Originally posted on MySpace on April 19, 2007.I left Las Vegas this morning, destination...San Diego. Stop #3 for the Five For Fighting World Tour. The main route south is I-15, and I was cruising down the road when traffic came to an abrupt halt...Agriculture Inspection Station. What? They still have those? Actually, I kind of do the same thing. I'm an Agriculture Specialist with Customs And Border Protection and I inspect vehicles at the U.S./Canada border, just as these California State inspectors were doing at this checkpoint. But, I had heard most of these inspection stations had been closed...obviously, not all of them. It just so happened that I had a bag of mandarin oranges that had traveled with me from Washington. I was more than ready to give them up to the inspector. As my vehicle approached the booth, the inspector gave a cursory glance at my license plate...then, waved me on! Maybe she's a Five For Fighting fan, understood my plate and gave me a break...yeah, right! Ha! I got into California with contraband fruit...citrus from outside of California, even from the other states, is prohibited to enter. That's OK...it never left my cooler, so the pest risk is nil.
I only had one destination of the day before San Diego...my old hometown of Riverside, CA. Our family moved there in 1965 from Indiana, where my dad got his PhD at Purdue University. Initially, we stayed at an apartment while my parents looked for a house to purchase. They finally settled on a small pink dwelling with 3 bedrooms, two baths and a dirt yard, situated below a small mountain (or a big hill), on the outskirts of town. It didn't seem like much, but it was a nice neighborhood...a public swimming pool down the street, a horse stable at the end of the road, and the elementary school within walking distance. Back in those days, kids walked to school, and a 1/2 mile didn't seem very far.
As I entered Riverside, my first stop was my old middle school, University Heights Middle School. When I started 7th grade there, it was a brand new school. It looked very much like I remembered it, with its gray stucco walls. I took some photos, then continued on...to my old neighborhood and my house. I drove on familiar roads until...I saw it. The front yard looked so...small. I guess when you're a kid, everything looks bigger than life, and this was a good example of that. I had done a little checking on the internet, and I was pretty sure our next-door neighbors from back then were still living there.
As I walked up to their door, I saw a sign on the house with the last name of the occupants...yep, they still lived there! The front door opened, and a lady greeted me. I apologized for bothering her, and introduced myself...and, she remembered me! It had been 32 years since we moved away in 1974, but we were close neighbors back then. She filled me in on the several families that had moved in and out of our house during the past years. One of them, a landscaper, basically killed all the vegetation in the yard...plants, trees, lawn...and started all over again with the plants he wanted! I took pictures of the front of the house, and was about to leave when the owner's mini-van arrived. It was the wife and her three kids. We walked over, and explained that I used to live in her house. She was very agreeable to let me see inside the house and the backyard. As we walked through the house, memories came flooding back to me. The master bedroom, the bedroom I shared with my sister and the other bedroom for my youngest sister. The bathroom looked the same, as did the living room and kitchen. WOW! The backyard was a different story. The landscaper did a good job destroying what had been a beautiful yard. Gone were the two Valencia orange trees with their sweet, succulent fruit and a feeding station for Luna moths. The two small peach trees that our cats used to bat green fruit off of were nowhere to be seen. There were two good sized Mulberry trees that we loved to climb...it was if they never existed. The biggest blow I had noticed right off the bat when I saw the house...the majestic Douglas fir that we planted as a seedling. Cut down...destroyed. I took photos of the backyard as it was now...for sure, nothing like it used to be.
I took one last look at my old house, then drove away...I'll probably never be back in my lifetime. The property just looks too different...at least I'll always have the memories of how it used to be. I snapped some additional photos of my neighborhood, then proceeded to my elementary school. The 1/2 mile drive didn't seem all that far...and, it didn't seem that way when I was walking it during my grade school years, even as a first grader. When I reached Hyatt School, the parking lot was almost deserted...maybe it's spring break for them? I took my obligatory photos, and got on my way...I wanted to reach San Diego before rush hour.
Tomorrow, I have one last scheduled radio station visit in the morning...window stickers! I'll probably be dining at HOB San Diego to get a Pass The Line receipt...I guess the 4th & B is somehow affiliated with them. Otherwise, I have a free day...but, I may have something up my sleeve. If things pan out, you'll know about it. After two shows...three, if you want to count last November's Showbox concert...you would think I'm getting tired of hearing John tell the same stories. NO WAY! John just has a way with words and how he expresses himself. And, his singing...heaven!
I'm getting excited all over again...
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