October travels

[hoyden]

One thing I noticed as my days passed is that I wrote less and has much less ennui. I was more invested in the immediate exploration, and the “where to camp tonight?” and “what to do tomorrow?” questions.

This first post is a bit dis-jointed, I realize. The later posts are more coherent.

Oct 1 : The Pads, just East of Death Valley

Now I can say I’ve been to (through) Vegas. Had some awesome chicken BBQ there!

My love affair with road trips and traveling started in utero I'm sure. I was born on the road. Well not literally but almost. My folks were on their way to Seattle but their car broke down in Berkeley and I was born in that City because of a failed her trip. Or rather because of an adventure. A road trip is just getting from one destination to the other adventurers was something unexpected happens. On that road trip.

As I type this, U2s "but I still haven't found what I'm looking for" comes on the oldies radio station broadcasting out of Lake Havasu all the way to here outside of Hoover Dam – another man-made marvel of engineering and destruction.

Remember, no matter where you go there you are. I watched The Amazing Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai a dozen times but it wasn't until after my father's death that I understood what that phrase meant

I think I want wholly unfamiliar. Or the coast where the smells and intensity of the ocean take precedent over familiarity

When I was a teen on the road, I often felt that something was chasing me and that by driving I could stay a few steps ahead of it. That feeling of being chased was very tangible then. In retrospect, I wonder if it was the sense of mortality that we all inevitably feel that was chasing me?

It's never been about the where to. It's always been about far away from....
I want to be lost out here. So that my external World matches my internal world

The sun is setting on my first night out. I’m feeling very alone and not sure I’ll make it a month. I need people.

A friend of mine sent me a podcast. I'll play this game my next trip:

( http://dirtbagdiaries.com/?s=roll+the+dice ) with this as the travel plans. Take a dice and roll it:
1 = go north.
2 = east
3 = south
4 = west
5 = stay put
6 = cross the nearest state border.
The only rule? No backtracking.

Pugsly just wants dinner

Argos seems pretty happy

[SIZE=9.5pt]I got a new point-and-shoot camera and this was my first attempt at a panorama. It didn’t seem to adjust well for the sunset light. Still, a beautiful location. [/SIZE]

Death Valley is very, very quiet. No night-time coyote howls, no evening cicadas. Just quiet.

 

[craig333]

Never heard of the pads before. Born on the road now thats interesting!

 

[hoyden]

Oct 2 : Hwy 395

What have I learned so far on this trip? That people are rip-off artists. Everyone will charge a premium if they can get away with it. Ah, California.

I’m reading Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charley”. So far, it’s the best of all my travel-related books that is clicking with me.
Page 20 “I did not want to surrender to fierceness for a small gain in yardage.”
I kind of want to make that my motto.

Pg 62 “ In Spanish there is a word for which I can't find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction.”

Sunrise in Death Valley

Zabriskie Point in the morning

I love the textures

Death Valley is an area of surprises. There’s sand dunes in the middle!
And a group of people filming a video. What fun!

Pugsly and Argos thought the sand was fun too

This is outside of Death Valley, off highway 365 in California. Alabama Hills. It was only 10:30am, so I didn’t camp there – I wasn’t yet feeling relaxed and wanted to go, go, go. Next time I go that direction, I will stay at this amazing place

One of the many terrible things that our government has done to its people. Manzanar Relocation Center imprisoned over 10,000 Japanese Americans. Most were American citizens. These Americans were ‘relocated’ because of paranoia.

I stayed at a campground and my fears of bears was not assuaged. As a newbie to bears, I wasn’t sure what to put inside the box. I moved a few items of food back and forth a few times, before leaving just the open food items in the box. You might be pleased to know that a few days later, a very nice Park Ranger near Mono Lake made me feel much more confident about black bears. “just yell at them… they aren’t like Grizzlies!”

 

[hoyden]

Never heard of the pads before. Born on the road now thats interesting!

craig333 : 36°20'19.8"N 116°35'58.4"W

I think I found about it on freecampsites.net ?

It seems to be a place that was started built out for an RV lot, but never got finished.
It's got all these...pads... level and just out there in the desert.
I think technically it's private property, but from what I read, no-one gets hassled.

 

[hoyden]

Oct 3 : Mono Lake and Buckeye Hot Springs

Mono Lake was the saving grace of highway 395 for me. It is otherworldly and worth a visit. The "Tufa" rock towers form when underwater springs rich in calcium mix with the waters of the lake, which are rich in carbonates. The resulting reaction forms limestone. Over time the buildup of limestone formed towers, and as the lake receded (been used up…) so much over the years we now have a small forest of these entities.

A nice young tourist took our photo. And then he walked away with a small piece of Tufa in his hoodie pocket. Boo.

It was grey and chilly when I pulled into Bridgeport, Ca. But I found this fun map of the area.

Someone had recommended “The Barn” as a reasonable place for a meal. It is a walk-up beach-style burger and Mexican food place. I got a (terrible) veggie burger and some comfort food tater-tots. I threw away most of the cold veggie burger, but the tater-tots hit the spot

It was a short dirt road drive and I set up camp near the best path to the hot springs and got a nice photo during a clearing of the clouds

The dogs were happy to get some sunshine too!

It was only a brief walk down to the hot springs, maybe a quarter-mile.
The frigid river runs parallel and the hot springs run off the rocks.

When I first arrived there was a man, in shorts, then an older man went al fresco and a woman showed up soon thereafter and stripped down. Clothing optional, but these young men weren’t quite ready for that. The ‘water falls’ vary greatly in temperature within a few feet, so the heavier flow is quite hot, while a foot to the left is more moderate. There are about five different "pools" at different temperatures. This is the largest and deepest one, and it feet great.

 

[hoyden]

[SIZE=9.5pt]Oct 4 & morning of the 5th - still at Buckeye hot springs[/SIZE]

A veritable herd of FourWheelCamper (FWC) neighbors! THIS is what it’s about! We all camped together!

GroovyDad arrived late afternoon. Argos and his goofy 5 year old Golden, Dexter, ran and ran and ran and… after the dogs had their dinner, us people were standing around chatting and tail-gate snacking when Argos fell over! It looked like his front legs collapsed under him. He had the look of a toddler child who is trying to stay awake, but not being terribly successful. I picked him up and put him in the camper with Pugsly. He hopped into bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

A short while later, another FWC drove by our backwoods boondocking spot. I waved at them, and waved them over. The adventurers were none other than “Mule Hawk”, a young couple whom I’ve been following on Facebook! They quit their jobs, sold their house, and took a year off to travel. They set up camp with us and we all chatted outside between our three campers until it got too cold post-sunset.

Talking with the MuleHawks about their reasons for doing this adventure, got me thinking. There’s this idea – a prideful idea – that one’s work has to be significant - “cool”, that it is somehow part of your identity. But what if your life-style – your travel – is your identity and the work only exists to fuel and fund that part of ‘you’?

“What do you do?” is the ever-present question. You go to a party and that’s one of the first questions your new conversationalist asks. “Oh, I work in IT at a hospital” satisfies. But what if the answer is “I’m traveling around for a year… or more” THAT becomes the identity, not the job. I did that when I was younger, but somewhere along the line the societal requirements change and job-identity becomes more important than doing-identity.

“Oh, I’m a motorcyclist” But what do you do? “... er, I work in IT.” Ahhhh.

Originally, I was going to meet my GroovyDad at these hot springs on Oct 5th but I arrived early. I could have left today and met at his place in Reno, then caravaned to a hot springs in NV, but I decided to just relax and stay another day and he took off a day early. If I hadn't been relaxed about schedules I wouldn't have stayed at the hot springs another night and I would have missed meeting Luke and Annie of MuleHawk Adventures. And that would have been a major shame!

Steinbeck, “… in my own life I am not willing to trade quality for quantity”
and “…we find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.”

Rosh Hashana was the day I started this journey.
Very fitting, considering the holiday is a time for reflection and change.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Looks like you had a nice trip and the weather was good for you.
Thanks for sharing.
Frank

 

[ski3pin]

We like this! We really like this. Such a personal, reflective, insightful, and searching narrative. Please, more!

 

[hoyden]

Thanks!!!

I'll post more soon. I've got /a lot/ of photos (a month's worth) to sort through still!

 

[hoyden]

Oct 5 : Reno, NV

The only time I had been in Reno was with my dad when I was around 17. Him, me, and my blue mohawk got kicked out of a few casinos because I was so young. We had a great time! I discarded my love of Volkswagen Beetles for a new-found love of the Lamborghini Countach I saw rotating in front of a casino.

GroovyDad was kind enough to let me tail him home for shower, laundry, and a great Thai dinner! Sometimes I greatly dislike all this technology cutting through daily relationships, but other times, it's an amazing enhancement. I have found so many great communities online, but it's only truly real when I get to meet folks in person.

 

[craig333]

East side of DV, an area I haven't explored much Hopefully Riley will get to meet Pugsly and Argos one of these days when we run across one another. I think you meant Alabama Hills not Antelope or maybe I missed something:

 

[longhorn1]

hoyden, Really great stuff. It looks like a good time was had by all. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more. Someday we will get out that far west. jd

 

[Smokecreek1]

Enjoyed your TR and that style -just follow your nose and enjoy what you find! Yep-sure seem to be allot of WTWers out and about these days (I hear that they are attracted to neat areas and like to cook)!

Smoke

 

[hoyden]

Craig333 : Alabama Hills! Oops. Editing! :-D

Thanks, y'all!

 

[hoyden]

Oct 6 : Dusty Campground

Left Reno late – around 9:30am or later.

Shoe Trees seem to be a thing. This is the second one I’ve seen.

Headed towards Lassen Volcanic National Park, but veered over to Burney Falls instead.
The Ranger took my eight bucks to see the Falls, but when I balked at the $30 campground fee he recommended a forest service road for me.

I made a little video of the Falls falling. I like the sound. (link there to youtube vid. not sure how to embed here)

When I left the Falls, I fully intended to follow his directions, but I saw a sign for “Dusty Campground” and decided to explore that curious named place. I turned onto the dusty road and after driving a short way but not seeing a campground sign or any camping spots on the fairly un-scenic road, I was about to turn around when I came upon not only the campground entrance sign, but a lovely lake-front site as well.

I set up camp for the night and I’m paranoid as semi-usual – mostly because I’m so over-tired. I’m over-thinking my spot location under the massive trees and hoping no branch falls to pierce the roof (or me!) during my stay. Time to read. I hear gun shots echo around the lake. I hope they stay on the other side.

Steinbeck talks with people who live in “mobile homes” about the idea of having roots and permanence. (Page 101) This makes me think of the difference between me and people who buy houses in a town. Instead of using money for a down payment on a house, I bought a camper. I can go anywhere, but I have little for local community. Friends of mine are tied to a dying town because they own property there, but they have wonderful community and local friends.

Pugsly, Argos, and I are pretty fatigued.

It’s really too bad that I don’t know bird calls because I have a couple chirping around the camper woods nearby.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I located your camp site near Burney Falls.
Next time we are at Lassen and need a different spot we,ll have to give it a try.
Thanks for the continued post.
Frank

 

[takesiteasy]

Enjoying your musings and photos...

 

[hoyden]

Oct 7 : Oregon Coast

Senior year of high school Thanksgiving dad and I left Oakland to drive to Corvallis, Oregon for Thanksgiving dinner at the house of friend of his. We didn't have much in the way of breakfast, figuring we could get an early lunch or brunch on our way up North. What we didn't count on was the fact that it was Thanksgiving Day and absolutely nothing was open. Normally, both of us would get low blood sugar and get cranky and grumpy, but it was so ridiculous when stop after stop produced nothing open it quickly became humorous in its futility. We turned on his favorite musics of the Beach Boys and Everly Brothers and the Beatles, and in our usual off-key fashion, caterwauled our way up the 101

I suddenly feel very far from “home”. And that's why having a home base isn't good. Because it leaves you tethered.

You can't feel untethered if you have nothing to which you are tied. “Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose….”

Last night as I lay in the dark listening for ‘things that go bump in the night,’ I really wished I had a built out van so I could just take off. No pop-up to pop-down, no night darkness to have to step into, just climb up front and go. But them some neighbors arrived with children. I couldn’t seem them, except for their headlights cutting through the darkness, and after they parked, their voices. They built a fire, celebrated that accomplishment, and settled in.

Then I was glad that I hadn’t been able to flee when The Fear took hold because then I could have fled night-driving from imaginary scared onto the exhausting road. I would have missed the happy exclamations of children over a campfire.

A view of Mt. Shasta heading north

At my campsite on the Oregon Coast at the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, I played with my new little camera. I found that the zoom works pretty darn good!

The fleecy stuff growing on the trees (more texture) fascinates me.
Living in the desert, I’ve forgotten what ‘lushness’ looks and feels like.

 

[craig333]

Your talk of tethering reminded me of this

Cisco fits the scholar's definition of the wandering folk singer as well as anyone except Woody Guthrie, who was a sidekick of Cisco's for a long time. They traveled and sang together, and they both had close personal ties with Martha and Huddie Ledbetter, whose home was, at times, the only one they had. But there is a big difference between Cisco and other wandering singers. Woody, for one, has a built-in instinct to wander, and a restless need to move on, and he could never settle down until he got too tired to go on further. In my opinion, Cisco is a homebody. But for a homebody, he has done more traveling than he can remember.

By Mark Eastman

 

[highz]

Wonderful musings, hoyden. Our distant ancestors flourished by being communal and nomadic. Most of us "modern" folks seem to do just one or the other (established communities being the norm). Perhaps hazy ties to our ancestors create the tension in the tether you mention? Maybe there's an urge to be in a small nomadic community?