The I-5 traffic stays steady, then starts to open up when you reach the Orange County Line. Then you hit Ortega Highway, right around San Juan Capistrano when the roadway starts a subtle bend closer to the coastline, and you feel the air cool a few degrees.
You feel it getting closer.
And you keep driving, and the road keeps shifting. Then you hit the bend at San Onofre, and you see it, so you pull over because it pulls you it, begging you to watch, listen...commune.
Your first clear view of the vast blue of the Pacific Ocean, just over the dashboard lights.
In the afternoon sun, the sky blends effortlessly with the calm waves, blurring the horizon line so beautifully you hardly care that you can't tell where one starts and the other begins.
The sea birds know there is no better place to be at peace, sunning themselves on the rocks and enjoying the view of their limitless sky.
For a moment, you glance down and consider your options. New places, faces and adventures awaiting you....
Then you spot a furry friend, and you both calmly stop and consider each other, wondering what the other is thinking.
And then a circling helicopter from Camp Pendleton reminds you this is the real world, not a fantasy of peaceful blue. The birds take flight, as if to chase the intruder away and restore peace to the skies.
And you stop once more, close your eyes and determine your course.
And under the watchful gaze of a knowing bird, you spot the path back to the road, back to your life.
And you pull back on the freeway...and keep heading south.
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