9/26/2006

Well I went to the coast finally. It takes 5 hours to get from Phoenix to LA, 357 miles. It took the same amount of time to get from Chico to Eureka, 280 miles. The reason is the terrain - mountains the whole way.

And along that mountain road the dogs and I very nearly met our end. We come around a corner, with the Trinity River canyon on the left and a mountain on the right. I look ahead and see 2 cars coming our way and one is in our lane. It's a jeep cherokee making a pass, but he's way too close and as he sees me he oversteers and starts to turn sideways. I aim as far to the right as I can without insuring my own crash, about half on the road and half on the gravel shoulder. My back end starts to slide out on the gravel, I countersteer and the car magically rights itself. Somewhere in that same instant the jeep rights itself and finds an angle between us and the other car. It was a blur as they say, and I was not so much relieved as surprised when my mind caught up enough to realize we didn't hit.

I got a little religious at that point. I mean, the sight of that jeep's tail coming out... it was going to roll, no doubt in my mind.