Captain's Blog - The Black Hills - Part 1

Thursday, September 4
Alex and I set out for South Dakota. We know we won't make it all the way there in one day so we plan to spend the night in Gillette, Wyoming. It's a pretty unremarkable drive through Rock Springs, Rawlins and a quick stop in Wright, Wyoming to snap a photo. I didn't know that it existed before driving through it!

We arrive in Gillette around 6 pm and find a great park in the middle of town. We go for a long walk with Bailey  (Alex's dog)and then make some dinner in the van. We also get our bed made up so we can quietly park behind the Best Western for the night. The hotel is full of gas line workers and turns out to be not so quiet - but we sleep pretty well despite the trains and trucks roaring past us.

Friday, September 5
We have breakfast at a freaky cafe across from the Best Western. It's a huge place but feels unfinished and ghost town like. There are only a few hunter type guys there getting their fill of meat and eggs. Breakfast is just ok but the coffee sure tastes good. We both love having a good breakfast on the road and it's usually the only meal we take in a restaurant while traveling.

We drive to Devil's Tower - a place I have always wanted to see in person. It has always seemed sort of ghostly and huge in pictures and of course we relate it to alien visits ever since Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  I didn't realize that it was such a sacred spot to Native people until today.  We spend a few hours there and take the walk that goes all the way around the tower - about 3/4 of a mile. I am amazed at the smoothness of the rock and height of the tower. We watch people climbing the tower with ropes and pulleys. Apparently this is not a welcome activity to the Native people. It seems to go against the sacredness of the place. There are prayer bundles tied to many trees around the tower left as offerings to the spirits of the place. I love seeing the bundles of tobacco tied with colored fabric that represents the four directions.

It's not a long drive to Spearfish, South Dakota from Gillette and we arrive in the afternoon. We scout out a campground that looks good in town and then head over to the Holiday Inn where the gathering of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers is being held. I had no idea what to expect but when we arrive there are about 300 people in a large conference room and some speakers on stage just finishing a session. They announce that Grandmother Agnes will do a water blessing ceremony in a few minutes. So perfect because Grandma Aggie is who I came to see. I was blessed to know her through organizing the Dalai Lama event earlier this year. She was one of our wonderful speakers.

The International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers is an international alliance of indigenous female elders that focuses on issues such as the environment, internationalism, and human rights. They gather once a year in some part of the world to talk about these issues and it feels like a huge honor to get to be there. 

I speak with Grandma Aggie and her daughter Nadine and they are so happy and surprised to see me there. We stay for the beautiful water blessing and then go to check in at the campground. They tell us there is a music and food festival in downtown Spearfish so we go and check it out. There is a really good feeling in this town. I like it here already. 

Saturday, September 6
We have a wonderful evening and a good sleep at Chris' Campground. The next morning we have a hot shower and I make eggs with toast and coffee in the van before we head out to the Black Hills. We have a great day exploring sweet historic little towns like Deadwood, Lead, Hill City and then on to Mt. Rushmore. I loved seeing it for the first time. It's rather surreal....those 4 faces carved into a mountain high above...there have of course been all sorts of touristy things set up around it - motels, ziplines, helicopter tours, cute little stores selling Native American wares (probably made in China). The scene at Mt Rushmore is interesting. It feels like an international gallery as you walk though a huge open air hallway with flags of each state represented. A real American stopping place. There is a great museum with all the interesting history of how and why this monument was created. I enjoy myself very much there. The weather was gorgeous and I felt happy to be alive and on the road having adventures. 

We make a beeline back to Spearfish so we can be there in time for the evening Pow Wow at the Grandmothers gathering. We arrive for the Navajo taco dinner and the pow wow starts around 8 pm. We meet interesting people as we wait together and when

the pow wow starts it feels exciting and very special. The drums play and the men sing a deep rich song that makes my heart beat in time with the voices. The All Nations Dance is announced and all Native Americans come into the circle and dance together. So beautiful to watch.....later just the woman are asked to dance with the Grandmothers leading. They invite all the women in the room to join and of course I do. What an amazing experience to be there, dancing with all these people - here for the same reason. To unite in the spirit of peace and community and take in the wisdom of the 13 indigenous grandmothers. Wow...

Sunday morning giving back

Sunday July 20, 2014

Julian comes to stay with me on Saturday evening. Just in time for a bath and bedtime. He plays hard all day long and it's been a very hot summer. In the morning I tell him we can go to McDonald's for pancakes, which he is really happy about. When we finish our breakfast, we order 20 breakfast burritos to go. We head to downtown Ogden and St. Anne's Shelter for homeless individuals. There are a few people outside and we ask if they would like some breakfast. Julian seems a little scared - and I can't blame him too much. It's a pretty dirty neighborhood and everyone outside is smoking and looking pretty ragged. He watches as I chat with the woman who sit on the curb. They tell me about the programs here at St. Anne's and at Salvation Army and the soup kitchen nearby. They are very kind women and they are genuinely happy for the short visit and little food that we share.

We drive over to the city park where a lot of people from the shelter are hanging out. There was a Farmers Market here the day before and there is a lot of debris around and cleanup to be done. It's still pretty early in the morning and people there seem tired.

There are a few people sitting near the playground and I hand Julian some food and tell him to ask if they would like some. He's a little timid at first, but when he sees the huge smiles on people's faces, he warms up too. We hand out all the burritos that we have and then we see one man sitting by himself across the park who didn't get any food. Alex hands Julian some money and tells him to offer it to the man. Julian does a hop-skip over to the man and happily holds out his hand with some dollars. The man smiles up at him from his place under a tree and says "God bless you, son."

Captain's Blog - Lava Hot Springs Girls Weekend

After having the date on the calendar for what seems like forever, it's time to break in the Dream Machine with some beautiful goddess energy.

My friends of 20+ years, sisters Amber and Trieste arrive in Ogden so we can climb in the van for a short trip to Lava Hot Springs, just over the Idaho border. It's a place we've all been many times before, but not all together.

I've told them to pack light and they arrive with just the essentials: vodka, fresh watermelon and cherries, red wine, tarot cards, good snacks, underwear and toothbrush. We are all so excited for this little journey together. We've been on many journeys together in the last 20 years and here's another one for the books.

We head North on 1-15, chatting and talking and before we know it, we've crossed into Idaho. We stop for lottery tickets, gas and more wine and head into Lava. We check in at the River's Edge campground and find that the space we reserved is taken by someone. We try to work it out with the woman in the office, but she just seems confused. We go on a scouting mission to find another spot and when we return, different woman is working in the office and she tells us of another, more remote spot that we may like. We go to take a look and it is perfect. Away from the rest of the campers and their kids, boats, inner tubes, bikes, toys and noise. Um...yes, please. We ask the woman her name and she says it's Karma. Of course.

We pull into our space, level the van, pull out the awning, set up our chairs and our paper lanterns, pull out the snacks and begin to manifest what we know is going to be a magical time together. We laugh and say "now if someone would just come and light our fire, and if someone else will bring us food, all will be perfect."

Later, Amber and Trieste go to the office to get some firewood while I make up the beds. We are hours away from wanting to sleep, but I know it will be important to have it ready when we're ready :). Soon, the girls come back with Shawn, the owner of the campground, in his golf cart with the wood. Shawn helps start the fire and we have a nice chat.

We sit around the fire for a few hours, laughing about so many things, gut aching from the force of it, permanent smiles on our faces, and we decide that some pizza would be so delicious. Trieste calls the local pizza place and soon the sweet girl is pulling up with a hot pizza in hand. Delivered right to our campsite. Ahhhhh....pizza never tasted so good.

About midnight, we all crawl in the bed that I've made. I put the two twin mattresses together with a blown up air mattress in between and we sleep three across. We sleep like 3 silly little bugs in a rug and none of us hardly move - we are so comfortable...

Sunday morning we have breakfast at a local diner. Delicious mimosas, hot coffee and eggs. Delightful. We do some shopping and I find the perfect drum. A very small djembe style drum, just right for traveling with.  Trieste finds some wonderful wooden furniture for her Sundance cabin and Amber finds the perfect green, heart shaped stone. We have a great time and all is right with the world in Lava. We spend the afternoon at our campsite, talking and laughing and taking photos while staying cool from the 95 degree heat. At dusk we head over the hot springs at the hotel across the street. We have a magical time floating, relaxing, talking.....a man named Brian keeps trying to talk with us about all things metaphysical but he's not making a whole lot of sense. He lets us know that he will be in room number 9 if we need him for anything. Bless his heart.

We trip back to the van around midnight, dripping with healing water, feeling like freshly cooked spaghetti and we fall into our beds. We sleep like 3 babies in a crib and wake up feeling great. We lay and laugh and talk until we decide it's time for breakfast at the Wagonwheel cafe down the street.  Nothing better than eggs, potatoes and home made wheat toast and raspberry jam on a Monday morning. And delicious hot coffee with cream and sugar. With tummies full, we buy a few more scratch tickets at the liquor store and make our way back to the van so we can pack up and head back to Utah.

Thank you ladies, for infusing your beautiful energy into the Dream Machine. The Gypsy Van. The Alternate Rialta. Here's to many more adventures together!

 

Captain's blog-Trippin' Through Colorado, Part 2

Sunday, July 6, 2014
We wake up in a parking lot near the Wanderlust Festival. A nice woman had told us about the isolated lot in the mountains of Snowmass where no one would mind if we parked for the night. It was a peaceful night with a sky full of stars - until the dogs started howling. It sounded as if there was a doggy prison and at least one hundred dogs would start to moan and howl throughout the night. It turned out that it was a sled dog organization where dogs were kept, but man those dogs sounded so sad....my dreams were full of down doggies. And not the kind we find in yoga....

We pack up our van and decide to head in the direction of Steamboat Springs. We drive up and over Independence Pass, one of the most beautiful and green mountain passes I've ever been on. When we get to the top, we are over 12,000 feet. I'm really feeling it now...we get out to take a walk and I can barely breathe....my feet feel like lead and someone is sitting heavy on my chest. But it is truly magnificent. There is still snow and some people are hiking up (how?) to slide down on the crusty white snow.

We drop down into Twin Lakes and stop to check out the cute little historic town. We talk with the man in the visitors center and go see his wife across the street at the art gallery. I'm still feeling pretty dizzy and dopey from the drive and she gives me delicious hot tea. The grey sky starts to sprinkle some cooling rain and it feels so good. We drive on and end up in Frisco, Colorado where we spend the night. After a few days on the road, we decide it's time for a cheap hotel room, a hot shower and a good long rest.

Monday, July 7
We arrive in Steamboat Springs around noon, find a shady place to park and walk around town. We collect some visitor guides and Alex decides to get a haircut at a little barber shop. We find a lovely park next to the Yampa river, take out our chairs and sketch pads and spend some time drawing what we see. This has been a wonderful thing that we do on the road, and a great time to bring some artistic vision into what we are experiencing.

We go back to the main street and find a restaurant with excellent food and enjoy lunch outside while talking to some locals. They tell us about a wonderful place called Strawberry Hot Springs and tell us we must spend some time there. We head up the steep, windy dirt road and finally end up in the parking lot. We pay our $12 and walk down a steep dirt trail to the most wonderful water experience I might have ever had. Sweet little pools of varying temperatures, teepees, cabins and chairs surrounding them, and the best vibe ever.
We were graced by a beautiful sunset and as the sky grew darker and filled with

twinkling stars, we got even more relaxed. More people filled the pool and it felt like a dreamy playland. All of the sudden we were starved and went to the van to fix some dinner. After filling our bellies, it was time to sleep. But where? We couldn't stay in the parking lot so went to scout another location. A local policeman told us there was no overnight camping in the parks in the city limits so we tucked in behind the Comfort Inn and have a nice sleep. In the morning, we head over to one of the many parks along the river, make delicious hot coffee and scrambled eggs with peppers and cheese and enjoy the new day.

Tuesday, July 8
It's time to head back to Ogden, so we point the van in that direction. We drive on highway 40 through Craig, Maybell and cross the border into Dinosaur and Vernal, where we turn north to drive by Flaming Gorge, hit highway 80 at Rock Springs and are back in Ogden by 4 pm.

Another amazing adventure in the Dream Machine!

Captain's Blog - Trippin' Through Colorado - Part 1

Friday, July 4th

Alex and I pack up the van and head towards Aspen, Colorado for the Wanderlust yoga festival. One of our favorite musicians, MC Yogi is playing on Saturday at 6 pm and that's really about all we know. And that neither of us have ever been to Aspen, so it will be a fun journey.

We don't leave Ogden until about 3 pm and it's about 446 miles to Aspen. (The day before we volunteered at the Michael Franti Soulshine yoga and concert event in Salt Lake City and didn't get home until 1 am. It was a great experience!).


We hit the road and head toward Vernal, Utah. We stop for gas just outside of Duchesne and on the wall of the gas station is a flyer for an Indian pow wow happening nearby and I tell Alex I've never been to one. As we drive up the road, we start to see long lines of cars going to the event and decide to stop and check it out. Just as we walk into the main area, the Calling All Nations event was beginning. We are some of the only white people there, and as the hundreds of Native American Indian people filed into the grounds in their full regalia, I sit on the ground and begin to cry. It was one of the most beautiful and sacred things I have ever witnessed. Stunningly beautiful costumes, drums beating in time with my ancient heart and people singing and chanting....I feel so very blessed to be there. After I gather my composure, we walk around and look at wonderful crafts and I purchase a beautiful dreamcatcher for the van. We munch on delicious Navajo tacos and roasted corn and leave the grounds just as it's getting dark.   We end up sleeping at the visitor center/rest area in Jensen, Utah just outside of Dinosaur National Monument. We have a wonderful sleep and wake up feeling rested and ready for adventure.

Saturday, July 5th
We get an early start and head down highway 139 to I-70 where we head east through Grand Junction, Rifle, then a left at highway 82 through Carbondale and Basalt and finally roll into beautiful Aspen around 2 pm. It is hot as hell. We find a shady place to park the van and stretch our legs walking through town. We ask the visitors center about the Wanderlust event, where to park, and I ask if they know a good place to park the van overnight. There is a woman there who tells us about a parking lot near the event that is out of the way and no one would bother us there (and more importantly, we wouldn't bother anyone else) for the night. So nice when that happens.

Aspen is high up in the Rockies and I am definitely feeling it. We drive to Snowmass, just outside of Aspen and climbed even higher to this little ski resort town. There are lots of yogis everywhere and the event is a huge, corporate 'do. We walk around looking at the many booths selling shirts, yoga mats, Ganesh statues, books, vegan food, flow-y yoga pants, music, water, and so much else. It is a little overwhelming and I am a little high from the altitude. We buy our tickets for the show, get our chairs out of the van and settle in for some great music. MC Yogi and DJ Drez are fantastic. We have seen MC Yogi several times and had the pleasure of practicing yoga with he and his wife Amanda in Provo and at their studio in Pt. Reyes, California.


More people start to arrive for the next two bands, Nahko and Medicine For The People and Jurassic 5. We really enjoy Medicine For The People and the beautiful vibe that is flowing forth. Everyone is dancing and swaying, happy and smiling.



There is a long period of time before the main group, Jurassic 5 and more and more people are filling the hillside. There is so much (now legal) marijuana in the air and the vibe is changing. The hippy-dippy tattooed yogis are gone and young soldiers of party town show up with pipes filled, edibles eaten and dancing shoes on......

The Gypsy Van Captain's Blog

Most of you who read my blog know that I purchased a 1998 Eurovan/Winnebago a few months back. It's been an amazing gift in my life and I love being in it. My partner, Alex has been instrumental in getting her all fixed up and road ready and has been a great and very fun travel pal.

The Pearl Suite

I wanted to create a "Captain's Blog" of our travels - so here goes. We've already had such incredible journeys and put more than 5,000 miles on the van. I may go back and write about those here but for now I'll start with our last trip.

Saturday, June 28.

The Ebony Suite

We are getting very good at being able to throw what we need in the van and make a quick getaway. We decide to drive to McCammon, Idaho for the grand opening of my cousin's hotel. He has purchased a building that was built in 1901 and sat empty for many years and created an incredible boutique hotel with 8 rooms. It's now called The Harkness Hotel. We were there a few weeks back and could not believe that he would be ready for the grand opening this weekend. There was still so much to do. But with the help of his large extended family who worked with him 24 hours a day for the last several weeks - they had a great opening. More than 1,000 people came to support them. I'm so glad we went.

Later that evening, we drove to Lava Hot Springs for a soak in the famous healing waters. We walked around town for a bit and the place was buzzing with energy. Live music on the street, a vendor selling buddha statues, drums, incense and banners, a line outside the ice cream store a block long...

The Harkness Hotel

We went to the main the hot tubs and it was a madhouse. Way too many people and it didn't look at all relaxing. We went down to the Lava Hot Springs hotel where they have their own pools and it was a much better scene. Beautiful pools of different temperatures, a man playing guitar, a huge cockatoo named Peru watching over things and lovely people. We stayed until they closed at 11 pm. I have not felt so relaxed and happy in many weeks, it seems. It was so sweet.

We grabbed a quick shower and headed back to McCammon in the van. We parked at the small rodeo grounds near clean new bathrooms and buttoned up our van for the night, made our comfy bed and crawled in. It's called boondocking - parking someplace for the night with no plug in, no sewer line....and we're getting really good at that too. If we're not going to have the whole "camping" experience of a campground and stay for several hours (or days), we just find a nice safe place to sleep where we won't disturb anyone. It was lovely to walk around the town the next day. So small and quiet on a Sunday morning. We went to The White Wolf diner for good hot coffee, eggs and toast and then we were on our way.

Yummy breakfast

We decided to drive the back way to Maple Grove Hot Springs outside of Preston, Idaho. The road to the hot springs was dirt, rutted and intense. Not really a good fit for our low-to-the-ground van, but it was in such a beautiful valley with the Bear River running through it. We had a nice visit with the current owner and his wife. They plan to make it a healing retreat space, complete with raw food restaurant and a yoga space. They have 8 camping spots, two trailers and two yurts along with one small cabin for rent. It is very much in a state of change and I'm sure in the future it will be amazing. We decided not to spend the night, but put it on our list of places to visit in the future.

We drove toward Logan, Utah on our way home but then looked at a map and decided to take a back road over James Peak and drop down to Eden and Huntsville which is on the east side of the Ogden valley. Probably not a great plan - as the road turned out to be mostly used by 4 wheel drive vehicles and ATV's. Definitely not a place for our *not* off road van. It was a 13 mile stretch that took us over an hour to complete. We were quite shaken and rattled to the core when we got down the mountain but the views were absolutely stunning. What an adventure. We stopped at the park in the Huntsville town square for a walk and a rest for the van and then decided to go up to Snowbasin ski resort for Sunday Blues. It was a delightful, sunny afternoon with great music by Screen Door Porch. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to Ogden. It was a pretty intense, fun filled 24 hours in the gypsy van!

A photo montage of my travels

This is my first upload on Vimeo - a photo montage of my travels from 2009 through 2011. I hope you enjoy it. I sure had a great time making it  :-)

Click here......

Number 42

clean out my closet and give all those extra clothes, shoes, hats and purses to someone who needs them and will love them.

Words

Nothing to do but write
writing feeds the soul
why don't I put more words down?

Empty ~ but filled to the brim
bubbling over with things to say
dreams are vivid
haunting
wild
running, chasing
faces from the past
symbols floating

What are the messages?

Dig deep and you'll find the answers
just be still
they are there
within
waiting for the big reveal

 

Julian's poetry and artwork

"To The Dolly Lama~
Today I saw a butterfly.
Nana and Dolly Lama saw stars in the sky.
My name is Julian. I am 5 years old."
          January 11, 2014

dreams in color

orange, maroon, yellow
robes
all swirling
tumbling
meshing
swimming
together
entwined inside
a hot dryer

industrial size
the door like a picture
window

will the colors run
onto my white robe?

I hope so....
I thought

Love me TENder

What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?

sawdust floor
leather vests and chaps
dead animals on the wall
stale beer smell
Johnny Cougar on the jukebox
the room is hungover from the night before

My old friend
haven't seen you in a while
same bright smile
falling inside your kind eyes
big bear hugs

I go outside to say goodbye
only to see you riding away
hog between your legs
wind at your back
happy smile on your face

Back inside
my mom is there
she hands me a shiny dime
in the shape of a heart
Isn't that interesting?
she says




 

I love the things that Julian says

"You're funny, Nana.
But if someone is 100 times funny, then they're just weird."