Back to the City

I finally made it back to Queens, wet and a little weary. Bear with me on this one folks, it might get a little long, the last five days feel a bit like i got dragged through a hurricane. From Maine, I was making great time towards Buffalo. I was getting rained on most of the way, but I was headed to see Yonder, so I was all smiles. It was Saturday morning, and I had about 250 miles left, with plenty of time to make it for the show, when I had the first of several encounters with New York's "finest." This cop pulls up to me on my on ramp to I-90, which is a tollway, and tells me that I am not allowed to be anywhere near the expressway. The on ramp I was on was really just a big highway interchange in basically the middle of nowhere, and there was nowhere for me to go, so the officer gave me a ride to somewhere I was allowed to be. Unfortunately, this happened to be some back road in the middle of upstate New York, and the cop didn't really give me anything in the way of directions towards Buffalo. I spent the next several hours walking ten miles up this road trying to get back to the highway, enjoying the beautiful scenery, but still pretty pissed about the whole situation. By the time I finally got back to a highway, i realized there was no way I was going to make it all the way to Buffalo in time, so I started heading back towards Troy, NY, where Yonder was playing the next night. I made it to Troy about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and after about a half an hour, decided that Troy was not really worth hanging around in for 30 something hours just to see a band i would be seeing in a few weeks anyway. I think this decision was sparked by the bout of loneliness i had been feeling all day. Having spent the last week sharing a bed with someone i care about very much, waking up alone in my hammock on the side of a highway had me feeling a little depressed and lonely. The rain and the cop side tracking me were also both contributing, and I was a little bit burned out. The prospect of wandering around Troy all afternoon by myself, then finding a hobo camp somewhere, then wandering around all day the next day alone didn't seem very appealing, and i was only a couple hours north of the city, so I decided to head back a little early, feeling that there was still plenty of light to make it back with. I caught a puddle jumper down to Albany, the next town away, and the capital of New York. The ride was a really cool guy on his way to play a gig in Albany, and he gave me a little bit of pot for the trip, then pointed me in the direction of the nearest on ramp. As I walked around the corner of the on ramp with my thumb out, my spirits sank a little more. Sitting on the side of the road, 50 feet away, was a squad car with it's light already on, investigating some pile of trash on the side of the road. I immediately turned around and walked back the way I had come, but it was too late. Within a couple of minutes, the cop had found me and was demanding i.d. I gave it to him, then he instructed me to go stand in front of his car where he could keep an eye on me. As I set my pack down, i felt his hands patting me down. Before i could protest and exert my 4th amendment rights, he felt the small pipe i had in my pocket and informed me that would now have to place me in handcuffs while he searched my stuff. He told me that I was being momentarily detained, not arrested, and that I would be on my way as long as I didn't have anything else illegal. Hoping to get some points for honesty, I preemptively told him about the small amount of pot that was stashed in my tobacco pouch, knowing that in the state of New York, the amount I had would probably not even warrant a ticket. He thanked me, placed my belongings on the hood of his car, and placed me in the back. For anyone that has not ever had to be handcuffed in the back of a squad car, keep up the good work. It is probably the most uncomfortable, degrading places I have ever been. I guess that is all a little redundant, but man does it suck. Anyway, my license is clean, and the cop had already found everything in my possession that was illegal, so a few minutes later he let me out to one of the more interesting encounters I've ever had with a cop. I walked up to the front of the car to grab my pack, and noticed my pipe and weed still sitting on the hood. The cop walked over and we had the following conversation:
"Well, why don't you decide which of those two things you want to keep, put it into your pocket, and throw the other into the woods."
"Wait, you mean i get to keep one?"
"Yeah, I know this whole situation probably really sucked for you, I'm sure it would be nice to have something to put your mind at ease."
"Well, yeah, definitely, but, really?"
"Sure man, what they don't know can't hurt anyone."
"Well thanks a lot man." I grabbed the pot, put it back in my pouch, then tossed my pipe into the woods next to the road.
"Now my town line ends about a half mile up, I don't want to see you hitchhiking here again."
"Fair enough, why don't you give me a ride there then."
He kind of smirked at this, then smiled and replied "You want a ride? Sure, why not man."
So I hopped back into the car, and he dropped me off literally on the side of the interstate, with no place at all to walk, then told me stay safe, stay off the road, and drove off. It was one of the strangest juxtapositions I had ever experienced, so i rolled a little joint and smoked it on the side of the highway with my thumb out.
**Disclaimer - i realize that by writing about this experience I might make a few of you a little disappointed. I've been trying not to mention the drugs because that's not at all what this is about, but this experience had to be written about, so now that's "out of the bag"**
I felt very strange about the whole experience, but the sun was back out, and I was back on the move, and I was actually starting to feel a bit better about things. I was still an easy hitch away from the city, and after some good jamming on the harmonica, I was smiling again, ready for whatever came next. Over the next two hours, two people stopped, but they were both heading north, and i was still thinking i was headed for the city, so i turned them down. The sun was starting to set, and I realized that I had killed a lot of the time that I didn't want to spend in Troy, so I turned my life over to fate. I exclaimed out loud to the world "Alright, wherever the next car is going, I'll go with them. If they are going south, I'll head for the city, if they are going north, I'll go back to Troy and see my favorite band in the world." I felt pretty good about the decision, and within 20 minutes or so, I snagged myself another golden ticket. Walking up to the car, I really had no idea what to expect. The car was a shiny, new looking white 4-runner, and the driver was a guy with short hair, and a striped polo shirt, so like I said, I had no real idea what to expect. Little did I know, I had just been picked up by the wild card "Even Steven" ("with a v, for vixen.") I hop into the car, and tell him I'm going wherever he is. His response is to invite me to a party at his brothers house. Never one to pass up a good party, I accepted, and we were on our way. The ride was pretty short, just up to the Saratoga Lake area, and we spent it talking about life on the road. Steven works out of his car, and we empathized about not having a bed and a couch to go back to at the end of the day. We pulled up the house, a really nice ranch style out in the middle of the woods, and i hopped out, most of my doubts long gone. We walked out to the backyard, grabbing some beers out of the STOCKED fridge, and I got my first real taste of upstate NY. It was his brother's roommate's girlfriend's birthday party, so it was mostly just a bunch of good friends hanging out drinking beer and throwing horseshoes. I immediately made a bunch of good new friends, and we spent all night playing shoes, playing beerpong, drinking "cocaine ladies" (a deliciously dangerous drink made up of 6 kinds of creme booze, vanilla vodka, and a splash of milk) and throwing around one of those cool glow-in-the-dark frisbees. I passed out in a corner at some point, I'm not really sure, but i held the beer-pong table all freakin night, which is probably why I don't remember falling asleep. I do remember the several buckets of fresh-baked clams that kept coming out. I have never been to a "clam-bake" and oh my freakin god. I probably scarfed down twenty of those little fuckers. Delicious. So then I woke up the next morning to find the occupants of the house out on the back deck enjoying what was left of the beers. A few minutes later, Steven walked out in his boxers and handed me another cocaine lady to start the day with. We spent the morning drinking and enjoying the beautiful sun finally decided to spend a whole day with us. Eventually, Steven had to be getting back to life, and promised to drop me off at the concert venue in Troy. Thank again to all of you guys up in Saratoga for showing me such a great time, you guys are fucking awesome. So back to Troy. On the way, Steven told me that before I left, i had to try Vermont's "Magic Hat #9," one of the northeast's best micro brews, so just before he dropped me off, we stopped and picked up a twelve pack. We drank down a few in the parking lot outside the show, and then Steven left me to get back to work. Even Steven, the wild card. Thank you so much man, stay cool, see you next time. Now, i found myself at the venue, with 4 hours to kill and 8 beers to drink, so i posted up next to the door and started trying to make friends. I've never had such a hard time giving beer away, but I got to hang out and chat with Yonder's bus driver for a while, chatting about the road. At one point, Jeff Austin got dropped off on the corner, looking like the crazy party animal that he is, and wandered around for a few seconds trying to find the door. Eventually, I made some friends who let me stash my pack in their trunk, we finished the beers, then were the first ones in the theatre to get the best seats in the house. Revolution music hall, in Troy, is a really cool venue. There is a small dance floor downstairs, with a badass balcony that rings around the upstairs, 20 feet away from the stage. We got a table on the balcony directly centered on the band. It was my new friends first Yonder show, and the boys certainly didn't fail to blow us all away. We got a "Come Together" cover, "After Midnight," and the "Crazy Train" that I have literally been waiting four years to see. Fucking awesome show. I LOVE Yonder Mountain String Band, and anyone that reads this owes it to themselves to find a way to make it to a Yonder show. After the show, my friends were heading north, and I was still trying to go south, so we parted ways, and I got my thumb out at the entrance to the lot. Thanks for sharing your first show with me guys, I'm glad you had such a blast, and the show is up on Archive already, so check it out. Within ten minutes, my next ride stopped to grab me, and guess what, it was another golden ticket. The Dan's picked me up, and told me they were heading to Albany for the night, to do some more heavy drinking, and then Dan Loper, the driver, was heading back to his hometown of Pine Plains the next day, and that I should come to both. We made it to Albany, found a bar serving a "5 dollar burger and beer" special, then played pong for a few hours till we all passed out. The next day was what really turned this ride into a golden ticket. Dan brought me back to Pine Plains, NY, a small, really beautiful upstate town. We grubbed out at his parents house, then he took me up "Hick's Hill" to his friend's home, where I got introduced to the Hicks Hill crew. The house was the family home of Molly and Jonah, and sat on 30 something acres of forest that backed up to state land. The property had at one point been part of the commune up the hill, and had been part of over 100 acres, but at some point, things got weird, as they do, and the family dropped out of the weirdness to just be a family again. Everyone had to go split off and take care of things for the day, but were all coming back together that evening for a bar-b-que and party. While everyone was out, Molly showed me around the woods they had all grown up playing in. These kids had the fortune of growing up without all the bullshit filters that suburban America forces on you, and were legitimately some of the nicest, most well rounded people I have ever met. At one point, even Molly had to go into town to take care of some things, and left me alone at the family house. We had already become friends, but still, for anyone to have that kind of trust in a stranger is a very rare thing these days, and it made me respect them even more. Eventually, the whole crew came back together, and we spent all night dancing, eating, drinking, and making merry. There was this field just under the back deck that filled with fireflies at night, creating a truly beautiful sight that pictures did no justice to (those pictures are forthcoming, I'm still missing a cord.) I met the beautiful amazing activist Brit Sisco, who is right now campaigning for climate change awareness, fighting the good fight for almost nothing. We had a really great time together, and then she drove me down to New Paltz, NY the next afternoon to start working south. Thank you so much guys for truly changing my perspective on upstate. I wish you all the best of luck in all your endeavors, you are all fucking amazing people who I can't wait to see again. From New Paltz, it was a pretty easy couple of hours back down into Jersey then onto a bus into the city. With the exception of the torrential downpours i got stuck in (I literally haven't seen rain this hard in years) I made it back safe and sound into the madness of the city. "Safety, obscurity, just another freak in the freak kingdom." Now I've got a few more days to dig the city with Dylan and my family, then its time to head west. Damn, anyone still with me at this point, I think you just read chapter 6 in the book... (and the spellcheck isn't working on this computer right now, so i did it manually, but if I missed anything, sorry mom...)

Heading North a Little Slow

So I was supposed to leave towards Canada this last friday but it seems as though the universe had other ideas. I will be staying in Lenox Massachusetts to watch over a yoga studio until Saturday and then will be heading towards Nova Scotia on Monday. I am excited to be back on the road, but I will surely miss the family I am leaving in Mass. I was in a yoga class yesterday when I had Eddie Vedder's Long Nights come on and I was reminded of my inspiration to go on this backpacking trip. To walk a road less traveled, one that we are taught to be so scared of. One we are scared to travel alone, when at the same time it may be the way of the road. "There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; There is a rapture on the lonely shores; There is society, where none intrudes, by the deep sea and the music in its roar: I love not man the less, but nature more..." Lord Byron

New Life in New England

I guess, to start things off, hitchhiking on the east coast is not nearly as hard as I had anticipated. I started off right in Queens, and got picked up within ten minutes to make it over the bridge and onto I-95. From there, it took me about four rides to make it to Providence, RI. Again, not to offend anyone that may enjoy it, but FUCK Rhode Island, capital letters and everything. This smelly gray town topped my personal record for waiting in any one place. At 5 1/2 hours, it knocks St. George, UT off it's worthless throne. Technically, Utah still holds the record for longest without a ride, because about 3 1/2 hours in, I got picked up by a really nice guy (that had a dready son) in his BMW and dropped off on the other side of town, where i waited the additional two hours. After that though, a couple more puddle-jumpers* got me quickly up out of the fog to the hills south of Boston. It was here, finally in the sun again after several gray days, that i snagged my second golden ticket* of the summer. I'm not really sure why people keep deciding to go so far out of their way to help me, but it is very greatly appreciated. The only thing I can do is to keep "paying it forward," so if anyone, anywhere, ever needs help, with ANYTHING, my e-mail address is james.holzer@yahoo.com. Seriously, please let me know. So back to it, Erich and Toni, two truly amazing and beautiful people, decided to go about 500 miles out of their way to drop me off at Sadie's front doorstep in Orono, ME. I'm not sure how long exactly the trip took, but they dropped me off at 1 in the morning and turned around to drive all the way back to Boston, some 250 miles away. After I insisted, they at least let me fill their gas tank once, but then still bought me dinner at the restaurant in the gas station. Thank you again guys,may fortune shine brightly on you every day of your lives. So I'm in Maine. As per usual, its raining, and the weather looks gloomy for weeks. That doesn't matter though, because it is the summer solstice, and i get to spend it with Sadie and Leona Jenkins some of my favorite people on the east coast. It is Sadie's birthday, and her brand new, 8-week-old Shiba Inu/Lab mix is on her way, and Leona is inside making some of the most delicious jam anyone will ever eat. I've spent the last week since then hanging out with the awesome new puppy, and Sadie's supercool roommates. It rained most of the time I was here, but I was able to get some great pictures today running around in the sun. they will be up on here and on my facebook just as soon as i find a cord for my camera. we found this old civil war fort called Ft. Knox, and walked in until we couldn't see light anymore. It was super-spooky and super-cool. I definately want to go back with headlamps and ghostgear sometime. It has been an amazing week resting and recuperating with one of my best friends in the entire world, and her brand new puppy. They have a bad ass house that centers indirectly around the sustainable agriculture program at Maine University, and has almost two dozen chickens running around to compliment their diverse garden, all set to the backdrop of the lush old growth forests of "down east" Maine. Thanks again to everyone there for making my stay so pleasant. Keep up the great work. Tomorrow, I will head for Buffalo, NY to see a ten dollar Yonder show. I am very fucking excited. Its been over 6 months since my last Yonder fix, time to fill it. Wish me luck everyone, and thanks for following.




[editors note - 1. a puddle-jumper is a common term used for flights that are short enough to deem them worthy of the smaller, slower moving aircraft. When hitchhiking, you get a lot of rides that are only going up a couple exits, or only to the next small town. I'm not generally in the habit of turning down rides, especially if I've been waiting long, so from here-on-out i will refer to these kind of rides as puddle-jumpers.
2. a golden ticket is one of those once-in-a-lifetime, can't believe your ears kind of rides; the kind of a ride where you make a lasting, meaningful connection with the driver(s). Generally (though not exclusively) more than several hundred miles, and optimally, one that gets you to your current destination, or becomes your new destination.

The Torch is Yours!

When I first began this journey and this blog I only saw it from a small world perspective. By small I mean one in which I was the epicenter. But as I progress through this journey the "I" in it disappears to reveal a much bigger purpose; One of global change and unity. A possibility for something bigger than myself, bigger than any one of us. An idea of human beings living to help one another selflessly. The ability to bring back faith in human kind. Somewhere between the creation of agriculture and now we all became lost in our own mythology, one that teaches that we are flawed, that says we are meant to conquer. When truly deep down we know this is not our way. We are here to live for service, to live a life that is humble and at peace. I am more sure of it every day. With each smile I see, and with each stranger who goes out of their way to help a person they don't even know. We as people may be lost but there is a feeling deep inside all of us that knows how to get home. We must change, if we ourselves don't feel it we only need to look at the earth. We are being told to change, it is going to happen with or without us! There is still much good in humanity. I will walk and speak of it until the message stands on its own two feet. This has been my revelation. I am not the one who brings about change, it is you the reader, the people who decided that helping another person is worth our time! We together can make a change, with each smile we give, with each selfless act we can impact another life. As this grows you will make the difference that this world yearns for.

Serenity in the Storm

Of my little vacation from the vacation out here in New York, I have spent the strong majority of my time in Central Park. I found one of the coolest trees ever, and made all kinds of new friends climbing around in it and playing around it. I wandered around The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) and saw a very comprehensive exploration of Franscis Bacon's career, as well as Michaelangelo's first painting ever (12 years old, and already the kid was a freaking master). I always forget how incredible it is to be surrounded by some of the most respected and revered paintings in the world. Then, i got to wander around New York with one of the great loves of my life and eat gelato that was so good it could only be described as a mouthgasm. What a fuckin city. I love it. And what a funny thing love is... so damn hard to find, and so much harder to hold on to once found, but DAMN! Once you have loved, it doesn't matter how dark the night gets, how cold and and wet and lonely, there is always a little place in your heart where the fire never dies, because it is tended by forces greater than you. And you need that fire, because there is a particular kind of loneliness that comes with the freedom out there in the wind; a kind of sad solitude that comes from the knowledge that you might well be actively trading a warm bed next to a beautiful woman somewhere for that rough patch of ground you're sleeping on. Oddly enough, the nights I do get to sleep in a real bed are even harder sometimes. Sure, a soft bed is great, but once the lights are out and you're left with only your memories to keep you company, a damn pillow just can't cuddle back... at least with the dirt to keep you company there is some kind of rightiousness in it...or something... And of course, there're always the dreams. That dream that she's somewhere up around that next corner, the gypsy woman that'll tame my wanderin soul and come travel the world with me. Just around the next corner, waitin for me to catch up... Weary thoughts on a cold lonely night in Queens. I guess I'll send this one out to all the women i've loved, and all the ones to come. Thanks for the memories, I still love you all...

Kripalu...home sweet home!

I am back in the Berkshires my second home. Showing up at Kripalu is a fresh breath after a long hall across the country. Me and James have decided to split for this section of the journey but will be back together by next week. Kripalu for those of you who don't know, which is probably the majority is a yoga center that I lived at for nearly 8 months. I love it here. Everywhere you look is a kind face, open to talking or listening to the deepest of subjects. This truly is an epicenter of good.

Past Behind...Future Ahead...I am Now

NY is an organism, the heart of America. People coming and leaving like the molecules of an atom. Everyone travels around as if the poeple next to them don't exist, but secretly are all interdependent. I set on a journey to be free of the system and some how the universe has been bringing me into its very ventricles, from Denver, to Tuscon, to LA, to SF, to Chicago, to NY. I will surely learn from every place I go. Soon I will be heading to my second home the Berkshires to see my friends and collected family, and of course home sweet home, Kripalu. Thanks Dylan for showing us an amazing time in NY! My stay would not have been the same without you!

THIS...IS...BROOKLYN!!!!

New York, New York. Personally, my favorite city on the planet. After a slight mixup rerouted us through the tunnel from New Jersey, we found ourselves in the heart of Manhattan. It had been several years since I had been to New York, and the cities pulse instantly rejuvenated me from our 14 hour drive from Chicago. We worked our way over to the UN building to get keys, then out to my families house in Queens. From there, we went back downtown to meet up with one of my oldest and best friends, K D Edrich. Between working her three jobs and playing in several bands, she still managed to give us a grand tour of almost everything NYC has to offer. From the rivers and parks, to REAL Brooklyn neighborhoods teeming with life, to the psychotic circus that is Times Square, NYC is a place unlike any other. Life is happening here with the feverish intensity of a hurricane, and it never stops. Thanks to David for the smooth sailing all the way from Chi town, hope you had as good a time as we did in the big city. The trip has already taken on a new meaning and direction, and I feel as if I am walking through a dream most of the time. Everywhere we go, we are met with enthusiasm and generosity, and my faith in mankind grows by the second. As of this morning, we have parted ways for a week or so, so that we might be more efficient with our time out east. Chase has headed north already, to go see his family from the Birkshires, and I am sticking around New York for another couple days to try and see everyone here. I will be heading up to Maine on Thursday or Friday to see Sadie, and then probably down to Kripalu to meet back up with Chase. With our first date of the summer, The Northwest String Summit, only five weeks away, and 3,000 something miles between, I am feeling slightly crunched for the first time this summer. Maybe it's just being back east, where life moves just a little bit faster anyway. Either way, the road has been quite a bit cushier for the last couple weeks. It is very nice, and also a little strange having a house to myself. A little dull, but still nice. I think i am going to go try and work on my book now, so thanks for listening.

7am I meant 7pm

So today we will leave for NY. After getting up at 5am and traveling across town to meet our ride we find that there was a slight misunderstanding, that being we thought we where meeting at 7am and our ride thinking we where meeting at 7pm. Needless to say we where meant to stay in Chicago one more day so that we could find a very special book. Weird how the universe works those things out. So the domino effect unfolds, we where early by 12 hours and the ride that had dropped us off had already left, so we headed on the train to downtown and wound up next to a Barnes and Noble at which point I remembered I had a gift card from years back stored in the back hollows of my wallet. As James engrossed himself in the fantasy world of the DC Universe I decided to roam the store. As I walked I pondered how you where ever to choose a book if you didn't have a specific one in mind. So I decided to go off of what covers attracted me, sure enough I came along a large book with a samurai drawn on the cover. The Art of Shen KU, a book that every person should have. Within this book is the answer and directions to just about anything and everything you could ever need to know. It is life and the art of living it, it is the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy. With that being said, we will head for NY tonight and will be there by tomorrow morning, where we will have more stories for you. Thanks again to all of you who have been part of the journey, without each one of you our path would not exist. P.S. A special thanks to Jerry and his business friend for buying two guys off the buss dinner. I am sorry if I got your name wrong, but we meet so many people. Let me say though that that meal was the first warm one we had in a while and it was a nice welcome home. To everyone THANK YOU! You are beautiful! Don't forget to smile.

The Journey of a Lifetime

First off, let me say thank you San Fransisco. Details of our night of debauchery will have to be edited for now, but Damn! The savage burn we wrought on the San Fransisco department of human resources makes me feel like we are finally earning our title of Gonzo Pirates. The Homeward Bound program is designed to get kids off the streets of San Fran courtesy of a free greyhound ticket. The only stipulation is that you must have someone on the receiving end "sign" for you by way of verbal confirmation that you are coming home to live with them, and will no longer be on the streets. So we are now poor lost little runaways seeking the refuge of an easier life "back in Chicago." We are currently sitting at somewhere around 4,500 miles, and are bound for the east coast. Right now we are enjoying the amazing courtesy and hospitality of Chase's father and stepmother, who have gotten us off the "mean streets" of SF. We will hang out and dig Chicago for a few days then work our way to NY and up through New England to Canada. We were fortunate enough to have a day layover in Denver and were able to catch a Rocky Mountain sunset in between our two day long stints on the "dirty dog." This rapid change of destination has thrust the journey into a whole new direction, and even a whole new level as we quickly cross the entire continent. I am very interested to see what it is really like hitchhiking out east, and to see where our journey will bring us next. This trip truly is to be the new defining point in both of our lives, and even the ear-to-ear grin on my face does little to convey my excitement. As we step into the truly unknown, they bounties ahead of us are limitless. Thanks again for following, and see you all soon.

The Map So Far!

From the Haight to Chi Town

So we made it to San Francisco to good old Haight Street. This is one of the craziest places I have ever been! Drugs and street kids rule the streets and at night the cops don't even stop. We wandered in during the day and found ourselves a street family to show us the ropes. Thanks Hippie Kid and Squirell Nutz! Lets just say you have to hold your stoop. In one street you will see almost everything you could think of, from the crazys to the coolest people out there. Travelers, Dead Heads, Punks, OGs, all living in the same area, or at least passing through. "Get out of Haight while you still have your face" this is the saying you hear most. After one crazy night on the Haight we were off to Chi town. Were we have now arrived. Something I learned on this last stint across the country is that you can never know how someone is feeling because you can only see through your own eyes, and whether you like the show or not you must play your part. To all of the people following this blog I miss each one of you, and can't wait till the next time I see you!

High Times on Haight Street

Well, we were prepared for an adventure, and boy did we get one. I'm not really sure what happened, but we woke up on a greyhound headed for Chicago, so, more to come...

Three weeks in...

Hi everybody! and thanks for checking in on the adventure. Sorry we haven't written in a few days, we've been kind of out of touch. This entry finds us at the Haight-Ashbury branch of the San Fransisco public library system. After Ojai, we headed north to Santa Barbara, and Isla Vista. Very funky cool place, kind of like the hill in Boulder, but with an ocean. The first people we met in I.V. were some beautiful, awesome girls high on acid for their first time who welcomed us very warmly to their town. From there, we kept heading north and met the real life Big Lebowski. "The Dude" lives in Ragged Point, CA which is the window to Big Sur. Big Sur is maybe one of the coolest places i've been yet. 90 or so miles of wilderness and state parks running literally straight into the ocean. We got to hang out and drink a beer at the top of one of the 4 waterfalls to hit the ocean anywhere in North America. We made it from there to Santa Cruz, where everyone i had been trying to find was out of town, and so we hit the road again, and made it this morning to beautiful San Fransisco. We are going to go head out into Golden Gate Park right now and see what kind of craziness we can rustle up. And if everyone out there could do us a favor and go hug their soft bed for us, that would be awesome. The hammocks are great and all, but i would murder baby seals for a nice pillow top with with a couple of big pillows right now...

On We Go!

There is something in man that causes us to yearn for adventure, the longing for the freedom of the road. It is our own reservations that keep us caged. When you are on the road there are no reservations, you don't know where you will end up, how, or with whom. All that can be certain is that where I stand is where I am. It is not a soft lifestyle, and the choice to live this life is not one to be taken lightly. Long days with little direction other then the next moment, and little sleep other then the silent slumber of the ocean waves. Like us the ocean is in constant flux. A world where at times the ground moves under your feet. You blink your eyes and relize you are on a completly different side of the spectrum then ever before. Life experience in a concentrate is the glass I chose to drink, and the bounty has been priceless.

I promise to have more pictures soon but with a 15 minute time limit it wont be today.