Welcome to our year/end holiday jamboree edition of BLUES JUNCTION.

For our regular readers and friends of the Junction, you know 2022 has been a very exciting year for us. We moved from Southern California. It was where I was born and have spent the vast majority of my life. I have always been a big fan of Southern California and I suspect that will never change.

Some folks felt that our departure was premature and unceremonious. I’ll grant you the latter, but we had been planning a move for some time. We left SoCal like I leave a party. We just split without saying goodbye. I’m so interesting that it usually takes a couple of hours for others to notice that I have been gone. ‘Where’s Dave?' 'I don’t know I think he split.' 'That prick didn’t even say goodbye.’

Our move had nothing to do with any external factors. We couldn’t be happier in Huntington Beach. We just set off on a new adventure. Tracy loved everything about Atascadero and the rural countryside of northern San Luis Obispo County from the get-go. It took me a minute or two to adjust and get used to our new bucolic surroundings but I have arrived. For those of you who know me, I’m always a little slow but I get there eventually and I’m here.

As far as goodbyes are concerned, I’ve seen more of you since I have been a few hours north of L.A. It is a beautiful drive-up Highway 101 and they even have ample free parking when you get here. This is a pleasant contrast to trying to visit us in Huntington Beach.

Many in the town of San Luis Obispo, the county seat, largest municipality in the region and home to a large University refer to Atascadero, as “Atascabama.” It is a reference to its supposed backwards, racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, right-wing, lemmings who identify with Donald Trump. A little research indicates that in the 2020 election President Biden won the county by as wide of a margin as he did in other parts of California. If Trump still has any support here, and I’m not sure he does, those folks have the decency and self-awareness to at least keep their vile opinions to themselves and their cake-holes shut. Again, it is very pleasant up here.

We were in the enviable position to choose any part of the country in which to live. I wasn’t quite ready to add “ex-pat” to my business card, so we limited our search to the U.S. We finally settled on California’s central coast. My only criteria were that it had to be somewhere outside the greater Los Angeles area, therein lies the adventure, and it had to be somewhere west or relatively near Highway 101 in California.

It's not that I’m attached to that or any other stretch of roadway but a cursory knowledge of California geography told me that this might be a smart way to tighten our search criteria. Since there were no objections from the brains of the operation (Tracy), it was all systems go. So, we took off on weekend excursions up and down the California coast.

Several things made the charming little village of Atascadero the winner in this sweepstakes, not the least of which we have some very dear friends, also from SoCal, who have made their home here for five years or so. They love it and aren’t shy about sharing with us their affection for this part of the country.

One of the many things that we have enjoyed is that it is easy to get out and explore other parts of this golden state. The town of Atascadero sits in the foothills of the eastern side of the Santa Lucia Mountains which separates us from the Pacific Ocean, just a twenty-minute drive through the pastoral countryside.

This fall while pondering my first fall it occurred to me that the “changing of the seasons” is something with which I am not all that familiar. As a Southern Californian I always thought it was kind of charming to hear folks from various parts of the country talk about how much they enjoyed the changing of the seasons. My mother, who grew up in the upper Midwest, had always assured me that the changing of the seasons was highly overrated. Living at the beach for so many years pretty much reinforced that sentiment in my mind.

Be that as it may, I am seeing leaves change color. Not a big deal to most folks, but for me it is a new experience. The mornings include bundling up, as I take the dogs out for our walk. I can see my breath, something that hasn’t happened very often in my life. Then it occurred to me that another season typically follows fall and I’ll have to let you know how that goes. However, this is all very mild compared to just about everywhere but a beach in SoCal.

As always, we have several holiday themed features here in our annual Christmas edition of BLUES JUNCTION, which I dedicate to our dear friend Michael Kinsman.

To all of our dedicated and loyal readers and those of you that our new to the JUNCTION, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season. You are always in my thoughts, as I appreciate you more than I can ever adequately express.

Merry Christmas…

- David Mac



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