Endless Summer

Came across some photos from my surfing past. Many a weekend of the mid to late 1980's would find me at the beach towns of Morro Bay and Cayucos. My whole goal in life was to live at the coast. I accomplished that goal and lived in Morro Bay for a year and a half at the end of the 80's. But before moving there, I would often take day trips to surf. Often George, Yez and I, along with our girlfriends, would leave early in the morning and not get back to Fresno until late at night. George, Yez and I would be in the 50 degree water the whole day. Now, Yez would never be confused with a Beach Boy, but like the rest of us, he had fun trying to catch that perfect wave. I remember him trying to get out to where he could catch a set of waves and having to jump over smaller waves to get there. He had this habit of jumping with his mouth open. He would burp salt water all the way home!

One of the best trips we took was a overnighter. We "borrowed" the van from where George and I worked (they provided the gas too!) loaded about six or eight guys in it (did I mention that it only had 2 seats?) and set out for the coast. A couple of food fights later, we arrived at the Morro Bay Motel 6 for the night. George and I went in to get a room and were asked if we wanted one bed or two. George looked at me and we both said at the same time "TWO!" We then snuck the rest of the guys into the room and they crashed on the floor.

George often went with me on these surfing trips. George was a cool guy. We had our moments growing up, like the time he threw dog poop at my Camaro, but I really looked up to him even tho he's younger than me. I always wanted to be more like him than I think he ever knew. Our friendship really became strong those days at the beach. George was the guy that I would search out when I wanted, or needed, to talk about girl stuff. He and I would swap stories and experiences and even tho we dated different types of girls, we had many of the same experiences. Somewhere along the line, we kind of lost touch. We would see each other every now and then or I would hear from someone else this or that about him. Some of our friends decided they were mad at him for this or for that but I can truthfully say that altho I have been a little disappointed in him (key word is LITTLE) I have not been mad at him since the dog poop incident about 20 odd years ago. When I think of George, I'm reminded of the fun we had surfing, camping, going to the snow, bowling, just hanging out.

When I think of George, I think of my surfing buddy.

When I think of George, I think of my friend.