I Must Be Going Crazy.

So I've made a drastic change to my daly routine, or at least I'm trying one out anyway. I took a shower. In the EVENING. Shocking, right? As far back as I can remember, I've always been a morning shower person. You know how you get in routines, from early on in life, that just stick with you? And they stick to the point that it just seems obvious to do it that way? It really never occurred to me to try taking showers in the evening, because starting my day with a nice warm shower is so ingrained into my being that it just seems that's how it's done. It's like breathing the air, or walking upright on two legs. You don't think about it. You just do it. Because you always have, or so it seems. Of course every now and then I'll talk to someone and they mention taking their shower at night. And it always seemed so...foreign to me. I mean really, what planet are THEY from? Well, most often, it is after all women that I'm talking to...

But it kind of makes sense, I suppose. I mean, after a long hard day of toiling away out in the world, you don't want to put your sweaty, dirty body on your nice clean (presumably) bed. Right? I mean the more I think about it the more it seems almost...logical. So I'm giving it a try. Live dangerously!

What else did I do today that was dangerous? I went for a *gasp* drive. A drive! A ROAD TRIP. Take that, you shelter-in-place order. I mean yeah, I was by myself and avoided other people, like I normally do as a fully functioning introvert. But today I drove east and north, ending up around Bodega Bay and the town of Bodega, before heading south on HWY 1 along the coast to HWY 101, near San Francisco. Bodega, incidentally, is mildly famous for its association with the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Birds", which came out a dozen years before I was born. I snapped a photo of the Saint Teresa of Avila church, just to prove that "I was here", as it's perhaps the most famous and recognizable landmark, even though it only appears briefly in the film.

But really I found the 1869 Calvary Cemetery even more interesting. This is a picture of some brilliantly blooming poppies with some gravestone markers in the background. A juxtaposition of life and death, if you will. Interesting note: the first two residents of this graveyard were a 7-year old and 5-year old boy. True story. They had a nice little sheet of history there, available to people who have morbid fascinations with old graveyards. I didn't spend too much time in Bodega though; I was really going to spend more time in Bodega Bay, or so I thought, but there's not too much there to begin with, and the nice little picnic area near the marina was - you guessed it - closed. Also I had to pee, and there didn't seem to be any public facilities near to where I was.

Since most of the beach parking lots in California are closed off thanks to the COVID-19 scare, leaving beachgoers to fight for what little parking still remains on the side of the roads (or rather the side of the highway), I didn't get to see much in the way of beaches today. In fact, I didn't even step foot one one. I mean, I was hoping to do some hiking along the beach, maybe sit and read a book for a bit (currently I'm halfway through Vonnegut's "Bluebeard"), and use the restroom facilities that are conveniently placed at many state parks. But those were closed as well. Fortunately, being a man, I can still pee on a tree. Or bush. I did see some nice vista views of Stinson beach, which still had quite a few determined people using it. And I did just a little bit of hiking off of the Olema Valley Trailhead, which to be honest, I didn't know existed before today. Sometimes it pays to take a chance and park on the side of the highway where other cars are parked, just to see what they find so interesting.

And before heading back home I was able to stop at the Muir Beach Overlook, which again was closed-but-not-closed if you could find somewhere to park and walk in a little bit. And despite being incredibly windy, it was sunny and more than nice enough for a little stroll. They've actually built up the Overlook quite a bit since I first discovered this little treasure around 25 years ago. Back then I referred to it as the "end of the world". And if you ever get a chance to take the easy little walk out onto the cliff to the viewing platform, you'll see why. But the spot now has a paved parking lot and a permanent bathroom structure. Which was, of course, closed. Sigh. I know, I know, it's to persuade us not to use these recreational areas in this time of human crisis. But come on, you can't expect reasonable people to just stay at home and stop living, can you? I've stayed home a lot in the last 6 weeks, but even I have limits as to how much of life I'm willing to let fritter away. And we can still social distance and wash our hands more frequently and avoid touching our face and so on. Surely it must be far safer to be walking out alone in nature than, say, going to the supermarket. Well, suffice it to say, I certainly was not the only "crazy" person out there today trying to enjoy a little bit of nature.

And now I see it's past my bed time, so I must start winding down. We'll see if I go even more crazy tomorrow, though it's the start of a new "work" week, so it will probably be an uneventful week at home from here on out. But seriously, what can top the Evening Shower? I mean, that's a serious, mind-blowing routine change. And I don't like change. Yeah, I must be going crazy.