ON THE ROAD AGAIN

POST # 134

PONDEROSA PINE AT SHEVLIN PARK IN BEND OREGON



This morning I will be heading out on the road again, but this journey will be very short by comparison to last week's marathon from New Mexico.

The first leg of the trip is from Bend, Oregon on to Everett Washington for the night. From there it will be a short drive on Friday to Anacortes, to board the ferry to Sidney B.C., followed by a short bus ride to Victoria and finally a Greyhound bus to Nanaimo.

The purpose of this journey is to do a return house/pet sit with my feline friend, Piper the cat.

As one can see by the above photo, it will be a relaxed time indeed and my guess is that Piper is looking forward to it as much as I am. During my last visit with Piper, there was snow on the ground, but this time I will have fresh veggies to pick from the garden. That will be a treat.

For those interested who may have not listened to the radio show that I participated in, it can now be found archived at prn.fm Just go to the "shows" link, scroll down to the "Nature Bats Last" link and finally click on the show for August 19th. There are technical issues during about the first 15 minutes, but it improves after that. We talk about many things, including near term human extinction so it's not for the faint of heart.

Plus, just to make things even more interesting, I read this week that there is a senator in the US Senate

SENATOR BOB CORKER

who is sponsoring a bill called R.A.P.A which stands for Russian Aggression Prevention Act which if passed will take the world one step closer to nuclear war between the US and Russia. There are maniacs running the show in Washington DC and they seem to be hell bent on starting this nuclear war, and some of these maniacs even think that it is possible to win a nuclear war. A link to the article can be found here:http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-russian-aggression-prevention-act-rapa-a-direct-path-to-nuclear-war-with-russia/5397171

Foxes in the hen house, while everyone outside of the hen house are more interested in the latest "app" they can download onto their smartphone. Perhaps the maniacs will wipe us all out before climate chaos does but I'm not a betting man so I won't make any predictions.

And that's where things stand as of late August, 2014. Sometimes I am amazed that we've made it this far.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

BACK IN BEND AGAIN

POST # 133

Yesterday, around 5pm I arrived back in Bend, after my second two day drive marathon in a week. Total miles driven was 2810 (4522kms). It was a long journey but it went smoothly for the most part, and I am pleased that I went.

THE OPEN ROAD

Spending more time at the Mud Hut with my friends Guy and Sheila, and Mike and Karen was time well spent. I am grateful to have them as friends, and I am also grateful to have the ability and the means (at least for now) to make the trip. Pleasant memories of time spent there are now firmly lodged in my brain.

GIANT SEQUOIA TREE NEAR THE MUD HUT



Last Tuesday, was the "Nature Bats Last" radio show, on which I was a guest. Aside from some early technical glitches, it went well for the most part. The show will be archived at prn.fm for future listening. I checked the website this morning but it still hasn't been posted, however it should be there prior to next Tuesday.

It was difficult to say goodbye to these new friends of mine. We really haven't known each other very long, but I feel like I've known them my whole life. There is a connection that goes beyond just words, and it is wonderful. Precious moments with precious individuals.

The drive was long, however with my active brain, it was anything BUT boring. I love to be alone with my thoughts. But during the times that I wanted a distraction, the am/fm radio was there to surf through the channels. However in 2014 America, the selection of quality programming is slim indeed. Plenty of channels, but not plenty of content. One has the choice of basically three options, music, religion, or right wing talk show hosts, telling the population, that Muslims are taking over the world and they must be stopped. One guy yesterday even had the solution to America's problem. He suggested reopening all those abandoned factories in Detroit, tool them up to make more bombs and then go and "bomb the hell" out of those nasty people over there in Iraq and Syria. They're the problem, not America, was the consensus. And so, the mainstream media helps to promote the war machine. I could only listen for a while before I had to turn it off.

Driving through Nevada yesterday, I came across this sign.

It's just so comforting to know that they are testing nuclear devices for peaceful purposes. Really?? Nuclear=peaceful? Hmmmmmm!!!!!!!



So I am back here in Bend for about a week, and then it's off to Vancouver Island for my second visit with Piper the cat in Nanaimo. I'm looking forward to that.

Happy trails,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

MUD HUT VERSION 4.0

POST # 132

Tomorrow, I will begin my journey to New Mexico to visit my friend Guy Mcpherson, at his home he calls The Mud Hut, located in southwestern New Mexico. This will be my fourth visit hence the title of the blog.

THE MUD HUT



The journey will begin in Bend, Oregon where I am at the moment and it will take me through Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona before arriving in New Mexico. The distance according to google maps is 1353 miles (or 2177kms for all my Canadian and Aussie readers). I have rented a small car for the task at hand. I will admit that I do enjoy driving on lonely stretches of road with just my thoughts for company, so this promises to be a thoughtful adventure.

THE OPEN (THOUGHTFUL) ROAD SOMEWHERE IN NEVADA


The Thoughtful Wanderer will be in his element. However, driving in the summer through the states listed, will be like driving through a furnace of sorts. I expect to make it to a place called Beatty Nevada, on Friday, which is the approximate half way mark.

The plan is to start the second leg of my trip early on Saturday morning so that I can get through the Las Vegas sprawl before the traffic gets to heavy. I expect to arrive at my destination around 6pm, Saturday. Guy has some friends who live at a place called Mule Creek which is just up the road from the Mud Hut, so if all goes well, I will be stopping there for dinner, prior to my final destination.

With the continuing rapid break down of industrial civilization, and the ongoing climate chaos which ramps up more by the day, I felt that this may be my last opportunity to visit Guy and others, so I wanted to take advantage of the moment. Of course, the last time I was there, I said it might be my final visit, so it looks like I will be proven wrong. Be that as it may, it can't be too long in the future before the luxury of being able to move over vast distances with the use of fossil fuels, whether it is by car, train, bus or airplane will just be a long forgotten memory. All the more reason to enjoy each present moment to the fullest.

Guy has recently started a radio show on prn.fm and it airs every Tuesday at 5pm Pacific time. He has asked me to be a guest next Tuesday, August 19th, so for anyone interested in tuning in, please feel free to do so. If you can't catch the show live, it will be archived at guymcpherson.com or prn.fm for later listening pleasure.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

PS: Next week on August 21st, I will be on the road back to Bend, so I may or may not get the opportunity to write my blog, but it will be posted as soon as I am able.

TWO HOT DOGS PLUS ONE MORE BONEHEAD

POST # 131


The title says it all. It's been a long hot housesit here in Vancouver with my baby bonehead* friends Jackson and Peach. They're hot, I'm hot and it's hot outside. Too hot for this neck of the woods even at this time of the year. The forecast is for continued sunshine all next week.


I'm not surprised really. This is all part of the ongoing changes to be expected, now that climate chaos is underway. It could be worse. We could be in California, where it's been one long hot drought for many years now, and who knows, if that continues, then at some point, Canada might be finding itself with a bunch of Californian climate refugees. Now wouldn't that be interesting? LA British Columbia. No thanks.

As I write these words, fires are raging in the north, and Hawaii is bracing for a hurricane tonight followed by another one soon after. It's just one climate change event after the other. It's hard to keep up, but I do try my best.

The hot dogs are chilling out on the carpet at the moment, and the bonehead writing these words, is trying to stay cool after just arriving back from a bike ride along the seawall, where the water is a brownish red colour. It's been that way for the entire time I've been at this housesit. That can't be a good thing.

Soon I will be on my merry way again, this time heading down south of the border for a few weeks. Part of my journey will be through Nevada. Hmmm, Nevada in August. If I think this is hot, just wait until I get there.

The wandering continues.

Happy trails,

Paul

The Thoughtful Wanderer

*

Pachycephalosaurs were boneheads. This is from an exhibit at the Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller Alberta.

Baby boneheads. Actually, Peach and Jackson are much much cuter than these two, but when I googled "baby boneheads" this was the best I could come up with.