Making it back to the harbor and phone coverage range, I received just one message, from cousin LL. Perfect. I called to confirm, then hopping the bus to Ventura’s single-track, two-direction railway stop. Plugging in, I did a little work on the computer, and when the sun set the train arrived to take me to Santa Barbara. The full moon shone out of the window, at times casting a wavy reflection across the ocean water. At Santa Barbara, my aunt SL was right there to collect me, and we drove off merrily to her place in the west side of town. What a hostess! I had a bath, a plush bed prepared, some dinner, and I was off to sleep, now back in the civilized world. SL and I literally spent days talking and hanging out, even breaking out the VCR for some old home movies, including the moment when my mom and dad met at a party. They were shown chuckling together as other party-goers had a cake fight and went into some Greek dancing. SL also broke out the Peace March documentary, which described her ten month journey walking across North America for nuclear disarmament. The next day I was off to the Tower of Barbara, or the observatory tower at the court house, right next to the library where I spent most of the day working and playing on the Internet. I could see Mission Santa Barbara, but today the Channel Islands were obscured by fog over the Pacific. Working for another day from a neighbor’s open wireless connection, I caught up on the month’s work in preparation to spend more days incommunicado at Lightning in a Bottle.
