It's been a little more that a week now that I've been here in Ventura. The impetus being to spend time with my grandparents, and try to help out.
Ventura is a renewed experience for me. 20 years has passed since I've lived here, and all the things are familiar, yet different. Its like Deja Vu, but in Ultra Reality.
The years of cycling in Monterey, all the racing, my Hobo Joe-esq ramblings on the bike, the discipline learned thru the military, all these experiences have made things very easy for me here. Ventura is pretty flat, and the bike paths are pretty nice. I still trip out on how a lot of the bike paths switch back and forth from being on the sidewalk, to the road, etc. lots of confusing transitions, and lots of concrete islands in the road that make it more difficult to simply cross the street as i had become accustomed to.
Ventura is the land of cars. everyone is all about being in their car. the roads, those concrete islands, and all the signs, NO LEFT TURN, EXIT ONLY, ENTRANCE, the way parking lots are laid out, all of these things are designed with the car in mind. the simplicity of taking the most direct route is not necessarily the best route. In fact my mind is starting to undergo a shift.
In Monterey, the area is less crowded and i could simply take those most direct routes, use a sidewalk if needed, etc. but here in Ventura, the flow of traffic and the way the roads, those concrete islands, etc, are laid out, most times its best to wind and snake around in those car path ways. its not so easy to simply cut across a big parking lot. and believe me, Ventura has parking lots. holy smokes...the cars!
this is about 200lbs of fire wood i picked up the other day.
