Chapter 34

The cavern seemed cool after the ride back from the Hillside Inn. Bud had been silently insistent on an immediate practice session. Other than a desire for a bit of time searching the internet for possible first date activities, Cooper and I were eager as well.

"Remember that sense of focusing beyond focus," he reminded us as we settled into our now familiar spot on the cavern floor. "You must strive for an ever smaller focus point. Right now your sense is dancing around the molecules, not quite able to lock on them, but before you can lock on a larger object, you must be able to lock on an individual molecule within it."

Easier said than done apparently, as we once again spent several hours chasing our sense of focus in and out and around a not quite grasped 'something' that seemed just out of reach. We did this with our eyes closed, sitting cross-legged on the floor. I expected to feel stiff when we finally stopped, but this young body was a lot more resilient than the old one I had so recently worn.

Cooper and I might have felt discouraged if it hadn't been for the sense of accomplishment we felt from Bud. While we fixed the leftover halibut we'd had for last night's dinner into a halibut burger for tonight's, we listened to Bud describe our efforts in more glowing terms than we might have.

"You are close," he told us. "And when it happens, you will know it immediately. There is a definite feeling to successfully locking on something with this ability. I will not have to tell you when it happens."

To me it felt like I was trying to juggle marshmallows blindfolded while wearing boxing gloves. Cooper laughed.

"The blindfold is an illusion," Bud laughed along with Cooper. "And the boxing gloves are quickly shrinking away."

After dinner and a shower, I spent a little time cleaning up after myself in the kitchen and then sat down with the laptop out on the front porch. The rocking chair there had been inviting me since I'd first walked up the porch steps and I finally succumbed to its lure.

I had decided to look first at water skiing in the Santa Rosa area. The two biggest lakes in the area were Lake Sonoma and Lake Berryessa, and I quickly discovered that water skiing was definitely available on both, with boat and ski rentals available both places. It was at this point that Cooper brought me crashing, very temporarily back to earth. "Whose going to drive the boat?"

Water skiing was definitely less enjoyable when it was only two people. It would be more enjoyable with a larger group.

"What about jet skis?" Cooper asked. I had no experience with them, but remembered seeing them on TV. My remembered impressions filtered over to Cooper. "There are two and three person jet skis now, you could ride together and take turns doing the driving."

So that began a new line of research into jet skiing. It doesn't take long to find plenty of opinion on the internet about anything, and in this case the opinion seemed to be that Lake Berryessa was the better choice for water ski or jet ski enthusiasts. It looked bleak though for dining options. If we were going to ski then eat, we were either going to have to pack it ourselves or find someplace away from the lake for dinner.

After mulling those options over for a while, I expanded my search a little further, and ran smack dab into Lake Tahoe. Now this was a recreational lake!