December 29, 2009. Big Sur, California (36° 6′ 27″ N, 121° 37′ 33″ W)

I'm happy to report that the truck is up and running, we're sleeping in it now in Big Sur almost on top of the river at Riverside Campgrounds. It's a nice spot in the redwoods with a little walkway bedecked with lights crossing over the river, no trouble to get our rig into camping spot #2.
Planning on going for a hike in the morning with the kids in the backpacks.

We've had an exciting last few days, in summary:

Guests: we picked up my brother David (aka Uncle Davy Gravy) who flew out from the East Coast. We've really designed the truck so that we can have friends and family come join us wherever we may be. We're letting people know our route and then people fly into a place, we pick them up, they travel with us for 1-2 weeks and fly out of another place. So in this case, David came into San Francisco and is leaving a week later from Phoenix. We've got a guest bedroom off the side of the truck, David says it's comfortable but with 2 kids and 2 cats, bring some ear plugs just in case! David even got a chance to drive the truck down US highway 1 for a few hours today. We'll soon be setting up a sign-in registration for guests by location and time, so think about where you want to join us!

The truck: Yes, we figured out the problem with the engine. The battery was charged, fuel in the pump, but as Gary Wescott called it, we needed to use a small blowtorch to get it going (I kid you not). Since diesel doesn't combust as easily as petrol, we should be fine (???) The Caterpillar Mechanic that we finally called out to help us left a mini blowtorch with us, I made Jay promise not to kill himself or blow up the truck. He's batting at about 85% on fulfilling his promises, so let's hope for the best!

People we've seen, places we've been:
1) Gary & Monika Wescott in Nevada City: We had an amazing stay with Gary and Monika (famous travelers of Turtle Expedition fame (www.tutleexpedition.com). They treated us to a warm and cozy Swiss family Christmas, complete with candles and sparklers on the tree and stockings with oranges and presents for the kids. Monika even worked with the kids to make the stockings with their names on them the night before – how wonderful! We talked late into the night about their Siberia expedition, trying to do good in the world without harming peoples' traditions and customs as per some of our foundation work (www.themuskokafoundation.org), and just sharing various travel stories. After touring their Turtle V and getting tips on the best cooking supplies for Overlanding we were off. Thanks Gary & Monika, see you soon!

2) Friends & ex-colleagues for picnic and dinners followed by tours of the truck in San Francisco bay area. Our picnic in the park with my Bridgespan (www.thebridgespangroup.org) colleagues, Daniel & his family and Joe, was especially nice. The kids all ran around together with the older ones trying to catapult Kurt and Maya off the see-saw! We were also able to go to a great Peruvian restaurant in San Francisco (Fresca on Filmore) with our friends “Original” Maya, David and his fiance Gift.

3) Carmel-by-the-Sea: We've lived for a while in the bay area, but this is our first time here. This is the largest concentration of galleries, boutiques, restaurants, wine bars and coffee shops we've really ever seen. Everything has tasteful twinkly lights, fireplaces and surprisingly tons of dog friendly spots. We were sitting in our rather fancy Italian restaurant with various rather large dogs at the tables, how cool! It's quite an upscale place, but a lot of fun for browsing and window shopping. Just watch out for all the low tress, with our 12'6” rig height we had a few scrapes!

As for today, we're off to see Joachim (of Studebaker fame) along the route south following the coast followed by visiting with my brother's high school friend John and his children in Santa Barbara.

YOGA ON THE ROAD (YOTR)
As you can imagine, California has an amazing selection of yoga studios, unfortunately since I was there during Christmas time, they all had off for a few days and I was relegated to putting my mat down on my own for some Ashtanga Primary Series every morning. The bright side of East Coast jetlag in California is that I've been getting up really early to practice pretty consistently. There is a studio I want to mention that has helped me a lot even though I've never been there and that is Bill Couter's place in Sacramento. Bill has generously put up a wonderful website www.AbsolutelyAshtanga.com with pictures and explanations of the Ashtanga series, going beyond the typically reviewed first and occasionally second and venturing into the 3rd - 6th series. Thank you Bill, I have my iPhone by my yoga mat with your pictures and suggested Dhrishtis and breathwork at all times!

I will mention a couple of places that I went to last time I was traveling through here though:
Lake Tahoe: there appear to be 2 good yoga places here, 1 on the north side of the lake and 1 on the south side. Since we were staying on the south side, I went to Mountain Yoga (http://www.mountain-yoga.com). It was not a very rigorous class and the location was a little strange in a new development area near a golf course. However, the people in the class had a great energy and the instructor was very soothing in her short Vinyasa flow class. We even met a fellow Burner (Burning Man) there who had blue-green hair and had just bought a Sportsmobile (www.sportsmobile.com), so also a fellow Overlander. Next time I'd like to try the place on the north side as it appears to take advantage of the Lake Tahoe setting more, only thing to note is that it appears to be Bikram place (www.bikramyogatahoe.com). Mountain Yoga charged a low drop-in rate.

Santa Cruz: Went to the Bikram studio given the way the schedule worked out at Village Yoga (www.bikramyogasantacruz.com). This was my first Bikram class ever. I was able to go through the entire class, with the last few Asanas done out of sheer determination, because I really was not used to the heat. I actually felt like I couldn't breathe at times and waiting with every cell in my body for the instructor to open the door for a few seconds to let in some air. I really love yoga, but I don't believe I enjoyed the Bikram class. The best part of the class for me was afterwards when I felt like I was free floating, light and yet powerful at the same time. It is an amazing feeling actually. However, I prefer doing yoga classes when I enjoy every moment of the experience, not just the post-yoga glow. Furthermore, the mirror, the repetition of each pose, the locker room smell, was all a bit non-yogic for me. I'm sure I'd try Bikram again, but it wouldn't be my first choice. The studio and the instructor however were all first rate. It's clean, spacious (just don't stand behind a column) and the instructor was friendly, supportive and clearly passionate about the experience for everyone. Free first class, also gave me free towels which were very necessary!