UP DOWN EAST WEST

Until I was in my 20s and living in Missoula Montana, I had no use for directions beyond up or down. I grew up in the mountains of southern California and everywhere we wanted to go was based ongoing up a hill or down al hill.

To get anywhere on the mountain, all I had to know was if the place I was going was up or down from where I was. From where I lived on Tollhouse Pass, down would get me to Lake Gregory. Never mind the roads, half the time I just took off cross country, confident in the fact that down would get me to downtown Crestline and the Lake. Up would take me back home and further on to an area known as Skyland with streets named things like Venus, Mercury and Mars.

The biggest down of all was taking Highway 18 down the hill to San Bernardino, Riverside, Disneyland, LA and beyond.