On the Blog Again

TOUCH DOWN MODESTO: HOME OF THE NUTS.

So, it’s another road trip to the Central Valley in the middle of summer.
They swore to me last year this wouldn’t happen again and yet, here we are.
(Note to self: maybe I shouldn’t drink that last Diet Coke in the office frig. It apparently belonged to someone of great power.)

Quickly, we share a package of Claritin to head off the headaches before we touch down.
Poor Heather. She already has a nasty cold. We keep our fingers crossed that the air conditioning in the RV doesn’t let us down and this trip doesn’t do her in.

Modesto is another one of those California towns that really began its growth after the gold rush.
The sign that welcomed everyone to town, with its ‘Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health,’ was added in 1912.
We’re hoping, for the sake of the crew, that all are still possible.

And, it’s also the home of the Modesto Nuts…the AAA team of the Denver Rockies. We were hoping to catch a game but Autumn, fearing it was bat night, thought we might all use one on her for scheduling a Central Valley shoot during the current wave of heat and wildfires.

Our main reason for being in Modesto is a lead story on the town’s most dubious honor: The car theft capital of the nation.

It seems hard to believe but, per capita, Modesto has more cars stolen every day than any other city in the U.S.: one every 75 minutes!
And it’s not just a Modesto problem. Up and down Highway 99, from Stockton, to Visalia, car thieves are hitting fast and leaving residents furious.
Our San Francisco based correspondent, Craig Miller, came up here to look into why.

It turns out it’s a ‘need for speed.’ Not racing, but methamphetamine.
Craig also produced and wrote the piece and it’s really well done.
The cost of a stolen car may be high, but the hidden camera video he used of the thieves as they were stealing …
Priceless!

Also while we’re here, we’ll shoot an intro into a pair of pieces being produced and reported by the graduate students of the Annenberg School of Journalism at USC.
They’ll take a look at two communities in Southern California that have two very distinct reactions to the problem of illegal immigration.

To service that end, our first location is a strawberry field outside of town.

Ryan joins us again from San Francisco, and, of course there’s Heather and Autumn. I don’t leave the county without them.

But, Bill Sheehy and Joe are still shooting a series job that conflicted with our dates and can’t be with us this trip.
We can’t be mad. Bill’s daughter got into NYU for the fall. You can imagine how he’s keeping his schedule booked to head off the nightmares about that out-of-state tuition.

But we’re still in able hands with our newest “newbies.”

You might not know photographer Sam Sewell or sound man Bill Bass by name yet…
But if you’ve ever watched NBC Nightly News, Dateline, the Today Show or Good Morning America, you know their excellent work.
And, since they agreed to go where our itinerary is taking us this trip, you also know they’re brave men indeed.

After wrapping at the farm stand, we do what we always do when folks are nice enough to let us borrow they’re backdrop and try to buy as much as the RV frig will hold to say ‘thanks.’

The peaches, blackberries and nectarines were amazing but the real catch was inside a few little Ball jars. Homemade jams to die for. I bought four.

As we get into the RV, we’re thinking that this isn’t so bad.
It’s only 95 degrees so far and we’ve made a great find for tomorrow’s toast.
But, as we’re putting the jars in the frig we see the darker side.
The blackberry jam has escaped from the jar.
I look like I’ve been shot.

Autumn calls Randa, our head of research, back at the office.
‘Google it!’ She yells.

Within seconds someone in the office puts the search engine to shame… saying the cure for dark berry stains is a mixture of vinegar and cold water that you let sit for 10 minutes before rubbing with a stain stick.

I was about to be amazed by their encyclopedic knowledge and then heard the real reason for the ‘Beat the Clock’ answer:
It had been on the ‘Today’ show that morning.

We’ve got nothing, but everything to lose.
We’ve already done a half-day of shooting and have no extra wardrobe.
So we find a Rite-aid, buy vinegar and pray.

As we always seem to do in stressful situations, we have lunch.

This is actually the second visit to the Harvest Moon Cafe for a couple of us. We were here with Bill and Joe and the gang last year (again in the summer!) and still talk about the jambalaya.

Sam and Bill were doubtful at first….

But the empty plate says it all.

Lunch done, we headed back to the big blue blob we left on the big blue bus. It’s gone.
Not the RV, though given the hot wiring skill in this hot valley town it did cross our minds, the stain. It was gone.
I can’t wait to write to ‘Heloise’ with proof of her ‘hint.’

The only problem now is that we have to keep working and our next location is the side of the freeway in 100-degree heat.

There’s not much more to say about this day except that we’ve proven how enticing it must be for motorists getting on or off the 99 to honk and yell when they see a camera.
After 12 takes of a script that should have taken 2, we’re done, in more ways than one.
I’ve nothing to add about hotels because, well, if you can’t say something nice…

WEDNESDAY MORNING.

We have just a couple of things to do here before we head for the hills.
(Literally. Our afternoon location is Mariposa, outside of Yosemite.)
So we charge out earlier than usual so we can hit the road before the heat smacks us down.

We’ve been asked to do a favor for another producer that shows the growth in the area and pull up to a new housing development to shoot the shingles as they’re going on the new homes.

While Sam and Bill grab some shots, we wait.

And, not for any particular reason except, well, he’s Jeff…
Jeff drops to the curb and gives us 20.

Autumn, not to be out done, gives it her best to prove she’s boss.

But, after 2 and a half instead of 20…
She thinks better of it.
And decides to sculpt those upper arms, instead.

Thrilled that she’s gotten in a workout and thrilled Sam and Bill finished the shots, she was overcome and had to do a cartwheel.

Jeff, well, because he’s Jeff, did one, too.

I watch Bill and Sam for they’re reactions.
I’m guessing Brokaw and Shriver may have better form.

11:00 AM

When was the last time you had a real root-beer float?
Well, we can tell you, it’s been too long.

The A&W drive-in in Modesto is a little slice of heaven.

The owner, Johnny Matthews, really went out of his way to rally some of the regulars who pull up every Friday night to celebrate hot rods, corn dogs, cheese fries, burgers and floats to join us for a ‘Greetings from CC’ video postcard.

There is real history in this little gathering of hot rods.

I’m guessing a little history with the Elvis’s, too, but more recent.

Apparently, when George Lucas was growing up in Modesto, he was part of that hot rod cruising culture that is still alive and well here today.

Though most of the street scenes were filmed in Petaluma, his memories of growing up here in Modesto were the basis of ‘American Graffiti.’
(Quick note: he’s not the only famous star born in Modesto. The Olympian Mark Spitz grew up here. And, if you’re too young for that, the actor who played ‘Spike’ on ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ is from here, too.)

The A&W has been here since the beginning. And, still today, on Friday nights, this lot is packed with families and proud car owners, musicians and, of course, the flying Elvis’s. I’m guessing all should get a cholesterol check.

As we shot a quick ‘Greetings’ segment, our incredibly skilled car-hop, Katrina Crisel, did her part to help us out.

And our reward after an hour or two of shooting was the best lunch you could shake a heart surgeon at….

The only dilemma?
Which one is one the South Beach Diet again?
The fries or the rings????

Again, I look over to newbies Sam and Bill and wonder what they’re thinking.

It can only be: Brokaw’s Elvis jumpsuit isn’t as nice as his!

1:00 PM

On the road again.

Heading toward Yosemite, surveying the ranches, the fields, and the cows, there’s only one thing that comes to mind.
The Ponderosa.

Heather and I both kick ourselves that we didn’t download the ‘Dum, de-di-dum, di-di-dum, dum’ onto our iPods before we left.

Mariposa, Mariposa. A name so nice you have to say it twice.
Our executive producer, Bret, kept chanting that with a grin as we left for the trip.
New Yorkers. You’d think a group who routinely says Sagaponick, Montauk, and Teeterboro with a straight face would think harder before teasing another state about its names.

Mariposa actually means ‘butterfly’ in Spanish.

But it’s real reason for being is the gold rush.

In the center of town the 5 stamp gold press still stands. It has nothing to do with the postal service.

The stamps are the giant cylinders that freed the gold from the hunks of quartz pulled from the mountains.

Most of the gold was found in quartz because, during the molten stage of the mountain’sbirth, gold and quartz had a similar melting temperature and tended to become entwined.

A chat with the locals proved the old prospecting spirit, and the old prospectors’ beards, are still alive and well.

As for Mariposa itself….

Only a mile and a half long, the town still has a good stretch of original old buildings and sidewalks.

And if that doesn’t make you feel like you’ve found a portal to the 1880’s, maybe this will convince you you’ve found one to the 1980’s.

More on Randy’s later.

First, there are 3 sets of intros and tags we need to shoot before we earned our supper.

The first is for a piece done by John Ridley on the search for darkness, which is now a vanishing resource because of light pollution all the way from Vegas.

The next 2 are both Judy Muller pieces.
One is a fairly straightforward piece on the battle between environmentalists and the Parks Department on whether Yosemite should have fewer or more campsites and tourist services. An old friend, Rick Wilkinson, who’s a long time star at ‘Nightline,’ produced that piece and did, as usual, a masterful job.

The other, which I happen to love, is just a little journal style thought piece by Judy about her favorite hobby.
The piece is called ‘Zen and the Art of Fly Fishing’.

Just a little more history here about Judy…

When I was a young reporter at ABC news, Judy, who was something of a hero to me, (not just because she was so nice, but she was so good,) told me, as we were battling the 1992 floods in Illinois, why she was really anxious to end her month long tour of duty on that story.
It wasn’t only because there was a shortage of decent food or potable water.
Or even because she had run out of clothes the first week…she solved that by hitting the local Gap and Banana Republic and cleaning them out of size 6’s.

It was because it forced her to cancel a long awaited fly-fishing trip.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Judy, you’ll know her, via her big love for the sport, after you see this piece. It’s lovely.

We found a great overlook area to do our business.

But the mother in me made me yell at Ryan to get off the roof.

Coming back down from the hills and back into town, we had one more quick stop to the local farmer’s market to get people’s thoughts on a piece Autumn wrote about the massive landslide, the Ferguson Slide, that’s cut this town, its workers and its tourists, off from the easiest access to the park.

After that, we took an hour to check in and get settled in our hotel before cleaning up for dinner.

While some of us unloaded equipment or checked our e-mails, Jeff, because he’s our Jeff, needed a dip to wash off his mountain road rage.
Okay, he’s from Ohio, it’s not rage as much as sunflower seed shells (he particularly likes the Bar-B-Q flavor) he needed to get off of him.

Jeff hadn’t actually brought a pair of trunks…
You can thank Ryan for his stunning attire.

DINNER

If in Mariposa, Mariposa, and hungry for a nice dinner, we found a terrific restaurant in the center of town called Savoury’s.

It is not only walking distance from all the inns, it has a good menu, good food, and is not expensive given the quality of the dishes. There’s a charming indoor dining room and an equally charming back patio.

After a good meal, there was nothing else that made sense than for Jeff to strike a pose….

….or, two …

… before making a 20 foot walk across the street to Randy’s.

The state smoking ordinances passed to save the health of bartenders and waitresses who worked in smoky saloons doesn’t count here.
Randy found a loophole, being the sole owner and sole employee.

And, if you’re not a smoker who dreams of the old days, or a closet shuffleboard fiend who can’t find a decent table in your neck of the woods, there’s yet another reason to come to Randy’s: THE WILDLIFE!

If you don’t have the luck to site a deer in Yosemite, or the money to do the San Diego Wild Animal Park, maybe this is just the ticket?

At one time, there must have been a busy taxidermist in this little town, but what they really need now, is just a ‘Swiffer.’

But, back to the wildlife…

I had to put this picture of the little instigator in because she looks so pretty.
And because it will make her crazy that I write about it.

THE NEXT MORNING:

For Jeff, nothing says ‘Hello, world,’ like a big plate of waffles with a cup and half of syrup.

For us carb-controlled gals….
The Pony Espresso.

And, there, Autumn found her perfect mountain hair.

After that, it was off to find our handlers who were taking us where no one is allowed to go.

Apparently, of the 2 agencies we had to clear to get to the location, one on site hadn’t been informed. It was an hour wait, and much chin scratching, while they sorted it out.

When we finally got there, it was worth it.

At the end of the day, there was nothing more to say than ‘Thank You!’
We would have never been so able to shoot what we needed without the cooperation of Yosemite Park Ranger Adrienne Freeman, Leslie VanMeter with the Forest Service, and Robert Boswell with CalTrans.

One last stop I want to tell you about as we headed out of town.

The River Rock Cafe and Inn is a charming place.

The boys loved the sandwiches…

And I had the best cookie I’ve ever had: chocolate chip, but with pistachios and chunks of candied ginger. I can’t wait to try it at home!

While the crew was loading up and gassing up…

I made one more stop at ‘Odelia’s’ for a big bag of antique linens. Of all the places we peeked into, if in Mariposa, go there….

So that’s pretty much it for this trip. It was a long drive back to the Modesto airport…

Luckily, Autumn bought a helmet for fifty cents that gave us a million dollars worth of pleasure.

Until next time, safe travels.

Lisa

MONDAY

As we plan our stories each season, we really try to find a way to balance our coverage of the different regions of state. If all goes perfectly, we’ll shoot a couple of shows in one road trip up north and then, on the next trip, head south. We’ll travel to small farming communities or mountains inland, and then cover the big cities on the coast. Sometimes it works like a charm, sometimes, because of availability of our subjects, our producers, our reporters, it doesn’t.

Our last road trip was to the Bay Area but, because of some unavoidable conflicts, we had to head back up this trip.
Now, to be honest, no one on the crew was complaining.
Last time, we were mostly in the city, which is always a pleasure.
And, this time, we were going to be in Sausalito, the Marin Headlands, Sonoma County and Half Moon Bay.
Not a bad spot in the bunch.

We all land in Oakland and Jeff has the RV at the curb to pick us up.
Bill and Joe, as usual, have to pick up the rental chase van, but first grab snacks, also as usual, just in case they get hungry between the terminal and the rental car office.

As we’re circling the airport to get to the rental car place, it happens.
Groundhog Day.
This time it’s not the windshield falling out, (like road trip 3) but we’re pretty sure a wheel is about to fall off.

Luckily (?), we’re still in the Oakland Airport industrial park and have almost nothing but truck repair places around us.
If you’ve ever wondered where rental car shuttle buses go when they’re sick, we found it.

While waiting for the diagnosis, which is to take an hour or two, we have no choice but to find lunch.

It’s not that Francesco’s is a bad place…
(The calamari was pretty good, so was the eggplant parmesan, but if you want your salad with dressing on the side you might want to say it twice.)
It’s just that, of any of the places you’d like to be when you have a sunny afternoon in the Bay Area….
a restaurant nestled in the industrial parks of Oakland isn’t one of them.

Unless, of course, you’re looking for the perfect dining room chandelier.

We call the repair shop about the big diva, not me, the blue one, and find out it is out of commission for at least 24 hours. But, by this time, our schedule for the day is blown.

Since there’s no way to make it to the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito before it closes this afternoon, we’ve got no choice but to pick up another SUV to carry us all to our hotel in Sonoma… the site of our shoot tomorrow.

As you can see, Joe is very excited about the extra cargo.

MONDAY EVENING

Good news.

Even if you’re a city person, and feel a little sad to see the Golden Gate in the rearview mirror, the drive to Sonoma from the bay is such deep breath.

Cities and sailboats fall behind as you come upon bedroom communities and commuter traffic but, just as you start to get annoyed, it all opens up.

In the summer, the hills heading north and east are light brown suede with big clumps of scrubby trees, oaks and pines. The fields, due to the year’s late rains, are scattered with dots of lacy yellow mustard and other wildflowers.

Before long, the vineyards appear; symmetrical rows on flat fields that swell up into the low hills. Fog gives way to bright blue sky and big leafy oak tunnels that let you know you’re not the first to venture deeper.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the town of Glen Ellen…there’s a winery of the same name, and several others in the outskirts of the village.

And, if you’re a lover of California history, literary history, or both, you probably know Jack London lived in Sonoma at the end of his life.

What I didn’t know, until we got to our hotel, was that London spent those years in Sonoma right here in Glen Ellen.

The Jack London Lodge reservation should have tipped me off, but I don’t always read the itinerary before we land.

It’s a little lodge, less of London’s era and more of the 50’s in its construction, with 2 stories of rooms that all open out to a parking area and pool.

The local woman who owns the lodge also owns the Saloon and restaurant next to it, which are all built alongside a nice little woodsy creek.

In addition to having a fine deer head, (not always a prerequisite but certainly a perk,) the whole compound has free wi-fi, which is a big help, and the food is actually great.

There are salads and grilled fish and crostini, and other things you’ll find at any other place in Sonoma, but there’s also a delicious fried chicken and, if you eat red meat, the Wolf House Burger with it’s half-pound of beef, Point Reyes Blue, sautéed bacon and mushrooms, can’t be beat.

Even Moonbeam couldn’t complain about her veggie options.

And, if you really love to explore towns and don’t want room service or hotel wine lists, there is the remarkable Glen Ellen Village Market in town right across the street.

Outside, piles of peaches and other produce pull you in. Inside, it’s a full grocery, but with a diverse wine and cheese selection and a prepared take-out area that would make the “Barefoot Contessa” run her bare feet back to the Hamptons.

We picked up a couple wines to try as we had our dinner on the deck overlooking the creek…

And the staff at Wolf house was more than happy to uncork our finds.

Oh, and one more advantage to the place..

there’s a pool table which, with a side of rings and a glass of wine, makes rural living all it should be.

If in Sonoma, and spending less than 300 a night for lodging, we all gave a big thumbs up to the Jack London Lodge.

TUESDAY MORNING

We knew the lodge had a continental breakfast served on the Wolf House deck next to the pool beginning at 8.

But… you know Joe by now… he (okay, all of us,) can’t really wait that long for the morning coffee.

The brilliant market scores more points.

In addition to great latte and cappuccino, there are frittatas and local sausages and cheese, not to mention great doughnuts and bear claws.

Fully caffeinated, we climbed behind the inn and found a spot on the river to shoot the intro and tags to our poaching piece.

This is a piece I wanted to do last year after doing the caviar-poaching piece in Sacramento.
While doing that story, I learned illegal wildlife poaching is, even by low estimations, more than 100 million dollar a year business in California.

One of our interviews for that story was with an undercover agent for the Department of Fish and Game who wasn’t about to let us show her face on camera.

When I pressed her she made her case clear, saying,
“I’m in the backwoods of nowhere, with no back-up, no cell or radio reception trying to arrest people who all have guns and knives and have no problem skinning anything alive.

Oh. Yeah. Undercover. I get it.

Since that story aired there have been busts of black bear poachers in Bakersfield, leopard shark thieves in Monterrey Bay and God knows how many reptile and abalone poachers have been pinched.

Producer Joe Angier (also of caviar fame) and Stephanie O’Neill-Noh have done the story. We hope you’ll see it.

After we shot the intros at the river, we were planning to rush off to our next stop when we saw the sign that pointed to the ruins of Jack London’s beloved mansion and ranch, which is now a state park.

We hadn’t pre-planned it but thought some kind ranger would make a call and give us access….we were wrong.

The State Parks service is so starved for funds there was no one around to give us permission to shoot. But we did have a look around. If in Glen Ellen, grab some great take-out from the Wolf Creek Saloon or the Glen Ellen Village Market and make a picnic. It’s lovely.

11:30 am

Just leaving Petaluma.

We chose it because we needed a location in Northern California to shoot an intro to Judy Muller’s Central Casting piece.

When George Lucas made American Graffiti, based on his recollections of growing up in Modesto, he chose Petaluma to film many of those scenes of the iconic main street with Harrison Ford cruising coolly while McKenzie Phillips served up pre-teen angst and Suzanne Somers provided the specter of unattainable beauty.

The downtown street is still there. The buildings up and down Petaluma Boulevard are beautiful and there are some nice little shops with friendly shopkeepers.

But, for some reason, city planners haven’t figured out an alternate truck route and it seemed every truck in town came through spewing exhaust on what would otherwise be a charming stretch of sidewalk.

We do our business, between waves of traffic, grab a Starbucks (yeah, it wasn’t in the movie either) and head to the coast.

We do have to remember though, when Joe retires, there is a business with his name on it…

2pm

Ah, water again.
Our next destination is the Marine Mammal Center at the Marin Headlands so we stopped in the nearby town of Sausalito for a quick lunch at Café Trieste.

After the heat and bright sky of the valley, the fog is as delicious as our lunch.
It must have been 30 degrees cooler than where we came from and I had to pull out a fisherman’s sweater from my bag to get comfortable.

There are several Café Triestes in the Bay Area. But this one is always a favorite for us because at breakfast there are great eggs and pastries and, at lunch, brick oven pizza’s, salads and to die for sandwiches.
Heather, again, found a veggie dream.

And, anytime of day, the coffee is outstanding.
They’re also very cool. Since we were without the RV and the electronics we’re used to relying on, they let us receive a couple of faxes of scripts from the office that we have to shoot later. Very nice.
If in Sausalito, try Café Trieste.
Park in the back, it’s free and overlooks the marina.

2:45 PM

Lunch done, we head to where we think we’re going.

We ask Autumn whose answer is, as always, “that-a-way.”

Where we’re actually hoping to go is The Marin Headlands…. on the ocean side of the spit of land that holds Sausalito on the bay side.

We follow our trusty map (since we’d left the GPS charger in the grumpy RV) and head up a hill.

Deeper and deeper into fog we went as we climbed a cliff drive I’m sure would have given us heart attacks had we been able to see past our front wheels.

At the top of the cliff, at a narrow turn out, we gasp as we see what could only been described as a hallucination… had we all not seen it.

3 men, Sikhs, in full head wraps and robes, turned to look at us as we took the next turn…

I know you don’t see them now but, I swear, they were just there.

We didn’t need another warning. That was as good as a sign from God gets. We turned around at the next opportunity and headed back down the hill.

The turn off we’d missed the first time then took us where we needed to go.

Unless you’re an experienced Bay Area explorer, or a spy from the Cold War, you’ve probably not seen it, but really should.

Part of the Marin Headlands State Park Area, this particular hidden stretch of the world was once the site of “Fort Cronkhite.” (No, not mis-spelled, think of Walter, then add an ‘h.’)

To get there, you have to pass through a tunnel and, just before that, a traffic light.
Now, this is not just any traffic light.
It’s the longest traffic light you’ve ever experienced but you don’t want to cheat it. The tunnel it leads you into is one-lane.

But the wait is worth it. On the other side is one of the most beautiful stretches of lost coast we’ve ever seen.
Even in the fog of that day, I’m sure you can appreciate it.

There’s a lagoon you cross over, and some steep and some rolling hills where the old barracks, beige stucco with red roofs, make you wonder what life was like for those soldiers, their wives and children who once made this their home.

Though the military considered it as a prime location as early as 1906, it wasn’t until the U.S. entered World War 2 that it was funded and built. There are batteries hidden up in the hills where watchmen used to keep an eye out for enemy ships and subs and gunners practiced their aim on targets in the sea.
But with the end of World War 2, came the Korean and Cold Wars and Ft. Cronkhite’s purpose changed again.
Starting in 1954, Nike anti-aircraft missiles designed to shoot down planes traveling 2 or 3 times the speed of sound were planted in a dozen sites around the Bay Area including the Marin Headlands.
Hello, Dr. Strangelove.
Looking at it now, in all its breathtaking serenity, it is hard to imagine what lied beneath.

It’s also hard to believe that, just beyond the hilltops, is the city and the Golden Gate.

We were working, but also having fun in this remarkable setting….
And, we know, we’ve found yet another reason to take “a road less traveled on.”
It, as Frost said, “made all the difference.”

But it wasn’t all pictures and poetry.
Since it was the coast, we all had to feel Autumn’s hair.

Just up the hill from the beach, we found our main reason for being here this day:
The Marine Mammal Center.

Established as the Fort was de-commissioned and handed over to the Park Service, its staff and volunteers have doctored more sick sea creatures than any other facility of its type in the nation.

Among its patients are sea lion babies who’ve been abandoned by their mothers and elephant seals who’ve been cut up by fishing nets. Our guide, Jim Oswald, explained the staff’s goal is to get them back to health, not let them imprint on humans and set them free again into the ocean.

There is construction at the center right now as they try to expand, but don’t be deterred…
If there, on holiday or as a resident, call ahead… they take volunteers on Tuesdays and could always use a donation of time or cash.

4pm

After shooting on the beach we head to our next location:
The Berkeley Farmer’s Market

Heather, seeing “her people,” squeals with glee, “Yeah! Hippies!”
(You can take the girl out of the designer lettuce farm in Maui, but you can’t…. you know.)

We’re here to shoot an intro into our piece on organics. Now that Wal-Mart has announced it’s going to do a major expansion of its organic products, we wondered if the bar might be lowered on standards because of the huge quantities involved. And, if that happens, could that substantially change the nature of farming in California? Could the big commercial outfits, as they go organic, kill the small farmers who’ve pursued that mission since the 1960’s?.

While navigating through the stalls of sea-weed slaw, tonic kraut, and vegan tacos, we found a lot of people with a lot to say.

Once wrapped, we picked up the olive bread from The Phoenix Pastificio stall (510-883-0783) and some great local cheese from the Spring Hill Jersey Cheese booth, (springhillcheese.com). We have to tell you, the bread was the best we’ve ever had. Not the dried out olive bread you find in the market, this actually is stuffed with giant, soft, delicious olives.

Snacks and staff loaded in the car, we head off on our hour drive to Pacifica.

8:30 pm

Yes, we’ve landed.

A San Francisco suburb, Pacifica is on the ocean south of the city and is a mix of low and high income homes. Autumn, who spent part of her childhood in Alaska and moved here as a teen, hates the regular fog.
But she did find hotel on the stretch of Rockaway Beach that, if heading to San Francisco and looking for a place on the beach before you get to the higher priced hotels closer to the city, is a great bargain.

The Best Western Lighthouse Inn is on the water of a cove with a small but pretty stretch of sand.
It’s sort of California meets Montauk in its style.
A Junior Suite with a non-ocean view runs about 149 a night during the week, 189 on the weekend.
There are cheaper rooms, but for a few dollars more, go for the space and little balcony. It’s worth it.

The restaurant choices are slim, and I’m so tired. The room service soup and salad and the Louis Black comedy special does it for me.

Weds AM

I had a morning radio show in Shasta that was calling at 8:30 to talk about our “water wars” story that was airing that week so I had not much to do but grab a latte around the corner and take a quick walk on the beach.
Even a small beach is a beach and, with only 2 other people and a couple of dogs on it at that hour, it was a great way to start the day.

Radio chat done, we loaded up and headed to Starbucks. That’s when we I heard what some of the others did last night…
Heather, who apparently knows someone on every beach on the Pacific, called a college friend, Lisa, who is from Pacifica to find out what they could do there after 10 pm.
There was only one answer.

Bowling.

Of course, it’s called the “Sea Bowl.”
And, Heather, Ryan and Jeff were the last to leave.
They all swear that was a first…. but from the look of how they wear those shoes, I’m guessing this isn’t the first time they’ve closed down a bowling alley.

Weds 9:30 am

The morning sun in Pacifica had given way to a fog and drizzle as we headed down the coast.
It’s a problem for us since we were to shoot the intro to Judy Muller’s piece on the big news in the surfing industry, “Beach Blank Bingo,” and needed to see surfers in the background.

But timing is everything, and by the time we found the gorgeous Montara State Beach, the fog was lifting and one intrepid surfer, a middle-aged guy who seemed unmoved by the conditions, was unloading his board and pulling on his wet-suit. We waiting for just a minute and watched as he joined the only other surfer in the water who was just revealed as the fog began to lift.

The drizzle stopped, the sun broke through and before we knew it we were shooting Judy’s intro about Californians catching a wave as the surfers behind us did just that.

By the time we finished, a few carloads of high school boys and a couple of more old guys (or, as I liked to call them, “my people”) showed up and suited up.

It was about then I saw the thing in the water.
A couple of hundred feet or so from the surfers, it was big and dark and shiny.

At first I thought it was a rock. But it moved with the surf.
Maybe it was kelp, we thought, but then Bill looked through his lens. Nope. Not a plant. A dead sea-lion.

I asked the older Asian guy what he thought. “Hmm, dead sea-lion? Bad for surfers… you know, sharks.”

I immediately started warning the teenager who was pulling on his booties.
His fear was overwhelming. “Bummer,” he said, before turning to his friend, shrugging and mumbling, “Dead something.”
They grabbed their boards and headed for the water, giving me that look kids give clueless adults as they climbed down out of site.

Since Bill has a teenage son who surfs I ran to him, hoping he could talk the kids out of going in the water just yet. “What about the sharks?!” I whined.
Bill was about as worried as the kids. “Lisa, they’ll know if there’s sharks.”
“Yeah,” Heather pipes up, “It’ll bob up and down.”
I forgot, Miss Maui surfer chick is, of course, a shark expert.
“And then, it’ll get smaller, and then, after a few splashes, it’ll go away.”
That still wasn’t doing it for me. “But what if they’re still hungry?”
That’s when they both laughed, gave me the same look the teenagers did, and finished breaking down the equipment.
Fine, laugh if you will, but I wasn’t taking my eyes off that carcass.

As we were loading up, and I was the only one worried about the sharks, I realized, that as a mother of a southern California born boy who is someday going to want to surf, I not only will give new meaning to the term “nervous Nellie,” I have the potential to embarrass him beyond belief.

11am

Our next stop is one I wish I could tell you to go to, but you can’t:
It’s called “Devil’s Slide.”

Just up the hill on Hwy. 1 from Montara Beach, this is that stretch of the highway that keeps getting washed into the sea every time a Pacific storm hammers the coast.

For 30 years, it’s been tied up in court fights as the state tried to move the highway inland, and environmentalists blocked construction. In the end, after billions of dollars spent building and re-building, the move inland is happening, though it won’t be complete until 2011.
So, for now, they’re rebuilding this patch yet again and are hoping it will be done sometime in September.

I have to say a big thank you to our Caltrans pal, John Cunliffe, who made it all happen for us…
To be able to walk on a stretch of magnificent coastal cliffs without cars rolling over you is quite something. This is the most beautiful state in the nation.

And the added bonus is that Bill and Joe got to wear their safety vests….
Which always makes them happy.

12 pages of scripts done, we had a little time before we had to catch our flight at San Jose, so we headed back down to Half Moon Bay to find lunch.
(As we passed Montara Beach, I looked for the sea-lion. It was gone and the surfers were fine. )

Along the marina we found a little local joint among a strip of little local joints…
On the flip of a coin we chose Ketch Joanne.

Autumn had the ribs, seafood sandwiches were a hit and, for the second time this trip, world class rings.

Poor Jeff. Autumn almost lost it when he ordered chocolate milk.
He needed it. Relieved of driving duty with the RV down, he’d napped in the back seat the entire trip.
He was gonna need that choco-milk to help him get back to sleep.

As trips go, it was a pain in the neck, but at the same time, given the company and the scenery, a real opportunity to remind ourselves why we all live here.

California.

You can’t do any better than this.

Until next time…

lmc

Tuesday Mid-Morning

Just landed in Oakland and we couldn’t be happier.

I know, most aren’t jumping up and down about Oakland but, in spite of the crazy murder rate, it’s not a bad city. (I don’t think J. Brown is going to make a bumper sticker out of that one, but I really do mean it as a compliment.)

Still, the reason we’re all high 5-ing each other as we get picked up at the airport by the big blue RV is that IT’S NOT THE DESERT! (see trip from hell, road trip 3)

We were also were pretty happy with ourselves once we found the right big blue bus. Jeff, our driver, kept saying he was at the terminal (even though he wasn’t) and all the city shuttles and buses that pulled up and toyed with us are the same shade of blue.

It was, “Here it is! No, it’s not,” for a half hour or so.

After a while, Joe decided to board whatever blue thing came his way…

But he pulled himself off when he realized there was no trail mix on board.

We’ll have to keep a special eye on Joe this trip. Bill had a conflict this week and so Joe’s a little out of sorts.

With Bill out, we do have Kenny, our mountain man with the nice ponytail.

Kenny’s always fun to travel with and is a great shooter (also from “Curb”) so we know we’re in good hands.

Nat’s also out of play, something about making lots of money to do another job.

We have to cut him some slack since he’s getting married. He’s not getting any younger you know.

But I suspect there may be another reason he’s absent. From the looks of how our last trip (to the desert) affected him, he may just be hiding.

Instead, we brought along Ryan Agostino. (Yes, like the grocery chain in NYC but without the D.)

Ryan’s a Boston College grad who’s originally from New York but moved a few months ago to San Francisco.

Heather hears he’s single and starts e-mailing her Bay Area girlfriends.

Though I’ve worked with him on a story before, this is his first CC road trip.

I hope we don’t scare him off.

Anyway, we’re in the Bay Area and, if you have to be working anywhere, it’s a great place to be.

We have 2 shows to shoot.

One, for June 30, includes the intros and tags for the “Water Wars” story about Nestle trying to buy up the watershed of the town of McCloud, near Mt. Shasta, and John Ridley’s “Sideways” take on bottled v.s. tap water.

There’s also a 3rd piece in that program, another heartbreaker from the rainmaker, Angela Shelley.

This one on people living in their cars and how one community is trying to make their lives easier.

The other show, is actually a Special Report to air Friday, June 23rd. It’s called “War Stories from Ward 7-D.”

We’ll take you inside of a treatment facility that takes care of those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan: the Palo Alto VA Hospital’s Polytrauma Unit. It’s one of 4 in the country and is a remarkable place with truly heroic people…patients and staff, alike. I hope you’ll see it.

But first, AT&T ballpark, the fairly new home to the S.F. Giants.

Whether you’re a baseball fan or not, this is a place to watch a ballgame!

Built 6 years ago, by a group of private investors, (because voters wouldn’t pass a bond initiative,) this is the most attractive and user-friendly park any of us has ever seen.

From the outside, it has a red brick façade that blends in beautifully with surrounding architecture. Inside, the seats and field all face the water. There’s a great use of space behind the stands for food and concessions that is all open to the great view.

But, as a mother of little children, I have to tell you about my favorite part.

Just above 2rd base, is a children’s playground and mini T-ball court that overlooks the field and the water.

There’s a giant Coke bottle that has a crazy slide running through it and gigantic model of a 1920’s four finger mitt that is a great piece of art.

As part of the deal with the neighbors, the park is open to local kids year round and from the looks of it today, it’s working for everyone.

Shana Daum, our handler, is also a mother and told us if you are coming for a game with the kids, make sure you get here an hour early so they can really wear themselves out in the park before you get them dinner and in their seats.

Even if the little ones don’t last a fully game, they’ll feel like they’ve had a great day at the ballpark.

Brilliant.

After wrapping at the ballpark, we stopped for a quick lunch at MoMo’s.

It’s just across the street and has better than the average ballpark fare. (Though I’m told AT&T Park has some of the best food available at any sports event. No big surprise. It is San Francisco and those people do know their food.)

Still, if you’re looking for something close, with great salads and without plastic utensils, give it a try.

Our next stop is the Presidio. Even regular visitors to the Bay Area may have overlooked its beauty and history.

Until 1994, when it was handed over to the parks service, the Presidio was the oldest continually operating military base on the west coast. In a state where pre-depression era homes are considered antique, this is a real treasure.

First built by the Spanish (with assistance from the native Indians) in 1796, the loosely grouped buildings and barracks were added and expanded for the next 200 years. It served as a base for the Mexican Republic from 1822 until 1846, before the first U.S. forces moved in around 1846.

When the Golden Gate was built (come on, sing it, “they said it couldn’t be done,”) in the 1930’s, it was already a landmark.

Today, it is a major destination for San Francisco’s fittest, and it’s not so fit… but trying.

Bike and running paths hug the rocky bayshore and climb into the pine tree covered hills.

Regular viewer David Buckelheide found us on that path and paused to say hello. (We’re not saying he cut out of work early…. but it is still pretty light outside, isn’t it?)

George Lucas moved a couple of thousand of his most creative minds here when the park service figured out that Lucas’ 5.6 million dollar annual rent could provide almost 20 percent of the Presidio’s budget.

As if the free Star Wars action figures weren’t enough…a lunchroom that overlooks the Presidio is just another reason to consider a career at LucasFilm.

But we’re not here to do a travelogue. We’re here, for the next few hours, to shoot the intros, connecting bridges and the close to a special report that will air Friday, June 23rd: War Stories from Ward 7-D.

From the minute Bret bought my pitch a few months ago, I knew I wanted Jon Dann to produce it for a couple of reasons.

One, Jon had produced a Viet Nam vets PTSD documentary years ago and has a real understanding of the military.

And, two, Jon and I have done some great work together before and know how to fight it out in order to get it right and still like each other enough to go out to dinner.

For 2 months we tried to get the access we wanted at the Naval Hospital in San Diego but it just wasn’t coming together.

Here’s where Jon saved the day.

His contacts at the Palo Alto VA Hospital developed years before, led us to their Polytrauma unit, one of only 4 VA polytrauma units in the country.

Poly, of course, means multiple and the people here are suffering multiple system damage.

Jon found 4 soldiers, 3 men and one woman, of different ages, races and family situations that would allow us to look at a range of injuries, treatments and emotional needs. He also found an amazing doctor there, Dr. Harriet Zeiner, a clinical neuropsychologist, who can explain even the most complex medical situations in a truly understandable way.

She’s so good. Saying she makes Dr. Phil look like a hack may be too strong, but if I were a booker for a national show, I’d put her at the top of my “medical experts” list.

Anyway, in our time on the ward, and the many hours we all spent in the editing room over the next 10 days, we were so moved by all of those we met on Ward 7-D. I hope you will be, too.

After a long day, and dropping Ryan off at his apartment in North Beach, we finally made it to the hotel, the Ramada Inn on Market Street, by 9 pm.

Now, I’m not usually snarky about hotels. And I have to say, the building itself is lovely: a historic landmark with gorgeous original details that have been carefully restored. Even the rooms are fine. Old, but redone in not an opulent, but appropriate way…sort of like an older hotel in London, maybe the Grosvenor House, would be.

But, man, what they say about location, location, location is true, even for hotels.

Just a little too far below Union Square, the businesses are none you’d want to go into and, even if you did, you wouldn’t unless you had a Humvee and an armed patrolman with you.

Dicey, dicey, dicey.

But the biggest problem was that they didn’t have a place for the RV, which is why we booked it in the first place. Apparently, the woman who made the arrangements for us hadn’t told anyone else and it was an hour of hassle before Heather and Jeff finally were able to relax. They did give us a room upgrade for our trouble and it was large and pleasant but I’d have to say, if we could figure out parking for the big blue thing some other way we’d all prefer the old Sam Wong (now the SW Hotel) at the top of the hill on Grant Street at Columbus where Chinatown meets North Beach.

It’s much more sparse and monochromatic and the rooms are smaller, but if you want to walk to amazing Italian restaurants, or roll down the hill a block to great Dim Sum, it’s a better choice.

Too late for anything but room service tonight anyway so we plan for a great meal tomorrow.

Wednesday

The crew got an extra hour this morning while Autumn and I headed over to ABC radio this morning for an appearance on Ronn Owen’s morning talk show.

He’s the number #1 rated talk guy in the Bay Area and a great supporter of the show. He had us on last year and we had a ball and were happy to get back on.

Like Steve Kelly in the desert, Ronn has a close relationship with his audience, which seem pretty engaged and knowledgeable.

A couple of the folks who called in while we were talking about the Iraqi Vets/Brain Injury special actually helped us out….providing websites and organizations that we’ll be able to link viewers to on our website when the piece airs.

All in all, a great time except for my death rattle.

The illness I picked up on the last road trip has defied the 5 day course of anti-biotics and by this morning I was in pretty bad shape.

In the last commercial break I asked Ronn if he had an Ear/Nose and Throat person and before the break ended he’d gotten me into a doctor I think I may plan all my future sinus infections around.

Dr. Roger Smith is Marcus Welby. No kidding. Down to the white coat and the that shiny reflector thing he wears on his head.

He even has his own “Consuelo, (I’m really dating myself here, but she was Dr. Welby’s all-knowing and kind TV nurse) Mary Ellen.

A half hour later, after he told me the 5 day course of Erythromycin had only made the infection mad, I had a prescription for a boatload of Cipro and a couple of other things that changed my world by the afternoon.

But, since the pharmacy needed time to get it all together, we decided to find lunch nearby and get that out of the way.

Here is where our karma got right again.

After finding a place for the big blue bus, near the corner of Sutter and Van Ness, we were considering this Persian Restaurant, or that pizza joint or a little noodle shop when a woman on the street, seeing our confusion, stepped in and saved the day.

The noodle shop was just a side business of the little Japanese place, Kyoto Sushi, at the end of the block and she promised it was fabulous and had enough room for us all.

I know you can see from the pictures that it looks amazing. And it was.

Huge selection of great dishes and fast service and, because we are PBS, it was insanely inexpensive which meant we could all just eat more!

Heather actually sent a phone photo to Carlos back in the office to make him drool.

He’s still whining about it.

Lunch done, drugs in me (a handful of Cipro on top of tempura is a good thing) we headed to our next location.

Someplace you’d not normally find but, if you like to hike and are near S.F., I highly recommend searching out this place.

The Crystal Springs Reservoir is one of 3 watersheds providing water to some 2 and half million thirsty San Franciscans.

It encompasses 23-thousand acres and is as guarded as any military installation.

No swimming, no boating, don’t even think about dunking your dirty little toes in it. But they do have miles of trails around it where you can see the water and enjoy truly untouched beauty and a robust native eco-system by foot or by bike.

If in San Mateo County, bring great walking shoes and look it up.

Our handler from the Water Company, Michelle Liapes, found us a great vantage point to shoot the intro to the “Water Wars” piece that airs June 30.

It’s about a town far north of here, McCloud, near Mt. Shasta, which is struggling with a decision about whether they’ll sell their water to Nestle and gain jobs, but perhaps hurt a great river and contribute to the pollution created (plastic bottles, truck fumes) by our obsession with drinking water from a bottle.

We also do an intro for a “Sideways” piece of John Ridley’s, (of “Three Kings” fame) which questions the real “purity” of “pure” mountain spring, bottle dispensed, water.

It’s been a beautiful place to shoot but the best part of the day happens when we start to leave.

While trying to turn the RV around on this windy, hilly road, some guy who saw Heather on the road with her walkie-talkie and her clip-board pulled over and said, “Hey, I know this sounds weird and all, but can I take you out sometime?”

She’s a little creeped out and thinking she probably shouldn’t do that MySpace thing after all.

It proves once again to the rest of us that a woman with a walkie-talkie and a clipboard can do anything.

Back in S.F. …

Most of us are dropped in North Beach to head to the restaurant we’ve decided on while Heather, Ryan, (who’d left his car at the hotel that morning) and Jeff dump the RV in scary land before meeting us.

If feeling in the mood for good Italian in a relaxed setting, try Bocce.

Heather’s pals from college (you know by now she went to UCSB, right?) all live here now and recommended it.

It’s right in the heart of North Beach, (had we stayed at the SW we would have walked, but whatever) surrounded by all sorts of great shops.

While we were waiting for the others I poked out onto the block and bought a pair of shoes and a great hand-knit sweater.

I saw something for Heather, an antique map of Maui (I still don’t believe she’s from there) but, at $1750, I decided to pass.

I was still back in my chair, and wearing my new Guatemalan shoes, in time for appetizers.

As far as main courses go, you can’t miss with the gnocci, and I left nothing of my lasagna behind.

After dinner, we took a little walk…

Heather saw the Maui map and got a little emotional that I didn’t buy it for her.

The old people (me, Joe, Kenny and Autumn) headed back to the hotel ready for sleep by 10.

Those crazy kids, however…?

I don’t know.

They showed up for work the next day so I didn’t ask.

Thursday morning

We have just a couple of things to do today so we think we might actually catch an earlier flight and be home in LA before dark.

We’re on our way to “The Haight.”

In the 60’s it was the epicenter of the “summer of love.” Now the area has been gentrified but, at the park at the top of the hill, you’ll see more homeless people than flower children today.

We’re going to shoot an intro to Angela Shelley’s piece on the newly homeless, who now live out of their cars.

Though that piece was shot in Santa Barbara because of a unique program there (see Road Trip 2 to hear about Angela’s people who found us) it is a problem in many cities across the state.

Since Gavin Newsom has made some bold moves regarding the homeless, it makes sense to say the big thoughts here.

As we’re driving up to the Haight, admiring all the newly gentrified Victorians and wondering if Jimi Hendrix might have slept here, or there,

Heather and I compete with our i-Pods to find the perfect San Francisco soundtrack.

Again, age makes a difference. I have all the standards from Eric Burden and the Animals, to The 5th Dimension and Tony Bennett.

Heather, though, beats me for the title with 2 simple tracks: “San Francisco” by Bobby Solo and “I’m Always Drunk in San Francisco” by Kitty Margolis. (We can’t file share, but here’s the list so you can download yourself.)

The Playlist

1. Another sunny day- Belle & Sebastian
2. Hello San Francisco- Buddy Guy
3. San Francisco- Bobby Solo
4. I’m always drunk in San Francisco- Kitty Margolis
5. We Built this City- Starship
6. Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games- Of Montreal
7. Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey
8. Sugar Baby Love- The Rubettes
9. Back in a NY Groove- Kiss
10. Weather Report- Simon & Garfunkel
11. Our House- Madness
12. 93 till Infinity- Tarje and the mighty souls of Mischief
13. Just Help yourself - Tom Jones
14. Baila Morena- Zucchero
15. I left my Heart in San Francisco- Dean Martin
16. I left my Heart in San Francisco - Frank Sinatra
17. Volare-Dean Martin
18. San Franciscan Nights- Eric Burdon & The Animals
19. San Francisco Bay Blues- Eric Clapton
20. San Francisco Bay Blues- Richie Havens
21. Cumpari Franciscu -
22. Avanti E Indre -

2 hours later…

Okay, it was just too wrong to shoot homeless people behind us.

It just was.

So we turned around and went to City Hall. This is where Gavin Newsom made his homeless rules anyway.

The tour busses made way for us, though Heather and Autumn had to pose with a group from Tokyo Tours.

We wrap and head to Pier 39 to pick up some B roll for the Iraqi Vet’s piece. (One of our patients had a field trip there with his family and didn’t end up having the pictures we needed.)

Though we don’t mind stopping at the wharf, we are a little bummed at the time.

There’s no way we’re making an earlier flight.