Movie Night

As I posted on Facebook yesterday… Even though I may not be blogging I have been filling notebooks with thoughts and feeling by hand… #oldschool…

Sister Mary Miserable might not have liked how sloppily they are scribbled in there… But I’m happy to be getting them out and on to paper… Eventually, most of them will be here and easy enough to read…

Looking back it was hard for me to take seriously someone whose knowledge of technology extended only as far as the overhead projector and the metal ruler she hid up her sleeve…

Enlightenment has never come by following rules made by men…

That being said… I want to share with you the movie I watched last night… Silent… And more than two hours long… I look forward to watching a new episode each night I am here…

Camped in the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) Lake Crowley Campground on the side of a mountain at more than 7000ft... The boys and I can touch the sky and walk on the clouds... 

Sitting quietly, the sunset and my RV parked behind me… I watched the moon rise over the mountains to my southeast… As the sunset behind the mountains to the north west of me, reflected off the clouds south and east… A magnificent movie screen projected on to the sky… Better than a night at the drive-in theatre… The shapes and the stories they told were subject only to what I imagined them to be…

Mesmerized I did not reach for pen, paper or the camera… Something told me as I saw into heaven that the moment was only for me and I didn’t want to miss a moment of it, by scribbling into a notebook in the dimming light or posting pictures to Facebook that would have not done the moment justice…

Was this what I was out here to see???   

As the sun finished setting and the movie screen finally went black… I sat for a few moments to ponder it and wait for the credits to roll…

During the entire movie, my RV parked behind me had blocked my direct view of the sunset…  As I walked back around it to the side door of the RV… The credits were rolling… In the dark sky before me were Jupiter and Venus… Closer in the night sky than they had been in 2000 years… Faint hints of orange were still farther off on the horizon…  

Peaceful and contentedly… I rousted Simon from the bed, moved JJ to his corner of it and crawled in to sleep… Life is good… And I am blessed… 

“Happy Trails to You… Until I Write Again…"

Comedy Back On The Grid… Day 2b…

Fruit for breakfast and lunch… Drinking lots of water… Too damn hot to be enjoyable…

Off the mountain… The heat and the flies were not pleasant for any of us… Even JJ wasn’t thrilled about going for a walk… Found a low cost RV park… Got a plug in… Got a shower… Running the AC… Sitting inside and writing while the boys take a nap…

WiFi here… I can post the first two blogs… 

Not cooking dinner ‘til the sun goes down… Breeze is actually a little better here… But still hot… Open the windows and just run fans tonight… Going to stay here ‘til Monday and figure out what’s next…

Going to have to go even higher or farther north or to the beach to escape the heat…

Time to post these blogs, the links on Facebook and let people know we are still alive… So for now I’ll say… “Happy Trails to You… Until I Write Again…

Comedy Off The Grid... Day 2a

Day 2a…

Most of this day’s blog was actually scribbled into a notebook yesterday as a random stream of consciousness, after I put the computer away for the day…

I will do my best to decipher the scribbles in no particular order and also update you on today’s interesting events in a seperate blog…

The incredible quiet… But since we are camped due north… The quiet is often pierced by flyovers from Edwards Air Force Base… Actually kind of cool…

Fears???

Bears… Haven’t seen any… Hope not to… Thought about writing a short story fiction about Simon fighting off a bear that wanted his dinner… But considering how much Simon loves food… It would be too believable to be good fiction…

Propane doesn’t burn as hot at this altitude… It took a long time to cook hotdogs…

Maybe I’m not cut out to be the “Grizzly Adams” kind of guy I thought I was…

Where did I feel safer??? Living on the beach in Ventura or on an isolated mountainside???

Watching JJ’s head as he smells and hears things… The other two are sleeping off dinner…

A short after dinner walk… Stayed within sight of the RV… Riley’s legs and it’s getting dark…

Hot… Dusty… No breeze and lots of flies…

Fighting the urge to sleep too early… Haven’t slept very well, since leaving the hospital… I will tonight… Exhausted… Mentally, Emotionally, Physically and Spiritually…

Reminding myself to stay in the moment... To enjoy the freedom of this moment… Thinking good thoughts… Not doom thoughts…

So hot dinner made me sick to my stomach…

There was a whole lot more scribbled into the notebook, but some of it I’m not ready to talk about yet… The deep thoughts will remain saved for now… Stay tuned I will…

So for now I’ll say… “Happy Trails to You… Until I Write Again…

Comedy Off The Grid... Day 1

Well, we didn’t get as early a start as I had planned… But we made it to Chimney Creek Campground about 12noon and pretty much had camp set up by 2pm… Things are pretty primitive, but as expected extremely quiet… I’ll be able to think lots of thoughts here and hopefully write most of them down… Not just of our camping trip, but also about recent hospital stay… So stay tuned…

Though also as expected there’s no cell or internet service… So there should be a good amount written by the time I can post these…

I hadn’t planned on the flies… I had planned on hiking naked… But now long sleeves and pants are a necessity… Hoping the breeze picks up to help keep the flies away and to cool things off… While cooler than Ramona and certainly the desert we drove through to get here… It is also a lot hotter than I anticipated it would be at 5700ft… I would rather write this in my underwear, than long sleeves and pants… Yes, I know I said I planned on hiking naked… But I never planned on sitting my bare ass on a wood bench to write this… I’ve had enough slivers in my ass sliding down the bannister of life… 

I’m sure the nights will be cooler… But we may look for a place even higher if the heat bothers the boys… So far they have marked the boundaries of our camp and while Riley and Simon now rest in the shade… JJ is reconnoitering farther away… We are all happy with Riley’s recovery… “The Comeback Kid” has done it again…

I mentioned the desert heat we drove through to get here… Unfortunately, there was no other direction to come from starting 5hrs south… I did find it interesting to see road signs for “Coldcock Whiskey” in a place you can sweat your balls off… Going to have to Google that when I get internet access again…

Death Valley was only 112miles to our east during our drive north on Route 395… We passed a place named Boron and just north of that a dirt “highway” called “Twenty Mule Train Hwy”… Nuclear cowboy visions danced in my head… I’m also pretty sure a famous cowboy said something about nuking an evil empire…

I’ve taken a few campsite pictures and plan on getting some during our morning hike tomorrow… They’ll all go up with these blogs, of course… But, NO Ladies… NOT pictures of me hiking naked…

There’s a High Fire Warning… So no open campfires are allowed… Which means the only open flame tonight will be the new bong I plan to “christen” with some of the bottled water I brought along… At 5700ft… We don’t need to be in Denver to be a “Mile High”…

Now the boys are telling me it’s time for their dinner… And yes, probably mine, too… So for now I’ll say… “Happy Trails to You… Until I Write Again…

The Thunder Walrus

Well, time for a quick new news update… Unlike the Beatles… I am NOT the Walrus… But I will be doing a call in to “The Thunder Walrus” radio show Friday May 24^th @ 1pm EDT (11am MDT/10am PDT)

You can follow this link to stream it live… http://www.bikerradiostation.com/ and like it on FB here… https://www.facebook.com/bikerradiostation/timeline

Old news updates… Still working through the Social Security Disability process…

But the good news… I have been approved for unemployment… A fitting thumb to the nose for the Ventura Harbor Patrol and Police Department… Since I left my part time job there after being threatened with arrest for “living in my vehicle”… It’s an RV asshole…

In my continued “No Time for Idiots” life… I’m thinking about sending them both a thank you note…

I will be producing a comedy show at the Ramona VFW Post Saturday May 16 @ 8pm and I’m still looking for someone to open with 30minutes in front of me… It’s a paid gig comics… PM me if you’re open…  

That’s it for now, faithful readers… Hope you can tune in Friday May 24^th @ 1pm EDT (11am MDT/10am PDT) to “The Thunder Walrus” radio show…

Stream it live @… http://www.bikerradiostation.com/

Directory Assistance

Waking from a 1hr power nap… A beautiful breeze blowing through the RV… The sky is a cloudless blue… The sun is bright but thanks to the breeze the temperature is comfortable…

I take a moment to remember where I am and what day it is… It’s a different life now… No time tables and schedules to adhere to… No rats to race in the maze of someone else’s idea of how life should be lived… Life is much better when there’s “No Vacation Necessary”…

A new life, a new phone, a new number… Annoyed last week when the old phone finally gave up its ghost… It’s a metaphor now for the life changes of the last two years…

Completely losing my old contact list… It’s been replaced by a much smaller list of only the important ones… Adding possibly the most important one yesterday… My best friend of 45yrs… A call to directory assistance leading to a surprise conversation… His home number unlisted… The only listing, his mom’s… The delightful conversation that followed leaving me with a warm spot in my heart and Paul’s home number…

Yes, the call that followed to Paul was almost as nice…    

The boys and I are still camped at the Ramona, CA VFW… I’m working there every morning in exchange for the electric hook up… The sense of community is strong here… It’s a “Where everyone knows your name” kind of place…  

The boys and I have been welcomed with open arms… The boys working the parking lot everyday greeting the regulars…

With the RV batteries on the charger… I had walked to and from the bank and supermarket yesterday… Today we drove to the laundromat… See the associated Facebook post… 

www.facebook.com/stevethenuclearguy/posts/10153169994228329?pnref=story

At tonight’s VFW post meeting we’ll be picking a date for a comedy show here next month… Tomorrow I’ll start working on material for the show and looking for an MC and Feature act…

If timed right with our next travels… I’m hoping to parley it into a comedy tour of VFW posts… Thanks for reading… 

The Adventure Continues...

Well… It’s been a while since we’ve talked my friends and faithful readers… Don’t think it’s due to life being boring… Quite the contrary…

As I wrote earlier our trip to Vegas was put on hold and to be honest I’m not sure if we’ll ever make that one…

As also written earlier during my annual physical this past January… The EKG revealed that I had an undiagnosed heart attack sometime last year… Doubting the diagnosis and doing some additional research I have come to the conclusion that it actually could have been possible and is very common…

That being said… On the advice of my doctor I have applied for and am now waiting for SS Disability… The years of death sentence work schedules while causing the damage may in the end pay off well…

Enough said about that… I have lost 15lbs since arriving in California and I’m working on losing another 5… Lots of walking… A change in diet and a fairly stress free life has definitely been agreeing with me…  

Fairly stress free… As my faithful readers know there were some issues between the “Keystone Patrol” and myself over my boys… Resolved and at least temporarily put aside…

Recently thinking that cancelling the trip to Vegas was one of my better decisions and that our life at the beach couldn’t be better… There were issues and I find it serendipitous that when it’s time for a change, life sends the message… Sometimes it’s whispered and we need to shut up long enough to hear it… Other times it screams it… This one was fairly loud…

As issues with the “Keystone Patrol” resurfaced and the recent inclusion in the equation of the Ventura PD to rid the beach of RVers… The Universe reminded me this adventure the boys and I are on isn’t meant to be lived in a comfort zone of familiarity or big cities…

So spending this past week prepping for another trip… I turned in my marina security keys… Thankful for the job while it lasted… Ironically I was working for a retired Submarine Commanding Officer… We said goodbye to some friends at the beach yesterday and headed inland and south to Ramona, CA… Northern San Diego County… 2000ft higher in elevation than sea level at the beach… Significantly less humidity… A definite plus… We are in the foothills of the Laguna Mountains in southern California… A beautiful small town… A combination of paved and gravel roads… Farming community…

We’re camped at least temporarily at the VFW… An old Navy buddy living here and a member of the local post even setting us up with an electric hook up…

Next week I will look for some part time work and we will most likely be headed to the local county park to camp there… Camping for free in exchange for 20hrs/wk of volunteer work doing grounds keeping at the park… What a wonderful life for my boys…

The traffic was insane on the drive here… Due to the unfortunate need to get south of LA on the Friday of a holiday weekend… The final leg of the trip through winding, mountain roads and arriving at the VFW yesterday evening for a fish fry dinner and some beers reminding me how much I love small town America…

The bright lights of the casinos and comedy show rooms are nice… But I certainly don’t want to live there… The down home feel of a fish fry dinner, some beers and the locals singing Karaoke… Really made for a wonderful night… 

A roast beef dinner and maybe more Karaoke at the post is on tap for tonight… No, I won’t sing…

Our adventure finally clearly defined… It’s all about this now… The travels… The people we meet along the way… The lives we touch and those that touch ours… We’ve already met so many who have fallen in love with the boys… We’ll miss them as much as they miss us… If comedy opportunities present themselves… Well, they’ll be considered and performing in the small towns of America has always been more fun than the “A” rooms of the big cities anyway… The people there always happy and grateful for the entertainment opportunity… They come out to have fun with no airs of pretention…

Yes, Pultneyville… I miss you…

Eventually… We will head north again… Taking our time… I would like to spend at least a few days camped on the ocean at San Onofre State Beach and we’ll head up the coast… I think we’ll drive through LA at night next time… But with no clock or calendar to adhere to… Life is good when… There’s “No Vacation Necessary”…