September 29, 2004
Fields of Green
Driving through South Dakota and Nebraska was a little melancholic... I was surprising myself at how much I had enjoyed the company of Johanna and Chris, and I wanted to go exploring Yellowstone and Tetons with them, yet my mission was to the South. Since the inverter died, I don't have many photos of this section, but it was stunning. The crops all ripening in huge ribbons, the sun smacking down on the horizon. At the Iowa/Missouri border I was surprised to see huge hemp plants in full bloom all over the place. I wanted to stop and investigate them but I was fearing the consequences of something like pulling over in a VW van and enjoying trailside botany. Sad commentary on our times, I guess.
I finally made it to a Walmart outside of Kansas City for my first campout there, it really wasnt too bad. Only hassle was a big pickup truck which pulled up next to me and yelled "do 'er, do 'er, get 'er done in there!"
Eventually made it to Kansas City and had a good visit with my grandmother and aunt and uncle.
Next day, I met my aunt, uncle and cousin at their new log home in Warrensburg. Took a quick ride on the ATV, and was amazed to see Skylar (5 years old) was also allowed to ride it around. The Missouri hills are really beautiful, nice driving except for the people in huge trucks wanting to pass me while I'm already going 60 on a winding 2-lane road.
I checked out Knob Noster State Park, where I found hundreds of tiny frogs at a scummy little pond. It was so covered with duckweed that it looked like dry land. I also became covered in "hitchhiker" seeds and chigger bites. It was good to be back.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:57 PM | Comments (1)
Badlands
Very little can be put into words regarding both the physical majesty of the Badlands park, nor the great time I had there. Still, I took some pictures and I will try to describe how it was out there.
I arrived late in the day, at the Eastern side of the park. Only after arriving, did I realize the "primitive" campground I wanted was on the western side, so I drove back across. On the way in, I was actually skirting the edge of the park, so it was at least a different road. The sunset on the badlands was breathtaking, and listening to Carlos Montoya play flamenco guitar matched the mood perfectly.
I turned off onto the 12 mile gravel road leading to the Sage Creek campground, and made haste to get there before dark. As I finally arrived, I was so glad to find the campsite mostly empty. A cute young lady running with a dog gave me a big grin and a wave and I took that as a good sign. I settled in to camp, prepared dinner, and then started to look around.
It turns out said young lady and her boyfriend were camped next to me, so I went over to introduce myself. Johanna, Chris, and Koya the half-chow were moving from New Hampshire to Colorado, and trying to see all of the West in the process. They were very friendly, and since I was going where they just came from, and vice versa, we talked a while about the routes and strategies for mobile life. They had all of their worldly possessions packed into Johanna's 4wd pickup, with a loft system not unlike mine for sleeping and storage.
We had some beers and enjoyed sitting out in the desert with 75 degree evening weather, just the slightest cool breeze.
The next morning, I told them that I was going to need to stay an extra day or two, and tried to talk them into doing the same. I was quite glad when they agreed, and since it was then Monday, we were hoping the campsite would become even emptier.
We spent the day first going into Wall for supplies: ice, milk, dogfood, eggs, gasoline, beer, and other survival essentials. Later, we drove all over the park, looking at prarie dogs, exploring the back trails into the canyons, etc.
Returning to camp in mid-afternoon, it was very similar to the feeling at burningman. 90 degrees, no wind, too hot and sunny to think or move. After some lazy sitting around, we decided to see what the view was like from a nearby-looking peak, and took Koya up there for some excercise.
The area was totally unbelievable. A 360 degree view from the top of the peak. Prarie sprawling out to the horizon, and the Badlands in the other direction. We discovered an old house foundation and remains of a root cellar, and also realized that the prarie dog holes were in the thousands. From the highest point, we could see them totally drenching the landscape like cars in a traffic jam. I was really wanting to see a map of how their tunnels were connected over the miles of open prarie which they covered.
After dinner, we waited for dark and went out on a night hike to peaks on the other side of camp. We walked way up until our campsite could no longer be seen (most of the people there retired around 9pm, when we left on the walk). We poked smot, sipped some scotch from a flask, and stared at the night sky. It was a neutral-feeling 70 degree evening with a wonderful fresh breeze. I was ten years older than these folks, but we seemed to be of similar minds on all topics which came up. I found it very invigorating to see their approach on life... to live free and seek out the lesser-known areas and joys. I learned that they are each other's first love, they met in high school and, while they are not married, they have no plans to seperate. I hoped it works out for them, they were both excellent humans and seemed to deserve each other.
I slept so soundly that night, worn out from running around in the sun, and such a nice cool breeze flowing all night.
But at about 4am, I heard a tremendous crash and realized my sun awning was hanging by a thread from the van. Braving the brisk wind in naught but my innermost pants, I had to pack it up hastily to keep it from blowing away. Also had to rescue two folding camp chairs, and Chris was out there doing the same thing at his camp.
In the morning I realized one of the awning poles is fairly bent, but I think I was able to mostly repair it. I guess now I know the limits of the awning, but it is difficult to know when a windstorm like this will roll through.
After packing, I attempted to say goodbye to Johanna and Chris, but none of us felt like leaving, so we spent most of the day just hanging out and talking more. I gave them as much wisdom as I could regarding their upcoming trip to Seattle, and gave them my contact info. It was surprisingly sad to leave them, finally, around 1pm. I guess when I am travelling alone like this, meeting cool people packs much more punch than usual. I normally wouldn't be interested in appraoching random strangers while camping, but I am glad I did in this case.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
Wind Cave
Again some crazy prarie dog action here. More bison, deer, rabbits. Too late for a cave tour, but got a decent campsite. They have us packed really close together, and some college kids (a geological tour of some sort) are quite noisy. I need to get up very early for the cave tour in the morning, so this is a quick entry. I took a random off-trail walk on the prarie. You think it is just this silky yellow grass, where little Laura Ingalls can just frolic around barefoot with her dog... but there are cactus, harsh spiked things, etc all over. It was so hostile I actually started to become worried about rattlesnakes, ants, and . On the top of a butte I found a little herd of deer, they were being courted by a buck so i got out of there.
At night I heard elk bugling... it sounds like an eagle. If I stay tommorow, there is a lecture on the elk and a field trip to call them, but I think I will move on towards the badlands.
The stars were good tonight, though the moon is so bright, and the kids are so loud.
Something might be up with the aux battery, the inverter drained it quickly this morning, and its a little on voltage.
Update: the battery was fine, the inverter has died however. I suspect it may have gotten wet. The problem is that the inverter is the main way I can recharge camera battery.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)
Black Hills
Regarding the Crazy Horse Monument:
We took a trip to the Black Hills when I was in grade school, and saw some of the first progress made towards the Crazy Horse Monument. My mom and dad said they wouldnt be alive to see it finished. That really hit me. I didnt believe it. Now my dad is gone and my mom has had a stroke, I come back to this place 20 years later, realizing it is the geographic locus of my first real grapplings with death.
The monument is still incomplete, and probably wont be finished before I am gone too. I remembered getting a rock from it, back then, but I couldnt prove it was authentic to my friends. I got another one today, and this time I dont give a shit who knows what it is or where it is from.
The crazy horse museum was more about the artist and not much about the man it is depicting, but that is par for course.
The black hills were awesome, but I knew that pictures wouldnt do it justice; it is a low key awesomeness. I had my first real taste of wilderness here as a kid. Before that I liked the woods, but as a place to play. Just rocks to climb on, etc. Well, in the black hills, one afternoon in the mid-80s, I suddenly one day tasted it... just the sweet and cool pine air, the quiet, and the feeling that I could truly relax. I suddenly understood what all the hub-bub was about, and why people would want to take a vacation to a place where there was "nothing to do". I thank the hills for this, and although they are congested and overrun with tourism, they are important to me.
There were wild turkeys all over the sides of the roads. I was unable to ever get a photo, since there just happened to never be a place to safely pull over. I felt like they were teasing me, presenting their bright blue heads and feathers which looked handpainted... they knew I would never get a picture.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)
Devil's Tower
It was a long but beautiful drive across Wyoming. The roads there are red. It reminded me immediately of a painting in Missoula called "the Red Road". The red road is the path which an Indian takes, trying to live in the white world. The painting portrayed this literally, with a Montana highway colored red. Well, in wyoming, its real.
They use some adjunct to the highway concrete which makes it a deep rust red color. It was nice and smooth to drive on.
It took a while in Sheridan to find firewood and some groceries. I Also experienced a drive-thru liquor store, which was also a bar.
Saw a million antelope on the way out... hard to photograph them. They really look surreal, with their harlequin striped faces and chests.
Finally approached devils tower. I've seen it before, but its truly unreal and alien. Rolled into a campground just at dusk, and got an amazing front row spot since its off season. I popped the top and enjoyed a direct view from the van, this place was really special.
Later I went out to the middle of the campground (like a huge field) and just reeled at the stars and this huge tower looming in front of me. Played some Julian Cope, Helios Creed, etc songs about aliens and really bugged out on the shooting stars and milky way above while sitting at the base of this huge thing.
It was very hard to leave this area in the morning, but I was eager to get moving. Did an overdue cleaning of the van.
what this means:
drained the cooler
shook the rug
simple-greened all the counters etc
organized shelves
set up trash
Drove to devils tower itself, where the prarie dogs were crazy. Saw a Westy from WA, which I had also seen at safeway in Sheradon, and again at the campground at DT. Didn't meet the owners. The tower itself was stunning up close, many climbers. Took the loop trail around it, and had spectacular views.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
Big Powow at Little Bighorn
The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is a complex place which left me with mixed feelings. Like all of Montana, its beautiful in many ways, but this area has a perverse history mixed in with it.
The area commemorates the fallen troops of General Custer (and their horses, which they shot to make improv bunkers). Custer and his men were out there to clear the Lakota (Sioux), Cree, and others off of their homeland. Roger Manning's song "War Museum Blues" says it best:
look out
look out when youre up against people who aint got much more to lose
big powwow little bighorn
you gotta watch your back when you back people like that into a corner
big powow little bighorn
the cavalry blundered despite tons of arrogance
they were way out numbered
...
died on the hill
clutching money in their hands
montana
the cops sure got their ass kicked here
So it was with a kind of repulsion that I viewed these monuments to men who died in a crazed attempt to clear thousands of people out of their homes. I did notice a new addition to the monument, one for the natives who lost their lives. This area, ablaze with prayer flags, was strangely tucked out of sight, it is sortof inside a hollowed out hill.
Of other note there, I saw a very intense Vanagon camper. Left a note under the wiper, hoping to meet up with them down the road but never saw them again.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:13 PM | Comments (1)
Boothill Cemetary and East
I was pretty tired when i arrived in billings, but was also wound up. I looked in vain for a campground for a while, but there were only some scraggly rv parks. I saw a sign for a hotel offering free internet access, so went to check it out.
Sure enough, there was an open AP, so i was able to update the site and also use their coin laundry (yes I asked).
Billings smelled unpleasant, a large portion of the city is dedicated to refining petroleum. Many of the vehicles around me were huge pickup trucks with rebuclican or yellow ribbon stickers. I hunkered down for the night and used the computer a lot of the time. I realized in the morning i was parked right by an old cemetary. I checked that out, and then got the hell out of dodge, as it were. the area right outside of Billings is amazing, even if billings is not.
One of the great things I discovered out there was a petroglyph cave, where I happened upon a tiny rubber boa (I think).
Posted by dokodemo at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2004
Best piece of furniture ever
My life has been radically transformed by this piece of MDF shelving.
While out at Boris's barn and woodshop, Tim helped me design and fashion a loft-like shelf for the back of the van.
Here is the problem:
I store a lot of stuff behind the backseat. I try to keep it all in 2 large Rubbermaid tubs, so that it can get messy without the van getting messy. Clutter inside the van is not tolerated.
However, I also like to sleep downstairs, which involves moving all the stuff out of the way, or popping the top to put it upstairs. When "stealth camping" in the city, popping the top is not an option.
What the loft does is lets me just swap all the stuff from the cushion above the engine compartment to a shelf right above it. That previously unused airspace is now full of my gear, and my feet have plenty of room underneath.
The closet side door still opens perfectly through a cutout. The washer fluid reservoir is also accessable via cutouts. It would be especially swank to add a hose and funnel to it, but for now its ok (considering the washer fluid seems to last forever).
I dont intend to keep stuff on the loft while driving, but in case I do (and for security while asleep) a small lip was nailed to the rims of the loft to keep anything from sliding forward. It is still possible to pull the bins over the lip. The two bins fit perfectly above or below the shelf with a minimum of wasted space. There is still room on the side of them to keep extra items like chairs, sleeping bag, shoes, etc.
If something is placed over the door cutout, like an atlas, the gear beneath is invisble.
There are a bunch of photos of this loft and my construction of it in the gallery.
Original credit for this design is given to findtao, wherever he is.
Posted by dokodemo at 09:40 PM | Comments (0)
Stumbling East
Spent the night at the foot of the Grand Tetons. Woke up as early as I could, about 7. Made coffee while still mostly in bed. There was some ice on the outside of the van, and all the trees and plants were frosted.
I slept very well, but it was hard to get going in the cold morning. Sipped a cup of Tonx's blend and packed up. Took a little walk to see the Tetons once more, and then sadly got on my way. Plan was to go back up through Yellowstone and over an 11000 foot pass, so I wanted to get going early.
The weather became steadily worse, a driving frozen rain. The sky was mostly whited-out and driving was slow, but it didn't make it any less enjoyable. Eerie music like Roky Ericson, Skullflower, and Amon Tobin, and Asteroid #4 made it all quite surreal.
Saw many more buffalo today than yesterday, and a female moose. Some people saw a Grizzly bear and cub, so I took a 30 mile detour to see if I could too, but failed in that errand.
Consulted a backcountry ranger about the Carter City pass, and he said "well, its open, but I wouldnt try it today", so I didn't. I headed back to the North Entrance (Gardiner) and took my time getting there. Stopped and had lunch on a riverbank, watching some amazing little blue birds which could hover like a hummingbird. There was a heard of elk near the park entrance, so I stopped to watch them for a while. As the state border changed from Wyoming to Montana, the weather was perfect again. I had an incredible drive up through the Absoroka mountains, and out of Bozeman towards Billings. I had some internet tasks looming on my mind, so I started netstumbler up for the hell of it, and realized there are WAPs all over, even in the middle of nowhere. I found a place to camp near a hotel in Billings (which is apparantly a very horrible town with a smelly refinery and a lot of cowboys with Bush stickers). I am connected to the hotel's network to get this message out. Hope it finds you all well. Tommorow I want to check out some petroglyphs nearby, and then head towards the Black Hills. Not too much else to say, it is all fantastic and I am loving the road.
Posted by dokodemo at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)
A good little Pal
One of the most intuitive and perfectly-functioning pieces of equipment I have used is the Tivoli Audio PAL radio. This little guy is a rechargable radio, with a line-in jack as well as headphone out. The tuning knob is geared to allow extremely precise tuning, a relic of a bygone era. The sound is mono, but you don't miss it due to the amazing fidelity.
It did not include a 12v charger (only AC), but it was quite easy to make one, using a sacrificial cellphone charger for a plug, and wiring it directly into my auxillary fuse block with a 10amp fuse. It takes about an hour to charge and lasts 12 hours or more from that. It sounds so good, very low volume levels are required, and that makes it last even longer.
I have started to use it almost every night, trying to find a local NPR or college station (anything but ClearChannel, please). In a pinch, I simply connect it to the ipod and night's dreams are assuredly sweet. How I wish all products were this simple and worked this well.
Posted by dokodemo at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)
Yellowstone and the Tetons
I am in Grand Tetons National Park, and like all the NPs, its ridiculously cool. I'll try to start at the beginning.
(This is verbatim from my journal... re-reading it, it sounds whiney. Rest assured all is well and I am having a fantastic time).
I am in Grand Tetons National Park, and like all the NPs, its ridiculous. I'll try to start at the beginning.
Left Missoula after returning from Boris's. Uploaded some photos and added a blog entry. Realized I need to get ATM card updated, but nothing is working out other than having them send a new one to old address. Also realized I lost all the This American Lifes, at Tims. It really makes a difference, since I kindof hate creating the ipod playlists for a few hours of listening, and radio has been mostly shitty. Im tired of my own CDs, of course.
Rolled into Bozeman, and was really tired. I had stopped in Butte looking for tire chains, to no avail. In Bozeman I stopped at WalMart, and intended to camp there, to try it out. I know I will be there a bit sooner or later, so thought I could see how it works. I did find some cheap tire chains, hoping that the purchase of them means I wont need them. I would love to have wasted that money.
I ended up pressing on, towards Yellowstone. Finally, getting very sleepy, I stopped at a KOA. F$#@ing 21 bucks. For a fairly crappy site. However, there was a hoot owl going at it so that was pretty cool. Weird dreams, as almost every night I've been out here.
The Bozeman college station is really good.
Got up at 9 and rolled into Yellowstone after an uneventful stop for gas, ice, and a little PBR. Moments after entering Yellowstone, I saw 2 pronghorn antelope. A buck was chasing a doe and bleating or braying or bugling or whatever it is they do quite a bit. It was pretty fantastic, they are very African looking. Just around the corner from this scene, there were some huge elk, a male and several females. The rangers were yelling at cars to move on, instead of stopping traffic by gawking. This was the "downtown" of Yellowstone... all the Inns, cafes, gift shops, post office, etc. I didnt want to stop, it was very crowded. I moved on a few miles, past some of the amazing geothermic phenomenae, and saw a coyote bolt across the road.
Stopped at a few caldron things, I know so little about them, but they were quite captivating. I tried to get photos but I am sure the intense subtle patterns and gradients will not come out so well.
Saw some bison, the magic of this wildlife stuff perhaps losing its edge. No, its just that I hadn't eaten yet. I also had to pee really bad, and couldnt find a decent place. Last night, I tried to use a bottle and just couldnt do it. I want this skill, but you know how it goes.
So I did stop to have some carrots, chips, and almonds. It did help the attitude, and I rolled on through some amazing, indescribable country. Even had the patience to hit Old Faithful, which I almost skipped. I happened to arrive just in time, and saw it do its thing. Of course, the crowd was much more interesting than the thing itself. After that, I did lose a little patience and rolled down to Grand Tetons as rapidly as possible. There was some heavy construction going on so had to sit in traffic for 30 mins. Tetons was breathtaking, of course, but the Optio battery died so I fired up the inverter. I passed a lot of photo opps, but there is also tommorow. I realized to get to my suspected camp by nightfall (which I am preferring, the natural sunslight is so much better for cooking), I had to take a very unknown dirt road. So I followed the loop back up a bit, to Jenny Lake. Turned out this was tent-only (which I didnt understand, since I have no more footprint than a parked car), but they were strict about even people in pickup trucks.
Drove on more to another campsite, and found a decent space, though it was worrisome (a bit crowded). Despite all this space at Grand Tetons (huge, playa-like open areas), you cant camp in more than a couple places.
I set up the van, pre-prepared dinner, and went to check out the area. There is a lake with the Tetons right behind them, hard to get more picturesque. After cooking I went to watch the sunset, it was so incredible. I just started giggling since it was so intensely beautiful. An unexplainable small epiphany occurred and I felt myself ratchet up in some parameter. I got goosebump. Came back and sipped a PBR while watching the stars come out. Now I'm inside, waiting for it to get really dark out so I can go look at space for a few minutes. Its pretty cold out there, I tried to play guitar earlier but fingers got numb. Its a nice, crisp cold. It feels good with enough clothing on, and a hat. Its hard to get out of bed, tommorow, I bet. I put the coffee on so all I have to do is light the stove and pour the water in. Tonx's blend has been great.
Posted by dokodemo at 07:44 PM | Comments (1)
September 20, 2004
Ronan Barn
We drove up to the NinePipe Wilderness Preserve. Through the buffalo range, onto the Blackfeet Reservation, where Boris had bought a huge old barn and some land, and converted it into an excellent shop and home.
The area was stunning, a valley butted up against the looming Mission Mountains. His barn was amazing, huge huge huge. Inside was an excellent fully-appointed woodshop, composting toilet, an office, and upstairs had an apartment with kitchen, living room, and bedrooms.
We spent a lot of the day creating a loft for the van. A more detailed entry will need to cover this fantastic piece of furniture. Boris created a red curry, and we spent the evening catching up and generally enjoying good times.
Out there, too, the mushrooms were fruiting like mad. Campestrus were all over, also found some small death angel amanitas. Shaggy manes, meadow agaricus (sadly rotton), and thousands of LBMs. Not to mention boletes, puffballs, and hygrocoybes. These were all within about 100' of the barn.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
North of Missoula
Tim's family bought a spread up in the Sapphire Mountains... A base camp was set up to stay in while construction of a shed occurs. We went up to help work on the shed/cabin.
It goes without saying that any piece of Montana wildnerness is "beautiful" but this was truly a great spread. The plot was densely forested, was an old mining claim. Several suitable sites for building cabins. Bill had mostly completed a fantastic "shed" which was the same design as the unabomber cabin. We went up to work on the roof, but it was poor weather so we installed a door and window. He had a very tall ceiling with a great little loft. The base camp was quite comforatble too... Huge tent, outdoor kitchen. Lots of very fresh bear scat around, so loaded guns were standing by (bear season had just opened).
The recent rains had mushrooms of all types fruiting like crazy. I could have easily spent many days exploring this land, but we also wanted to visit Boris up in Ronan.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:33 PM | Comments (0)
September 17, 2004
Headlamp Upgrade
The stock headlights in the Vanagon are not only dim and annoying to drive with, they are plain dangerous if you navigate using your eyes at night. Those with built-in sonar abilities might have a more favorable impression.
I chose the kit offered by gowesty.com. It is essentially just a relay (the stock wiring and switch is not able to take the new bulbs directly) which could be put together much more inexpensively than this kit. My excuse is that I was actually in San Luis OBispo, buying my van, and gowesty was doing some service on it anyway.
The new lowbeams are barely passable... however the highbeams are insanely bright. I like that, but I am sure no other vehicles on the road do. I get excited when I have a chance to use them, but it is sadly very rare.
I had an 88 Fox, I think its lights were the same or quite similar to the Vanagon's stock lights. Never bothered to upgrade those, but I would now if I still had one. If the roads were wet (reflecting light from all over), it was almost impossible to tell the headlights were on. My Volvo v40 appeared to have brighter turnsignals than the Fox had headlights.
Posted by dokodemo at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)
Drive to Lolo
Leaving Seattle was only slightly delayed by coffee and a visit to bakery with friends. A nice drive, a haircut in Cle Elum (where I had to bite my tongue as politics were discussed). Listened to a lot of "This American Life" mp3s, I have a few years of them to look forward to. Drive was uneventful - in a good way. Arrived in the Lolo National Forest around 8pm, had a very pleasant and empty campsite. I decided to close up the curtains, despite being all alone, just to see what its like. It had the unexpected benefit of reflecting a lot of light inside. I tried to draw what the night sky looked like, with terrible results.
Now I'm in Missoula. Planning to go up into the woods around here for a few days, and then head down to Yellowstone National Park.
Posted by dokodemo at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)
September 15, 2004
A simple plan
A simple clockwise loop of the nation, starting and ending in Seattle. Time to take the slower roads and do whatever, wherever. Hopefully a chance to see night skies as they were before sodium lights. Sagebrush, Spanish moss, and sea foam. Its all good.
Posted by dokodemo at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2004
Getting a Vanagon
The weekend of Feb 6, 2004, I flew with my wife down to San Luis Obispo to look at a VW Vanagon for sale. I had been looking at them for some time, and gotten a sense of their values and states of well-being (or lack thereof). Finally, a very tempting listing came through the Vanagon email list.
The weekend of Feb 6, 2004, I flew with my wife, Maki, down to San Luis Obispo to
look at a VW Vanagon for sale. I had been looking at them for some time,
and gotten a sense of their values and states of well-being (or lack
thereof). Finally, a very tempting listing came through the Vanagon email
list. I talked with the seller on the phone and in email, and decided it
was worth going down to California to investigate. As a bonus, the seller
was within a very short distance of gowesty, a shop filled with VW experts
and a warehouse of parts.
We arrived in SLO Thursday night after an uneventful flight. I always
like taking the puddle jumpers, as we had to from Los Angeles to SLO.
We picked up a rental car and went to look for something to eat in
downtown SLO. We had just missed the Thursday night market/bbq the town
is known for. However, we saw a huge group of illuminated bikes down at
the end of the main street. Walking over, I got the sense I knew what was
happening, I saw burningman-esque costumes, many bottles of beer in hand,
and lots of electroluminescent wire on the bikes. I had assumed this was
a "Critical Mass" ride, where the bikes go out to show to the cars that
they are vehicles as well. I asked a young woman on an older style of
bike with a bannana seat and a sissybar. She said "what?" when I asked
about Critical Mass, so I rephrased the question, "What's going on here?"
"Bikes 'n' beers.
"Oh? That, is like, you ride bikes and drink beer?"
She looks at me like I am slightly dense, which I realize I am, and she
elaborates:
"Yes, its great! You should come! First Thursday of every month!"
"Oh, um I don't have a bike. I am just in from Seattle."
"Yeah there's a keg, and we ride around and --"
She is interrupted by some unanimous WHOOP which rushes through the crowd.
I suddenly feel very cut-off from the people on bikes and wished I had
rented a beach cruiser from the airport instead of the crappy Mazda
Protege which was cumbersomely parked a few blocks up. It didn't have
flashing LED strobe lights, it didn't have a fur-covered set of handgrips.
We left the party and went on to some grill that was full of younger kids
taking advantage of the late happy hour 22oz Budweisers. I took half my
dinner to go, to worked up to really eat.
In the morning, I woke up an hour late due to apparantly screwing up the
clock as I set the alarm. As a result, I got up 15 minutes before W. was
to arrive with the van. Maki went to try to get our free breakfast to go
as I waited for W.
Towering over San Luis Obispo is a large foothill with an "M" on it. This
hill, and its shape in profile, reminded me very much of Mount Sentinel in
Missoula, Montana. In both cases, we see a large white "M" on the side of
a pointy, competant little hill of a mountain. I took a few snapshots of
it as W. pulled up in the machine.
I gave it a look-over inside and out, and was pleasantly pleased by its
exterior condition. In the meantime, Maki came out with some goods from
the restaurant, and I drove the van the 20 miles out to Los Osos, where Go
Westy! is located.
I dropped the van off
for an inspection, and got to know the grounds and
the staff a little. Its a pleasant little place in a pleasant little
town. There are vans everywhere, aircooled, watercooled, syncros, buses,
vanagons, eurovans, carats, porsches, splitties, and... other vws.
I talked about the van and what I needed checked, and about VWs in
general. Chris, the fellow I worked with, was knowledgable, helpful, and
friendly. He only spent about a half-hearted sentence trying to sell me
one of his restored vans before giving up. He repeatedly said I had a
"nice one", so I took that as a good sign.
I spent some time playing with the Australian sheepdogs that live/work at
Go Westy, and checking out the other local wildlife such as this little
lizard.
We walked over to a nice little coffee house, I think called "Cad Coffee". They didn't seem to know how to use their espresso machine, kindof a break from the Seattle coffeehouse style.
After a while we went back to GoWesty, chatted with Chris there, and
looked at many other vans. They had lots of them. Other customers were
coming and going, and I talked to a couple of them about their experience
on larger wheels. Those who had them were glowing, a man who lived at Big
Sur was raving about driving on Highway 1 with them. He also noted his
speedometer was very accurate when compared to his GPS readings. I am
unsure about why this works, but it is interesting.
I asked about the lack of "bus ratings" on the tires they sell, and was
given a long rap about the gowesty decision to sell these tires. I was
shown the employee vehicles which use them.
After a while, I got the laundry list of problems with this van. The most
disturbing was a cracked coolant pipe. Less important to me were the air
conditioner compresser needing work (it worked, but not as cool as it
should be), power locks disconnected due to intermittant problems, and
some other minor ailments. I discussed these findings with the owner,
talked about price, and decided to buy it. I was able to get the coolant
pipes replaced at gowesty, and at the same time I had larger rims, new
shocks, and more powerful headlights installed. I took a risk on the
unrated michellan tires which gowesty sells.
The work was to take several hours so Maki and I got in the rented car and
headed up the beach to the Hearst Castle. We drove through a few very
nice beach towns and then knew were getting close to the castle when we
saw zebra grazing on the side of the road.
The tour is to be highly recommended. It inevitably has a "touristy"
flavor to it, as a bus shuttles you up the road to the castle, there are
souveneir shops before and after the tour, and so on. However, the tour
was led by a very knowledgable guide, a lover of art, a speaker of most
romance languages, and a mountaineer named Mr. Troutman. It was very
interesting, I was unable to comprehend commanding the view from the
palace, and then imagining -owning- all of the land within site. The
jumbled architectural and decor styles are mixed very well; it is as if it
is no small thing to have a 2,000 year old greek vase next to a merely
1,100 year old chinese statue modified to be a lamp.
We finally had to head back to Los Osos and pick up the van. We drove up
to Palo Alto, where a friend is studying at Stanford. we had pho with him
in Palo Alto, and parked on the Stanford campus for our first night in the
van. We drew the curtains, opened the skylight vent and cracked the side
windows, and slept very soundly in our sleeping bags.
After breakfast and a tour of the beautiful Stanford campus, we continued
up to San Fransisco and across the Golden Gate bridge. We remained on 1
for a fantastic 2 hours or so... winding through the little towns, the
hills, and the beach-side cliffs. Driving the van was a joy, though
indeed it was a little, ahem, slower on the hills than the cars I am used
to driving.
Time finally becoming an issue, we headed across the Napa Valley, through
beautiful vinyards and farms, to meet up with I-5.
Once we merged with I-5, I started seeing billboards for Granzellas, which
a list member had mentioned was worth stopping at. We got a parking space
right in front and stepped inside. This is another place with a tourist
flavor which should by no means be skipped for that reason only. A fairly
nice Italian deli (though with European and even Asian imports from all
over to boot), strangely enough, located on I-5 in the otherwise vacant
no-mans-land north of Sacramento. We had some pizza and took a break from
the road. We browsed at the selections, excellent picnic food- and
realized we were already well-stocked and they don't really offer anything
that can't be had at other good delis. That being said, if I were ever on
a trek north on I-5 again, I would surely stock up there on the way.
What a boon to the weary highway traveller. Imagine a camping trip with
herb-stuffed feta cheese, fresh cantaloupe wrapped with prosciuotto parma,
a host of olives, capers, and honeys, fresh bread, you get the idea.
We continued on towards Mount
Shasta, and started looking for a place to
camp. Around Mount Shasta is a "National Recreation Area" which on the
map seemed to offer ample oppurtunity to camp. I took several exits, but
all they offered were RV park camping, flooded with sodium light. We kept
looking and explored the minor backroads looking for a place to
stealth-camp for the night. The only promising dead-end was already
claimed by a camper. There were unwelcoming "no parking" and "no vehicles
beyond this point" signs all over, deep in the woods. So I got back on
the highway and kept looking. Finally I got tired, and stopped at the
Weed rest area.
There were a few trucks and people sleeping in their cars around midnight.
I pulled into the darkest area, we drew the curtains. I was a bit amped
up from driving still, so I sipped a Sapporo lager I picked up in
California and ate a slice of leftover pizza from Granzellas. Not the
best day of my life in terms of food choices, but under the shadow of Mt
Shasta and with the stars glowing like their lives depended on it, that
was a fairly decent midnight snack, and served to have me knocked out in
my sleeping bag in very short order.
The next morning, the windshield glass was covered with frost, though the
sun was blazing crisply and there was not a cloud in the sky. I had slept
so soundly, I was excited to wake up and get on with the journey.
Along the way we saw some interesting giant spools, and imagined the
enormous sewing machine which would use them as bobbins.
As we eased into Oregon, the rain came a
bit, as it seems to do every time I take I-5 through that area. The rain came and went, and we saw the
beautiful neon-green valleys full of sheep that make the I-5 corridor
through the area so enjoyable. Had to stop for "full service" gas, and
some delicious gas-station coffee.
Eventually, with the arrival at Portland, we started seeing signs
mentioning Seattle, and inched closer to home. While the initial jounrey
is complete, I expect and hope it is really just beginning.
Posted by dokodemo at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)
Hi!
Dokodemo means "anywhere" or "wherever". If its too dark, you can turn on a light. If its raining, you can erect a shelter or wear spaceage polymers. If you live in finland but want to grow tropical orchids, science makes this possible. With dokodemo, you can cook a gourmet meal in the middle of the woods, or you can set up a waterfall in your kitchen. It works perfectly both ways.
Dokodemo is a philosphy and a lifestyle. Its being nomadic but at the same time bringing the world into your permanent home base.
Posted by dokodemo at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)