Out of the "nue" into the flue

Four almost two months we have been walking in fog and overcast cool weather. Other than the week we walked from the interior to the ocean this is the first day we have been in very hot temperatures. Brrr.

Eye on the Ball

The Redwoods had me mesmerized as we strolled along the Avenue of the Giants. Taking pictures that in no small way captured the feeling or the sights I was seeing but I stopped at points in sharp narrow spots that no carload of vacationers would ever noticed as they sped by. Just as we came from under the canopy into the light a family stopped ahead , they offered lunch, brought out a folding chair for me sit in the shade. Distracted, I forgot to check the air pressure on my little inflated World that sat out in the open sunlight. Just a few minutes passed as the family and me asked and answered questions about our adventures when we heard a popping sound. Looking to the World where the noise came, we saw it had split at a seam across the pacific ocean. A two foot fissure whose progress was stopped only by a wide patch. The epicenter of the event was along another narrow patch that couldn't hold back the expansion of atoms and molecules. Something had to give.
I had just said I was in no hurry to get out of the Redwoods. This blow-out slowed the pace. The rest of the day I patched the tear and got to the nearby town where I was allowed to stay at the famous living tree you can drive through so the glue could set up. I reinforced my patch work more before the sun fell. The consequence I had to suffer for neglecting the World for just a few moments.
I didn't keep my eye on the ball. "Steeee-rike!"

Humbolt Update

We spent the night at a state campground among the stumps of old, circled by the babies that now tower in a circle around the mother stumps. A man told me a few days ago these redwoods are like weeds, "cut one down and four grow in it's place. The man who rode me to my van last evening, vacationing from B.C. Says there are redwood stumps aeound his area but redwoods have long ago been gone. Efficient weed eradication.
Not trying to "Make waves", just working to change the World by walking for diabetes awareness.
Take a walk, breath the air, enjoy!

The Giants

So tall you can not stand at their feet and see the top.
Tallest on the planet, "tree for tree", it's been fond.
The first day I noticed I was among the land of the giants it was weeks ago.
Suddenly shocked by the size, the girth, of the gargantuan stumps scattered amongst babies hacked down leaving a tombstone as tall as a house.
When I visited this side of the world thirty years ago these giants were being hauled by one log to a truck. Now one truck carries the hole tree. The four percent of old growth left now I hope stands for centuries.
Here they still live. Along this narrow strip of what used to be a vast region of...
Giants.

C.H.P., C.D.C., and Me.

Trying to eliminate the slight leak of the fill valve I walked over to the auto parts store to see if there might be some sort of "dressing" that would help. I was hoping to find somewhere in Scotia, eight miles south, to repair the World. The man there offered his garage for the repair when I arrived in the morning. He gave me his address in Scotia and told me if I got there in time he could bring me back to get the van on his way to work. I had to get going early to avoid traffic but slept late and it was nearly five when I was on the road. Using the GPS on my phone I skirted along "the 101" to the last entrance out of town. I later was told the entrance to that road had recently been closed because of too many bad accidents there. Too far to go back, I draped my backpack, gloves and reflective vest over the barbed wire, eased the World over the hazard and past the road's "END" sign to the highway just as it became light enough to see. Traveling on this highway has been increasingly difficult given the stretches where it has restricted access. Though I was getting on at the highway, I would have to be on the "freeway" to get to Scotia. With the wide paved shoulder this stle of road is the best for walking and the police all tend to tolerate pedestrians. I had been warned by the California Highway Patrol once before so I was doing my best to stay well off the "line". When I came to the last crossroad before the way was again "freeway" I made the choice to stay traveling, as a pedestrian should, facing traffic. At this point the road split wide and the southbound lanes had a modern wide shouldered bridge over the Eel river while the Northbound lane I was walking against led to the "old" bridge with two narrow lanes and four foot wide pedestrian walks with a tall, thick hand rail out side of the bridge spans. Too tight to walk on the roadway I, as I have on many occasions, slowly balanced the World atop the handrail holding it in balance with one hand by the leash and stick along with the leash attached to Nice (the dog) and coaxing the World along the rail over the river below. If you long to find something that keeps your mind from wondering about life's mundane problems I recommend rolling a six foot eighty pound canvas ball atop a five inch beam over an eighth of a mile above a river. It helps you focus.
During my walk to the bridge I was listening to the radio and N.P.R. reported that the Center for Disease Control announced their latest finding that we should all walk every day. Not just a month, or six months. It's something everyone can do and will be able to keep doing however old they become. I met three refined women last week who walk six miles daily. Maybe the C.D.C. is on to something. If you won't listen to the C.D.C. at least learn from your elders who walk more in one day than many walk in a month. They will outlive the couch-potatoes.
It wasn't long after my balancing act over the Eel River when the local town sheriff and the C.H.P. were there after getting the call about me on the road (now restricted from pedestrian traffic). The local policeman was nice and as I was just a few yards from the ramp into Rio Dell that neighbors Scotia he allowed me to walk the short ditance of the "freeway". The C.H.P. Had to give me the second warning about the "freeway" and though, he said, they are tolerant of pedestrians who have to make it past these pedestrian bottle-necks, or cyclist (even one I saw towing a four foot wide boat behind his bike, I would not be. The World is not welcome.
I got to Scotia just in time for the ride to retrieve the van and was able to use the man's garage for the repair(a jagged hole of unknown origin) in the core and check to see that it was the only leak before placing the World in the back of the van, deflated and rilled into a canvas lump. To top the day off the neighbors close to my host called the local county police because of the suspicious man with the Purple van hanging in their alley. I guess none noticed I had working in the garage all afternoon and evening. The County sheriff, after some explaination, told me this was a tight-knit community and when a "purple ghost" rolls into town they get concerned...
The way I see it I now have a sort of blanket excuse for skipping areas of the ocean road to S.F. Where all else are free to tread or at least tolerated.
I will now drive a few miles south to the "Avenue of the Giants". The signal there is probably weak so I will be going "stealth" for a time. No telling where I'll turn up next.
Walk, the C.D.C. recommends it.

Big World, little hole.

Sometime between my falling asleep in the Wally-world parking lot yesterday and my be awakened by the parking lot security the world sprung a leak. I'd like to think I ran over some glass while I slept or the valve is leaking badly again. I hope we were not subject to a bitter homeless person with a poker, one of too many to count who slipped in and out of the trees around the edge of the mall parking during the day. Whatever the source of injury to the world I will have to find an enclosed space soon to remove the core of the world and find the source. If it's the valve, I apologize to all the homeless around the Eureka area. If it is not the valve I should apologize for the temptation.

Fortuna, the launderland.

It took some doing after I was awakened after dark by the night-shift Parking lot patrol in the mall with Wally-world and was told to leave. Through the night I managed to get well into Fortuna, get the van there and now will spend the daylight recovering as I wash clothes and blankets in Fortuna's own Launderland. Since the last time I washed clothes I have gotten rides from a couple folks whose autos had that old-man-army-surplus-musk smell that covered what I was wearing. If I don't wash all the things I can my little home away from home will start smelling like a thrift-store clothes-rack. It's not the most romantic of chores while walking along the coast but it must be done.

Pop's Quiz

I had been kindly asked to get off 101 where it is technically a freeway, tossed the dog and world into a cow pasture (all the cows wanted to come along), walked into the heart of Arcata, stayed at a professional owl watcher's driveway, was taking the old road in a wide loop toward Eureka when I met a man riding a bike. The older man (old enough to be my father) gave me a quiz..." How do you eat an elephant?"
Happily I answered correctly.
How would you answer this life question?

Drifting Sand

I've had a writers block. Not that I couldn't simply tell of this person I met at the last moment who saved me from sleeping in the cold after walking for sixteen hours, or how the mist reflects an earth-bow on the fog as cars pass in the night, but I haven't had a theme. The way I write that often doesn't matter. Walking along this main path south I have met peoples from around the planet, some drifting along at leisure while others sweep past on a mission, from Sweden, Holland,England,France,Brazil or from these United States. All traveling as grains of sand swept on wind and sea to end up brushing past one another, sometimes mingling in an eddie on their journey before being swept back to their own rhythm.
I have met many and all agree we must keep moving.

by the sea break

We've been on the road a few hours, it's now Five thirty and the the sky has it's first hints of blossoming. The moon has done it's part this morning illuminating the clouds like a dim night-light making it easier to roll of into the grass or brush when the early trucks and cars pass. At night I can hear and see them coming sooner. Sometimes I can see them from miles away. I've beem told we are eighteen miles to the next town. Not in a big hurry, Nice (the dog) chose a pull off by the ocean to sut down. he's had his breakfast and is taking a nap. I was sore and wanted to stay snug in bed this morning but after we got going. I roused from a day-dream while watching the ocean in the moon glow and was glad to be moving.
Sometimes I just need to push past the aches, pains and excuses...

tortiose, hare, bear

We met many cyclists yesterday. Because of the distance I had to walk between towns we walked all night. Passing the only camping area we also made it to Orick ahead of many we had seen the previous day making me feel like the tortoise. Several stopped for a chat when they met me in town. I shared some of my fruit with a couple of them as I had the only fresh fruit in town stored in the supply van.
A few nights ago when were lay close to a motel/ restaurant for a rest I was roused by the sound of something ripping apart what sounded like a thick plastic barrel. Nice (the dog) was smarter than to bark and I was quick to toss my gear on my shoulder and get the World on the road with calm quickness. Watching the bear watch us, Nice soon let me know we were no longer a potential meal as we rumbled into the night.
I'm sure all those hares a long gone since we slept in Orick today but it was fun passing the pack for just a moment in the sun, or the cloud covered moonlight.

Orick

After resting up after an all nighter' to klamath we walked all day and into the evening to get to the campground in the state park. We had taken the old road through the grand redwoods and when we got to the campground the sign said "full". I sat out by the road under the streetlight and took my backpack off for the second time in over twelve hours. The park ranger pulled up and. Told me there was an area for hikers and bikers, gave me a map to the area and sent me on my way. That area was full so I slept for awhile at the trail-head. I awoke from a restless dream so I decided to press on to Orick. Now it almost light, the Cafe sign says open. I think I'll go in ...