a constant stream of good things coming out of Portland....

the town is rockin' out in portland. all the time. this is some of the latest goodness to be coming from there. please read this, and pass it on. before it's too late.....

http://blog.whereareyourkeys.org/2011/04/18/you-are-about-to-become-obsolete-forever/

the orchard / 10,000 ways

upon request, this is a reprint from a post i wrote at Vandwellers to a newcomer, trying to find his way.....


Hey, R, welcome to the tribe! I am very impressed that you already have a
plan and a goal and the ability to save to meet that goal. Good for you! You are a good example to many of us here.

I say go for it. Listen to your heart. Keep your mind open to ALL the
possibilities out there. Cause as you are reading here, they are unlimited.

Life is like an orchard full of every kind of tree in existence. Some of the
fruit on those trees is sweet and nourishing. Some will give you the sh!ts like
you wouldn't believe, even though some folks can eat 'em all day long and
exclaim "these are the best fruits in the world!"

10,000 fruits! (10,000 ways to live) what do you eat?

I can't tell ya that. I can tell you DON'T CUT DOWN ANY OF THE TREES! Let them grow, whether they look appetizing or not. Someday you may find that you just love that fruit. And it'll be right there for the picking.

The good thing about this group is the wide range of experiences we can share
and draw upon. The bad thing about this group is we sometimes are so caught up in what works for us that we forget that there is no one right way to live our lives. Then we kinda get stuck on the details and try to figure out who's right. It's usually the ones not talking :-)

I graduated from nursing school when I was 30. Gave me some of the best
experiences of my life. I never heard the end of "you'd a been a great doctor".
Did I wrongly cap out at a nursing salary? Don't know, don't care. I made a
difference in the world. And I did it when I was ready to do it.

Prune and water the whole orchard, richard. And don't be afraid to try the
fruit......

Kate

P.S. And if a fruit does give you the sh!ts, don't do like I often did, and eat
it anyway (waaa, but I LIKE that fruit!).....move on to a different fruit!

timelines

it's not very often i read something that moves me to tears. not just the blurry eyed, flick-away-with-a-finger-move-on-to-the-next-blog-post kinda tears, but the heart-squeezing-purging-grief-i had-forgotten-was-there kinda tears.

i have alot of friends on the internet. in my wanderings around the country, i have had the joy of meeting so many of them, and deepening those relationships. it has been a hard road, finding community in my life, something to do with knowing from an early age that the world had another story, that there was another way to be....it has been through this "artificial" means of cyberspace that i have cobbled together my community, my tribe. however far-flung they may be, whether or not we have met in the flesh, they are as real and solid as any i have had in my life. and there is something particularly binding in the shared beliefs.... the knowing....that draws us together.

this month i celebrated 26 years clean and sober. i've spent some really peaceful time reflecting on those years these past few weeks, and the nightmare years that preceded them. this is as opposed to all the times i have agonized with guilt and shame, wishing for a different story. to really embrace the path that brought me to this place, this now....that is the miracle of my life today.

i made a new friend recently on facebook. i have already learned much from him, in his postings and links, but did not know much about him: his story. he gifted us all in a big way with a blog post on his birthday, and he has given me permission to share this with you here on my blog.

his story is real and raw and in so many ways my story, our story.  *"i am he as you are he as you are me as we are all together"*  it was a sharp reminder to me of all the years, so often lost in the blur of time, that are simply moments strung together, like bread crumbs left in the wilderness in order to find our way home.

thank-you Danny, for this gift of your story, to not only  know a deeper you, but also a deeper me. i believe this connection is the only thing that can save us in the end.

here is what he shared:

http://fire-eater.tumblr.com/post/3925441727/my-name-is-danny-and-i-turn-34-today-i-still



*"I am the Walrus" spooky tooth*

my best friend. ever.

 he seriously sleeps like this sometimes. there is a story about plucky duck. it's sad though. another time, maybe.

 halloween. cleopatra, if you didn't guess. no matter, the humiliation is the same.

 he loves the van. it is his real home. sometimes when i don't know where he is, i will find him sitting next to it, just waiting.

Mutt is so patient, so zen. he asks for so little, and gives everything. i posted once before about him, just waiting:


http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/02/waiting-for-mike.html


and here:


http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2009/02/waiting-for-brakes_27.html

and for those who missed it, here is how i lucked into the best dog in the whole wide world:


http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/2008/03/snownose.html

Roadside assistance

I camped a few miles up into the foothills last night to get a different view of the city and some profound stillness. Woke up once when wayne showed up to check on me. The second time was when mutt began to growl that deep warning that still surprises me to hear. 

Because I was so far away from anyone or anything, I never put up my reflectix or shut my curtains...better to see the sunrise. At mutt's warning, I surfaced from my comforter to see a guy walking around the van. Now it's odd enough to see somebody out here in the middle of nowhere, but this guy is wearing a shirt and tie and has a jacket of some sort thrown over his shoulder. He proceeds to walk away from the van and head west down the gravel road towards pahrump.

I'm parked on a side trail into the desert. There are no cars around, and there is room to get around me, so I can't be parking the guy in. I watch the guy disappear down into the valley, then curl up to sleep a little longer.

When I get up again a while late, I decide to drive a little further up to the canyon and take some pictures. That's when I discover the flat tire.

I was a little annoyed, but i've been paying for AAA Premier and haven't had a service call for over a year, so that's a good thing. I have sunshine, cel service, all the comforts of home, and no place I have to be. Life is good :-)

The conversation with AAA was cute, though. No street address in the middle of the desert. Cross street? I tell her. How far? About 3 miles away. She then wanted to know all about the vehicle. She seemed worried that they would get the wrong one. I assured her I was the only vehicle within almost 3 miles, and with the orange kayak on the roof they could just about spot me from Death Valley. Turns out i'm talking to a dispatcher from the mid-atlantic region, and she has to patch me through to the dispatcher in nevada. There are very few places on the east coast that are 3 miles from anything, unless you've been out here to experience it, the solitude is hard to imagine.

The tow truck got here really fast. After some bungee cord drama, he changed my tire and I washed my hair by a creosote bush. I am now off to get the tire repaired and find a less complicated bungee cord arrangement on the baby hitch haul....

Photos are of the view from my campsite. 

Http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com

Attention walmart shoppers!

Just a heads up to those of you who travel and patronize walmarts in different states.

JUST BECAUSE THE WOMENS RESTROOM IS ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE IN ONE STATE, DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN IT WILL BE ON THAT SIDE IN ANOTHER STATE.

And yes, i'm shouting. I want to remember this.

I really REALLY glared at the man in the ladies room here at the walmart in yuma. Until he turned around and I saw the employee name badge. It only took me about 3 1/2 seconds then to realize that the male employee probably knew better than I the location of the ladies room (since he worked there) and this wasn't it.

Otherwise, it was an uneventful day.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

american nomads

photo taken labor day 2009 at the blue ridge rifles rendezvous

wayne and john discuss the future of the colonies

i've been thinking alot about the 'voo this week. hunkered down in this cold weather, i just finished "Centennial" by james michner, and am halfway through "american nomads" by richard grant.


my buddy brian recently recommended "american nomads", (click title above for amazon link) and i got it with the intention of reading it on my way west. since the trip was postponed, it didn't take long for me to cave in and read it to stave off my longing for the road. it did the complete opposite.

-----------------------------------------------------

from the preface of the book:

"A Tibetan dignitary, visiting America for the first time, sits by the Green River in Utah, looking over the mountains and the high windcarved plateaus. His name is T.T. Karma Chopel. He has come to America to study the workings of its democracy, but that is not in his thoughts now.

Something about the landscape and the great sweep of sky reminds him of his homeland. He thinks of yaks and yak herders, making their endless migrations across the Tibetan plateaus.

He knows there are no yak herders in america but he assumes there must be some equivalent. "who are your nomads?" he asks.........."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

this is a book to be savored. i read a little bit at a time, trying to make it last. the comforting thing while reading these stories is knowing that in a few weeks, i will be on the road again, making my own stories, and hearing yours.....

the princess

i was loaned a scanner recently, and last night i was able to actually make it work. i'll be able to save and share photos that have been languishing in boxes, finally!

for those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember the story of my baby girl in "the princess and the pantheist". this is a picture of jaquan shortly after she came to live with us, at 5 months old. this picture is special to me for many reasons. first, it's the youngest photos that exist of her, except in hospital records. second, J. was blind, and rarely had her eyes open. and thirdly, what is really, REALLY special is what you don't see in this picture....on either side of the bed, crouched down out of sight, were my 2 young sons, ready to grab her if she toppled over or started to choke. that this sweet little girl had a huge army of supporters waiting in the wings to do whatever it took to make her life the best it could be is a miracle. what really took my breath away was the sacrifice my children made, without complaint, to make it possible for us to care for these special kids. there were countless little league games missed, plans changed, nights of sleep lost, and so many days where the focus was on the foster brothers and sisters....richard, josh and rachel were the real heroes in our household....they gave up so much for these little ones. i love all of you very much....your hearts are almost too big for this world!

new friends in the funniest places

i sold my spinning wheel yesterday. i have toyed with the idea off and on for maybe 2 years now. i decided to finally do it, to get myself that much closer to my goal of being on the road again.

i haven't spun anything on the wheel since last year. what spinning i have been doing has all been on spindles, and even on my thigh. i am pulled inexorably to the more primitive and simple flow of draft, twirl, wind on, and repeat. i love that i can spin anywhere, at most anytime, with the simplest tools.

but i LOVED my wheel. it came to me during a desperately lonely and hopeless time in my life. it was more than a beautiful tool, it was a symbol of hope, and continuation.

i struggled with that, in my quest to downsize; to let go of things and thoughts and beliefs that held me back. so onto craig's list it went. things started off with a little drama, with my first inquiry from someone who wanted to buy my wheel that involved, among other things, nigeria and a very large cashiers check (if i would be so kind as to make change) which left me ready to pull the ad and forget about it altogether......

two minutes after deleting the last email from the scammer, i recieved another email asking if the wheel was still available. certain that it was my spammer coming back under a different email addy, i almost deletted it. but i saw a local area code in the message, and called it.......

..... which led me to the parking lot of Gander Mountain in the rain yakking it up with 3 super women who love dogs and fiber and life and adventure as much as i do. my wheel has a good home, and the look in denise's eyes as she looked at her first spinning wheel was worth more to me than the actual money transaction. i knew then that it was right and fitting that the wheel....an Ashford Joy....would now bring just that to denise, instead of languishing alone in a farmhouse while i was on the road. thank-you, denise! and judy and mary, also. it was wonderful to meet all of you! i look forward to seeing you again, and sharing some time spinning together.

new friends, in the unlikeliest places :-)

go play outside

i've been busy. not being able to do much on the computer, and not being able to read much has been good for me actually. i have to go out and play to keep myself out of trouble :-)

i like playing in my boat. i just visited a place i really like, and got to visit lewis and clark cove, which was overrun with fisherman the last time i was there. i don't know if it is really called that, but Ann and Lexi say it is. but i am skeptical, because they also tell me that the other end of this lake is called "deepest darkest africa", which makes me think they are full of it.

i also like to hang out with Mutt. he likes to hang out with me, too, unless i am in the mood to make him wear silly things like hats and babushkas. then he just tolerates me. if i put something on him and say "leave it!" he usually does. after i took this picture he was possesed with the urgent need to snuggle up against sarah's leg, therefore dislodging my REI river cap from his head. how would you describe the look on his face????

i went picking strawberries with cathy and marge. that is marge below, with strawberries. i think she is saying "don't you DARE" when i took her picture here. but she did give reluctant permission for me to put it on my blog. she's a good sport. especially on the night that a bunch of us were helping GJ make hay. marge and cathy and i were tossing bales on the wagon while marge's daughter drove the truck. except jenna drove pell mell down the field while Marge (her mom) was still attached to the bale she had just tossed on the wagon. GJ seemed to think it took longer to make hay with us "helping", but i think he never had as much fun making hay without us.

















this is a picture of some boats taken at an outfitters down near john and rosie and bobby nomads' place. one of my favorite places to paddle is on secret creek here. the outfitter is called Shank's Mare, and i mention it because i stole their logo for my blogpost title. if you click on the title, it will take you to their website. their logo has become my mantra. "go play outside"


below is my screen saver. a reminder of where i oughta be if i am idle more than a few minutes :-)

4 wheelin'

on memorial day i got a call from cathy. she asked me 3 questions:
do you want to go on an adventure?
do you want a helmet?
do you have someone who can make bail?

well, what can ya say to a call like that? i got my first taste of 4 wheeling :-)

we started out in a a big old artic cat with a cab on it. we had to get a few miles away in a vehicle not licensed for the road. we did this by taking as many back roads as possible. when we had to go on paved road, we squinched our heads down into our necks and drove fast, as if we were invisible. we drove over creeks, through creeks, and up steep hills.

we met up with some of cathy's family for some trail riding. here cathy and derek stop to move a log across the path. what i had the decency NOT to post was the pic of cathy going ass over tincups when derek moved the log alot faster than cathy has moved in years. good friend that i am, i shreiked and recorded the event for posterity. heading back on the trail, something happened to the muffler. the noise was terrible, and we were shooting fire out the back end.

cathy's husband gary tried to fix it, but didn't have the proper bolts. we were stranded miles from home and had to be ferried back by car to the lilting strains of lawrence welk. it was memorable :-(

back at the ranch, we moped around a bit, deflated at our aborted adventure, and then decided to take these babies out for a spin. i drove the red one, and fast, too! it was scary and thrilling and way different than driving the rondyvan :-) i'm trying to figure out how to get a kayak rack on one of them.......

twoknives katie goes to tea

you have heard me talk before about my friend cathy (made famous in "two loaves katie"). i have known cathy and her husband gary since high school, and they are responsible for keeping me in running vehicles. god bless good mechanics :-) cathy's daughter angie grew up with my oldest boy, josh. she is now the mother of The Twins, who are the 7 month old sweet babies i get to mind when i am on my best behavior. megan is the wife of cathy's son jason.

a few weeks ago, i watched the babies while the three of them went to tea. sometime mid-day i got a picture message on my cel phone of the three of them grinning and wearing big floppy hats with blossoms on them. i laughed and told the babies i got the better end of the deal.

well, last saturday, they bundled me up, brushed me off, and took me to Sugar's Tea House to see how tea was done proper. i tried to take my mukluks, just to prove to you i was really there, but couldn't find the van keys in time. the following pics were loaded backwards, so i'll start at the end and work back :-)

this was my rice pudding for desert. it had an actual rosebud on the top. you are supposed to eat them, so i did. kinda like foraging, no? note all the fancy china and multiple utensils.....quite a switch from sporks and aluminum plates from REI! the girls guided me through tea etiquete, which includes trying on every hat in the place and giggling alot.

check out these tea sandwiches! i took a picture of cathy's, because hers were more colorful. tea sandwiches are color-coded. full afternoon tea includes 5 tea sandwiches, scones, soup, salad, desert, and of course, tea! my choices included salmon, olive and cream cheese, ham and pineapple, and taco. it was all really good! and best of all, we ATE THE FLOWERS!!!!

here are the girls. we were a lively bunch!

everybody tried to get a little leg action going.....

i never, ever would have believed it if you told me i would end up eating dainty sandwiches in a tea room and sipping from china. it was a hoot! thanks to cathy for the special treat, and to the girls for making it a really fun time :-)

You won't believe this

I am out with the girls having tea. I'm wearing a cute hat!

"my barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon" masahide

Http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com

Porcupine misadventures

a couple weeks ago mutt came to the door with a face-full of quills. i was astounded. this is the dog that is afraid of birds and rabbits up close....i can't imagine what possessed him to bite a porcupine. i spent several hours pulling the big quills out of his face, only to discover when i could finally open his mouth that it was full of tiny and broken off quills. bazillions of 'em. so off to the animal emergency hospital we go....he never EVER needs medical attention when his vet is open....to have them taken out under anesthesia.

an hour and several hundred dollars later they delivered him back to me with a bandage where his IV had been, and prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medication. they told me that 2 quills remained, and would have to work themselves out. i was a little annoyed that for all that money, they coudn't get them all.

i am even more annoyed 2 weeks later when i have pulled about 18 of them out of different parts of his nose and face, even near his eye, as they work forward from the inside out. he has been pawing at his face today, so i'm not sure we're down with them yet.

the pics above are him pre hospital, and immediately post-op with his little bandage on his leg. what i didn't get a picture of was when he lifted his leg to pee, and toppled over like a drunken sailor. i had to laugh, rotten mother that i am!

"my barn having burned to the ground, I can now see the moon" masahide

http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/

Taylor Reed

a few weeks ago, i got an email from someone through vandwellers asking me permission to do a painting, from a photo i had on my blog, of mutt beneath the golden gate bridge. i said sure, and was touched that not only had he liked the photo (or my sweet dog!) well enough to paint it, but that he had asked permission first. i didn't know how good of an artist he was, but i knew he was a class-act person!

well, now i also know he is a first-rate artist, and after several emails back and forth, count him as a friend as well. taylor, you rock, my friend, and i am so honored you chose mutt's photo!

these are some photos of the work in progress. at one point, he stopped working to go on a camping trip. he emailed me to let me know there would be a delay in the completion, but i say no camping trip is ever a delay :-)

this is taylor. he's from brazil, and he's awesome. if i knew where brazil was, i'd have to go there and have him paint the rondyvan. i have a feeling this won't be the last we hear about this guy. when he's famous, i can say i knew him first :-)

thank-you, taylor!

addendum: i stand corrected. taylor is from bolivia, and vacationed in brazil :-)
http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/

kayak rack part 2

last week, I posted a picture of a sprinter van with an unusual kayak rack that I parked next to in a truckstop in texas. I only got 1 photo that night, and was disappointed when the van drove off early in the morning before I could get more photos.

a couple days ago, I returned to the slabs from a trip to town, and there smack dab in the middle of camp was the sprinter van with the green kayak attached. you'd think I would cease to be surprised at the funky happenings in my life. but I was pretty blown away. the guy remembered me by the "hilltopmusicstore.com" sticker on the side of my van. oh, and yeah, the orange kayak, too!

turns out, he and bob had met at a gathering in tuscon last year, and when he bicycled into camp here at the slabs, bob invited him to join us. he has a really cool rig, and spent a lot of time showing us the modifications he made. bob will be doing an article about it at his
website cheaprvliving.com

I think we convinced reed to join vandwellers, and hope we'll be hooking up with him down the road.

Love is blind

I was following heidi and mike into niland today. As we approached the intersection of main st and hwy 111, a tractor trailer full of monsters passed us going north. Mike turns north and drove past the now-pulled-over tractor trailer of monsters, which I very clearly see (see photo). Mike drives a short way, pulls over, and I pull alongside him.

"we'll head back the way we came" he says.

"good! " I reply. " I want to get a better picture of the monsters"

they both look puzzled. "monsters?" mike says, with a glance at heidi.

"monsters" I reply with a laugh. "on that tractor trailer. Are you guys blind?"

heidi chuckles, after glancing knowingly at mike. I have not been feeling well, and obviously have a fever to go with my ear infection....."maybe we're not blind, but someones delirious" she laughs.

duh! methinks they should make less moo-eyes at each other, and pay more attention to those subtle oddities on the road......

http://twokniveskatie.blogspot.com/

dallas and the pilgrimage to stevie ray

i spent the night in a truckstop in dallas texas, despite moans and groans from the wizard about the stupidity of the idea. there was a heavy police presence there, though, and the night was uneventful, if you discount the fact that they had outdoor speakers that blasted hiphop all night long. things got more exciting the next day, though. don't be shocked, i am not kidding you.


this is the truckstop's resident stray. he was afraid of his own shadow, and clearly needed the stuffing loved out of him. we gave him a rib bone and some bread and biscuits. then i went to get a shower, but there were like 9 people in the line, so i went back out to sit with mutt while i waited. it was a good thing, cause when i got there

the car that had been parked by us all night long had caught fire, and i found a use for the extra gallons of water i had been tripping over since san antonio.
here is the guy putting out his carpeting. when he lifted the floor mat, you could see pavement :-( this was not a good thing, cause he had just sold the car....his only home....because he needed the money, and some guy was on his way to get it.

royce (my new friend) had had trouble starting the car, and wanted to be sure that it started when the guy got there, so he got a spray can of that stuff that helps you start it, and proceeded to use the whole can, just in case. i had had to roll the windows up on the van, such was the cloud of noxious fumes that ensued. well, it started all right. started right on fire.....

of course, in the middle of all this, vickie calls to see if i was ready to meet up, and i was afraid she would think better of the whole idea when she heard the commotion, but she believed me when i said i usually only experienced one disaster a day, or felt pity for me.....cause she met me anyhow :-)
the first thing we did was the "i'll show you mine if you show me yours" shuffle. her van is very cool. then again, every van i meet has some unique quality that makes it stand out. such is the nature of the creativity of vandwellers. but vickie had come up with solutions to problems that were very unique and may be the solution to some of my issues. first of all, were the clips. remember the clips? she had an actual box of clips, neatly labeled and tucked away in one of her totes. her totes are lined up against one side of her van, neatly wedged behind the rear captains chair. on top were cushions covered in gray vinyl that matched the interior of the van....it made the interior seem even bigger, and very soothing to be in. she could rearrange the cushions and the totes in different ways, depending on her needs. i know she had explained this on vandwellers, but it was much cooler than i had envisioned it. the very best part was the fact that each of these cushions fit into the window wells in the back of the van, making creative use of that space when she needed the cushions out of the way.

but it wasn't just van stuff i learned from vickie. she took mutt and i to a nearby park, where we walked and talked and got to know each other. i learned some things about myself in our conversation; validation about some decisions i had made in my life some time ago that i needed to hear. the universe just gives me gifts like this when i least expect it, and usually through the most delightful people. thank-you, vickie.

we went to a have something to eat at the white rock coffee shop. dogs are welcome on the outdoor patio, and mutt was given a huge biscuit and a warm welcome by the staff. one very cool person was devin, who ended up chatting like magpies with me, and conversation managed to turn to the fact that he is a songwriter who wants to live in his truck. i told him about vandwellers, and i hope he joins soon, if he hasn't already........i do hope i didn't frighten him off.....
this next series of pictures shows how sneaky mutt is trying to get a little licking action in....not on purpose, but on accident, like if his tongue falls out of his mouth right about the time his snoot is near your face.....ron can tell you about this.....
anyhow, if you look close in these pictures you can see his tongue being affected by centrifugal force, because it's surely not gravity that sends it accidentally upwards towards devin's mouth
who obviously knows where mutt's tongue has been last and reacts accordingly.
mutt sees vickie open her chicken salad sandwich, and looks longingly in her direction.....
but when she is not forthcoming, goes back to devin, full of remorse. it was alot of fun, and vickie ran into a couple people she knew, and all too soon, it was time to go.

one other special memory for me will be when vickie's daughter sang me one of the songs she wrote. i began crying before i even heard the words, her voice was that beautiful. thank-you melanie. i look forward to the cd.

i spent the night in the same truckstop, because i had hoped to doctor the burns on royce's hands again, and check the extent of the blistering on the palm. he didn't have medical insurance, but vickie told me where he could get care. but royce and the car were both gone. i hope he is safe and warm, wherever he is.
the next day i finally found the grave of stevie ray vaughan. i am not one big on monuments or memorials other than the ones in our hearts, but i was strangely moved by the first sight of the grave. he was not only my favorite guitarist, but a brother in recovery.
i was asked once if i could go back in time and meet one person, who would it be and why? the first thing that popped out of my mouth was "stevie ray vaughan, to tell him not to take the chopper". i miss his music.....
the grave was recently visited by los lonely boys, or a big fan of theirs.
i hadn't planned on leaving anything, but was moved to leave a bead (see inside the "o"). at the eastern primitive rendezvous, we used to have AA meetings at gator's tent ( or any of the many tents with the sign of the triangle) and we used to get a trade bead, kinda like the 18th century's answer to the chip. i had a small medicine bag of them, and decided to leave one for stevie. i think he mighta liked it.

then we got the hell outta dallas.