Day 25--CITY OF 10,000 BUDDHAS

September 29, 2000
Willits, CA

I got on Sarah's computer first thing this morning to see the web site. It's wonderful and very easy to navigate in. Thank you Scott and Bernie. I've heard nothing but praise for it from all who have logged in. But, horrors, how could I, an English teacher and editor, have made so many grammatical and spelling mistakes? Huh? It's embarrassing. Could I really have typed: "route" for "root"? "too" for "to"? Oh well, I'll cut myself some slack if you will. Generally I was tired and it was dark. Also I am using the thumb method on a very tiny keyboard the size of a small hand-held calculator.

Jessica's elbow is very painful, grossly swollen, and inflexible. Plus the wound is in a tough spot to heal and it is draining and bleeding still. She has a swollen hip and sore shoulder, also, to say nothing of the road rash. Needless to say, she's lost her starch and the bicycle part of our great adventure must end. The adventure itself, however, will go on for the next week.

Here's the rough plan: 

A friend will pick up Jess tomorrow morning and take her home. Sarah and I will spend the day in Willits and surrounds doing sister things. On Sunday, Jess will drive up and pick up me and the bikes and gear. If she's feeling up to it, we will wander back to her house via the bicycle route we had planned through the Napa Valley. Monday night we're hoping to meet Judy and Hannah (they of the RV who rescued us after Jessica's crash) and go to dinner at Manka's—the four-star restaurant that Jess works in. We had planned on kayaking in the Bay but that's up in the air now. Know we'll visit some friends and spend some time with my bro, Tim, in Sausalito. We'll send daily updates even tho they won't include routes and cycle mileages.

Sarah had to work today, so this a.m. I rode with her in the pick-up truck she had borrowed to pick us up last night to the Mariposa Natural Foods Store in Willits where she works. (Sarah lives in the mountains about 5 or 6 miles above Willits. The roads to her house would have been killers for us on our bikes—very narrow, not even the suggestion of a shoulder, and extremely steep. The Volvo was in 2nd most of the way up.)

Anyway, once at the Mariposa, I picked up Sarah's car so that Jess and I could go the City of the 10,000 Buddhas in Ukiah for lunch today. We did, and it was delicious—curry vegetables, snow lilies, dumplings, brown rice, green tea. Looks as though we'll have same for supper as there was waaay too much for us to eat.

Top left clockwise: Aerial view of the City of 10,000 Buddhas; entry gate, interior with the walls lined with gold Buddhas, and the gold Buddhas  in their wall niches -- all photos from the Internet. I took some but they were poor

The amazing white peacock on the City of 10,000 Buddhas grounds

Exterior and interior statues