Central Coast Meet-Up (Part Three)

So after I left the Avila Beach after saying good-bye to Gary I drove to Morro Rock to look around. I hadn't been there since a trip at nineteen with relatives. I enjoyed the foggy nature of the place. You could hardly see the towers of the power plant... The rock was invisible from the highway and although it wasn't cold, it was much cooler than Avila Beach.

I didn't stick around, I wasn't hungry for a meal at a restaurant and the shops were all tourist type places. I don't need more junk (or as my brother calls it, "Automatic Dust Collectors")

I then went back to San Luis Obispo and there I saw "The Madonna Inn" and I had to stop. It is sooooooo famous for its theme-park hotel rooms like the Tarzan Room and the famous lobby men's room which has the waterfall urinal. I had to see that urinal in person.

There it was in all its American Kitsch Splendor. I gave it a whirl... WATERFALL! So cute!

This sort of stuff proves that Americans are suffering from the second curse of mankind (getting what you want). Anyway, with bladder empty and a need for some relaxation I headed to Sharkey's house where I was just bedding down in my car for a mid-day kip when Sharkey came out. He and Janis had gotten there just before I did (I didn't expect them for awhile as we were supposed to meet at his house around 4 PM). So instead I went inside and sat on his futon sofa and stared at his artwork. Sharkey is great. Nice guy, good artist, excellent bartender. I kept him company while he got the Mojitos ready for the others and then enjoyed a really excellent drink from Sharkey's hand.

Everybody else showed up and we drank our wonderful drinks while Justine regaled us with her rendition of the "Avila Beach Dog Massacree" complete with a really funny impression of the redoubtable "Barney Fife Deputy Dawg" who had been so helpful in making sure that the world is safe for puppydogs everywhere.

Scott is usually the one on the web most of the time (I'm sure Justine has important things to do like raise two children and take care of Scott) but I really feel that any woman with her sense of humor needs to spend more time on the RadioParadise boards. She's a jewel!

How an ugly guy like Scott got a woman like that and then managed to produce two wonderful children is a mystery of nature... (jess keedin' Scott)

Once the afternoon cocktails were drunk, off we went in caravan string of cars to view the mural at the hospital which Sharkey worked on and finished the work of. Doctor Seagull appeared for a few minutes... just long enough to take over my body and force me to park in the doctor's parking zone. He's such a trouble-maker! At least this time I didn't wake up with Crisco all over my body.

The mural is beautiful! It is much prettier in person than the pictures on the web which Kris posted. It is truly beautiful (except for the rocks which look like potatoes) and I think Sharkey is a wonderful man to have labored so hard to complete it.

Abhijit took a group picture of us and then I split off from the group who was going downtown for the Farmer's Market. I was too tired for more, I needed to get into bed and I had a long drive back to Scummyvale, CA. For a story of what happened at the Farmer's Market (I understand the RGJ13 made an appearance) you'll have to talk to someone else.

I jumped in the car with a bag of granola and three liters of water and drove BACK UP the Cuesta Pass, into the headlands of the Salinas Valley and North on 101 to the Bay Area. Long drive. Left SLO about 5:45 PM and rolled into Sunnyvale about 9:30 PM... about four hours and some serious white-line fever.

I am currently recouperating from the fun. Lots of tuna sandwiches and sleep...

Yer Phaythful Correspondent!

Samiyam