July 31 - Cooler Than Usual

Overall, it's been a milder summer than some, and learn today how to save videos from YouTube, etc., through KeepVid, resulting in taking some short/fair-use samples for alteration (reducing speed and modifying spectra) to incorporate in Prehistoric Atlas: I. Antarctica,



IV. Australia, and



V. Europe.


Take the car in, through closer-to-the-coast clearing fog, relatively early am for 30,000-mile check-up, then,



with a loaner to the



post box, and over to



DVC, record Symphony No. 2: II and Psalms 20 and 21. Pick up the darling auto again and proceed to Fernando's for a late lunch (shredded beef taco and Mexican coffee), powering up the iPhone/camera,



in anticipation of another California-Coast-to-the-Sierras walk,



finishing up the little hazardous 101 gap south of Petaluma at a brisk clip, then walking toward said town north on the Boulevard South, with views of


distant Meacham Hill,



the overcrossing, River, Sheraton,



Sonoma Mountain,



Sears Point Ridge, the Marshes,



the evidently permanently-open railroad drawbridge conveniently utilized by fishermen,



Caltrans



Special Crews Maintenance Center,



Heritage



Salvage,



and the compact housing



developments to where the



curved road



becomes straight (but could you trust them with that sign?).



Homeward past the Adobe,



over the



Mountain,



through the




Valley, ultimately



back



into



Solano, receiving a call from Harriet, there's time for 21st-Century Music work, filing, two more edited pages of Psalm 22: Ia (completing it), and same for beginning third-movement publication-preparation re Symphony No. 2: III.

July 30 - Cost to Cost

John Scott comes back and fixes the front doors, lingering for extended chat. Meanwhile there are files to put away, five more pages of Symphony No. 2 edited (finishing the second-movement double fugue at page 75), another page of Psalm 22, more 21st-Century Music work, the daily chat with Harriet (she is coming home two weeks earlier -- whoo-ha!), and two more videos for Prehistoric Atlas, as VI. North America and



VII. South America.

July 29 - Earthshattering Consequences

The front door no longer locks shut -- this after several weeks of having to slam it twice and three times from the outside, and using the deadbolt when within -- so time to call Jon Scott for a fix, depositing Goat Hall checks in the interrum (discovering that a quick upturn with the wrist actually re-enables the locking... but nevertheless...). After a quick lookover, we arrange for a more formal fix tomorrow. Call Toyota and set up an appointment (turns out it's actually time for a semi-major service, with a loaner car, etc.), and spend the rest of the day on the old familiars: more pages of Symphony No. 2: II (all the way to 68), beginning publication-preparation for Psalm 22, filing, 21st-Century Music work, call from Harriet, with the new videos being Prehistoric Atlas: II. Asia and



III. Africa.

July 28 - Keys Past the Future

More preposterous journeys (63-64 of Symphony No. 2: II and page 6 of Psalm 21 [its conclusion], filing, 21st-Century Music work) -- by now, back on Facebook, catching up on email, and talking with Harriet earlier -- and two more videos for Variations and Theme, being XIII and



XIV.

July 27 - Evasive Actions

Still debriefing from the trip, going through a lot of books, including an old one on the American West, with familiar poignant pictures of 19th-century Native-American notables, finding their way into L.A. Stories: Prelude - This Why I Wonder, above. All of the same activities of yesterday (61-62 of Symphony No. 2: II and page 5 of Psalm 21), with the biggest journey being twice to the front of the driveway. Phoning Harriet proves challenging, but we finally touch base late, as is the second video of the day, being



For My Brother For My Brother: 3. Dressing Up I-IV.

July 26 - Debatable

Relatively unscathed, save for a questionable knee, and it's "before trip edit music, produce videos / after trip edit music, produce videos," with the next two pages (59-60) of Symphony No. 2: II and fourth for Psalm 21, with the two movies being L.A. Stories: Interlude - Bozos and Ozone and



Postlude: Pretty Little Melody, plus filing and 21st-Century Music work. Oh, and the U.S. tax refund check arrives. Rejoice...

July 25 - Pray for Us

Well, it's time to head south again, dropping Harriet off at Tisha's church, and the dilemma is: back on 12-730-84-5 the way I came, or take the way-less-known of 395 through the hinterlands and then over the Sierra on 80? The "Maintenance Required" light came on the trusty vehicle the moment of the driveway backout, but this would simply say that it's up for an oil change (and given the extra oil from the Driver's Flat debacle, one hopes for the best).



Somehow the way leads south past the old Page homestead of two Thanksgivings ago, and the die is cast for the more adventurous, dicey route... Milton-Freewater petrol-and-fund resupply, Pendleton,



Pilot Rock, and



south to the increasingly lonely



Nye Junction of Route 74.



Into the Blue Mountains at Battle Mountain, then



beyond Ukiah and up the



Camas



Creek



Canyon,



the road mounts Ritter Butte, past



Long Creek and



Mt. Vernon


to



another



fuel stop in



John Day (an early trapper, born in 1770 [the same year as Beethoven] who was stripped naked, at the mouth of his namesake river and whose name migrated up river to a number of locales -- three units of the John Day Fossil Banks, four forks of the River, the Valley, Dayville, etc.).



Ascending the declivity beyond Canyon City, the world opens up to



Strawberry Peak and prepares itself for the Great Basin, seemingly beginning at



Seneca, roaming beyond to



Silvies.



Delightful



Devine



Canyon in Harney County. The latter sounds rural, and it is, with its largest municipality



Burns, then virtually no one at



Riley



and



seemingly limitless open spaces as an ominous dust storm brews around vacant



Wagontire.



All day up-and-down, but always a bit more of the former than the latter, so now we descend to Alkaline Valley



and



beautiful, surreal



Lake Abert (with its mineral-encrusted rock shore at 4249', and not "Albert," as I read consistently incorrectly in hasty glances during the trip, but named by John Fremont for his boss)


and



its



magnificent



Rim (evidently the longest and highest fault scarp in America).



This now being Lake County, the way leads past more watery namesakes in the desert including the as-well-abandoned store in Valley Falls (seemingly no gas at all in the c. 150 miles between Riley



and



Lakeview) and the



big



mostly-dry



Goose (alkaline sometimes, and sometimes not, when the level [non-existant here] rises and it spills into the Pit).



California, at New Pine Creek (although not metropolitanly much), at last,



with a screwdriver stop at Alturas by the Waner Mountains, overly anxious before the overly attentive state patrol, an electrical storm with hail and flooding straight into the blinding setting sun, a glorious/horrible semi-forest fire on pseudo-Sierra slopes, over the border/frontier to Nevada,



powering up the phone at a watering spot off Megan's old haunt of Golden Valley Road, various detours, and, at last, home.