"Do you know the way to San Jose?"

Given a preference, I like places with less people, less traffic, and where I can see a ways. Life seems easier. The trade-off is a lack of convenience and company!

I have stayed two nights with good friends in San Jose. They have remodeled their three bedroom ranch and the results are excellent, but they still have a way to go with landscaping and decorating. I helped a little in the laying of a foundation for a front porch. With three kids, life is busy. I went to see a two of the three kids play baseball. The younger played a t-ball version with suitable rule changes to accommodate their beginning athlete status. The older ten year old plays a pretty interesting game. I sat on the wooded bleachers in the California sun and enjoyed myself at yet another thing I have not done in a very long time.

The neighborhood in San Jose is filled with the most gorgeous roses. The walk to the elementary school goes past front yards with gigantic blooms of red, white and pink and the greenest grass I have seen in a long long time. And in the rest of the spacesfare more flowers of many colors.

We hiked a portion of Quicksilver, a trail that took us above San Jose along a narrow clay packed path surrounded by wildflowers and poison ivy!

We ate artichokes and beef tacos for dinner.

It is all fun. I go to bed exhausted every night, adjusting to new surroundings, waking up early and wondering what the day will be like. There really is something new and different each day to experience. I find that I don't really have time to relax. I figure that I will learn how to relax on the road or be really glad to get home when the time comes.

Today I am off to Benicia, a community east of San Francisco to stay for a couple of days with a dear girlfriend and her husband, both of whom I knew in high school. From there I will continue north to Seattle.

I hope you are having your own kind of fun.