Friday, December 6, 2013

Remmington Hot Springs

    Made it to these hot springs without incident. Here, or down the road a little from here in Lake Isabella, is where I'll go my own way. Back in Santa Cruz, at the tea house, I felt things move into place and I was able to accept the dissapointment with working this winter. I'm done, not looking back, still a bit of regret but I won't think about it much I don't think. I can't get a new bike, but I have enough money in the bank to live comfortably for a while.

  It's freezing out. I washed my skirt in the springs and it froze on the way back. Luna is out and about, but Dootsie is over it. The springs could be hotter - makes me want Slab City or Gila hot springs, but they're on the rushing Kern river, the stars are bright, the company is good. Jaira and I got pretty far away trying to find them, first. They're a short walk, but we walked the wrong way. It was nice, then good, then exhausting, a bit worrisome, then just sort of ridiculous and funny with how we had do so much climbing to get back up to the road. Then we found the springs and soaked and scrubbed, played music and talked about UFOs for a good long while. Getting out was difficult. Felt like scraping dead skin off forever. I've not been able to immerse in warm water for months. It's been a bit since I've showered, too - not as long as the rest of the crew, but long enough.

   We're up in the Sierras, by the way. The Sequoia National Forest, a region I've never visited. There is a good bus parking spot at the trailhead. Hopefully we'll all want to stay for a few days.

Orange Tabby Headquarters

   Jaira saw an orange tabby out the window at a truck stop by a bush. Wait, is that Dootsie? No, there's Dootsie. Hey, look, more cats! Three of them. Check out this bush, it's all choked up with growth and tunnels and full of Orange Tabby Clan!


I-5 Rest Area

    Last night I was watching the reflection of Brennan playing guitar in the window. After a while, I forgot my placement in the bus. I went ahead and assumed I was not laying in my bunk looking at the window, but standing at the position of the window, looking at Brennan. Lost myself a bit, there.

    Luna got out and romped around the rest area all night. Good for her, maybe she'll be happy in the bus today. It seems likely that the other cat, Dootsie, may be growing kittens. She's about the age, and vanished into a trailer park for three days some weeks ago. Not feeling too okay about it, they're like little cosmic karma chain reaction kittens filling up a world already overpopulated by unkept cats. Still kind of want a kitten despite my best arguments against it. Hopefully they don't all spend hours a day excavating the poop in the litter box like Dootsie.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

I-5 Rest Area, California

    Sat in Safeway for a few hours this morning, remembering some CSS and making this look good. Less bikey, less cutesy then the old one. I'm going to start using this[personal journal] as something of a rough draft for a[this] public one - less limited to town names and pictures, more of all my life, information, philosophy, good camping spots, recipes and ideas, herbal medicine, the whole picture. I still like naming my posts after where I end my day, can't change that. It'll be a long list of places, soon. I'm more dedicated this time.

    It's been nearly six months now since I got on the bus in Montana. I think I'll be in Death Valley soon, after the parting of the ways somewhere maybe near Lake Isabella. I feel I have something important to do there, a realization to undergo, so I'm going to try to not just bomb my way to Quartzsite. I have plenty of food, warm enough things, a didgeridoo, hula hoop, mushrooms, tea with pleasant memories. I'm not bringing any fictional books. Reading is fine, good, gives me a good vocabulary and new ideas, but it also takes me away from myself a bit and I don't want to be tempted to just pass time reading in the long hours of dark.

   Been laying on my bunk, living in a flying cabin watching the freeway at night with Luna curled up by my head. Happy to have a backpack now, feel more free when I can carry the important bits of stuff on foot. Going to miss riding the bus for a bit, excited to move myself again, too.