Wintercount was Awesome!
In the desert of Arizona four hundred something people gathered for a week to learn and play. Everyday it seems like there were 20 classes offered. everything from bow making to brain tanning to fire building. I was only there for 2 days of classes and only went to one class. I learned how to make a Dakota stove, basicly a cook fire that is under ground. The best parts were the community and the individuals. I was uncomforable when I arrived because it is a new scene for me. You can throw me into any city with nothing and I can live comfortably and enjoy myself, and I love the wilds, but if you put me in the woods with nothing... I will die. For all the time I have spent hiking and camping I have no skills to survive without modern tools. Nobody seemed to care if you live compleately off the land or if you are a weekend warrior. Two of my faviorate people where Doug and Matt. Both can walk off into the woods with nothing and live comfortably. I was blessed enough to offer both of them massages. Both, for their ages, had very healthy muscle structure and wonderful energy. Both of them offered to trade massage for the oppertunity to live with them and learn from them! We will see.
As for the next few months? I will be leaving LA next wendsay to bike up the CA coast and then to cut accross the conuntry to CT! I am so excited! I will be working at Great Hollow in CT! I have never been excited about a job before!
Things are going really well! Jaz and I are getting along splendidly. I have found the most valueable skill to avoid conflict is not to say things that instigate or feed into it. It's amazing how effective thinking before you speak is! I am staying with one of her friends because her family wont let me stay over. Acctualy they don't want to meet me at all :( I even shaved because I thought they would like me more without a beard :(
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sedona
I woke up last night with the feeling of soft rain on my face. I think my first thoughts were “Oh, Shit!” I hitch hiked from Gallup NM to Sedona AZ in about 5 hours. I have 2 bags, one for my sleeping bag, clothing, toiletries, computer, and sleeping pad. The other is for food and miscellaneous essentials. I didn't bring a tent. When the sun was falling I saw clouds in the sky and asked Rob “You sure it's not going to snow tonight.” “Yeah, I don't think so”. As I lay awake in my sleeping bag I thought about being present and “using all experience as fuel for practice”. Seconds later I was in my mind, hiding from the intense wind and rain. It wasn't to cold, or rainy for that matter. It was the wind. The wind that was whipping my sleeping bag into a frenzy and sucking the heat from my soggy down and blowing cold air into my breathing hole at what seemed like hurricane speeds.
My first ride was from an ex military Navajo man. He was born and raised in Gallup and worked on Apache helicopters all over the world. He was only driving a few miles and he dropped me off at an Indian tourist trap at the base of some beautiful red rocks. I waited for my next ride for over an hour. After finally deciding that I could walk to Phoenix faster then hitching and threw on my packs and took off. Within 5 minutes I was picked up by a young man running from his probation in CO headed towards San Fran to live out of his car and party. After cautioning him to the consequences we celebrated his new freedom. I have his phone number and I think I will call him in a year or so to see where he is. He was also ex-military. He dropped me off on the road to Sedona and within minutes a car stopped. Rob had lived in St. Pete FL for years and knew a hand full of my friends including Gene Cooke and Miguel who are good friends of mine. He brought me to the house of Hunter and Ayshea. I spent hours talking with Hunter as Ayshea gave Rob a massage.
Now I am sitting in one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Last night I slept next to Chimney rock and now I am going to explore Sedona!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Flashback; From FL to CO. Part 1
I was cleaning up my computer when I found this; a rough draft of trip from FL to CO. I am not going to clean it up much as I had originally planned. I was going to turn it into a coherent story... Nah :D
Gville arrive Mo
"Tubing" with Mike and Trevor. We were actually swimming the whole 3 hours until I turned blue and some nice people offered me a tube. Dumpstering. Bat Box! Thousands of bats! Buddha; Great graphic novel! Trout; cool guy who has an herb shop.
Bus Trip
Day 1 Fri 5th
Bob pick us up in Gville. Droped off motorcycle at Holt's. Arrive in Ginnie Springs.
Sat
Springs were awesome! Drove to Tallahassee.
Sun
Slept at Walmart. Anna Purna; Nepalese? restaurant for show. Snuck into the FSU theater building and explored for hours.
Mo
Karla; Jaz'es best friends sister. Truck stop; the bus was having problems.
Tu
Albany to Macon, to Cordelia. Somewhere in here we went to a really cool house to visit Don Wan. Bob's friend. It was really the land that was spectacular, nice lake with swing chairs hanging over it. I started my Loan process as Bob worked on the Bus. There were a lot of problems with the bus at this time.
We 10th
The Police woke us up. A guy who owned a BBQ joint across the street (Dooley's BBQ) from where we were parked gave us Breakfast and lunch and we talked for a while. Police stopped us because Jaz and I were on top of the bus. Bob and I dropped Jaz off in downtown Asheville. Went to Merrin's in Black Mountain. Met Abby and Ari at a coffee shop. Interesting, awkward. I liked them both.
Th
Coffee shop; spent a lot of time trying to get loans for school. Bus Painting; Abby came to paint my bunk.
Fri
Went hiking at Warren Wilson. The down town Asheville drum circle was great! Dancing! I met a religious studies professor from Warren Wilson and had a nice but short conversation.
Sat
Bob, Merrin and I went to Wild Roots, a small wilderness community. I was going to stay there with Jaz but decided that the best thing was to go with Bob back to the bus. Jaz almost stayed but ended up coming with us.
sun
Church decisions; I have no Idea what that means? Maybe talking about decision to leave the bus after a few more problems.
Mon 15th
Bob dropped Jaz and I off at a Starbucks in Knoxville. A man picked us up for a very short ride to a less desirable place to hitch from, it was slightly annoying but he meant well. Our next ride was awesome! Jack, an ex-infantry solider brought us most of the distance through TN. Along the way we stopped to walk around an abandoned mansion that had been burnt down. Right before he dropped us off we had lunch together and talked about his experiences in combat and seeing his friends die. He said his grandfather, who he was always close to, just died and he didn't feel anything. He is numb to death. Our next ride was an off duty policeman who was getting back from hunting. He and Jaz talked about tanning leather and things like that. It was getting late so we went to a homeless shelter for the night. Jaz and I were not allowed to stay together because we were not married so I slept in the mens dorm and Jaz got her own room. The only person in Jaz'es building was a grumpy old woman who's sole purpose in life was keeping me away. We were told that we had to meet across the street and she was trying to tell us we couldn't and watched us the whole time we were hanging out, even after her boss came and told her we were not breaking any rules. When curfew came I went back to the dorm. I was exhausted so I kept the conversation polite and went to bed. Breakfast had less then great food, but the conversation was lively and friendly. It was the most social shelter I have visited yet. I stuffed my pockets with food and we took off.
Gville arrive Mo
"Tubing" with Mike and Trevor. We were actually swimming the whole 3 hours until I turned blue and some nice people offered me a tube. Dumpstering. Bat Box! Thousands of bats! Buddha; Great graphic novel! Trout; cool guy who has an herb shop.
Bus Trip
Day 1 Fri 5th
Bob pick us up in Gville. Droped off motorcycle at Holt's. Arrive in Ginnie Springs.
Sat
Springs were awesome! Drove to Tallahassee.
Sun
Slept at Walmart. Anna Purna; Nepalese? restaurant for show. Snuck into the FSU theater building and explored for hours.
Mo
Karla; Jaz'es best friends sister. Truck stop; the bus was having problems.
Tu
Albany to Macon, to Cordelia. Somewhere in here we went to a really cool house to visit Don Wan. Bob's friend. It was really the land that was spectacular, nice lake with swing chairs hanging over it. I started my Loan process as Bob worked on the Bus. There were a lot of problems with the bus at this time.
We 10th
The Police woke us up. A guy who owned a BBQ joint across the street (Dooley's BBQ) from where we were parked gave us Breakfast and lunch and we talked for a while. Police stopped us because Jaz and I were on top of the bus. Bob and I dropped Jaz off in downtown Asheville. Went to Merrin's in Black Mountain. Met Abby and Ari at a coffee shop. Interesting, awkward. I liked them both.
Th
Coffee shop; spent a lot of time trying to get loans for school. Bus Painting; Abby came to paint my bunk.
Fri
Went hiking at Warren Wilson. The down town Asheville drum circle was great! Dancing! I met a religious studies professor from Warren Wilson and had a nice but short conversation.
Sat
Bob, Merrin and I went to Wild Roots, a small wilderness community. I was going to stay there with Jaz but decided that the best thing was to go with Bob back to the bus. Jaz almost stayed but ended up coming with us.
sun
Church decisions; I have no Idea what that means? Maybe talking about decision to leave the bus after a few more problems.
Mon 15th
Bob dropped Jaz and I off at a Starbucks in Knoxville. A man picked us up for a very short ride to a less desirable place to hitch from, it was slightly annoying but he meant well. Our next ride was awesome! Jack, an ex-infantry solider brought us most of the distance through TN. Along the way we stopped to walk around an abandoned mansion that had been burnt down. Right before he dropped us off we had lunch together and talked about his experiences in combat and seeing his friends die. He said his grandfather, who he was always close to, just died and he didn't feel anything. He is numb to death. Our next ride was an off duty policeman who was getting back from hunting. He and Jaz talked about tanning leather and things like that. It was getting late so we went to a homeless shelter for the night. Jaz and I were not allowed to stay together because we were not married so I slept in the mens dorm and Jaz got her own room. The only person in Jaz'es building was a grumpy old woman who's sole purpose in life was keeping me away. We were told that we had to meet across the street and she was trying to tell us we couldn't and watched us the whole time we were hanging out, even after her boss came and told her we were not breaking any rules. When curfew came I went back to the dorm. I was exhausted so I kept the conversation polite and went to bed. Breakfast had less then great food, but the conversation was lively and friendly. It was the most social shelter I have visited yet. I stuffed my pockets with food and we took off.
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