July 1, 2013-Monday—Leaving Santa Cruz for the East Bay Lighthouses—A Long Frustrating and Emotional Day

July 1, 2013—Monday—168105 Odometer Reading

         Packed up the Teardrop and said our good byes to our wonderful friends the Wallaces. Leaving them,

Dave & Iris..American Ungothic

and their beautiful garden will be difficult, but we are assured we’ll see them in Prescott soon.  Too bad they can’t bring their garden with them, but it’s been a huge 

Roy Elena Kim and Guayo in the garden

inspiration and I’m starting the SC to Prescott Gardening Project!

         We’re off to the Bay Area and the East Bay lighthouses.  OMG, the traffic is killing me…I’m just not used to the freeways with everyone running at full speed, cutting in and out in front of you, and what’s with the horn blowing?  Rude!!!  Especially since every time they do it, I think something’s wrong or I’m running someone or something over and I get even more nervous.

         We arrived in Oakland and went to the harbor for our first area lighthouse. We found it (atop Quinn’s Lighthouse Restaurant) easily and it was a quick photo op too….chock one up for us!

The original Oakland Harbor Light was completed in 1890, and marked the entrance to one of the West Coast's major ports. Oakland served as a rail terminus for transcontinental shipping. In 1869, the first Central Pacific train steamed into Oakland, linking the harbor with the

east. In 1879, a pair of two-mile long piers were constructed beside the Oakland Estuary. The Lighthouse Board appropriated funds for a lighthouse and fog signal at then end of these piers.

In 1966, the station closed. An automated beacon was placed in front of the station. The station was sold for one

dollar to a restaurant firm, who moved the lighthouse six miles down the Oakland Estuary to Embarcadero Cove, using the world's largest ocean-going crane. The lantern room was was removed and sent to Santa Cruz,, where it now sits atop the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. Today, the lighthouse building, with lantern room replica, is the home of Quinn's Lighthouse Restaurant and Pub.

      Those big cleats I’m sitting on are solid metal and used to tie off the ships. I am sitting there to give perspective to their relative size…they are enormous. Guayo nearly dislocated my shoulder when he saw a cat when we were walking in…have to keep a better grip on that boy. Speaking of whom, I have to say he

has been such a great traveler for us.  We can’t believe how lucky we are to have such a great pooch.

        Onward to Jack London Square.  Since we are towing the Teardrop, we had to park awkwardly at the parking lot, but only $6 per day, so we were impressed. I opened up the Teardrop, made a little lunch, and we were off to find the next lighthouse.

WL|V 605 Lightship RELIEF

          The next light is not  a lighthouse at all, so off

we go to the berth. The WLV 605 is a 600-class lightship - the last class of lightship built by the U.S. Coast Guard. The 605 served in Delaware, off Blunts Reef, and as the Relief ship for all west coast

lightships. Today, after 15 years of restoration and 20,000 volunteer hours, she is open to the public at 

Jack London Square in Oakland, CA and is a national historic landmark.

         Walking down through the square, I was taking photos of the gorgeous planters and marina when the camera shut itself up like an anemone that had been poked. Argh…dead battery. I didn’t have

Not a real lighthouse

time to go and plug it into the inverter in the car so took my chances that I’d get at least one or two more shots out of it to record the RELIEF.  The God’s of camera batteries were good to me and I got the photos! 

         It was damn hot in the East Bay, and after walking around for an hour, we were happy to be back in the truck with the a/c running full blast. Next destination was the East Brother Lighthouse at Point Moleta in San Pedro Bay.  This is where the day started turning bad. I swear, if there’s an opportunity for a road to be mislabeled/under construction/screwed up in any way that will send us on the wrong path, but we’ll find it.

East Brother Lighthouse i.e. Point Moleta/San Rafael Bridge

          For almost ten years, the East Brother

Lighthouse received little attention, and the neglect started to take its toll as the wood rotted, the paint peeled, and the iron rusted. A non-profit group was formed in 1979 to restore the landmark and make it

accessible to the public. Through government grants, private donations, and countless hours of volunteer labor, the structures on the island were restored. Today day use fees and funds received through the operation of the lighthouse as a bed and breakfast are used to maintain the facilities.

       We made it fine to the San Rafael bridge, and were supposed to take the exit just before the bridge thus avoiding the toll.  However, due to road work, the exit was closed. With all of the heavy equipment, barriers, dirt, concrete, etc. everywhere,  I didn’t see the road until it was too late plus it no longer said Point Moleta but only Western Drive, which meant nothing to me. So we got to the toll booth, no way to turn around, and had to pay $15  (vehicle plus trailer) to go across. The man at the booth called over to the authority and gave us a slip of paper and said go across, turn around at first exit, and come back and give the people at the toll booth the slip of paper and they’ll refund your money.  So we went across and since I’d never been across, it was a nice experience…a beautiful bridge, the bay was gorgeous, and we found the exit and turned around no problem. However, there was not a toll booth on the way back where we could get the refund.

         We went back to the first exit where we could turn around, figuring we’d just have to eat the fee, and this time we made it onto Western Drive which was also the road to Point Moleta and the East Brother Lighthouse.

         Point Moleta is a military installation, but from   

       

what we could see it’s been abandoned. It’s so outrageous to me that our tax money goes into building these little cities with housing and commercial buildings, etc. and then when finished with them just lets them sit boarded up and rot. Why can’t they be used for homeless housing, or for shelter for abused

women and children, or sold to a developer, as the views from this area are amazing and I’m sure with a PAD development of homes, stores, parks, etc. they could make big bucks on a development out here. But sad to say, here it sits, rotting and a fantastic piece of land being held by the military for no reason.

         The lighthouse itself is now run by a private non-profit and is rented out as a B & B and tours are given of the facility. However, the day we were there, it was not open to the public, so pictures of it from a distance is all that was to be had…Murphy’s Law once again in full force.

         As we returned to the highway, we were stopped by work crews who informed us we could not take the short cut back to Oakland as it was the bike path and very narrow and curvy and the trailer would not make it through. So again we had to go across the San Rafael Bridge, again paying the $15.00 fee. I went in the same line and the same man was on duty. I told him we had done what he said, but there was no toll booth on the other side from which to get our money. He then got very snotty with me, said it isn’t a booth, it’s the building and we have to park and go inside…not the instructions we received the first time. And he insisted we had to pay the fee again….great, I had to dig through the change in the cup holder to come up with the $15, thus holding up the entire line. So again we proceeded over the bridge, and this time I took a few minutes to run to the viewpoint, take a photo of the old pier for artistic sake, and then a fabulous view photo of the San Rafael Bridge.

         On our way back over, I stopped at the building, went in and had to argue with the lady there who barely spoke English that I needed to have $30 refunded. She said the refund on the first part wasn’t valid as it took us too long to come back over, thus we must have done some kind of business on the other side of the bridge. Again I explained what happened, again she said, “you took  too long”. At this point I asked for a supervisor. A nice gentleman came over, I explained by dilemma to him, and he had her write up 2 receipts and refund me the money. He apologized for any inconvenience we’d encountered, and once I filled out the paperwork, I left with the money in hand.

Carquinez Strait Lighthouse i.e. Glen Cove Marina Residence—

        The lighthouse was closed in 1951. An automated

beacon and fog signal were placed at the end of the pier. The old structure was subject to years of neglect, and the fourth-order lens was smashed by vandals. The building was ultimately saved by investors who moved the residence to Glen Cove

Marina in Vallejo. The residence (sans tower) now serves as the marina office and a yacht sales show room.

         It took a bit to actually get to the marina, but once there it was a beautiful lighthouse even though there is no longer a light or tower. Glen Cove is quite lovely, and the

marina was filled with the blue  and white of boat riggings.  We spoke to one of the boat owners and he said the residence was being renovated and upon completion would be a B & B.

  

         Next stop was in Suisun City at our friend Zacharias Ledet’s home. A few months ago we received an urgent email asking to call. Upon calling we found out Roy and my long time friend and Zach’s wife (I met her through Roy after we were together) Bev Pomeroy Ledet had passed away after a medical procedure. It was such a shock. We had been talking about our finally getting together after so many years when we got up that way on the road trip. But alas, it didn’t happen, and this is one of the saddest legs of the trip as far as I’m concerned.

         Zacharias was a judge, an active viable man, when his health deteriorated and he was diagnosed with brain lesions and MS. Their dream of a self-sustaining life in the Sierra foothills ended, as he had to be at sea level in order to help with the lesions. So Bev found a place, put things in order for his care, also took care of her ex-husband when he had a heart attack and subsequently through cancer which took his life. Bev was the glue that held everyone together—Zach, Zach’s family, her sister, nieces, nephews---everyone. 

         It is apparent as we drive in, that a huge process in underway. Boxes are stacked completely filling the garage and spilling over onto the driveway and into a pickup truck, both the bed and the inside. Bev was a sewer/crafter and as with all of us, we tend to keep things for some day.  Her sister Jackie said the best things were all of the family photos they now have.  But the rest will be donated to Goodwill. 
          Bev and Zach love cats, and at this time Zach

has 10 cats living in the house with him. This was quite concerning to Guayo as he was completely freaked out when we went into the house.  Saving grace was a fenced in back yard, complete with a sweet little terrier named Rufus, who loved to play ball.  Bev’s sister is living in her motor home in the driveway, and Greg, a young man whom they employed to help with the “ranch” in the Sierra, is there to help Zach. 

         Zach is doing better due to protocols that Bev

had set up prior to her death…always taking care of things.  He has gotten his law certificate reinstated, and he is working on a couple of pro-bono cases, one involving a discrimination case for his son. His eyes lit up when talking about the procedures and you could see his love of the law in the sparkle of is eye!  And it was uplifting just seeing his

enthusiasm.

         While visiting, Zach informed me that out in the boxes were many many boxes of fabric, and he knew that Bev would want me to take whatever I’d like. It was all going to Goodwill at this point.  So I went out and checked it out. First box had a canvas bag with “BEV” stenciled on it, same kind she’d done for us with our names on them a few Christmas’ ago. I lost it. The realization that she was gone was too much and I completely lost it.  So as I cried, and went through boxes, I forgot about the 110 degree heat, and the time, and when Roy came out to check on me, he was concerned with the flush in my face, and that I had not been drinking while out there. Needless to say, I was not feeling very well. Several pieces of fabric for quilts and clothing were put into the Teardrop, and Roy took me in for rehydration and some food. But the heat had taken its toll and I was ill.

         We took our leave after some dinner and best wishes, and were going to check into a motel for the night, when Roxy called. She established that we were only 1 ½ hours maximum from her house, and gave us instructions and told us to not check into a motel, as our room was ready and waiting. What a life saver!  We got there, unpacked what was needed, showered and basically went to bed. My nausea and lethargy were huge, and I just needed cold water and sleep, and that’s what I got.