First day on this road trip, first painting completed.

I’ve driven past this dirt road for years, knowing that it was there, but a bit wary of taking my giant van down it’s length, not wanting to get stuck in a situation where I’d need to reverse a mile of dirt road with no turnaround.

But it offers a such a great glimpse of a rather lost-in-time stretch of coast that I keep thinking one day I’ll should borrow someone’s truck and just go daytrip the thing. Why I haven’t done so yet is beyond me, but on this trip south I figured I’d take just a peek after scouting on the maps for a good turnaround for the van and seeing what looked like one only a half mile in.

It turned out to be a great spot with a real good view from a little knoll above the turnout. The morning light was crispy and lent a sense of urgency to the piece that I rather enjoy seeing in it now, though at the time I felt a bit frantic.

Now that I’ve gotten a glimpse of this zone firsthand, perhaps I’ll be fired up to make the actual trip happen to go explore the length of it.

But alas, such is California’s coast that so often we peer down on these amazing zones with fun looking surf from cliffs high above, yet with no way to access them beyond risking life and limb, and possibly even getting hurt as well.

This was no different. So inviting, so close, but so far away. Just the usual difficulties… 

Nothing changes much
Beneath these colder mountains

Times move on
As do
The lives
That call it home

But here it will always lie

We pass through
And marvel
At the
Heights

And the cost
Of a good sandwich

If only we knew
How to get back down to sea level
Without sliding down

That slippery slope