Mission Walker

Mission Walker

5-16-15

One cool thing you could do with your spare time is to walk 800 miles from Mission to Mission on El Camino Real right here in Californy-I-ay. If you hurry, you will not be alone because right now, this very minute, that's what Hollywood's own Ilia Carson is doing.

I hosted Ilia (accent on the second syllable, like Maria) through warmshowers dot org Thursday night after she blew in from Santa Cruz to see the Mission San Juan Bautista. She began her pilgrimage a couple of weeks ago up in Sonora at the Mission San Francisco de Solano. When she arrived in San Juan, she had already completed the northern section of some 200+ miles, averaging between 15-20 miles per day. Wonder Walker!



I have always thought it would be fun to bicycle from Mission to Mission and many times I have wondered why there weren't inexpensive hostels (or warmshowers hosts) at or near each one. That seems like something that would catch on with touring cyclists. It appears that a growing number of hikers is taking the challenge every year. Maybe in time my dream of Mission pilgrim hostels will take form.

 

  



Meanwhile, Ilia the Wonder Walker is getting it done. After a tour of the Mission SJB, I steered her over to Jardines de San Juan, my local go-to dinner eatery for out of town visitors. I ordered my favorite Baja Tacos; Ilia chose one of their gigundo carne burritos. When the food came, she inhaled that burrito faster than I could say "Has your hiker hunger kicked in yet?" FOOM, it was gone. I had to laugh. There is nothing better than rigorous long distance exercise followed by no-holds-barred consumption of tasty, jaw-gnoshing food. It is a savage pleasure known only to a crazy, privileged few.

 

 

Ilia hopes to use this walk as a preparation for a 2016 trek of El Camino del Santiago in Spain. She is already a bright, talented organizer. Completing all or even part of El Camino Real in California will give her yet more confidence and teach the lessons only learned by road experience: flexibility, patience, and the happy holiness of mindless repetitive motion.

 

After a shower, about a hundred shared stories, a deep cozy slumber on my Mission Farm Campground redneck deck, and a jumbo morning bowl of heart healthy oats and almonds, Ilia the Wonder Walker was on her way up and over the San Juan Bautista de Anza Grade to Salinas (the Salad Bowl of America) and beyond. At last word, she was resting comfortably near the Mission San Carlos Borromeo in Carmel, well into the central section of her journey to San Diego. Que mujer!

 

"No problem. I got this." - Ilia Carson, Wonder Walker 2015

 

Peace, Love, and Mission Walking,

Jim



 

 

 





 

 

Mothers...

Mothers...

 

5-10-15

 

The Question:

To all the Mothers out there,

I salute you for taking on a forever job and handling it with grace and skill and vigilance…and pure dumb luck, too. Nobody is successful in any endeavor without a little of that.

If you could impart one piece of advice about motherhood to a teenage girl, what would it be?

Peace, Love, and Curiosity,

Jim

Waterlogue by John H. Ostdick

The Answers:

“You want just ONE piece of advice about motherhood......... That is a tall request but I would have to say unconditional love. I could write a list a mile long of other sage advice, however. Hind sight and maturity have done a great job of pointing out the mistakes I made. That list would, also, be a mile long. Fortunately for me, my children are very forgiving.”

       -       P.S. I Love You

               Plano TX

“Here's my advice:

Most important qualities to encourage and share:

• Kindness and compassion
• Honesty
• Sense of humor
• Love of reading and writing

Make sure you complete at least a BA and look for opportunities to get your education funded. You will need it to survive and flourish.”

-          The EMPress

Austin TX

“Catch 'em being good/making good choices and let them know you noticed.”

-          Cud’n Mindy

Aromas CA

“Motherhood is the most precious and challenging thing that can happen to a woman. I would tell a teenager to wait and enjoy yourself while you are young because motherhood takes all the strength and wisdom you can manage, and if you wait you appreciate it more. Motherhood is an honor and you should approach it with all the maturity you can muster. But it is worth every minute.”

-          Dinesey

Cleburne TX

“I recall the pediatrician suggesting a little sherry. I have to say friendships with other mothers have helped pull me through, because knowing you're not alone goes a long way, especially when your Mother of the Year crown slips.”

-          Roadie

Dallas TX

“My advice about motherhood would be this. Play with your kids, don't be too serious, laugh a lot, have tickle and chase times, read to your children, and get down on the floor and play board games.

There's nothing greater than a mother's love for her children!

I was happy before I had children, but I was even more so when each of my four children were born. James Taylor's song, How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, was my motherhood theme song when my first baby, Eric, was born. I would place the James Taylor vinyl on the turntable, crank up the volume, and I'd hold Eric close as I danced around the room. I did that until he did a very special baby dance along with me. The lyrics to the song are probably for a girlfriend of James Taylor's, but I found them very fitting for my baby that made me feel so fulfilled.”

-          Marylou

Azel TX 

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You – James Taylor

I needed the shelter of someone's arms and there you were

I needed someone to understand my ups and downs and there you were

With sweet love and devotion, deeply touching my emotion

I want to stop and thank you BABY

I close my eyes at night, wondering where I would be without you in my life

But you brighten up for me all of my days, love so sweet in so many ways

You were better to me than I was to myself

For me there's you and there ain't nobody else

I want to stop and thank you BABY

How sweet it is to be loved by you.

 

 

 

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild

5-5-15

This time last year I was on my bicycle in Florida celebrating Sinkhole de Mayo. If you don't know what I mean, I suggest you buy my book and find out!

This year, however, I am in San Juan Bautista, pretty much as close to Mexico as you can get in Los Estados Unidos. We "partied" over the weekend via the 31st annual Indian Market and World Peace Festival, which featured non-stop Native American dancing and music and arts/crafts booths. There was no alcohol or drugs - they are not allowed on the "Red Road" of sobriety - we "partied" family style.

This was the last festival organized by San Juan resident artist and writer Laynee Bluebird (Elayne Silva-Reyna) who happens to live down the asphalt road from me. Her daughter and others will continue the tradition in years to come.

Layne Bluebird is the author of Wolf Dreamer of the Longest Night Moon, a beautiful story/meditation that I highly recommend experiencing. As Laynee (80 years old but she can pass for 50) would tell you, the story is meant to be read in one sitting in a quiet space where you can reflect on its affect on your spirit. The sequel to this story will come out soon. Expand your natural awareness. Read for yourself.

 

What does this have to do with Beasts of the Southern Wild? Nothing! And Everything! I watched Beasts of the Southern Wild on DVD Sunday night after mildly freaking out at the Indian Market. I had what I call an "episode" while enjoying a dance performance in the middle of the sports field behind the town elementary school on a perfectly sunny and breezy afternoon. 

 

I don't have "episodes" all the time - they only happen to me once in a while, usually when I'm on my own in the woodsy woods woodsy or romping in the high country. They kind of sneak up on me and take over - not in any scary way - completely beautiful - and I get a floating sensation along with super-heightened sensory awareness. Light, color, sound, movement, and especially wind are super intensified. I am isolated for a moment or two, sometimes a few minutes before I come back to normal.

 

I love it when an "episode" happens. This one occurred during one of the dances at the festival. A steady drum beat - a big circle of people dressed in native garb - men and women, boys and girls - a green grassy field under a bright blue sky. One dancer was especially demonstrative. I think his "spirit" was a deer spirit (note: that's my interpretation - I don't pretend to understand Native American culture or spirituality, but I respect it nonetheless) and he was really into his movements, using ornaments that resembled deer horns in quick, rhythmic motion, bent over like a quadruped, turning this way and that with the sound of the drum, staying in time with the other dancers.

 

In the background, lining the field, is a long row of tall, healthy eucalyptus trees. When my "episode" happened, I became aware that the tallest tree branches were swaying back and forth in time with the drums. My focus was on the trees, no, IN the trees, from a long distance away, on the opposite side of the dancers. That is, the dancers were in the field between me and the eucalyptus grove. The whole scene kind of ebbed and flowed with the wind for a few minutes. I felt like I was slightly elevated, just a little bit off the ground.

 

I couldn't stop smiling.

 

Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of the best movies I have never heard of. It's set in the deep South, off-bayou of New Orleans I think, and it features some of the wildest, most intriguing characters you will never ever meet. Hushpuppy, the little girl that stars in the movie, around which the movie revolves, is a four-foot tower of strength and a fierce observer/participant of/in her reality. If you don't love her, you should be ashamed of yourself.

 

This story is raw. It's ferocious. It's wonderful.

 

It didn't make me have an "episode" like the Indian Market and World Peace Festival, but it made my gut burn with a love of being alive. "Beast it." It's Nature's Way.

 

Peace, Love, and Hushpuppy,

Jim

 

 

 

 



A Most Perplexing Problem

A Most Perplexing Problem

4-28-15

Susan Abulhawa

Mornings in Jenin: A Novel

I think you should read this book. It rocked my world, shook me up, made me wonder, made me feel, made me worry. It shocked me to think I could have been so naive, so uninquisitive, so accepting. And it made me think of so many other things I may have failed to notice in my merry, shallow life. It made me grow. It made me ache.

This is a novel, not a historical account. It is mostly one-sided, as it should be. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be so powerful.

Drop what you're doing. Read this book.

Peace, Love, and Stop It,
Jim

Earth Day: It’s Not Just for Hippies Any More

Earth Day: It's Not Just for Hippies Any More

 

4-21-15

 

Students, parents, teachers, and local community leaders joined forces on April 18 to remove illegally dumped trash from the San Benito River channel near the old Hospital Road crossing. What was the occasion? Earth Day, of course, a good excuse for a thorough Spring cleaning.

To be exact, Earth Day is April 22, celebrated around the world since 1970 as a way of calling attention to the growing impact of human activity upon the planet which feeds, clothes, and houses them. The first Earth Day was an outgrowth of the modern U. S. environmental movement which, most folks from that era will tell you, had its origins in two unrelated incidents that occurred in 1969.

The first incident was the Santa Barbara oil spill in late January of that year. An offshore oil rig blowout in the Santa Barbara Channel created an expanded oil slick that blackened the beaches of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, piled up a thick oily mess against the Santa Barbara Harbor seawalls, and killed an estimated 3,500 sea birds and mammals. Final estimates put the spill at about 100,000 barrels. The people of Santa Barbara and across the nation were appalled, if not furious, and began to clamor for action.

In June of that year, across the country on the shores of Lake Erie, another catastrophe occurred that also tipped the scales of public opinion against lax regulation of industry. The Cuyahoga River, which empties into Lake Erie at Cleveland, Ohio, had become so polluted that it caught on fire! Sadly, this was not the first time that happened. But, thanks to coverage by major news media, it caught the attention of the nation and their politicians. In 1970, President Richard Nixon was pressured into signing the Clean Water Act and creating the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Slowly over the years, public awareness of Earth Day began to change. Earth Day cleanup celebrations at parks and beaches and waterways evolved. From ragtag gatherings of random shaggy hippies in 1970 to organized events by the mainstream concerned citizenry of the present, more and more people have grown to see their connection to and responsibilities toward their land, air, and water and to the creatures (including people!) that inhabit Earth. After forty-five years, we are not all the way to a place of understanding, but we are getting closer.

Here in San Benito County, a growing coalition of citizens is seeing the value of working together to educate ourselves and to protect the region’s natural resources. Our riverbed is the heart of the county. It connects the residents and bio-communities of the south county farms and ranches, stretching past Paicines, Tres Pinos, Hollister, and San Juan Bautista, all the way to the Pajaro River and the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. As the low spot between the Diablo Range and the Gavilan Range, in dry season and in wet, the riverbed collects groundwater like a heart collects blood. The river channel carries water (and whatever else we put into it} slowly downstream to our neighbors and ultimately to the sea. Our cultural, environmental, and industrial connections to each point along the way, like beads on a string, are exciting and interesting and full of potential. San Benito County ranches, farms, wineries, Amah Mutsun traditions, Hispanic and European American influences, our rich geologic history, our National Park, and our favorable climate for recreation combine to make the San Benito River an attractive centerpiece.

The prospect of building a recreation trail along the river has united many different parts of our citizenry and offers a chance for everyone to contribute and benefit. This long-dreamed-for trail, called the San Benito River Parkway, will eventually extend from Tres Pinos to San Juan Bautista. Construction on the first segment of the trail, from Hospital Road to Union Road, will get underway upon completion of the new bridge across the river channel at the old Hospital Road crossing. This area has a history of sand and gravel mining by Graniterock, the local aggregate industry giant. The extraction stage, which ended in the late 1990s, will be followed by a major reclamation project as soon as the new Hospital Road Bridge has been built.

In anticipation of the River Parkway, dedicated volunteers, mostly high school students, have been ridding the river channel of mounds of trash that accumulated over many decades of community neglect. Since 2006 alone, more than 23 tons of tires, household trash, car parts, and random junk have been carted off to the John Smith Landfill on the backs of teenagers with the help of San Benito County workers and San Benito High School teachers. In the past few years, their ranks have grown.

On Saturday, April 18, sixty-seven students, parents, teachers, and local leaders pitched in to remove another half-ton of trash from the riverbed near Hospital Road. This group included swarms of students and parent volunteers from Hollister’s Accelerated Achievement Academy led by teacher Susan Bessette. The always reliable Outdoor Club from San Benito High School also participated, led by teachers Chip and Emily Gauvreau, Dr. Jessica Gautney, and retired teacher Jim Ostdick.

Alexandra (Alex) Simons, Environmental Specialist from Graniterock, escorted the group around the property and coordinated the moving of piles of garbage to designated County collection points. 

Simons described the importance of the project for the younger generation:  “The students really were able to make the connection on how the trash in the San Benito River affects the rest of the watershed and Monterey Bay. This connection is essential to maintaining a trash free environment in the future. Seeing the students so involved in making a difference in their local environment shows that they will be stewards for the environment in years to come.”

Meanwhile, Graniterock’s Jim West and Bill Damm cooked up a hot dog feast for the hungry and thirsty participants to enjoy after the cleanup. Valerie Egland, from San Benito County Parks Commission and the R.E.A.C.H. (Recreation, Exercise, and Community Health) San Benito Foundation, provided healthy Earthbound Farms snacks to go with the hot dogs and Damm Good Water and educated participants on the Parkway construction efforts. 

Bessette, perhaps the area’s most ardent proponent of using community service experiences in her curriculum, summed it up like this:  “I would like to thank Graniterock for continually allowing our school access to their river property in Hollister. This has allowed the Accelerated Achievement Academy to reach beyond the classroom to teach our environmental preservation and awareness project. We have been able to participate annually with the California Coastal Commission's Coastal Cleanup Day right here in town. The students have taken field trips to the water treatment facilities to learn the importance of water conservation and have planted a xeriscape garden. Guest speakers have given presentations on watershed management and water wise strategies. Graniterock has provided the opportunity for our students to participate in volunteering efforts that directly impact the environment positively and apply what they have learned.”

Cooperation between groups like this (business, government, industry, educators, and non-profits) is inspiring and efficient. Progress toward a dream can be made when ordinary people meet together and place the common good and their connection to their community/environment in a position of importance. On Earth Day 2015, being a furry Whole Earth hippie is not necessary to effect a positive change in your environment. Anyone can do it. Does being called an “environmentalist” violate your road dog code of ethics? That’s okay; you can call yourself a “pragmatic conservationist” instead. Just roll your sleeves up and get busy.

Please join us in keeping our highways and waterways clean and do what you can to support the development of the San Benito River Parkway. It will take some time and a lot of hard work. But San Benito County can be a showcase for the rest of California for clean, intelligent, healthy, conservation-minded growth while providing our families and visitors with diverse, vigorous opportunities to communicate, learn, exercise, and play.

Peace, Love, and Re-Creation,

Jim

 

 

 

 

Happy Wester

Happy Wester

4-5-15

Here on the Left Coast, petitions are being circulated for an initiative to be placed on the 2016 ballot that would change the name of the annual Spring holiday from Easter to Wester. Let me break it down for you.

In theory, everything on the Christian side would stay the same. Resurrection fans would still build a hollow balsa wood fake cross with wheels on the back and pick a local longhaired carpenter to haul it around the church parking lot. Overweight insurance agents (Philistines) would still pretend to flog him (Him) as he (He) agonized his (His) way through the Stations of the Cross. All that glory/pain stuff is good theater and scares the children straight, so it stays.

The only major churchfolk adjustment is that the use of Holy Water has to be reduced by 25% because of the drought. Oh, and the Wester Sunday church dress code has been relaxed. No more K-Mart blue suits and yellow dresses for the kids. Looney Tunes t-shirts, baggie shorts, and flip flops are fine. This IS California after all.

The Pagan side is where the big changes kick in, but they are kind of cool so nobody should mind. All Wester eggs must be laid by free range hens, dyed with natural organic berry juice, and collected by heretofore unemployed medical marijuana patients. Wester egg baskets will be hand woven by barefoot children using native drought-resistant plant material under the guidance of Chumash and Ohlone grandmothers. Baskets will be lined with native grasses and blessed by employees of Santa Cruz Spirit Guides, Inc.

Brace yourselves. There will be no more chocolate bunnies or peeps. Except for the above-referenced eggs, only plant-based, gluten free treats and candies will be allowed in the baskets. Buck up, kids, you will thank us later when your nervous disorders, allergies, and learning disabilities magically disappear. You might even get into Stanford.

On Wester Monday, all baskets, grasses, and leftover cornstalk Equinox dolls will be composted in the community garden to be used as mulch.

Last, but certainly not least, is the retirement of the Easter Bunny as the official symbol and deliverer of Springtime overnight treats. The Bunny is gone, mistreated and abused for far too long. Taking the Bunny's place are a cadre of Wester rescue puppies who have undergone rigorous training in the Sierra Nevada foothills and will compete for the noble title of West Coast Wester Dog in 2020. Stay tuned.

This is progress, Cali style.

Peace, Love, and Happy Wester,
Jim

Litter Blog

Litter Blog

3-29-15

Man, I hate litter bugs. I hate litter bugs more than I hate anything except rapists and war mongers. 

I take that back. I hate litter bugs just as much as I hate war mongers.

This weekend was San Juan Bautista's annual Spring Arts and Crafts Show. Main Street (Third Street, to be precise) was lined with booths and EZ-Ups stocked with every kind of doo-dad and foo-dad imaginable. Real torquoise. Fake torquoise. Bird houses (birds not included). Sunglasses. Sunhats. Mexican lizard lawn ornaments (lawns not included). Rooster t-shirts. Wolf t-shirts. Beer brand t-shirts. Beer brand mirrors. Beer brand mugs. Sugar and syrup coated popcorn. Giant angry sausages. Frog rides. Tri-tip sandwiches. Lemon lime slushees. Ear rings. Nose rings. Toe rings. Smoky Bear outdoor thermometers. Pooh Bear indoor thermometers. Art deco flip flops. Regular flip flops. Flip flops with built-in toe rings. Soda pop. Kettle corn. Corn dogs. Baby mobiles. Senior citizen mobiles. Stoner mobiles. Endless iterations of bracelet combinations in plastic, copper, aluminum, and brass. Bottled water. Bottled water. Bottled water.

You can see where I'm going with this. The Arts and Crafts Show doo-dads and foo-dads, only a small percentage of which is not out and out junk, all have the potential to be partially consumed or carelessly stored or heaved out a car window and/or dropped on the street on the way home. And of course there are the lovely young brain damaged mothers who dispose of their little darlings' dirty disposable diapers right on the dadgum curb in our most revered City of History. And don't get me started on the drunken overfed cretins who stop on the highway and poop out in the open two feet from the shoulder. I hate drunken pooping overfed cretins.

Who picks all that stuff up? Your local hard-charging, concerned Adopt-a-Highway (AAH)  volunteer, that's who. If I want to ride my bike around and not see poop and stuff, I'd better do something about keeping the road shoulders clean.

 

 

There is a little teeny tiny light shining behind the diaper pile. I always manage to collect a few things of value in the process of sweeping up after cretins and teenage mothers. Like tools that fall off of trucks, for example - some still usable clothing (after a good cootie cleaning, of course) - lots of recyclable bottles and cans - an occasional broom, ladder, or rug from an RV - buckets of all kinds - crates and containers of all shapes and sizes - lumber - and this morning I found a wet, but perfectly spendable one-dollar bill.

 

During yesterday's Mission Farm Campground Spring Clean Swap Meet, I made thirty-one dollars selling mostly things that I picked up off the side of the road. (No, I did not try to hawk any disposable diapers or poo-piles...the diapers get shoveled into landfill-bound plastic bags and the poop gets shovel-flung into the bushes...sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Ground Squirrel...take THAT, war-mongering Mr. and Mrs. Bush).

 

So, despite the dadburn litter bugs, I am sitting pretty. From the perspective of my luxurious redneck deck here in the redwoodsy-woods-woodsy, it is a fine, clean Spring indeed.

 

 

 

In my spare time - hahaha, all my time is spare time - I am working (pardon my language) on a prototype for a Roadside Cretin Cam. It will be similar to a motion sensor wildlife camera, but equipped with a poo-smell detector and a Taser. Drunken pooping overfed cretins in this region seem to prefer gravel-strewn  pullouts next to the highway. They stop, they get out, they drop trou, and they poop in the gravel just off the shoulder. I plan to mount several Roadside Cretin Cams at pullouts surrounding San Juan Bautista over the next few months. Very soon, drunken pooping overfed cretins of San Benito County will begin getting the surprise of their stupid little lives. Zapped right on the ass mid-poop, we'll see if they keep that sh#t up on my highway.

 

 

 

 

No Peace and Love for Litter Bugs,

Jim