The last exploration of Road Trip 07 was the Golden Gate Bridge and the Muir Woods today. The Golden Gate Bridge is easy to take for granted until you see it again up close. It’s big, beautiful and functional. What more could you ask for? It’s the west coast’s answer to the Statue of Liberty and the gateway to a most magical city.

Even though you could easily spend a day hiking through the many trails of the Marin Headlands, Scott and I made our way north. Named after John Muir, one of the earliest and certainly the most famous of the preservationists, Muir Woods is a sanctuary of forest that was spared the gold rush logging of the late 1800’s due to its inaccessibility. Incidentally, John Muir worked as a sheepherder in the Sierras where he explored the wonders of Yosemite. I have to wonder what other wonders he may have discovered up on that mountain…

The word “magnificent” comes to mind when you walk through this lush wilderness. It’s hard to believe that from one seed these giant sequoia grow to such unparalleled heights; especially when you consider that it takes 10,000 of those seeds to make a single pound! Some of these trees are as old as the Christian calendar. Just thinking about a living thing standing proud for all that time just blows me away.

This trip has been more than just a tour through the National Park system and a leisurely move from my summer residence. It has been an educational and eye-opening journey that illustrated for me how we are a mere punctuation mark in the novel of time; that “our time” barely qualifies as a chapter in the insignificant segment of Earth’s history that our race has occupied. The wonders that Scott and I have witnessed and shared have been millions of years in the making and yet have been negatively impacted by mankind in a geological blink. I could get preachy on your asses, but instead I will simply say that Donna Summer’s disco classic “Macarthur Park” does a great job of describing our future if you think of our planet as a beautiful cake. And it is a most beautiful and unique cake, if you ask me.

I have fallen in love with this land of ours and my understanding of it and the respect that comes from that knowledge has changed me somehow. All of us need to gain some perspective, and I don’t mean just environmentally. Even if we aren’t activists or lobbyists or champions of change in our communities, we really need to step back and look at the bigger picture. I know it’s a cliché and of course the current administration wants you to keep on worrying about how to makes ends meet and nothing else, but even acknowledging that we are fucking ourselves and our future is a step in the right direction.

As for me, I will take it upon myself to commit time and resources to making changes in the way we interact with the planet. It isn’t difficult. There are groups out there busting their asses to create positive change and all I have to do is help. We used to smoke in bars and it seemed impossible to change that. And now? Well, that’s what patios are for.

Thanks Scott.

Half way through Nevada I had an intense craving for a Red Hook, a local brew here that is one of my favorites. So I put the pedal to the metal and went as fast as I could. After drinking 3 rather quickly I was ready for bed.

My friend Kevin, who was gracious enough to offer me lodging in the city once again, decided that we were going to get up early and hit the gym. This would be my first time picking up weights in about 3 weeks and I was so looking forward to it. At 7:30 we woke and I went out to check Milo and get the bagels that we had been traveling with to toast for breakfast. As I was walking up 14th St I noticed that there was a piece of paper on the street that had the listings for Sirius Radio. How odd I thought, I have Sirius Radio, and before I could begin to process this finding I looked in Milo’s cab to see the contents of the back in the front and the window in a thousand pieces. Yup, Milo had been violated!

My first thought was my father. You see, I had his ashes in a small urn in the suitcase that was now all over the truck. I had not gone through it enough to know what had been taken; it was a mess, an absolute mess. The though of my dad being gone, again, was enough to make me throw up. I then thought “good”, I hope they did take him because he is going to kick some serious ass from the spirit world and make their crack-head lives miserable.

They left dad and oddly enough left the radio face, my Sirius transmitter and everything else. They sifted through everything and made a serious mess, but the only thing they took was my change, my sunglasses and my headset. Kevin said that this sort of thing is typical; they are junkies looking for money. They also took my back pack after displacing the contents. I guess mine was the first stop on a smash spree and they needed a shopping bag. I loved that bag. But it could have been so much worse and I am really glad it went down this way.

I have a cover that locks so I can keep all my shit in the bed and one of the latches broke in Death Valley. There was still the one working on the other side, but a couple strong lifts and tugs could have easily broken it open. We debated whether or not to fix it then or wait till the next morning in San Fran. We opted for a stop at Home Depot in Carson City and Scott, thank god, was able to make the repair. I cannot even begin to think of what may have happened if we didn’t take care of that.

Petty looting aside, it’s great to be back in San Francisco. Aside from being a little shaken, Milo was OK. I was truly lucky, dad was watching out for us I’m sure.

Scott and I left Cleveland with a tearful goodbye preceded by a wonderful dinner the night before with my sister, brother, mother, two best friends and favorite cousins. The event was created and operated by Ma H, the evening was so much fun! Although, there was an eerie theme running through the night.

As soon as Aimie walked into the house she and my mother embraced in a tear soaked hug that made me feel like someone had died. My mother then put on my “Moving Into Light” video on the TV. (Scott gave it to her on DVD) When the DVD stopped the came up with an image of me moving around above my initials. It made me think of a high tech funeral.

Over to one side was a cocktail table with a picture of me that Scott took in Joshua Tree and a small floral arrangement complete with a lit candle. Get the drift?

I joked to my sister later that I felt like we were at my wake. We laughed really hard because it did look that way at that time.

After dinner I turned the TV off and blew out the candle.

The first stop on our trip was Tennessee where we hoped to score a hike in the world’s largest known underground cave system, the Mammoth Caves. A little ill prepared we pulled into the park just as our shuttle bus was leaving; we literally pulled right behind it as I joked that it would be funny if that was actually our bus. Although we did not have our ideal afternoon, we had a great time exploring the grounds and making our own fun. Next time for the caves at Carlsbad we are going to call ahead to get times, locations and schedules.

The last couple of days have been filled with laughter and good memories. I bought Aimie an iPod and spent the day at her house with a friend of ours Kellie, drinking Dortmunder and enjoying an impromptu dinner that I whipped up; sautéed shrimp and Quinoa with sautéed celery, grape tomatoes and celery leaf chiffonade. After dinner I spent an hour filling half of her computer’s memory with my music. After that ordeal and about 3 more beers we thought it time to take some shots for the photo album. And the blog, of course.

Today I picked up Scott from the airport. I took him to a place that Aimie introduced me to called Bar Louie. Tonight they were offering $1 burgers and $2 Great Lakes Beer (Dortmunder!!!!) and I thought I would invite Aimie, Kellie and Ma H for a fun night on me; it would be a cheap date.

I LUHUV Black and Tans so I was salivating to say the least; Black and Tans are Bass or Dortmunder Ale with a top float of Guinness. I thought that because the beers were composed of mostly Great Lakes that it would be 2 bucks, but when the bill came and it was nearly $100! I looked and saw that I was charged the full price of a Black and Tan. Oh well. I’ll know better next time. Anyway, it was money well spent and the burgers were half way decent, too.

I had the best time. I love beer. I love burgers and I love hanging out with these guys.

I wonder how long it will take me this year to remember to head everything with 2007? I usually get it within the first two months or so.

For the start of 07 I took Aimie to an old stomping ground of ours called the Grid, not before a couple local brews at my house. This was my first gay bar back when I was 17. Although the location has changed the name and staff still remain the same reminding of a simpler but still complicated time long before Johnny Hazzard came to be.

The music was circa 2000, but that didn’t seem to bother anybody, Aimie included. At midnight the bar dropped about a ton of confetti onto the dance floor. This pleased Aimie greatly as she shook her fists and shouted, “I love this!” Glitter, balloons and confetti are not the norm in straight bars. Only with the homosexuals can you experience such a time. I am still finding shimmering shards of confetti in my hair.

I rolled in at around 7am New Years Day, (none of your business) caught a couple hours of restless tossing and turning and began the first day of the new year helping ma with dinner. She decided to put on dinner for 25 members of our family. I am always amazed at how much prep time and work goes into an event that lasts only 4 hours. People arrived at 3 and at 6, when I looked at the clock I was shocked as I thought it had to be at least 8.

It went exceptionally well and I was also amazed at how much I did not eat. I spent so much time doing coats, getting drinks, being social, helping with little things that once it came time to eat I enjoyed the opportunity to sit still; it wasn’t until about 9 when I felt hungry and had some of the left-overs.

Today is Ma H’s birthday. I bought her a new receiver for her truck that will play CD-Rs and took her to lunch where I surprised her with Richard and Paul, two old fiends of mine. Ma befriended them both when we waited tables in Cleveland and grew quite close to them.

Right now I am toasting barley for dinner. Today is ma’s day to relax from the kitchen. I am doing dinner for my brother, sisters and the birthday girl. I do not think that I have included any pictures of my siblings so allow me to introduce them: the one with glasses is my sister, Karen, followed by Patti and the youngest of the bunch, Carmen.