William Least Heat-Moon turned 70 years old yesterday. He wrote Blue Highways: A Journey into America in 1982, an account of his travels on the back roads of the USA.
Heat-Moon began his journey after he lost his job and his wife of 11 years left him. He decided to take to the open road and "live the real jeopardy of circumstance."
Over the course of three months, he traveled 13,000 miles around the United States. In comparison, I have been traveling since August 2008 and have put about 12,000 miles on Michelle.
Heat-Moon said, "When you're traveling, you are what you are, right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road."
on a clear day so here is the "money shot" of the little village of 824 souls, taken from across the bay or inlet or whatever. (I've discovered that you can only enlarge these photos if I put them into the post in the "medium" size rather than "large," so that's what I will do from now on. Click to enlarge.)
And then there's the Point Cabrillo Light Station that I also mentioned last time. I stopped by on my way out of town. It is a lovely little spot but the half-mile walk from the parking lot was a bit trying (I wasn't wearing the right shoes), especially on the uphill return trip.
There are so many more photos to share that I will put them into a slide show in the right sidebar for your leisurely perusal. Stop the slide show (click on any picture) to read the captions if you want to know what you're seeing.
Besides my overnight stop at Salt Point State Park, I also made a side trip to Point Reyes National Seashore. There's another lighthouse there but it was closed, so I took a one-mile hike to see the Tule Elk. It's mating season and the bucks are gathering their harems. I could hear them calling somewhere off in the fog. Yes, of course it was foggy way out on Point Tomales, but it lent an air of mystery to my sighting of a dozen does with their lord and master.
Today I am recuperating from the l-o-n-g (in hours) 186-mile journey from Fort Bragg and Point Cabrillo up in the redwood country, south on Hwy. 1 with its twists and turns, and on into Oakland, known far and wide as the Bay Area, arriving after dark last night (after missing my exit on the Nimitz Freeway--sheesh!).
I'm parked on the street, near the home of two wonderful women friends of my new Seattle friend, Fai. I'm not hooked up but they have really fast wireless internet, so I am currently ensconced on their sofa with two dogs and several cats for company. And they serve great desserts so I am happy as a new puppy in fresh-cut grass.
Plans are to head for Sacramento on Sept. 3 to get that souvenir capitol city postcard, then push on the same day to Lake Tahoe, where I have actually reserved a campsite! Can you believe it? Two days in the "wilderness." I spent one night in a state park on the way here and will include some bird photos in the slide show. The western equivalent of the eastern Bluejay, the Steller's Jay, is a lovely large bird. Bird fact: there are no Cardinals in this part of the country. I miss them!
It's already nearing 5 pm, so I'm going to post those photos, which it took most of the day to organize, and you may be able to see them tomorrow.
Here's a short traveling poem for you.
The Longest Mile
When next I travel the Shoreline Highway I'm going to hire a chaffeur. 'Twas lovely to wander that beautiful byway But I really needed a go-fer.
Friday again already. How can the time pass so quickly when I do practically nothing all day? Why aren't I bored? It's already afternoon and I haven't accomplished a thing. And what is it that I want to accomplish anyway? That is the question I keep coming back to. No matter how many times I tell myself that BEING is a worthy accomplishment, I continue to feel...useless. Maybe I retired too soon.
Maybe I really should write that book. There I've said it "out loud." I keep thinking about writing a book about my life, for my descendants, not for publication, but it seems so much like drudgery that I don't even want to start. Drudgery: a good enough reason not to do it. Perhaps if I characterize the process in a slightly less pejorative manner I'll be more inspired to begin. All I know is that I would have been thrilled to have such a history of my own mother's life, or my grandmother's.
Meanwhile, I went to MacKerricher State Park yesterday, where I saw my first wild seals. Unfortunately, they were "sunning" (there was no sun) too far away for a good photo but I got a good look through the binoculars. If you click on this picture you will get an enlarged shot of the white, sausage-looking things stretched out on the rocks.
I also saw lots of ground squirrels, a species native to northern California with a dark patch on their backs that other species don't have. According to a website article they are terrible pests and I can see why. There were lots of them, all eating, and begging (obviously some people had not heeded the signs about feeding them).
I drove to Mendocino a couple days ago but it was too foggy for photos so I will try again, perhaps today as the sun is out here right now. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it will be shining 10 miles up the road. There is a lighthouse to visit between here and there so it won't be a wasted trip.
We're having company for dinner tonight and will attend a play afterward. A reason to take a shower and do something with my hair, which has grown past my shoulders. Gonna have that ol' lady bun goin' on pretty soon. I used to see my mother's face in the mirror, now I see my grandmother's. Oh well. I feel good physically and psychologically and that's all that matters.
Well, I didn't make it to Mendocino. I had all the hatches battened down, so to speak, and was ready to drive off when I remembered that Marilou had said she was leaving for San Francisco around 5 p.m. Since it was already 3 p.m. and we still hadn't gone over the pet feeding instructions, I hung around. When she left I turned on the TV and hunkered down for the rest of the evening.
Fortunately, there are only 65 stations to choose from (how did we ever survive with just NBC, CBS, ABC and sometimes PBS?), and TCM is not one of them, so it was pretty easy to run through the channels and decide that there wasn't anything worth watching. I can take just so much MSNBC or CNN before the ills of the nation and the world become too much to bear. In the past, I would have soldiered through (no pun intended) so that I could say I was up to date on current events. Now I don't care. The thing that I do to make the world a better place is to be conscious as much as possible, and I don't need Rachel Maddow for that (although I can think of a couple things she could help me with).
Yesterday I made the Pillsbury Bake-Off chicken recipe but I have to say I was underwhelmed. It needed something: salt for starters, and maybe red wine. I think I'll try it with breasts instead of thighs, and more almonds--more of everything, in fact.
Today is my birthday, did I tell you? It's Mae West's, too. My favorite MW quote: "Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before." My brother Steve video-called me a while ago from Flagstaff with his impersonation of Elvis singing Happy Birthday (always a hit), right after my State Farm Insurance agent's assistant called to wish me happy birthday and remind me that I might need to renew my driver's license (I don't). I got an e-card from the woman I've been emailing through Compatible Partners (e-Harmony's LGBT off-shoot) and with whom I will have a first phone conversation at 1 pm today (some anxiety about that).
Here's a naughty birthday limerick for you (you need to be a TV-watcher of a certain age in order to "get it").
Lila’s Birthday
The day Lila turned sixty-two She said, “What the heck should I do? Like that Timex, I'm tickin’ But where is the lickin’? I’ll find a new lover! But who?”
I gave up on new poetry myself thirty years ago, when most of it began to read like coded messages passing between lonely aliens in a hostile world. -Russell Baker
The above quote is for my fellow blogger at Wander to the Wayside. Linda, Russell Baker has won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature so you are in good company.
The Mendocino County coast can be a very foggy place, but recently it appears that perhaps the sunny times are here to stay for a while, which has prompted me to spend more time seeing the local sights, and also meeting some local women.
Yesterday I went into town and walked around investigating little shops (Christmas will be here before you know it), having lunch at a small eatery (ooh, the pastries), and checking out the details of a possible train excursion (too expensive).
I took a lot of photos, which you will see in a slideshow in the right sidebar. I've included the flower photos from my time at the botanical gardens a few days ago, and they take a while to load so you may have to check back later to see them. Today I think I'll investigate the town of Mendocino and the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.
This weekend my host Marilou will travel to San Francisco for a family gathering and I will stay here and feed the animals (and sleep in a bed, and watch too much TV, and cook that Pillsbury Bake-Off-winning recipe I got from my friend Diane in Seattle).
[Oh, my Skype line is ringing.] That was my oldest brother, Steve, and then our youngest brother, Jay, came online so we added him to the conversation. Do you have Skype? It enables you to video call others who have the service (free download) and a computer camera. Pretty cool. I'll be seeing them in person in mid-September in Flagstaff. Grand Canyon--woohoo!
Yikes, it's already 2 pm! Where does the time go? I'll wrap this up for now. Poem later. Also photos.
Did I mention that my host, Marilou, lives in a redwood forest? I might have shown you a photo or two. I took more today. And I learned a bit from Marilou about these gigantic Sequoias. The specimens in her yard are not as big as the ones in the national forest, but they impress the heck out of little ol' me.
And it's berry-picking time! We've picked blackberries and thimbleberries and blueberries until I am about picked out. I'm ready for the cobbler.
This is Marilou, sister of my good friend Kali, in Asheville.
Picking Berries
What’s a thimbleberry, I ask? There, she says, the bright red one. I reach Grab too hard It disintegrates into a bloody pulp Brighter Sweeter than blood But just as pleasing. Tastes like Lik-M-Aid, she says, That we used to eat as a kid? Oh yeah… But I don’t tell her how My friend Betty and I Used to steal it from the corner grocery, Slip the little flat packets Down the front of our shorts And walk out. Later up in my bedroom, We took off our training bras And took turns Pretending to be the man, Our bright pink Lik-M-Aid Lips and tongues Encircling each other’s Thimbles.
August 9, 2009 Fort Bragg, California
This is view from my window. So lush. So green. So cool. So peaceful.
Today I got a Facebook message from my friend Corina in the UK who is proclaiming today as 12:34:56 7/8/9 Day. That's the way they see it across the pond. Unfortunately, for us Yanks it was last month, so I missed it. Shouldn't there have been a party or something? Oh well, we'll have another one next millenium. I hope I get a heads up next time. How about a poem to celebrate.
12:34:56 7/8/9 Day
Well What can You expect from People who drive on The wrong side of the Road, and call the trunk the Boot, and call the hood the bonnet? Sour grapes really. I have always wanted a Queen. Love the hats, love the name: Her Majesty
Are you on Facebook? I've been very ambivalent about it since I joined. There's a lot of junk (to put it mildly) but sometimes you get a gem. It depends on who your "friends" are, I've discovered.
Ever since adding Corey Mesler, owner of Burke's Books in Memphis and a high school friend of my brother's, it seems there are fewer goofy quizzes online; I guess because Corey seems to fill the space with "book stuff." Then I decided to add Patti Digh (a no-brainer, right? You know I love me some Patti) with all her friends' comments, and I'm feeling better about being part of yet another communication medium that I was putting off . (No offense meant to all my other FB friends, really.) OMG, what next, Twitter? Not.
Today I got the best message I've had in a long time, from a friend of Patti's. Here's the link. You MUST read this if you have ever been in a serious, committed relationship that didn't last, or you're in a great relationship now, or you hope to be in one. The woman who wrote this is brilliant.
Today I explored the woods around my host's home, along a path that led to an old logging road. The sun was out, for a change, and some blue sky showed through the cloud cover. When I returned I finally remembered to ask about the tree with the red, peeling bark and was told that it is Manzanita. There's nothing like it in the east. (Click on the photo to see it larger.)
Then I spent about an hour and a half watching videos of Eckhart Tolle and his partner Kim Eng. Because I am a "member" of Eckhart Tolle TV and perhaps you are not, you may not be able to open this link. But if you can, you will discover what I have been trying to convey about how living in the NOW can change your life. This video is the best explanation I have seen yet, and it's only an hour long. There are other, smaller, segments available on this link that are useful as well (in the right sidebar), especially the one at the bottom of the list, where Kim Eng talks about relationship, and specifically her relationship with Eckhart.
If you have already read The Power of Now, and especially A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, the video will be helpful in "bringing it home" to you, perhaps in a more meaningful way than through just reading the books. I have watched many Eckhart videos and this one is the best. I hope you can see it and that it will have meaning for you.
If you can't open it, and you are interested in what it contains, please let me know and I will see if it can be accessed without paying the fee. I can certainly point you to other videos that are shorter and don't require membership.
Oh dear, it's been two whole days without a word from me. However did you survive? This is what happens when I get off the road and settle in one place for a few days. It's not as if I were so busy that I didn't have time to write. I just get lazy.
Here are some items I saved for just such an occasion. Then perhaps I'll try a little poem. No more sonnets for a while. The last one gave me a headache.
July 24 was the birthday of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott and a darn good writer herself. She ended up in a mental hospital in Asheville and was killed in a fire there at the age of 47. She said:
I just lump everything in a great heap which I have labeled "the past," and, having thus emptied this deep reservoir that was once myself, I am ready to continue.
(How very wise of her to empty her "past" reservoir.)
She also said: We grew up founding our dreams on the infinite promise of American advertising. I still believe that one can learn to play the piano by mail and that mud will give you a perfect complexion.
(It's advertising that's got us into the mess we're in. They're very clever at getting us to buy things we don't really need, so that we have to make more and more money in order to have more and more things. Someone said on public radio yesterday that the two main causes of the economic crisis were fear--because the people who saw what was happening feared for their security if they blew the whistle--and greed, obviously.)
July 29 was the birthday of the French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville, an astute observer of America and Americans, who had a lot to say about us back in 1835 in a book entitled Democracy in America. He said: An American will build a house in which to pass his old age and sell it before the roof is on; he will plant a garden and rent it just as the trees are coming into bearing … he will take up a profession and leave it, settle in one place and soon go off elsewhere.
(He got it right, don't you think? Funny, I thought everyone, everywhere did that. Maybe we're more special than I realized, at least we were in 1835.)
I'm going to take the dog for a walk and perhaps I'll get inspired to continue this drivel in a more interesting vein. TTFN...
The most inspiring thing I saw on my walk today was this statue of Quan Yin in a neighbor's yard. I had seen a Buddha of similar size in that yard on another day; this one was in such a lovely, shady spot I had to take her picture. Quan Yin is a female bodhisattva, one who is on the way to becoming a buddha.
The name Kuan Shih Yin, as she is often called, means literally the one who regards, looks on, or hears the sounds of the world. According to legend, Quan Yin was about to enter heaven when she paused on the threshold as the cries of the world reached her ears. Sacrificing her own ascension for the sake of her "children," Quan Yin stayed on earth, thereby exhibiting the same behavior of mothers everywhere who would sacrifice their very lives for their children.
Quan Yin's Statue
Crying all around Suffering humanity Little world at peace
August 3, 2009 Fort Bragg, California
PS: I keep forgetting to mention that I have removed the "register" requirement on the Comments box for those of you who have said you would leave a comment but don't want to register. It's always nice to find that someone is out there reading this stuff, even if you do it anonymously.
This is Marilou, sister of my good friend Kali, in Asheville.
