I stood in a room
There was so much gloom
surrounded by strangers
and unspoken dangers
All the men and the women in this room were lost
For all the folks here some line had been crossed
‘Behavioral ward’ was what it was called
If you ended up here, you would be appalled
For I directed myself to the ‘psych ward’
with my brother whom I completely adored
To celebrate his 52ed trip around the sun
As my heart swelled with cheer a sweet song begun
I hit the call button and waited
With breath that was baited
Outside the psyche ward
For the brother I adored
The nurse finally came
But I was not quite the same
As I was the last time I was there
I was given quite a scare
By a girl with a different name
Seven years ago
A woman I used to know
Love cannot measure
How much I did treasure
This girl who changed my life so
“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation” ― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
Our trip to Iceland started out in the worst sort of way. There was a lot of drama around my separation with my Ex-girlfriend. She was supposed to go to Iceland with Orion and I, but the plane ticket I bought for her ended up going to waste. I talked to Orion’s mom about all the trouble with my Ex-girlfriend and she still trusted me enough to go with Orion to Iceland. To call her a saint would be an understatement. I feel so blessed to have so many people who love me and trust me more than I trust myself at times.
We drove to JFK and I knew things were going to be rough when Orion threw up in the parking lot. He threw up 3 more times on the plane, the woman sitting next to us in my Ex’s seat was very pleasant about the whole thing. I couldn’t help wishing that she was with us, her backing out on the Iceland trip was really hard on me. I knew that I would have to find a way to deal with it as soon as possible, otherwise it would do nothing but interfere with Orion and I having a good time together. There was serious rifts that had come between Orion and I between his struggles in public school. No matter what came I knew I had to be focused and present for him throughout the entire trip, whatever sacrifices that meant that I would have to make for myself.
Orion and I have discovered a French Canadian paradise a mere 25 hours north of here. For 2 weeks we spent every day playing on the beach and having amazing adventures all over the island. We discovered an abandoned cargo ship, an island full of nesting baby birds, as well as countless caves all over the island.
We drove 10 hours to Acadia in Maine and had awesome Wild blueberry pancakes and my yearly lobster omelette at Jordans. Afterwards we hiked the Beehive trail (Precipice was closed) and then hung out on the beach for several hours. There was a baby seal that had climbed out to sun itself that was so adorable. I so wanted to club it, doesn’t everyone fantasize about clubbing baby seals? After chilling on the beach for several hours we setup and played a boardgame next to all my spraypaint art and I managed to sell several pieces.
We headed out to Canada and drove another 10 hours to the ferry. I setup my artwork on the ferry to sell, but the captain of the ship didn’t have such a good sense of humor about that. The ferry was huge, like a cruiseliner with 5 decks and a movie theater, arcade, cafeteria, bar and restaurant. The kids loved running around and playing hide and seek on the ship, and they had 5.5 hrs to do it. The ferry was insanely expensive, I paid $200 each way and Norman with his schoolbus paid almost $500 each way. We made arrangements to arrive a day early for a huge party. The first night was a huge party where almost everyone on the island attended. There was some fantastic Quebecian music that I loved dancing like a crazy person to. Everyone was super friendly, although many of the people I talked to who lived on the island spoke no English at all.
My friends for Montreal were planning a kiting trip to Fort DeSoto park on the gulf side of Florida for 10 days in January. I had been looking for an excuse to head south, Norman’s two children are about Orion’s age and I figured that he could learn some French from them and they could learn some English from us. The drive down was pretty uneventful except there was a serious snow storm from DC all the way to Florida. There were cars in the ditch everywhere, people in the south really have no idea how to drive when there is snow on the road. At times there was as much as 3 inches of snow on the freeway and some people still insisted on going 70 mph.
When we got to Florida it was amazing, there was sun and the ocean was beautiful. Although the wind was very light I very much enjoyed spending time with our new friends. At night we would sneak into Norm’s campsite and play boardgames with him and his children. Once of the smaller boys started getting a sore throat and fever early on in the week. I thought nothing of it really. Then we met another elderly kiter who talked about how he wasn’t kiting because of ‘some strange virus’ that going around giving everyone sore throats and making them tired. I had a sore throat since the day after we arrived so I figured I had gotten something from the kids and thought nothing of it. On the 4th day there I kited on Norman’s big 21 meter kite for several hours in the gulf. Orion was acting very sluggish and did not want to play with capture the flag with the other boys. I knew something was really wrong. That night was New Years Eve and so I went and parked the van in the middle of a residential neighborhood that was in the middle of having a huge New Years Eve bash. There was partying and fireworks for the better part of the night. That night my throat was so sore I couldn’t sleep. I knew something was very wrong. The next morning I used my cell phone to search for sore throats and gulf and although there was very little in the US mainstream media I was able to find articles like this that scared the crap out of me.
Of the 4 Burns I have attended, the 2010 burn was by far the best yet. The combination of having family, good weather, and camping with an RV for the first time added to the experience far more than I thought it would. It’s hard to imagine going back to Burning Man with nothing but a tent and sleeping under stranger’s trucks in the day once you’ve experienced the desert with the comfort of an RV.
My good friend Zoe who is Burning Man celebrity with her Pee Funnel Camp had previously lambasted me extensively online about being a parasite/tourist. This motivated me to bring my 12′ high glowing blue man costume and tons of empty IC tubes in my backpack on the plane. The idiots that worked with homeland security unpacked everything and then could not get it back in the backpack so they just haphazardly tied the sleeping bag and my thermarest pads on the outside of my backpack by one of the straps. It was a miracle it all got to Oregon in one piece. I had to pay an extra $25 for the privilege of having the airlines lose my luggage for 3 days, the airlines are getting downright intolerable.
Arriving in Oregon we spent most of the time preparing the camper for BM. I worked on 5 different bikes that all had flat tire, seized up cranks and rusted chains and got them so they all were ridable and had at least 3 or 4 gears that worked. We also went to the Oregon Caves National Monument and did the candlelight tour which everyone really enjoyed. We were late getting there and had to run the last 1/2 mile to make it there on time. Before we left I also got to see my sister paragliding. She has been working on her certification for 6 months now and she was so excited to be flying. It has been great to see Laura and Tim really focus on doing the things that make them happy for the last several years.
There was no piss on any toiletseat I used in my entire 2.5 weeks in Japan. Of all the things that struck me as odd in Japan, that one was the most unusual. After spending time in Japan you really begin to realize how rude and obnoxious people everywhere else really are. Folks are so polite in Japan that they will not even smoke and walk at the same time, no one uses their cell phones in public spaces, and when crammed into the subways together somehow people manage to not bump or touch their neighbors. Everywhere we went people would stare at Orion and I but would not say anything unless we spoke to them first. Everyone wanted to talk to us, but were too shy and polite. I remember on one train that was full of school kids in uniforms pretending to ignore us, I took the ketchup container out of my backpack and said ‘ketchup’ in a loud voice and the entire train car was in an uproar with everyone yelling ‘ketchup’. Within 2 minutes there were 20 cellphones snapping pictures of Orion and I with our arms around the local school kids.
Whenever I go on long trips I have so much time to THINK while driving. It’s amazing how words wind themselves around my mind and I think and think and think about what to write, how to make my adventures interesting, worth reading, engaging for others. I love that feeling of thinking about what I want to say before I say it, and the act of creation, when I write or draw it is the closest thing to sheer bliss I think I will find on this crazy planet.
The overwhelming feeling I had on this latest 2 week-long road trip adventure with Orion was one of Joy. I spent a lot of time remembering when I was young, going to school, keeping my head down, burying myself into books. Most of the time I spent intimidated, afraid, mostly of my peers, my teachers, my principle or my parents. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine that I would grow up and would be able to find and hold onto happiness. Through a brutal exercise regime and by avoiding sugars, meat, drugs and alcohol I have been able to find a lot of joy in this life. When I am on these trips with Orion we both spend most of the trip totally giddy. Orion is the best travel partner I have ever found. Although at night in bed he is all-elbows and knees every other aspect of my traveling experiences with him is just amazing.
Continue reading “Headed On Down To New Orleans With A Bike, Inflatable Kayak And Fun On The Mind.”
On Friday night I got home from work and tried to figure out what I was going to do that weekend. I had a bunch of commitments, but I really felt strongly like I should blow them off and go backpacking by myself for 3 days. When I sat at my computer looking at my Netflix movies piling up and thinking to myself “I really need to get around to watching those movies” that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I quickly packed my gear and by 10:00 I was on the road.
I slept in the minivan 1/2 way there and made it to the high peaks by about 9:00 the following morning. The Garden Lot was full, which is common on the weekends so I had to park at the airstrip a whooping 3 miles away and catch the shuttle. Basically the ordeal sucked, I had to wait for the 2nd shuttle, then they tried to shake me down for $3 for the shuttle and I didn’t bring any money with me. What do I need cash for if I’m hiking in the woods? I hit the trail by 11:00 up John’s Brook.
Orion and I had been planning on going to Acadia for the last 2 years and the time was finally right to take a week off and go. It was a fantastic trip filled with epic bike journeys to the top of mountains as well as several very difficult non-technical climbs that Orion did amazingly well on. The food in Maine was fantastic and we managed to have a great time despite the intense level of overcrowding that traveling to Maine in the peak of tourist season can bring.
The first day we spent 7 hours in the Boston Museum of science. There were some fantastic exhibits on Critter cams and Black holes as well as lots of other exhibits that Orion loved checking out. There was a robotic dog called Ibo and a touchscreen whiteboard where Orion showed off his Scratch programming skills by making an Octopus which consumed everyone else’s fish when it touched them then grew to take over the screen.
Awaken Spirit 
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