California, here I come........

I am leaving to California on Wed. and I am allready stressing out on packing. I go through this every trip. I have a very hard time getting realistic on the size of bag I take. I don't want to look like an idiot showing up for four days with enough luggage for 8. The only person I know who panics at packing like I do, is my friend Kevin. He totally gets me. He starts hypervenilating about a week before a trip.
I e-mailed my friend in California to ask If I should pack a rain coat. She said no, but I should pack a parka! This does not amuse me. I am going to California and the dream of sun filled days immedietaly left me when she said that. Seems they are having weather similiar to ours. This is ok I suppose. At least I will be looking at new sites while freezing.I am most excited to be going to the John Steinbeck Center in Monterey. A whole center dedicated to my favorite Author and the characters in his books. The house he grew up in is in that town too. When I told my friend I HAD to go there, and was she a fan like me? She said, "Steinbeck, hmmm, I think I have heard of him." To me, this was as unbelievable as someone reading David Sedaris and not liking it. I will pay her way into the center and hope she is a good sport. Or maybe she will do something else while I am there. The have the actual truck there that he drove accross the USA in and wrote about in "Travels with Charley." (This gives me goose bumps.)
My daughter called me today from Florida where she announced it is 80 degrees and beautiful. While I am thrilled for her, I can't help but be a little annoyed that I am not going somewhere just as beautiful.
Now, back to the packing. Literally I will start tomorrow for a Wed. Departure. I will arrange, reaarange, take out, put back in, switch to a smaller bag, switch back to the bigger one, and try to envision what I will look like to my friend when she sees me with my luggage. It's a sickness.
jb