Sunday 7 Oct. The airshow was happening in San Francisco, as was the Hardly Strictyl Bluegrass Festival. An early start: we drove to Palo Alto airfield, prepared the plane, left the VW, and flew north over the Bay Area towards the Niner Diner at the top of the Bay.
The experience was truly a musical pilgrimage, as we flew over San Quentin Prison, I imagined which building it was that Johnny Cash played. 
Bacon & Eggs for breakfast with black coffee. Barbara tried the cheese burrito, which I finished off. Here are the remnants: 
The Last Day
California
At Monterey we dined at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant. Barbara & Brent shouted me fish & chips with a milkshake - Alabama something... It had chocolate and peanut butter in it from what I remember.
Monterey Bay is beautiful. The Pacific Ocean, a few surfers & seals, classic cars, cyclists, Mexican weddings...
Saturday afternoon, driving back up the highway to Mountain View California, we wondered how the All Blacks had done against France. Brent, sitting in the back, pulled out his iPhone and checked the World Cup website as we were driving along. He read the results to our dismay, though we felt better hearing about the Aussies' loss to England.
Brent took me to the Palo Alto Apple store - near the Silicon Valley HQ. I bought an iPod nano. It came in a tiny little box, with the simplest instructions I have ever seen. After years of hulking a discman around, this was pure bliss.
I left Manhattan the same way I had entered, on the A train. With a heavier suitcase, an NY education & a homeward-bound nostalgia. Friday evening, a window seat on JetBlue; we waited in a queue of about 30 planes on the tarmac at JFK. I pity those who must fly often. But that's just the way it is a the big airports. It was dark by the time we took off. I followed the map through the flight, saw the lights of what I thought were Philadelphia, Cincinnati, St Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, etc. We crossed the time zones, I watched the Simpsons, & by 10pm we were landing at San Jose CA. It was incredibly busy, but I found my bags intact, found Barbara & Brent, I was happy.
Returning to Mountain View was a little like coming home. Familiar territory. Back at B&B's there was coffee, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, a comfortable bed, and my surplus pile of vinyl and cds.
Saturday, I arose at leisure, being in no hurry to inspect nearby museums, monuments, icons & suchlike. Simply basking in the glory of a completed journey. We drove down the coast to Monterey
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