California Dreamin'

I finally saw the film Sideways last week. I enjoyed it very much but I didn't want to get into the relative merits of it. I thought it was a fine film, it made me laugh and the lead actors did a marvelous job.
No, I want to talk about something else. I want to talk about California. The state I left exactly one year ago to move to Ohio. Actually I didn't just leave, I fled. I fled the high real estate prices, the congestion, the traffic and the bureaucracy. Moving to Ohio gave me the opportunity to buy an old historic home that in California would have cost me nearly ten times the price I paid. So I have no regrets about the move I made but I do still think about California. Wait, I think about Northern California very much as I'd lived there for most of my adult life. You can have SoCal, I have no use for it.
Sideways follows two guys on a wine tasting tour through some of the Central Coast towns where many excellent wineries can be found. One of the guys, Miles, is a schoolteacher and failed novelist. The other, Jack, is his friend from college who is getting married in a matter of days. The trip is a sort of batchelor party for Jack and Miles is making sure his buddy has a great time in his last few days of freedom.
They drive north on Pacific Coast Highway, then on 101 until they make a quick stop in Oxnard, (Oxnard!) of all places. You see, that's where I was living before I moved east. No, living is too good a word, I was dying there. I was out of work and watching my nest egg get depleted with every passing month's rent. I had lived in Oxnard twice before this current go 'round so I knew it well and I can say with all sincerity that I hated it far more this time. Anyway, they drive through Oxnard and they take the Vineyard Avenue exit which is the same street where I'd rented a storage unit for my belongings. I swear, the sight of the place made me feel like I'd never left and I don't mean that in a good way. Gave me the willies it did.
Well first off, Miles is driving a red Saab Turbo Cabriolet with a black convertible top! That was the car I drove before my current one. Same color, same everything! They're driving my car dammit! But I digress. After they leave Oxnard it gets much better. They drive north of Pismo Beach and Santa Barbara until they pass Goleta and Solvang. We're almost far enough north to be in my old beloved stomping ground, the Central Coast. I've driven that highway so many times I think I could do it blindfolded. (Don't try that at home) The sights and sounds of 101 became second nature to me after all those many years, and I guess I even took them for granted. Seeing the same roads in the movie made me long for California again even though I had good reason to bail out of it when I did. The drawbacks to living in California were forgotten for two hours as I watched the adventures of these these friends drive north into my memories. Every freeway exit and every roadside diner I recognized. Each is a piece of my past now being used as a backdrop for a story about two friends.

What is ironic is that one of my best friends here in Ohio is moving to California next month. His path requires him to go there and I can see that it's the best thing for him rather than stay here and stagnate. You have to know when to move on. It's one of the most valuable things one can learn in life's lessons. My friend is much younger than I and needs the opportunities that California can offer in the entertainment business. I'm middle-aged and more settled so my being in Ohio makes sense. I got out of California at the right time, my friend is going there at just the right time. Funny how that works.