Bad Coffee
On rituals and road trips.
The classic San Francisco weekend day trip for me was a drive down Highway 1 along the coast. Going as far as Santa Cruz, then taking 9/35 back gets you the ultimate combination: coastal views, redwoods, mountains, and all the ridge views.
The variety is truly one of the things I miss most about the Bay Area. People often say they find the place they live to be boring and have trouble finding interesting things to photograph; I’ve been lucky to have some incredible nature and views within a short trek.
Sometimes I’ll pack snacks, a thermos full of tea, and enjoy it at some random stop at the side of the road by the ocean.
Other times, you just want that crappy $2 cup of coffee from a random gas station or small town deli.
What is the thing that triggers the feeling that a road trip is near and starting?
That bad coffee really makes me feel far from home even though I’m only a few miles out. It’s a ritual that tells me I’m on the road, that I have new things to find, but that I’ll be back soon enough.
The start of the road always felt like Pacifica, then Devil’s Slide, and then down the rest of Highway 1 with all its turnouts and unofficial gravelly places to stop. Maybe boring and very familiar to me after many years, but always worth the trip.
No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film. (Robert Adams)
