92 replies to this topic

[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

Edited by Smokecreek1, 28 October 2016 - 07:05 PM.

[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.

 

 

Edited by hoyden, 29 October 2016 - 01:17 AM.

[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.

 

Edited by hoyden, 29 October 2016 - 01:17 AM.

[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?