Following Colorado Springs was my visit in Houston to interview the folks with the Patient/Physician Cooperative. Hosts were Cathy and Ken, neither of whom knew me but blindly trusted our mutual friend in Tampa, Betty Tribble.
It is a very unusual guy, who would welcome me into his home with his wife visiting in Tampa, while having his days full with running his young kids to track and baseball games. But, Ken is a pretty unique guy. When Cathy met him on Passe Grille beach, he invited her to join him and his visiting friends from Germany that evening to dinner at his place. It turned out that not only was Ken a chef but also fluent in German. Cathy definitely thought he was worth a second date. Today, they live in Houston where Ken is CEO of Biodiesel Company and Cathy, who formerly worked at the United Way in Tampa, are raising their two children Liam and Ava.
Surprise number one was Ken’s willingness to host me solo. Secondly, he mentioned to me as he headed out to chauffer his children when I arrived that he wanted to share a glass of wine with me that evening and hear about my travels as he found my road trip inspiring. His own history of being the son of Asian parents interned in the Japanese camp during WWII and his own successful career is and was an inspiring testament to parental love and personal determination. Ken and Cathy both made me feel at home and took turns cooking delicious dinners of steak and grilled salmon.
My childhood friend, Sandy, in Santa Fe immediately took me under her wing. I was touched and surprised by her nurturing. She had gone ahead and made me a chiropractic appointment as her sister, Bizzy, in New Orleans, had told her about my neck stress. She also soothed my distress about the “Oil Maintenance Required” light in my car and helped find the local lube shop to do the change. It was so wonderful to be with her and feel the warmth of our friendship from long ago envelop us. I really wish she lived closer to me. Sandy and her family are terrific artists. Sandy paints expressionistic scenes of Santa Fe while her children and their spouses are creative in both art and music. Her sister in law, Nora, was a surprise interview for me as I just learned about her huge installation on the Washington Mall after I arrived. Sandy’s spicy chicken enchiladas are going to become a mainstay meal when I get home.
Phoenix was next stop with hosts Deb and Terry, both friends of my daughter Andrea and her husband. I will never forget Deb’s bear hug in the driveway when I arrived exhausted after a confusing ride through and around Phoenix due to my not putting their address correctly into the GPS. Thank you, Deb! It was fun to be around them and enjoy their bantering and humorous sparring. Of course, who could forget their son, Darby, and his penchant for eating underwear. This was the first stop with someone, who shared by interest in TV shows. Thanks again, Deb!! Terry, though, introduced me to a couple that I never would have chosen including American Pickers. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it—go figure as I usually disdain reality shows. I also learned about The Voice and it drove me crazy to have to wait until the end to see which singers were going to be selected to continue on the show. I don’t like suspense particularly so I kept begging them to skip to the end as the show was dvr-ed–no such luck!! Deb’s long simmering old fashioned spaghetti sauce made for a comforting meal that has me at this moment hankering for it again.
Entering California was a surprise as the roads were in such disrepair—a very real example of the crumbling infrastructure taking place there and in other spots around the country. I almost passed through Los Angeles but a last minute acceptance by Ellen Brown for an interview made me stop there. She was a huge surprise. She is running on Green Party for Treasurer and also founder of the state banking movement. The surprise was her immediate invitation to me to spend the night in her place—apparently not a unique happening for this open and generous person.
Ellen also invited me to the rock concert taking place that evening in LA that would also feature brief speeches by activist folks like Ellen. That event was another totally unexpected both in content and audience. The crowd of 20’s and 30’s folks was very diverse with all ethnic groups represented in good number plus the newly defined diverse group—the Inked, folks with tattoos. Interestingly, when you think about it, it is easy to stereotype Inked folks, although within the group is a very diverse group of individuals from different backgrounds, educational levels and careers. My first surprise was how polite everyone was—a whole lot of “Excuse me”, “I’m sorry”, “Would you like to sit here?” What also surprised and delighted me was that the audience listened intently to the speakers and gave rousing approval of their messages for independent media, Green Economy, state banking, civil rights, peace efforts and much more. The event was a creative endeavor that did get the message out to their intended youthful audience.Ellen insisted on feeding me a midnight dinner of grilled chicken salad, bless her.
Still truckin’—Coming up is the rest of the West Coast and a very welcomed respite with my friend, JoAnne, in San Francisco.