Journey's End

HE DID IT!

At noon on Saturday a couple dozen of Kent Treptow's friends and family members, including his "five readers" (running inside joke), met him along the shore at Huntington Beach as he finished his solo trek across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

(Greeting Friends)

(Maybe more)

BREATH-TAKING! (Tracking the journey)

(The Friends)

As one who was among those "five readers" - I've followed his adventure on the blog he created using his cell phone, HERE, from day one - I must say that it takes my breath away as I contemplate some of the events of his 175 day, 3400 mile, 10 pair-of-shoes journey. Suspicions were confirmed when he told us that, although he wrote about many of the "interesting" situations in which he found himself on his journey, he did not include ALL of them for fear of causing his parents distress. The dose of poison Oak he received during his perilous climb through a local canyon in the last couple days may be the very least of it. Perhaps we'll hear about them later. (A Little Poison Oak )

(The proud parents)

PERFECT EXCLAMATION POINT!

The day was perfect for his arrival - bright, sunny and temperatures just warm enough for him to strip down and take a climactic running jump into the ocean as the exclamation point on his trip.

(The Run)

(The Dive)

THE "REWARD"

(The trophy)

He was presented with a trophy by his long-time girl friend, Alicia Robinson (former Daily Pilot ace reporter, now working for the Riverside Press-Enterprise) for the completion of the trip. The inscription says, "Kent Treptow. Walked from Maine To California Except For A Few Miles East of St. Louis. June 12 to Dec. 3, 2011". (The "other" reward)

A "FORREST GUMP"?

(The last few steps)

Some of us wondered if Kent might just pull a "Forrest Gump" on us and, once he stuck his toes in the Pacific, just turn right around and re-trace his steps back to Maine. Not a chance!

WHAT'S NEXT?
He's not talking about what the future holds right now. Although prodded by the crowd about writing a book chronicling this journey, Kent didn't make a commitment. I hope he does write the book - he's already done most of the heavy lifting with his blog. Mention was made of grad school, but I suspect he's going to find a job and re-stock his pantry before too long.

CONGRATS, AND WELCOME HOME
Congratulations to Kent Treptow on the completion of this wonderful adventure. Along the way he made many new friends and gained a perspective on this country few of us will ever have. I'm happy he allowed us to follow along each day as he posted entries on his blog and live just a little bit of his adventures vicariously. What a guy!

The Weekend Starts Tonight!

UH-OH, BRUINS!
First, tonight the hapless UCLA Bruins, under the guidance of lame duck coach Rick Neuheisel, travel to Eugene, Oregon to play the vaunted Oregon Ducks in the first ever Pac-12 Championship game. If the Bruins' performance against USC last weekend is any indication - I think it is - the 50 points the Trojans scored on them will be nothing compared to the thrashing the Ducks will put on them tonight. The game starts at 5:00 and will be televised on Fox.

GO EAGLES!
Then, for a bit of local football, Costa Mesa's Estancia High School Eagles battle Beckman High School in the league semifinal game beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Jim Scott Stadium. This should be a terrific game - both teams are 10-2. Good luck to those Eagles.

"THE CRUCIBLE"
For those of you who prefer a different kind of entertainment, the Estancia Drama Department will present their version of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", with the first performance tonight at 7:00 at the Barbara Van Holt Theater at Estancia High School. Performances will also be shown Saturday and also on December 9th and 10th.

KENT'S FINALE
Tomorrow, at noon, our friend, Kent Treptow, will wrap up his nearly 3500 mile solo trek from Maine to California when he puts his feet in the Pacific Ocean at the Huntington Beach side of the mouth of the Santa Ana River - the place where he learned to surf. I've provided a link to his blog for your reading pleasure. It's been quite a trip, to say the very least. Hopefully, more than a few of Kent's friends will be on-hand to greet him.

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
The rest of the weekend is up to you... I suspect Christmas shopping will occupy most of your time. Have fun. I leave you, once again, with Stan Freberg's classic, GREEN CHRI$TMA$, to get you into the old spirit.

Easing Back Into It...

STILL DROWZY...
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. If you're like me, you are still suffering from the tryptophan stupor that gorging on too much turkey creates. You have my sympathy...



ALL FOOTBALL, ALL THE TIME
My solution was full-immersion football-watching for two, going on three, days straight. It might not help the stupor, but the football was great - especially the USC-UCLA debacle. It the same Bruin teams shows up in Eugene to play the Oregon Ducks in the much-touted inaugural Pac-12 Championship game, the quackers might explode the scoreboard! If that 50-0 Trojan drubbing of the hapless Bruins was, in fact, junior quarterback Matt Barkley's final game for USC, he sure went out on a high note! And, yes, he should be invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony... And, yes, Rick Neuheisel should begin packing up his office...

SPEAKING OF FOOTBALL...
And, congrats to the Estancia High School Eagles for winning their playoff game Friday. Lots of hard work and skill plus some pretty good coaching paid off for those young men.


HEADING FOR HOME...
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I invite you, once again, to visit the blog of my friend and former Daily Pilot photographer, Kent Treptow - http://kenttreptow.com/blog/ - which chronicles his amazing solo walk across the country - from Maine to southern California. If all goes well he should be dipping his toes in the Pacific Ocean sometime in the next few days. His adventure, which has covered the past 170 days, has been fascinating to follow. This photo, courtesy of his blog, shows him "on the road" not too far from home.

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS...
That's all for this one. It's a slow week at City Hall next week, but I'm sure there will be news to cover. Stay tuned.

Kent Treptow - Walking Across America

CHANGE OF PACE
Today I present to you a palate-cleanser - something with which you can flush your brain and come away feeling very refreshed. Today I give you the opportunity to wander across this wonderful country with my friend, Kent Treptow.



A LITTLE WALK
As some know, Kent - a Daily Pilot photographer for years - began a solitary stroll across the country a little over 100 days ago. He began in Maine and has reached the theoretical center of the country, in Kansas. Along the way he has been providing us with a blog record of this adventure. It has been fascinating reading.

AND A FEW PHOTOS, TOO
Although he's a very skilled photographer, this has not been a photo essay per se. In fact, he didn't post many photos at all for the first month or so. The photo above was borrowed from his blog - I thought it was appropriate and hope he won't mind me using it to lure you to his site.

AN EMOTIONAL AND INTELLECTUAL ENEMA
So, flush all this local politics out of your systems - forget about the hostile takeover of our city and the ouster of the Orange County Market Place from the Fairgrounds by vindictive political operatives... forget all the rancor. Spend some time this weekend visiting Kent's site. I've given you the link, HERE, and also on the right side of my home page. I could have just linked to the blog, but wanted you to see some of his fantastic local photos as you made your way there. The trip account link is at the left of his home page. I'll keep my link up until he completes his trek so you can quickly and easily keep track of his adventures.

Here are a few recent quotes from his blog, just to reel you in.

***
Early in my day I meet a couple who have been married nearly 70 years. Outside an old farmhouse on a swinging bench, holding hands, listening to the birds, dangling their feet. He’s humming songs to her, they’re both smiling. Souls woven so so tightly together you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. I think when one passes the other will go quickly, very quickly, because for one to live alone is to not live at all. The face of love is worn and gray, and very beautiful, and it’s smiling out from a porch near Burrton, Kansas.

***

Another day just walking. It starts off in a tiny no-name cafe, where I see the same cowboys I saw yesterday. They’ve all got on the same off-white cowboy hats, just dirty enough to tell they’ve been working and not just strutting down the street. Nice guys, very polite. I ask them what they’re doing today. “Chasing cows.”

***

I don’t think the church was haunted but a great thunderstorm passed overhead in the middle of the night that upped the creepy factor. Of course I had to sneak into the sanctuary to watch lightning flashing through the stained glass windows. Magic.

***

Enjoy...

Kent Treptow's "City of Lost Children"

Photo courtesy of Kent Treptow

A PAUSE FOR PERSPECTIVE

Shifting gears from the simmering political stuff for just a little bit, I want to draw your attention to the absolutely wonderful series presented in our local newspaper of record, the Daily Pilot, by photojournalist Kent Treptow.

PAINFUL, POIGNANT STORY
Kent made a couple trips to Mongolia a few months ago and returned with a wonderful, yet painful, story entitled "City of Lost Children", which provides a poignant account of children he encountered who live in manholes below the city streets of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital city.

VISIT, BOOKMARK AND READ
You can find this very moving story HERE. Once there, bookmark it for easy return to the site - you'll be glad you did. Please take some time to read the text and view the narrated slide shows. Doing so will change your lives.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE
The next time one of your kids complains about being asked to take the trash out, or whines about not having enough cell minutes to fully participate in the texting confab being conducted by their friends, plunk them down in front of your computer, click on the link to this story and tell them to view Kent's slide shows.

KUDOS TO KENT
Congratulations to Kent Treptow on an outstanding piece of photojournalism, and to the editors of the Daily Pilot for publishing it. It is rare, indeed, to find such an outstanding piece of work in any community newspaper, but the readers of the Daily Pilot have come to expect such excellence. Let's hope they continue to raise the bar despite the turmoil swirling around them in the post-acquisition chaos created by Sam Zell and his mindless mercenary minions.