NIGHT FALL BY FIRE LIGHT.
Before I go to bed, heck, before I get any drunker, or before these batteries die in the spare flashlight, I want to at least document the rest of my Tuesday. Plus, I really, really have to pee and cannot leave the campfire burning to do so. It’s cold out here, people!
We were pulling down the I-5, I was alternately nodding off to sleep and taking odd pictures of stuff I found to be amusing on the road, like a trailer that read “TWT” along the back, or pictures of the grungy Oregon country-side, or shots of logging trucks, as my Oregon is for Loggers tag was still pretty funny to both Jay and I. So we finally leave the I-5 behind and got onto the 99 that took us into Northern California, right into the heart of Redwood Country, and I mean the big ones. We stop at an information rest area and pick up some maps and information and I got to take a pee and use those neat high-powered air blowers. But someone who was on the toilet was smoking a cigarette, so I left quickly. Gross. Also, on a side note, I tossed the rest of the French fries I got at the DQ in Crescent City as I didn’t want them anymore, the hot fudge sundae I bought was quite good enough and I was plenty full of crap food by that point.
So anyway, we got directions and headed back 2 miles to Hitoshi or something like that to catch the road that lead to one of the big ol’ Redwood Groves. The houses were riverside and beautiful to see, but the trees, man, the trees!! Jay and I parked and hiked a few miles in and the trees kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger…Amazing. Stunning. Primordial. Antediluvian. Spiritual. No words can truly encapsulate the majesty and scale of these ancient gods, these unexplainable skyscrapers. The average height of these trees was 300 feet, so, just to give you some perspective, the height of the Statue of Liberty is only 305 feet. Take that, Frenchies!! We hiked for a while, snapping shots, touching and worshipping in quiet ways as we moved through the forest, breathlessly marveling. The phallus of the Earth, who knew that Mother Nature was a hermaphrodite? Me, that’s who.
We completed the Stout Loop and then drove the Howling Hill Road until we reappeared in civilization at the Elk Casino, on the coast on Humboldt Road. The fog was intense at this point, blotting out the hills and the surrounding forest, the ocean air mingling with the forest breezes to create an impenetrable white blanket that we couldn’t see through. Just then, we were blessed to spy two bounding mule deer (one young buck who stared at us with little Pan-horns until he felt safe enough to run away) crossing the road as we left the giant trees behind us.
We ended up at Mill Creek and paid for a night’s stay, resting at Site 142. A gorgeous campground, each of the 145 campsites are self-contained, a private camp area complete with a fire ring, parking space, a food storage lock-up and a picnic table. The grounds themselves are replete with amenities absent from Cougar Springs. Fresh, accessible water from a pump, clean restrooms, firewood for sale, even private showers and an amphitheater for entertainment, all within a short walk. A very short walk. It is taking all my self-control to NOT play the DIDGE or the singing bowl right now, but it IS the middle of the night and I am surrounded by sleeping vacationers.
So Jay and I set up the Walrus and got dinner going (Backpacker’s Pantry Pad Thai, sliced bread and a granola bar was dinner, and it couldn’t have been more delicious) and then I looked over the campground map and it was then that I spotted the amphitheater. I figured since we were hauling these Chad Didges to JT I thought it would be nice to do some playing, so once Jay returned from the restroom I was already warming up to aurally entice him to join me. We broke out the matching Butler Pair and headed down to cross the bridge, eliciting many stares and “Wow’s!” along the way. We got to the spot and it was simply awesome. About a dozen rows of wood-carved seating facing a small steppe that was ringed with giant Redwood stumps, coated in shaggy green moss. We started playing after testing the area for sweet spots and Jay, for a lark, wanted to a quick video of me playing and then panning around to the empty seats, like I was giving a performance for no one. It was comical, but then we both started playing and when we looked up again, two people were sitting in the very back. We finished the jam and the couple bounded to the front and the woman said, “Great! So, explain those to me.” Jay stepped up and gave the mini performative-lecture and they encouraged us to play more. I then did a lengthy solo with my eyes closed, as is my wont, and when I looked up, four more people had appeared to listen. We then found out that the entertainment for the evening was cancelled, as it had been for the past three evenings, so inadvertently/advertently, Jay and Jason were on the program. We WERE the program. Why not, it was always good to practice.
(SIDENOTE: It is bear-country out here and, as I write this by the fire/flashlight, I am ever vigilant of bears creeping around. I keep hearing noises and shine the light around, just to be sure, plus, with the alcohol and prescription meds kicking in, I am uber-paranoid. Plus, I am on fire detail, so I can’t leave the ring unattended, and I have to pee, and listening/evesdropping on the neighboring couple argue is simply too much fun. “Well, F**k your vision,” the female voice says. The male voice is unintelligible, but then she replies, “Just get the [unintelligible] and shut up.” Too bad. I only wish I had someone who cared about me enough to tell me to shut up. I am lonely. But enough about that. I keep hearing the weirdest noises, like people grunting and growling off in the distance, and like a horse neighing and folks snoring. Weird. Okay, back to this evening.)
Here we are, the two of us playing didgeridoo for an ever-growing crowd of perfect strangers, and as we play on into dusk I can see flashes going off through my closed eyelids as pictures of our DIDJERIDUET are taken. The crowd now fills half the audience and we start taking questions from them, then Jay has me solo again, just like before the crowd showed up, and then takes a second video, only this time including the audience. No more jokes. We turned into serious Camper-tainers that day, just like the KOA wants. We should have gotten a refund on our camping fee. Oh well. So after a lot of playing we stopped, as it was now getting quite dark and the mosquitoes were coming at us in full force. A few people approached us to ask us more questions and as we wandered back to our site many people thanked us. It was really quite nice.
So we got a fire going, make some drinks, and hung around talking until, you guessed it, Jay went to bed and I stayed up babysitting the fire and writing (plus I stole a vicodin to keep my spirits up, a boy’s gotta do something when he can’t get high you know). Now I’m sitting in Jay’s camping chair listening to the night sounds of campfire antics and soon, I too will retire for the evening. Jay and I plan on visiting the Coastal Redwood Band all day tomorrow and will head towards Sacramento, I might just spring for a hotel if we get far enough. I could really use a shave. Good Night.
We were pulling down the I-5, I was alternately nodding off to sleep and taking odd pictures of stuff I found to be amusing on the road, like a trailer that read “TWT” along the back, or pictures of the grungy Oregon country-side, or shots of logging trucks, as my Oregon is for Loggers tag was still pretty funny to both Jay and I. So we finally leave the I-5 behind and got onto the 99 that took us into Northern California, right into the heart of Redwood Country, and I mean the big ones. We stop at an information rest area and pick up some maps and information and I got to take a pee and use those neat high-powered air blowers. But someone who was on the toilet was smoking a cigarette, so I left quickly. Gross. Also, on a side note, I tossed the rest of the French fries I got at the DQ in Crescent City as I didn’t want them anymore, the hot fudge sundae I bought was quite good enough and I was plenty full of crap food by that point.
So anyway, we got directions and headed back 2 miles to Hitoshi or something like that to catch the road that lead to one of the big ol’ Redwood Groves. The houses were riverside and beautiful to see, but the trees, man, the trees!! Jay and I parked and hiked a few miles in and the trees kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger…Amazing. Stunning. Primordial. Antediluvian. Spiritual. No words can truly encapsulate the majesty and scale of these ancient gods, these unexplainable skyscrapers. The average height of these trees was 300 feet, so, just to give you some perspective, the height of the Statue of Liberty is only 305 feet. Take that, Frenchies!! We hiked for a while, snapping shots, touching and worshipping in quiet ways as we moved through the forest, breathlessly marveling. The phallus of the Earth, who knew that Mother Nature was a hermaphrodite? Me, that’s who.
We completed the Stout Loop and then drove the Howling Hill Road until we reappeared in civilization at the Elk Casino, on the coast on Humboldt Road. The fog was intense at this point, blotting out the hills and the surrounding forest, the ocean air mingling with the forest breezes to create an impenetrable white blanket that we couldn’t see through. Just then, we were blessed to spy two bounding mule deer (one young buck who stared at us with little Pan-horns until he felt safe enough to run away) crossing the road as we left the giant trees behind us.
We ended up at Mill Creek and paid for a night’s stay, resting at Site 142. A gorgeous campground, each of the 145 campsites are self-contained, a private camp area complete with a fire ring, parking space, a food storage lock-up and a picnic table. The grounds themselves are replete with amenities absent from Cougar Springs. Fresh, accessible water from a pump, clean restrooms, firewood for sale, even private showers and an amphitheater for entertainment, all within a short walk. A very short walk. It is taking all my self-control to NOT play the DIDGE or the singing bowl right now, but it IS the middle of the night and I am surrounded by sleeping vacationers.
So Jay and I set up the Walrus and got dinner going (Backpacker’s Pantry Pad Thai, sliced bread and a granola bar was dinner, and it couldn’t have been more delicious) and then I looked over the campground map and it was then that I spotted the amphitheater. I figured since we were hauling these Chad Didges to JT I thought it would be nice to do some playing, so once Jay returned from the restroom I was already warming up to aurally entice him to join me. We broke out the matching Butler Pair and headed down to cross the bridge, eliciting many stares and “Wow’s!” along the way. We got to the spot and it was simply awesome. About a dozen rows of wood-carved seating facing a small steppe that was ringed with giant Redwood stumps, coated in shaggy green moss. We started playing after testing the area for sweet spots and Jay, for a lark, wanted to a quick video of me playing and then panning around to the empty seats, like I was giving a performance for no one. It was comical, but then we both started playing and when we looked up again, two people were sitting in the very back. We finished the jam and the couple bounded to the front and the woman said, “Great! So, explain those to me.” Jay stepped up and gave the mini performative-lecture and they encouraged us to play more. I then did a lengthy solo with my eyes closed, as is my wont, and when I looked up, four more people had appeared to listen. We then found out that the entertainment for the evening was cancelled, as it had been for the past three evenings, so inadvertently/advertently, Jay and Jason were on the program. We WERE the program. Why not, it was always good to practice.
(SIDENOTE: It is bear-country out here and, as I write this by the fire/flashlight, I am ever vigilant of bears creeping around. I keep hearing noises and shine the light around, just to be sure, plus, with the alcohol and prescription meds kicking in, I am uber-paranoid. Plus, I am on fire detail, so I can’t leave the ring unattended, and I have to pee, and listening/evesdropping on the neighboring couple argue is simply too much fun. “Well, F**k your vision,” the female voice says. The male voice is unintelligible, but then she replies, “Just get the [unintelligible] and shut up.” Too bad. I only wish I had someone who cared about me enough to tell me to shut up. I am lonely. But enough about that. I keep hearing the weirdest noises, like people grunting and growling off in the distance, and like a horse neighing and folks snoring. Weird. Okay, back to this evening.)
Here we are, the two of us playing didgeridoo for an ever-growing crowd of perfect strangers, and as we play on into dusk I can see flashes going off through my closed eyelids as pictures of our DIDJERIDUET are taken. The crowd now fills half the audience and we start taking questions from them, then Jay has me solo again, just like before the crowd showed up, and then takes a second video, only this time including the audience. No more jokes. We turned into serious Camper-tainers that day, just like the KOA wants. We should have gotten a refund on our camping fee. Oh well. So after a lot of playing we stopped, as it was now getting quite dark and the mosquitoes were coming at us in full force. A few people approached us to ask us more questions and as we wandered back to our site many people thanked us. It was really quite nice.
So we got a fire going, make some drinks, and hung around talking until, you guessed it, Jay went to bed and I stayed up babysitting the fire and writing (plus I stole a vicodin to keep my spirits up, a boy’s gotta do something when he can’t get high you know). Now I’m sitting in Jay’s camping chair listening to the night sounds of campfire antics and soon, I too will retire for the evening. Jay and I plan on visiting the Coastal Redwood Band all day tomorrow and will head towards Sacramento, I might just spring for a hotel if we get far enough. I could really use a shave. Good Night.