THE DAY I MET NEIL YOUNG'S COW ... Black Angus to be exact. Remembering like it was yesterday.
While attending college in Santa Barbara, CA, we spent a couple days hangin' out with a high school friend, who lived in La Honda, nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains, between the Santa Clara Valley and Pacific coast of California. Land of the rich and not-so-rich hippies and recluses at the time.
Bob happened to be a good friend of Chris, who managed Broken Arrow Ranch, down the road. They had horses and cattle in common, and a fondness for Mary Jane.
"Old Man" was a song that Neil Young wrote for his 'Harvest' 1972 album, about the caretaker of the ranch he'd bought in 1970. That 'Old Man' was Chris' father and Neil wrote it for him.
The song compares a young man's life to an old man's and shows that the old man was once like this young man. The ranch was Broken Arrow Ranch, which Neil bought and lived on, til 2014, when he divorced his wife Pegi.
When Louis was giving Neil a tour of the place in an old blue jeep, he asked him how a young man like him could afford a place like this ($350,000 in 1970).
Young, aged 25, replied "Just lucky, Louie, just real lucky." to which Avila replied "Well, that's just the darndest thing I ever heard."
Chris took us all up in his old man's blue jeep, topless (the jeep, not me!) to the top of the highest point on the ranch.
I literally thought we're going to tumble out, it was so steep. But Chris was unphased, so I held on for dear life, in the backseat and enjoyed the ride! (Chris' calmness could've had alot to do with the doobie he and Bob shared beforehand - another kinship).
We met Neil's cows along the way ... it was a "Where's Bob" moment. Bob was a blonde, blue-eyed, California surfer-dude-looking, hippie guy, who was easy to spot in sea of black.
Still wish I had that picture of Bob, amongst Neil's Black Angus. Gave the photo to him, it was his moment.
When we got out at the top ... I saw clear to the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by grass-covered, rolling hillsides, covered with old Live Oak trees everywhere.
It was spectacular and a sight I'll never forget ... I saw what Neil saw, so many years before, and Louis, before him. The site of infinite possibilities.
it filled my heart with such joy and awe. Could there ever be any place more stunning?!
Photo: La Honda / Sky Londa area
35 years later, after having lost touch with Bob, we went in search of him and the ranch, with only my faded, yet vivid memory to guide us.
We stopped at the La Honda General Store and inquired inside, to the woman who owned it. La Honda has a very small pocket of people (under 1000) that lived there, so figured all I'd have to do was ask "Where's Bob"?
She laughed out loud - couldn't believe she'd heard anything so funny in her life! The big rage at the time was 'The Vagina Monologues', an Off-Off-Broadway play that became famous by the writer Eve Ensler, based on her sexual experience with a man named Bob, obsessed with her vagina.
We never found Bob, don't remember what her name was, but we had a hoot and made a friend that day.
I can still see her face and hear her raspy, one-too-many-smokes laugh. We'll go back one day to find her ... and maybe even Bob.
We did find the entrance to the ranch, we did find another spot up around Sky Londa, on the La Honda Road (it's a stunning, windy, 45-degree climb, hold-on-to-your-cookies road at times) to see to the Ocean, enjoyed the Live Oak Trees and hillsides.
Once again, I was filled with joy and wonder that day ... of a memory relived, that still inspired and awed me, so many years later.
Photo: Live California Oak Trees
Why was this story important for me to tell? It's all about how travel ... and going off-the-beaten path many times in my life, has taken me places, I'll never forget.
Greenlight.
This is my Travel Aspiration for you:
'Create structure so you can have the freedom.
Map your direction so you can swerve in the lanes.
Clean up so you can get dirty.
Choreograph, then dance.'
~from the NYTimes Best Selling "Greenlights" by author, actor and producer - Matthew McConaughey
When you're ready to swerve in the lanes and dance back into the world of travel, CONTACT ME and let's get dirty and map out your Greenlight.
Are we meant to be together? Here are The Dos and Don'ts of Working With A Travel Advisor and let's see if we are, not just a good fit ... a great fit!