This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

The Shasta Wilderness

Posted by ehren

Thursday morning we stopped briefly for internet in Redding at "YAKS Koffee!" (capitalization and spelling are accurate). I could complain about the almost continual need for WiFi, but it's specifically that technology which has allowed me to goof around in a bus for 5 and a half months now AND fund the whole thing with programming work.

The clouds threatened rain all day, but at worst it peaked at a heavy drizzle. We drove up CA-299 from Redding into the Shasta/Trinity wilderness, and went for a brisk 3 mile hike in a pocket of time without precipitation. We were intending to go for another hike up a stream gully farther along the road, but by then the rain made us less enthusiastic. We dragged the reluctant bus up a 3200 foot pass from the 250 foot central valley, and again could smell the burning smell of the Unknown And Probably Difficult to Replace Generic Engine Component's escaping life force. I think it might be one of the belts. The smell is only noticeable after the engine has run at consistently high RPMs. The cooling system so far has held the engine temperature to 190 F or below. I'll keep an eye on it as the days grow hot.

The road from Redding to Arcata is 140 miles long, all of it through misty and dense coastal mountains. The epic redwoods are not as large or thick, perhaps due to massive clearcutting or forest fires. Most of the forests were a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, little of it old growth. Still, it was green everywhere.

We stayed the night in Willow Creek, or Willow Crossing in Bigfoot Country. Before dinner we studied the exterior of a closed Bigfoot museum, footprints were painted on some of the sidewalks and parking lots, and a Bigfoot burger could be found in the specials section on the menus I saw. It's not yet tourist season -- according to locals the glut runs from Memorial to Labor Day, like most other places -- so the locals seemed at ease. We were lucky to find that the Cinnebar Sam restaurant offered overnight parking behind their building, so we splurged on wings, dinner, and a pitcher of Fat Tire, and then stumbled over to the pool hall for an excruciatingly slow best-of-3 series. Unintentional probability sank more than both of us put together.

After that we continued on a path of sloth, and watched a Simpson's episode and an astonishingly bad B movie ("100 Girls"), that we of course watched to the bitter, bitter end.

After waking up late we tried and failed to find a trailhead into the mountains (instead we trailblazed for a half hour through the damp along the river). It continued to drizzle off and on as we finished the drive into Arcata, a community farther to the left of the political spectrum than any I've seen before.

Miro posted a few days ago about the larger forces at play on the trip through the summer. We're both firmly convinced that though we are able to live on the road forever, it is unwise to do so. I'll be spending time over the summer trying to line up a full time programming gig in one of the many fine cities so far visited, including Ausin, Santa Fe, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, and Boston (hey, why not). My contract work will continue at least through September. It's possible that the contract/freelance engagements could grow to resemble a full-time workload, though I do appreciate the comforts of a regular paycheck and benefits.

It's an understatement to say that I've learned many lessons on this trip. It will be an even bigger challenge to keep a firm and nimble understanding of that wisdom once the voyage is over, than it will be to line up a new life in a new city. To put it another way, I want this to be the last bus I ever need to convert and inhabit in order to sort myself out.