Perilous Pit Stop

I left Los Angeles on March 6^th and with my co-worker James headed out to set up stores with our product (porcelain tile). Our plan was to cover as much of the west as we could, but we had no idea what the next week held for us. We headed north on the 101 out of L.A. toward San Luis Obesqio. Something about the Pacific just brings out s sense of awe in me.  Being an East Coast guy, up until recently I never knew all I was missing in my first 3 decades on this big planet.   

The Pacific was absolutely unbelievable on the day we set out, the mist hung tight to the water trying to shroud it in some sort of Agatha Christie mystery. Skies were slightly overcast and it was a beautiful day. As we moved along that first day we stopped at a little convenience store along the road.Apparently James had a need to buy 10 avocados for a dollar.  Meanwhile I ran in the store and grabbed a Coke, ok two Cokes. Cokes are definitely one of the natural sources of life.

As I was checking out and salivating over my Coca-Cola, the pictures behind the counter demanded my attention. They were pictures of the store during the many mudslides that befall the west coast. Each of these 5 or 6 picture was dated from the past decade with the most recent being from just a few months previous. I asked about the pictures and he told me how fortunate he had been, never losing his business. He went on telling me the stories of the walls of mud crashing past his store but it continued to stand. I paid for my Cokes and as I walked out I said that I hoped to see him again. He let me know that wouldn’t be possible because this was last day he would be open, when I asked him why he simply said “My luck is bound to run out.” He was getting out of the mud’s way. We stayed the night in Salinas, CA.