We walked past Fisherman's Wharf to Cannery Row. We paused for rest beside an expensive wedding and looked out at the ocean in the dying sun.
By 6pm, we were 340 miles north of Los Angeles. We were finally heading south on the 101.
We could breathe.
Elisa checked her cell phone.
"I got a text from Vikki*," she says.
The name sends shivers up my spine. She's left me twice to hook up with Nikki. It's the keenest pain.
"She wants to know if I want to play this week," she says.
"Do you?" I ask.
She's silent.
"I repeat my question."
"I'm with you now," she says. "I won't play with her this week."
Five minutes later, she says, "I'm sorry. As soon as I mentioned Nikki's text, I felt in my chest that what I was doing was wrong."
I couldn't fight back. I had 340 miles to cover. The 101 South at night was a difficult drive. I fought the road, enlivened by the exciting Dallas-Philadelphia game on the radio.
We'd had our greatest day ever and yet she remained contemptuous.
I stayed poised. I know there's a girl out there for me.
Nov. 10. My six-day driving gig has ended. That postpones my financial demise for two weeks. I'm glad to be making and posting videos again. I have such a full life. I have a Netflix subscription, Judaism, Alexander Technique teacher training, dating, blogging, therapy, Dennis Prager's radio show, a social life, reading, the attractions of California, yoga, meditation. I am opening up my heart. I am connecting more.
Read On
