SAN FRANCISCO, CA - We pulled into San Francisco and called our friends the Scandrett's, whom we met in the Bahamas, to see if we could hang out with them. Surprisingly, our friend Darin Peterson, from Florida, called us back. Darin and Meeghan were visiting the Scandrett's also and wanted to know if we could all hang out the next day in Napa Valley, the Wine Country. We went to Napa (Saw the Brix restaurant - no camera) for some good wine tasting and cheese and bread lunch. We sampled from a bottle of wine that was way beyond what we would ever think about paying for a bottle of wine.
    After going to church with Mark Scandrett, Darin and Meeghan (Lisa Scandrett was with her daughter at a birthday party), we embarked on an all day adventure that included seeing and meeting a bunch of people, including: the Prince family (Pam and Darren), the Kings (Chris and Keyoke), and Val and Dieter Zander.
The next day we went and hung out with the Prince family. Pam, Darren, and their baby Jesse were coming close to the end of their sabbatical from an organization called InnerChange. A letter from them last year was a confirmation that we should be taking a sabbatical as well. It was good to get to know them and talk deeply about community, service and social structure.

OAKLAND, CA - David and Susan Fetcho greeted us when we arrived in Oakland, along with their dogs Tango and Bebop. They are in the video business and create documentary films. They had worked on the video for Word and World Philly, which is how Michelle knew David. There, too, we had some deep conversations concerning community, life choices, and theater. (Both David and Susan have a theater background.) David took us to see all the beauty around the city and hidden in its hillsides and crevices, and treated our souls to the sounds of his wedding flute from inside an old army bunker used to watch for Japanese subs approaching the shore.
    While we were in Oakland, we noticed that the Grand Lake Theater (within walking distance from the house) was showing Lord of the Rings at midnight, so guess what we did? (We had to be in solidarity with those back home....)
    Other friends we got to spend some time with were Kate McMichael, Theresa Houser, and Blake Arnall, all friends from Word and World. We only saw the ladies briefly, but had wonderful Thai food and good talks with Blake.
     We got to spend time with Karin and Ken Hejmanowski in Menlo Park. We had met Karin during a trip to the Bahamas a few years ago and were anxious to reconnect with her and her "new" husband. Poor Karin was having a rough day with one of her eyes, so she had to talk to us with a big patch on one eye and the other eye closed most of the time! But we really enjoyed spending the evening with them catching up and learning about each others' journeys.
    The next day we traveled back up to San Fran to see Grace Cathedral, which has both an outdoor and indoor labyrinth Michael was anxious to see. Note to RVer's: DON'T attempt downtown San Fran unless you know where you are going and which streets go straight up or straight down! We couldn't believe the grades! It's a wonder we didn't go tumbling! But the Cathedral was beautiful.

Sean, Krista, Abby

BAKERSFIELD, CA - In Bakersfield we stayed with Pastor Sean, Krista and their "new" baby Abby. Pastor Sean is, many of you remember, the one who performed our wedding in Philadelphia many years ago. Since that time, they moved to LA and he worked at USC (his parking space was two down from my Aunt Debbie's). For the past year he has been pastor at a church in Bakersfield (they moved there to have Abby and he quit the USC job). We spent some time there, watched the extended Lord of the Rings movies, hung out with their friends and Michael "saved" a Christmas video program that Krista was working on.

LOS ANGELES, CA - LA is such a big place that we can't just say we went to Los Angeles. So we broke it down into all the smaller suburbs we hung out in and will tell you about all our adventures there. It rained many of the days we were there, even though it only rains an average of 15 days a year! (The rain has followed us ever since!)

CLAREMONT, CA - This is where we spent Christmas. Michael's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Hughes live in Claremont and welcomed us for the holidays. We used their home as our base while we ran around the area for a couple of weeks. They are both excellent musicians and we were happy to be able to attend both of their Christmas Eve services where Deb played the organ and Hughes played keyboard in their respective churches. We opened presents Christmas afternoon with them and their daughter Monica. (Our families had mailed us gifts, which was so great of them.) Michael made Aunt Martha's famous stuffed onions for dinner, which he was very proud of and we were all thankful for (except Monica!). We also got to spend some time with their son Marc and his girlfriend Sema a few days after Christmas. It was Deb & Hughes' vacation from USC so we got to relax a lot together. (It was good for us to relax since we were both pretty sick and voice-less.) We watched some good football, good movies, and had lots of good laughs together. Michelle is glad she got to know them better.

PASADENDA, CA - It seems like much of what we did was somehow in Pasadena, so this will be a random order of events. First, Pasadena is the home of the Rose Bowl. It just made sense that we should try to attend the Tournament of Roses Parade along Colorado Blvd. Because we weren't familiar with the area we got lots of advice from area partygoers about where we should sit, when we should arrive, etc. (The party starts at noon the day before the parade!) Our friend Karen Hooks and her son Brian work at the AFSC building in Pasadena for the Bartimaeus Miinistries. They are friends/ family from Word and World. After we spent some time with them and meeting their co-workers Allison and Adrian, and playing some hilarious games over lunch, Karen took us to ride along the parade route, as well as to see lots of sights in Pasadena. We saw the tents where they build the floats, Karen's mom's house, and even visited the Kinslers (other friends from W&W). The Hooks are great friends who we were really excited to get a few hours with.

Even the kids get into the silly string! This child spent a good time spraying both of us

    The Rose Parade was an adventure and a blast! We drove down New Years Eve and parked the camper a block away and walked the route. What a party! There were tons of kids and families sleeping on the sidewalk, some with fires, some with TV's, some with turkey deep-fryers, ALL with silly string and some sort of goopy marshmallow / whipped creme covered tortillas that they threw (gently) at strangers and cars passing by! Everyone seemed to be in festive moods, and no one got upset that their cars were being pelted with goop! But the most unbelievable thing was the attitude of the police who patrolled the streets. This is 5 miles of people along the sidewalk at night on "Orange Alert". They were laughing! And when they would drive their car slowly past a groups of children chanting "Lights lights lights lights" their lights would come on and the children would let out a whooping cheer and jump up and down! We were shocked at how much fun people were having. It was great to bring in the New Year with this crowd of happy strangers. We tied 4 chairs together in a spot on the street and went to our camper to sleep. When we returned to that spot several hours later the next morning, our chairs hadn't been touched, stolen or moved. Aunt Deb joined us to watch the parade. If you didn't know, the floats that are in the parade must be covered entirely in plants, flowers, seeds-- it all has to be some sort of organic material. The things they can do with flower petals and beans! It was quite a sight!

Michelle and Becky at the Olive Garden

    Later, on our way out of LA, we were fortunate to catch our friend Becky Heneise at her apartment in Pasadena. We hadn't seen her in a good while, and it was really awesome to catch up with her. She goes to Fuller Seminary and she showed us around campus a bit. Sadly, we missed her roomate and our friend Sarah Brianne, who was still back on the east coast with post-holiday bronchitis. Hopefully we will get to catch her sometime along the way.

TOPANGA, CA - When we went to visit our friend Donna Friermuth, we had to park at the bottom of the canyon and she picked us up and drove us to her little cottage, which she runs as a D and C and B and B and much more. Besides having the greatest bed that we've ever slept in, she cooked us some wonderful taste treats! We were definitely spoiled! Michael also enjoyed talking computers and web design with Donna, who is a great web designer herself. Chalked up to the weird encounters that we have had on this trip, a "traveling salesboy" came to the door in the morning selling magazine subscriptions. After he walked around the neighborhood, he came back to wait for his ride to pick him up, talking and sharing about his life with all of us there.

BURBANK, CA - Michael's cousin Monica has a great new apartment right outside of Burbank that she invited us to for dinner one night. It had been quite a while since we had all spent quality time together, and we had a wonderful pasta dinner followed by a showing of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, one of our favorite movies ever. We didn't leave there until after 2am.

LAUREL CANYON, CA - During Word and World Philadelphia, members of the simple way led a "Reality Tour" of Philly. One of the video guys, Jim Friedrich, was on the tour that we did, and he was thrilled to take us on his reality tour of LA, complete with soundtrack! We started the day by taking the Metrolink Train to Union Station and meeting Jim and friend Cathy, then to breakfast at the Original Pantry. We saw the Watts Towers, the Staples Center, Skid Row, the Bradbury Building, the Lady of the Angels Cathedral, Laurel Canyon (where Jim lives), Mulholland Drive, Hollywood Hills, Sunset Boulevard, the ocean in Pacific Palisades. We tried to get to the Getty Center, but it was closed on Mondays, and we ate Mexican food in Koreatown. It was a full and fabulous day, and a great time to get to know Jim when he wasn't hiding behind a video camera!

ALTADENA, CA - LA seems to be the Word and World mecca. We were fortunate to be able to spend an evening with Elaine Enns and Ched Myers who had just rolled back into town the day we were ready to roll out. We had a fantastic authentic southwestern dinner, complete with roasted chilies and saki (which is not so southwestern, actually.) We slept in their ultra-comfy livingroom next to the fire and joined them for prayer and reflection time in the morning. They filled us with insights about community, family, and great places to see in New Mexico.

SOUTH CARLSBAD BEACH, CA - After all that time in LA, we hadn't spent more than 2 minutes with the ocean. Michelle decided it was essential that she get a little beach basking time before we headed back east and into the desert. So we camped at a place recommended to us by someone on our Toyota Motorhomes yahoo group, and what a great recommendation it was. South Carlsbad State Beach. We parked high above the ocean in a campsite on a cliff-- sounds scarier than it was. There were several stairways that led from the campground down to the beach, and we took those stairs several times a day to rest with the sounds of the waves. One morning, we saw a seal playing in the tide close enough to the shore that we thought at first it was a crazy swimmer, and later Michelle saw several dolphins equally as close, going for a leisurely romp in the waves. There weren't many people on the beach, so it was calm and lovely. The only mishap we had was that our propane stove got a pretty bad leak right in the middle of dinner preparations, so we finished cooking over a meager fire and bought a new stove the next morning.

SAN DIEGO, CA - We hadn't originally planned to go to San Diego, but we got a call in the nick of time from our college friend, Nate Landis, who lives and works with youth in a church in downtown San Diego and invited us to visit. We got a chance to catch up with him over dinner and milkshakes, and he allowed us to make use of his office speakerphone so that we could have a 3 hour (!) check-in meeting with Brooke and Shane. It was very generous of him, and we were impressed by all the terrific things he has going on with the church and the youth there. We were sad to not meet his wife, but perhaps on our next visit!

MARICOPA, AZ - Here is the turning point for us. We began moving eastward, back into the desert. It was such an interesting journey, with gorgeous landscape and random checks by the Border Patrol. We stopped at the Table Top Ranch outside of Maricopa, Arizona, so that Michael could plug in and catch up on computer work he needed to finish. This place was fascinating because it was completely buried in dust. It was actually hard to take a walk because it was difficult to breathe, and there was a stop sign pole that had halfway disappeared under a pile of fine dust, much like snow would've buried it! While Michael worked, Michelle had her own adventures conversing with a legally-blind man who drove around and camped with his dog. (He was sure that as long as he could see the lines and other cars and didn't drive at night he would be fine.) He was quite a guy, and his dog bit Michelle. He didn't notice....

From L to R: Debbie, Heather, Debra, Amanda, Michelle, Michael at the Oasis Vegetarian Restaurant

TUSCON, AZ - Michelle had her first tastes of Tucson last November for the second Word and World School. But for Michael, it was his first taste of the desert and the saguaro, the tall cactus that seems to have arms. He is quite taken with cacti. Anyway, our first event in Tucson was dinner with Patricia Morrison and Debbie Noonan, friends of Michelle's, which proved to be a fantastic time of meet-and-catch up. Patricia's roomate Jamie was also able to join us, and she added lively stories of her day from working as a TA at a local charter school. The next day Patricia took us hiking in the Tucson mountains (short hike in the rain. Remember, it doesn't rain in the southwest...until we get there.) We also were able to visit Michelle's friend Randall at his workplace where he teaches ex-cons and homeless folks how to land greater than minimum wage employment through a strict but effective program in south Tucson. That evening was a regular Word and World reunion with Amanda Sapir, Deborah Lee, Heather Craigie, and Debbie Noonan at the most fabulous restaurant, The Oasis. (Since Michael and I have been vegetarians, we delight in the fact that menu choices are limited therefore easy in most restaurants. But we found ourselves overwhelmed by the possibilities at this vegetarian restaurant! We could actually eat everything on the menu! What to do??) But our time together actually became a conduit for storytelling, healing, sharing, laughing, connecting and re-connecting. And the evening was further blessed by getting to go back to Amanda's ranch/ house to spend a little more time with Randall and sleep in Amanda's super-comfy bed that she loaned us for the evening. The next day we went to the Desert Museum-- Michael can now tell you everything there is to know about the aguave cactus-- and spent the day communing with coyotes, beavers, hummingbirds and javelinas. That night Randall and Frya treated us to Japanese food at a place called, um, Yoshimatsu, I think. Wonderful food and a great time to meet Frya. The next day, Debbie dove us and a woman named Amy to Douglas, AZ, where we walked across the border into Agua Prieta, Mexico and took a taxi to a pastor's house where Amy was going to stay to try to find her boyfriend. Yeah, it was pretty nuts. At the end of the day, Amy's boyfriend was discovered in Phoenix, and we drove back home. On our last day in town, we got some time to ourselves to walk around downtown and sit quietly at a coffehouse to read and write, then we returned to join Patricia for a house mass called Hope for Christ in the Desert, followed by a yummy potluck. Our time in Tucson was really a chance to hang out with some folks who are our age and who can affirm and encourage us in our journey.

PRESCOTT VALLEY, AZ - The plan was to stop overnight in PV, as they call it, to re-stock on food and water and to say hello to Michelle's family friend John on our way to Zion National Park. Well, that would've been a great plan if the RV hadn't started making a funny rubbing noise on the way there. Ah, no big deal, I'm sure, Michelle says. What else could go wrong? Maybe it's a belt thing. Well, it wasn't. After a few days of gathering second, third, fourth opinions from mechanics, it became clear that we needed to replace the entire rear axle of the camper. This is really the second most expensive undertaking on a vehicle of our type, the first of course being the transmission. (and thank god we already dealt with that one, eh?) Despite the second massive budget-wrenching, we did actually get a really good deal on a brand new axle from a man in Indiana, but we had to wait a week for it to arrive. So much for Zion National Park.
    After our axle arrived, we didn't have anywhere to live. (John has cats.) So we biked around town and eventually made it to a Lutheran Church where we thought we might ask if they had anywhere we could stay. What the heck, we're Lutheran...kinda. So we spoke with a church secretary who called Philly for references and eventually talked to Pastor Maggie at Atonement. At the end of it all, we had a free hotel voucher for that night! It was awesome. (We were a little disappointed we didn't stay with someone, but we took what we could get...)

MESA, AZ - Inspiration hits at the lowest times. While we were waiting for our axle from Indiana, we really had no where to go. Then we remembered... Grace! We worked with Grace this summer at Camp Lebanon (she was the Arts and Crafts instructor) and she lived just east of Phoenix. We were so glad that we hadn't forgotten about Grace. She took us in and cared for us. It was great reuniting with her, meeting more of her family (out of her 14 some grandkids, we know 10 of them!) and being a part of her life for a while. Dan, Linda, Harmony, Autumn and Dawn (Grace's family in Arizona) were always around to take us to see cool sites and things to do (Tortilla Flat, church, the really cool restaurant), watch movies and talk and play. We even went to work with Grace and had lunch with Autumn and Harmony in their school's cafeteria. Many many thanks to Grace for allowing us to be a part of her life for a little while.

Michael's favorite cactus - the Agave!

SEDONA, AZ - Michelle really loves the red rocks of the west. She was nearly heartbroken that we were to miss Zion and Moab because of the weather and our axle problems, Well, we were able to quench some of her longing by going to beautiful Sedona, AZ. Sedona has red rocks aplenty and, even though the weather was turning, we hiked a few trails and saw some really cool stuff. We tested out the wear of our new axle on the unpaved roads leading to the trailhead that lead to Devil's Bridge, a natural bridge that seems to come from nowhere. We also tried to hike up to Teapot Rock and we did make it to a chapel that looms large as you drive into Sedona. In all, we enjoyed our time there.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - Once upon a time, a few years ago, a very nice young lady named Rhonda came and visited us at the simple way. She was part of a ministry in Albuquerque and had a lot of energy, spark, and craziness. We knew that we just had to see her when we passed through this part of the country. We made it in time for the Super Bowl (which made Michael extremely happy) and stayed for the night there. We would have stayed longer because the folks at that house were awesome and fun, but they had a couple of cats (which made Michael extremely sad). But, to the rescue, Bob and Pam Rowen-Hertzog invited us to spend time in their guest house. Rhonda took us to see East Central Ministry and to meet the great people working there. They are a community-run organization that works with indigenous kids, immigrant mothers that run a grocery co-op, homeless folks and more. It was a very inspirational time.
   The Rowen-Hertzog family welcomed us into their lives. (Quite literally as we invited Rhonda over for dinner the first night there.) We are connected to this wonderful family through Circle of Hope Church in Philadelphia. Bob R-H works at the Center for Action and Contemplation as the editor of their publication, Radical Grace. Michelle spent some time alone in the Hermitage at the Center, Michael checked out the library. We also were honored to be invited to dinner as the R-H family had Erika and Cadmon over. Cadmon lived at the Bruderhof Community and was able to share with us some of the ups and downs of community life. The conversation around that table was one of the most amazing that we've been a part of on this trip. On our last night there, we cooked our favorite veggie recipe for them as a thank you.