road trip: b&n modified roadster --- part 3

there is no coffee suitable for drinking in mojave!

so, we (mostly myself) bit the big one and headed west to the “mountain spirit” korean buddhist temple, which is in a lone canyon outside of tehachapi.

mee sook had been talking about this temple for about two weeks as we began planning our trip. it was built by an american who is a korean buddhist monk.

and what a job he did in creating the wonderful site.

unlike the other buddhist temples i had visited with mee sook, this one looked like what i would expect!

unfortunately for mee sook, the monk she was hoping to meet was not there. we did, however, meet a very charismatic monk who, despite not speaking much english, could have convinced me to do just about anything!

he did teach me some very basic techniques for meditating and totally entranced mee sook. he was all she talked about for the next several hours after leaving.

before we did leave, however, we were invited to join him for lunch. since we did not have breakfast, it was quite welcome and very tasty.

but, i could not wait to get down to rosamond to find a place where i could buy a cup of coffee. i attempted to find the starbucks, which i was told by david heavener, who has a home and movie studio in tehachapi, does exist in tehachapi. but, i was not successful in finding its locat.

by the time we got coffee (even mee sook was ready for a cup at this point) and was back in mojave, heading north on 395, it was after 1300 hours.

it was still another 6-hours to fallon, nevada and my father, brother and best friend willy, where we would spend that night.

it was about mid-trip that mee sook pulled the rug from under me: she told me that she had decided to ask the monk that we met to be her “master.” this meant that there was no room for me in her life!

what?????????

not an hour earlier, she was telling me how she wanted to live with me and build a life that would, eventually, take us to moab, utah.

now, she’s telling me that it’s been great but it’s all over!

all very clinical!

all very oriental!

great! not only do i have to deal with the feelings of a broken heart, i’ve got to do it while trying to see my brother, father (whom i have not seen since i left nevada last july) and best friend (whom i have not seen since he made his ill-fated move to colorado in 2006) willy of “the adventures of monty and willy”!

maybe i can just drive off of one of the cliffs along walker lake!

# # # # #

so, i didn’t drive off of the cliff.

it was about 2030 by the time we pulled into fallon for a quick stop to see my dad and brother before heading over to willy’s to spend the night in his spare bedroom.

we hung out for an hour or so before we all hit the sack.

i was up early the next morning so i could spend some more time with willy before he had to go to work then it was back to my dad’s to visit with him before he went to the doctor for a checkup, which gave me a little time to hang with mark before loading a few boxes of cd’s in the back of the taurus and heading back to california.

after a brief stop at mustang (home of the infamous “mustang ranch” brothel) to visit with my friends jim and gerri for a few minutes we were back on the road and heading to the monterey peninsula.

appropriately enough, i suppose, i loaded mee sook’s luggage into her car as the sun was setting; the end of a weekend that took my emotions from one extreme to another.