Podcast 561-Pacific Coast Highway

Podcast 561-Pacific Coast Highway. People have been asking for some ‘travel log’ podcasts from the Great Northwest Road Trip 2016 series, so in Podcast 561-Pacific Coast Highway, some travel log audio from Oregon’s coast during a storm, again the angry surf along the Pacific Coast Highway in California north of San Francisco. Most travel sites write about the Pacific Coast Highway south of San Francisco. On this trip I have driven Route 1, all the way from just south of Seattle, through San Francisco to Los Angeles right along the coast. What a long strange trip it’s been. Winding roads, crazy storms, spell binding coastal maritime towns and villages and breathtaking vistas coming down out of mountains. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe the experience of twisting and turning two lane roads in 16 year old Mobile Podcast Command laboring up and down, sometimes in brilliant sun and sometimes in the midst of fog, or heavy wind and rain, all under a full moon during these few days in the middle of October 2016. The biggest challenge has been getting out from under a series of storms that have pounded the west coast, from Seattle to San Francisco. In podcast 561 you’ll hear the wind and rain in Oregon, the surf in Northern California, and a little surprise at the end of the podcast for you midwesterners. I have often said long trips take on a personality of their own and you end up having to just go with the flow. Travelers who try to stick to a schedule, try to see too many things or get frustrated with the ‘trip’ are not good travelers. After thousands of miles through the mountains, plains and coastlines of the United States, I’ve learned to settle in for these long trips and just enjoy whatever goes down. This trip, the heavy rain and fog has been following me all down the coast, which has made it even more of an adventure. From pulling into state parks and RV-Parks in the middle of the night and hooking up to electric, to driving 8 to 15 hours at a time on the PCH, it’s been really fun and educational. If you’re looking for those romantic seaside towns tucked away along rocky coastlines, this is the place. There’s the reason they say ‘The West Is The Best’. Sponsored by Hydrus Performance.

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Podcast 357

Wyoming Breakout. Back home from Road Trip II, 2015. The story of the ‘breakout from Wyoming’, going up and down a big mountain in the middle of the spring snow storm, and outrunning the weather heading east. The objective? Don’t stop until warmer weather and or sunshine, whichever occurs first. In this case, it happened to be Sidney, Nebraska. Then, a day’s drive in the pouring rain through the Cornhusker State, onto Iowa for the final leg home from Des Moines to the Twin Cities. The Mobile Podcast Command Unit 8 performed brilliantly under varying conditions. Email from a listener introduced to us through a knock on the window of Unit 8 at midnight, behind a Casino. Plus some thoughts about the 2016 political cycle in the superb setting of the famous Nepenthe, located in the mountains of Big Sur, California, as we wait for a table, through the magic of audio podcasts. One of the things that kept coming up throughout the trip is this question of whether anyone who isn’t a political operative, or junkie, is paying attention to the cattle call of republican candidates, and the farce of democrat presidential candidates in the current time frame. Farmers let their fields lay fallow, so the soil isn’t fatigued. Creatives know sometimes you need to take a break in order to avoid burn out, writer’s block, and to get to the good stuff, creatively speaking. The media knows nothing of this, and continues to sift, and report and sift, and grind until there’s nothing left. What’s important right now isn’t personalities, the outrage of the day, or some expose. People need time to take a break from all the politics so they can actually do some internal thinking about the things that matter most to them. What are the overarching themes? Has any party developed an overall narrative that motivates real people to work and vote for the candidates? Does the candidate him or herself even matter? We’re not hearing those themes. We’re hearing what this one said about that one and how this one is getting more contributions, and the other one looks good or bad. The most divisive institution in American politics is not Congress, it’s the media. Can people tune it out? Sitting in the beautiful sunshine of Big Sur, staring out at the Pacific makes one think it is possible. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. (Image from California Travels) 

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Podcast 353 – Sunny Lohmann

Live From Napa California. The road trip continues through California, stopping in Napa to do a podcast with Sunny Lohmann. A breathless romp through pop culture and current events. A road rage incident in the sun drenched wine drinking paradise, provokes a question about rage. What is the difference between Meme and Mime? As the tax deadline approaches, both Bob and Sunny struggle with their tax issues. Is it better to rush to file on the deadline, or file an extension? Some stories about the trip up to San Francisco and Napa using the Pacific Coast Highway, and the story of the Nepenthe in Big Sur, California. This was the weekend Secretary of State John Kerry tried to defend the so called Iran ‘deal’ that the Supreme Leader in Iran says isn’t a deal. The President defended the Secretary by citing his status as a Vietnam Veteran. What is the reality in Iran, and the reality of the Iranian political system? With the negative comments about the US from Iran, is this the new model for US Foreign Relations? If the Iran ‘deal’ collapses, the President can now say he tried. As Sunny says, it’s amazing that the President will talk to the Iranian leadership, and Raul Castro, but not Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. What is the effect of environmentalism is California? According to Sunny, environmentalism and recycling is a religion in the Golden State. Two Midwesterners talk about the difference between services in the Midwest and California. Sunny reacts to the White House picture of President Obama waving at the bottom of the arc of a rainbow as he boarded Air Force 1. Is this good for the President, or not? As we come to the end of an era in America, will the right be able to actually present an agenda? What will the real issues of 2016’s election be? Is the country asleep right now? And, if we are at the end of an era, what’s next? One additional bit of advice from a woman who moved from Minnesota to California with her husband and new baby. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

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