July 7, 2005 - 'Eding North

Yesterday, one of the dedicated staffers of edhat.com had business up in the Bay Area. As usual, he did the Santa Barbara-travel-to-the-Bay-Area math. If you pay the high-flyer-big-bucks to fly and rent a car, you have to arrive at the airport an hour before the plane leaves, spend another hour in the air, and another hour getting off the plane, renting a car, and driving on. That’s three hours if (or should we say IF) there are no travel delays (fog, faulty seatbelts, or cancelled flights).

On the other hand, if you just leave your house and drive north, you can reach San Jose in four hours, Palo Alto in 4 ½ hours, and San Francisco in a little over 5. The cost is just enough gas and coffee to complete the 600+ mile roundtrip journey – much less dinero than the more costly alternative of airport parking, airfare and rental car.

Back in 1775, Juan Bautista de Anza didn’t have any options. He was commissioned by the King of Spain to lead a small party in order to create a settlement in San Francisco. So without a plane or a car, he started out from Arizona and proceeded to set the west coast on the map. He went east to Los Angeles, then headed up the beach to a little place we all know and love today called, Santa Barbara. It wasn’t called Santa Barbara then, though. There was no Mission, no Stearns Wharf, and no Sunken Gardens. In fact, even Mel’s wasn’t here! Instead, there were wide rolling hills, Chumash, and nice places to camp.

There are a couple of “Juan Bautista De Anza Slept Here” markers in the County, pointing out those nice campsites. The markers are at Vandenberg, Refugio State Beach, and at the end of Patterson Road. There is also a plaque on the front lawn of the Goleta Community Center, commemorating the expedition in general. It’s mounted on a rock. And it was this rock that was featured in yesterday’s Wednesday Where Is It picture.

The plaque on the rock says, “Lt Colonel Juan Bautista De Anza by decree of King Carlos III led an expedition near this site - the mission being to colonize the San Francisco Bay Area.”

Juan Bautista, like the dedicated staffer, headed north from Santa Barbara along the 101. And while Bautista didn’t hit any traffic, slow down for passing Highway Patrols, or get to stop at any of the many Starbucks/MacDonald’s that line the high speed thoroughfare, he arrived safely in the Bay Area just the same. In fact, because there were a couple of births during his journey, he ended up with more people at the end than he started with. And, when the journey was complete, Juan Bautista had established an overland route through California.

While many Edhat subscribers were able to identify famous plaques on rocks around town, only Mr. Peabody, aBermond, Wick, and Melinda picked the plaque on the rock in front of the Goleta Community Center. The Edhat dog was called into action. A Milk Bone was broken into four pieces and placed around the office. On command, the dog ate all of them, Mr. Peabody’s first. Mr. Peabody wins 2 tickets to the SUMMERDANCE concert at Center Stage Theater on Friday. Maybe he can bring Sherman with him.

Want to get instant fame and cool prizes? ... enter today’s contest

We want to hear from you ... tell us what you think of this tidbit