" At last the time had come... "

24, Jan., 2018

So begins ' California Coast Trails. '

The opening anecdote sets the stage; our second

protagonist is then introduced and lastly, a prescription set forth

for the journey in which we will seem to ' be along ' as much

as Chase and Eytel. 

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" Hello! " said a little girl in a sunbonnet, in shy response to

my own salutation. ( I did not know her, but I like shy

little girls in sunbonnets. ) 

" Hello! " travellin' or jest goin' somewheres? " said a 

pumpkin-faced boy, grinning at us over a gate. 

To this ingenious witticism we deigned no reply.

" Hello! - goin campin'? " said a rancher, jolting on a load

of hay behind two horses.

The rancher, with no very wonderful feat of discernment had

hit the mark. Carl Eytel the painter and I were riding down

the south road from El Monte one midsummer morning, with

our blankets rolled behind our saddles and other appurtenances

of outdoor living slung about us. Ever since I lived in California

I had been waiting for an opportunity to explore the coast 

regions of the State. At last the time had come when I could do

it; Eytel, my companion on other journeys in the mountains

and deserts of the West, was free to join me for the southern 

part of the expedition. 

Our object was to view at our leisure this country, once of such

vast quiescence, now of such spectacular changes. Especially

we wished to see what we could of its less commonplace aspects

before they should have finally passed away; the older manner

of life in the land; the ranch-houses of ante-Gringo days; the

Franciscan Missions, relics of the era of the padre, and the don, 

the large slow life of the sheep and cattle ranges, and whatever

else we could find lying becalmed in the backwaters of the 

hurrying stream of Progress. "

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Definitions for the curious!

appurtenances - an accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living

quiescence - in a state or period of inactivity or dormancy

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