Jack, Santa Cruz and me

Like quite a few guys I'd gone through a Jack Kerouac stage in my early 20's, novels such as 'On the Road', 'Lonesome Traveller' and 'The Dharma Bums' with their ingredients of hard drinking, travel, striking out in the world on your own, fast driving, wild music and beat poetry, it's easy to see why they appealed. I devoured all the Kerouac books and even moved on in desperation to the selected letters once I'd exhausted his novels, something only matched by the earlier Che Guevara phase. 


So it was through Kerouac and his novel 'Big Sur' that I first became aware of the stretch of forest and coastline between Cambria and Monterey that is now regarded as one of the finest coastal drives in the world with its high cliffs, shoreline forest and winding roads. My hazy memory of the Big Sur novel is that Kerouac borders on insanity while spending time on his own in the Big Sur forest, drinks a lot and refuses to jump into a hot tub of floating sperm, fair enough.

Big Sur drive

So I approached the drive with much anticipation (floating sperm excluded), and liked it and was impressed, but I'd seen similar, although not quite as spectacular coastline on the drive on Highway 1 north of San Francisco. The main difference being on one road I had almost the road to myself, the other I was part of a long chain of cars 'doing' the Big Sur drive. After pulling over for a few forest walks I continued on up Highway 1 to Santa Cruz for the evening.


Santa Cruz is described as the place where Southern California and Northern California cultures meet. It's a surfing town, but is only 60 miles from San Francisco, and the water, as I found out, is very cold. I spent a night in Santa Cruz and then two in the Pigeon Point Hostel 30 miles or so up the road. Santa Cruz has a great surf museum inside it's lighthouse that documents it as being the first place on the US mainland where surfing occurred in 1885 after three Hawaiian princes who were stationed nearby surfed the river mouth. 

Pleasure Point Line Up @ Santa Cruz

Given the historic significance of the location I hired a board and paddled into the line up for a very pleasant afternoon out at Pleasure Point. Showering at the beach and changing from boardies,  I then donned a shirt and jeans for dinner with Allan Hoover, the ex President's grand nephew, and his wife who'd I'd met in Mendocino weeks earlier.  

Pigeon Point Hostel

Californian Pigeon?

Allan and Suzanne live on a property overlooking a golf course on the outskirts of Santa Cruz. The house is piled high with books on all sorts of subjects and a over a home cooked meal (a rare and appreciated treat at the moment) and milk we discussed for various aspects of Allan's career as an aeronautical engineer for NASA and the US military, the state of the US and the rise of China. A common theme that has arisen through my travels is the almost sombre mood of Americans regarding the state of their economy at the moment. I almost want to grab their cheeks and tell them it's not all bad, but I suspect it may be.


Saying my farewells I drove madly through the night back up the coast to my Pigeon Point Hostel where I'd booked a 10pm steaming hot tub, perched precariously on the ocean, open to the freezing wind coming off the sea. Hot tubs have to be done in pairs for some reason and I was partnered with a guy who's name I no longer remember but we'll call him 'Bob', who was a portly train driver from Orange County and regaled me with tales of entering the first class cabin, the proximity of hostels to mainline stations across the US and several times, that he wished I was a girl. Sadly for Bob I'm not, but that not withstanding it was an apt way to end a highly varied afternoon.

I also managed to pick up a pair of hiking hitchers who've written me a very nice Couch Surfing reference as a thank you. 

Rob rescued my girlfriend and I off the side of the road on the California coast. Nice guy and good conversation. Happy travels!!!

I'd like to say couches here I come, but Brazil and the Rio Earth Summit is looming on the horizon, and as my inbox will testify to due to the number of side event invites I've received it's likely to be a very busy and structured time while I'm there, and the couches will have to wait for now.