settle down camper

one of the things i hate about myself, well, hate's a strong word but it's a strong dislike...is that i don't relax well. i really don't. i can't sit still..sure, i can literally sit still but when i'm out here i have to keep moving. i have tried on this trip to slow down, stop and walk around, eat on the gate of the car, etc...but still, here i am in phoenix - a town i'm not a huge fan of, but, it's one on the way to tucson and..well, here i am. and the problem is that my pal renee (spike) - who lives in tucson, is gone to s.f. until late monday night. so what's a guy to do until then...? i have stayed with her parents before when she's not been around but things have changed in that dept. - her mom is quite sick and i don't want to be a bother so...i'm thinking of heading to mexico now and hitting tucson on the way back and visit with spike then...i dunno...
i'm gonna do some laundry and have a snack in tucson a little later on today and see how i feel. i think, if i had to hazard a guess, that i will stay tonight in tucson - maybe at the hotel congress (yup me in a hotel...but not just any hotel...), and then head to the border all fresh as a daisy tomorrow and head into mexico and off to terry and sheryl's...
i dunno...maybe i'll just stay in tucson for a few days and read a book....

g. xo


ok.
there's a town called quartzite near the border of arizona and california and it's been there for a long time but it expands to five times it's size every year with vendors and snow birds. the vendors sell crap and the snowbirds - i guess - buy it. it's a crazy place. all these retired folks running around on atv's and living in the middle of the dessert in their rv's. literally in the middle of nowhere. you'll be driving along the highway and see a sea of white rv's in the middle of a patch of the dessert, with nothing for miles and miles on either side of them. i don't know what they do out there for months but they do it.




and then there's needles, california. a town with more rundown everything than most other places combined.

random pics from the last few days.

along the california coast not far from carmel.

ok. here are a few pics that i wanted to load earlier but couldn't. no rhyme or reason....and in no order ....

g. xo
a guy near the pier in pismo beach looking for treasure.

santa cruz near the boardwalk at night.


more pismo beach action.

the middle of nowhere. not far from bakersfield.

central washington. somewhere.

where i slept on the side of the road and then had a great conversation with a parks dude.


i didn't know the garbs had opened a store near hearst castle.

speaking of dudes.

an abandoned house in los gatos...which is kinda wierd because los gatos is where all the money is..like, all the money.

not far from bakersfield.

really close to bakersfield. down that road are a lot of orange and lemon trees...

out here.

**ok...so. there's suppose to be pics and such but something's up with google...so. when i find more reliable wi-fi i'll load 'em up...

**also, i'm now in lake havasu, arizona...for those following along.

i love you.

...............

As it turns out – Steve at the Los Gatos chevron really is the man. Nice guy, great mechanic and above all, I believe, honest.

A quick rundown. Los Gatos Acura quoted me just short of 900 dollars to change out my starter. A new factory Honda starter that actually has less of a warranty than a rebuilt one – I dunno. So I left there and went next door to A & M auto parts and they ordered me in a rebuilt starter for 145 dollars. I then went next next door to a Honda joint and they said they’d charge me close to 400 dollars to throw it in. I then, after going to Santa Cruz for a burrito and such, was told by the guys at A & M to go see Steve at the chevron. So I did. And in the end Steve charged me 250 dollars to put it in and I got 60 dollars back for returning the old starter core to the guys at A & M. so all in all I paid approx. 310 dollars for what the Acura douchbags wanted 900 dollars for. Fuck that shit.

Ok.

I actually went back to Santa Cruz after Steve’s and hung out a little and went for a short walk near the cliff where the surfer statue is. I had gotten some groceries at trader Joe’s and after a short stint was back on the road. I didn’t drive too far and, in fact, found a cool spot on the side of the highway just south of Carmel. This morning when I woke-up and was making my coffee a parks dude/cop stopped and told me there were two things he needed to tell me. 1: I was wearing the wrong baseball hat and that I needed to change it to a Giants hat and 2: I wasn’t suppose to sleep overnight where I had. We then proceeded to have a funny conversation filled with sarcasm and what if’s and such. I told him I’d ‘never’ sleep there and that I was just making coffee. He said he saw that I was just making coffee and really, there was no way for him to know how long I had been there. He also told me about some campgrounds and I told him I had just been to tired to continue and that I thought it was safer I had stayed there than to try and carry on. He said that’s what he’s always said when told he couldn’t sleep somewhere. I told him I’d change my hat. He told me to have a great day.

I needed a shower and found a campground near Big Sur and after driving around it a little found a building that had showers for a quarter – a fucking quarter. I didn’t have any soap so I had to drive back to a store on the highway and as I was leaving I came across two parks dudes who asked me if I had slept in the park. I told them I hadn’t but that I’d love to use the showers. They told me I had to pay a park fee of ten bucks but after that I could shower in any park in California – good deal. Quarter showers from now on. Sure it was a showerhead that shot water out like a fire hose but it was warm and I needed it and it was great.

I’ve been moving much slower than I would generally do on the highway. I usually knock off a lot of miles in a day but am taking my time and stopping and walking around, sitting down, eating on the tailgate of the car and just kinda….relaxing. Well, as much as I do. Spike won’t be in Tucson until the 15^th and I need to be away for the length of the games so..slow and steady will win this race. I think. That and a lot of burritos. Although I can’t have more than one a day. Those huge killers fill me up. Sure, I’m a fat fuck but I really don’t eat as much as ya think.

From Carmel I made my way through Big Sur and down to Pismo beach and then just short of Santa Barbara where I took a hard left – well actually a u-turn and then a hard right but it should have been a left if you follow me, and headed towards Bakersfield and am now at a place called Four Corners, California – not ‘the’ four corners, but another four corners. More of a truckers four corners not far from Barstow. I’ll sleep here, shower at the Pilot tomorrow and head to Barstow and beyond.

Have fun. I miss you.

g. xo

another day...another burrito

i slept in a parking lot out back of adale last night - home of the original el presidente. i wasn't thinking of going there in the morning but instead had been told by sheryl last night that los gatos acura was the place to go to get the new starter for my car. maybe not. after i go my act together this morning, which included getting asked to leave a community centre at 6:30 a.m. because they knew i wasn't suppose to be there - and i didn't lie to the guy saying, "look, i slept in my car last night and was just using your bathroom...." "are you a member?"... "no"..okay you have to go" "ok, that's cool."
and so it was with my teeth brushed and all else more of less taken care of i headed to the acura dealership. now, almost anything with the words 'los gatos' in front of it means it'll cost you a little extra...no shit. what was quoted out at around 400 bux, if i remember rightly in vancouver, was now just short of 900 clams. thanks but no thanks - but for some reason they washed my car. but i was outta there. i went next door to the auto parts place - like a lordco - and got them top order me up a starter. a rebuilt one that actually has a better warranty than a new one - ?? anyhow. now i just needed to find someone to put it in. i went across the street to a honda repair shop and they wanted 400 bucks to out it in...ok, i needed to think it over - so i headed to santa cruz for some coffee and a burrito.
the weather, just so you're no jealous of anything is shitola. lots of rain, and then a peek through of sun, and then more rain...and fucking cold. so, my day in santa cruz was a bit of a bust - still a great green chili pork burrito at taqueria vallarta and some wicked horchata. while not as great as last time - i think the 'wet' sauce could be a little more spicy, still well above the pack.
the auto parts guy phoned me and told me the starter was in so i went and picked it up and he suggested i take the honda across the street to steve, at the chevron. and after a short talk with steve, a man of few words, the element is in there now getting it done...i like steve. i have a good feeling about him...we'll see. i may have said something slightly off-color to him, quite by accident (that i will not repeat here but...) and i feel kinda stupid now but, maybe he didn't hear me or care or...maybe he'll kill me when i get back there...time will tell.
ok...i need a juice...

have fun...

g. xo

green chili pork burrito wet w/ cheese....nice.


rain in santa cruz...

grilled pork burrito wet at pancho villa in s.f....goodness gracious.



the four barrel in s.f. is a great coffee shop...

katherine lent me a coffee maker thingy and i made coffee outside the acura dealership this morning while i waited for them to open.

let the games begin...

this guy was waiting for the bus in portland and i couldn't resist. so great.

they can do what they want now...fill their proverbial boots as far as i'm concerned. have at. go to town. pump up the volume. whatever. i'm in san francisico right now and thinking more about pancho villa than i am about the games...or maybe i'm thinking about the in-n-out burgers i had earlier or the amazing chile releno/chicken burrito i had last night smothered in mole sauce at la bonita in portland...or...the amount of money i had to spent on a new mac..(that's another story but suffice to say, my other mac - an ibook - is fixable but has to be sent away to mac and it will cost 300 clams and it will be perfect when it gets back so...if anyone needs an ibook with a 320 gig hard drive, full of programs, etc., for around 500 bux let me know, i'll have one..)
ok...update.
so anyone who knows me knows i have trouble at the border. i've been arrested there. i've been detained. sometimes a short while, sometimes a long while - hours. and then, there was yesterday. yesterday i drove up. i showed my passport. i answers the questions that needed to be answered and, without even looking in my car, not even a real peep in the windows - he kinda glanced in, i was away. that was it. i found myself a little giddy as i drove away. like i had gotten away with something.
so that was that. and with money tossed to the road gods i was on the I-5 and heading south.
and so it was in portland that i took my poor laptop to the mac store and with the help of one of the genius' there determined that it was dead, kinda - kernal panic thay call it - and that it could fixed...and truth be told i had been contemplating a new machine and decided not to a few months ago, and well, now have one. wham. i'm not crazy about the aluminum back/lid but will learn to love it. so many other things about are wicked so...ok,. that's that. once that was over it was off to la bonita for a lunch i was longing for. and as i ate it i thought of corie and the garbs...the garbs loves chili relenos - and once had a chili releno/chicken burrito in portland, and corie loves the mole and i was having both at once...and it was awesome. not better than the gilled pork burrito in santa cruz, but still pretty fuckin' good...a solid nine.
i slept in rice hill at the truck stop and showered there this morning and was on my way...i am now on the hunt for a honda dealership that can throw a new starter in my car....not as easy as i would have thought - but i haven't tried that hard yet either, and the urge for an in-n-out burger got in the way too.
so here i am in s.f. having a coffee at the four barrel coffee shop on valencia waiting until around seven when i will head to pancho villa. sure, there are hundreds, literally, of taquerias in this town but i love pancho villa...do i ever go to others? yes, if i'm here more than a few days, but if i only get one shot, it's pancho villa. years ago mishi and i ate there, i think, four times in three days...it's good.
ok...have fun.

more as it develops.

g. xo

close-up of the same guy shot through the window...red velour is back.

ladies and gentleman...i mean, really....

interest(ing)

i was in the bank the other day before i left on my olympic event (the get the fuck outta town event - it hink i'm gonna win gold...) and as i was doing my business, the guy next to me was doing his...then i heard the following...

teller: you wanna what
guy: mumble - (i can't make it out...)
teller: you don't want the interest?
guy: that's right
teller: what do you want me to do with it>?
guy: i don't care
teller: you want me to donate it to the bank?
guy: sure, i guess.
teller: i don't think i can do that
guy: oh
teller: let me get the manager - so, you don't want the interest on your money? right
guy: that's right
manager: you don't want it?
guy: no
manager: i don't think we can do that.
guy: oh..um..
manager: it's policy. i mean, why put it in here then?
guy: silent.
manager: i'm sorry we can't. (she then looks at the computer screen and has a look at his balance - i assume - and makes a face like it's a significant amount he's turning down or is gonna have....) maybe you should start a charity.

wierd. just thought i'd pass it along.

g. xo

if i had a hammer..

and i do...because my starter on the element is going and i may need to hit it to get it started sometimes...anyone who knows about starters and hammers knows what i'm talking about. i'm gonn a get a new one but that'll be in portland or...somewhere. also, my laptop has gone on the fritz and i'm gonna go by the apple store in portland some time today and see if they can fix it..if now, i'm buying a new one. fuck it. and i'll send the old one home.

so here i sit at the b.o.c. shop ready to go. see you all when i see ya.

the games can blow me.

g. xo

more ribs, more bbq...more goodness.

and gracious. tonight night was a bbq fest of the highest order..well, ok, maybe not but not, but it was great.
last night i made some braised short ribs for nevada - my pal from jj bean and they were pretty fuckin' good...and today it was back to tenderland meats for some pork ribs to throw on the bbq tonight as the garbs, mishi, katherine and corie were coming over to truly put my new weber to the test...
along with the pork i bought ingredients to make a home made bbq sauce...and i have to say it was well worth it...sure it was my first go at making my own sauce, and really my first time bbqing ribs like these but...man, they was good! i also bought a nice piece of wild sockeye salmon for mishi as she wasn't about to be eating any pork ribs.
so two hours on the bbq and we were ready to rock. katherine made a great salad, we made some margaritas with some fancy tequila i brought back from el paso almost two years ago...or more. and lest i forget the the fine dos equis and...pretty great meal that was only surpassed by the great company. nice. and then to make it all that much better, 'he can not be named on the blog' showed-up and regaled us with tales from far and wide...
good times.

tomorrow. more shit to get done before i get outta town...

g. xo

them ribs look good!

mishi's slamon pre-bbq.

katherine's big plate of salad, veggies and bbq love.

nice pork ribs pre-bbq.

making the home made bbq sauce...well worth the effort.

the garbs approves of the ribs.

the end result.

carbon? i got your carbon right here...

actually i have your carbon in the form of dump trucks - 23 a day - coming in from manning park every day bringing snow to cypress mountain...carbon nuetral games..um, maybe not. nice. story here.

ok. i'm gonna go run some errands...on foot.

g. xo

39 becomes 40...

..and 40 becomes...well, pretty much the same as 39 was...bomber, artist, beer drinker and all-round good guy cam andrews is 40 today and looks pretty damn good i'd say...on the eve of his birthday he actually gave me a present - very nice of him (some old school oval pots for my deck...) - and i think i may have something in my freezer for him...just maybe.
have a great birthday!

g. xo

t. paul - local hero

the fawnz forwarded me this e.mail to me regarding a book that was made to commemorate t. paul ste. marie - someone you may have at least heard of as he was a true character that you may have seen around town. i didn't know him but knew of him and knew people who knew him well. below is the e.mail fawn sent me. have a look.

..........

Dear Friends;
I am writing to you to request your brainstorming and networking assistance in
locating someone.
As many of you may remember, in 2007 after our friend T.Paul Ste. Marie passed
away, I compiled an anthology of memories and poems about him. This book was to
be given to his birth mother, whom he reconnected with a few years before he
passed, and his adoptive mother.
To the 80-plus people who sent stories and poetry for inclusion in this book,
once again I cannot thank you enough.
His adoptive mother Lorraine received her copy at the Vancouver wake in June
2007. She is a lovely lady, and sends her heartfelt thanks to everyone.
But his birth mother, Ruth Janes, still has not yet received her copy. I have
spent the last two-and-a-half years looking for her. My efforts to contact Ms
Janes through the internet and through people I know have so far been
unsuccessful. I believe she is in Ontario, possibly Toronto.
In recent months, several beloved members of our poetry community have passed
on. These losses have reminded me how important it is to give those around us
stories and love while we still can, while they are still with us.
T.Paul's biological mother is probably about seventy years old now. I need to
give this book to her while I still can, while she is still with us.
If you have any ideas of how I might track her down -- any connections, any
thoughts of leads I might not yet have tried -- please do let me know. My
ultimate goal is to get her snailmail address so I can mail her this book. I
can be reached at susangrad93@yahoo.ca
Here's a video I made about the story of this book:www.tinyurl.com/24video
Please do repost and forward this note as you wish.
Muchas gracias and muchas love,Su'
* * * * *

Susan Cormier, wordworker

www.youtube.com/user/queenofcrows

www.myspace.com/queenofcrowsmusic

.........

rest easy.

g.

two mints in one.

well, look at me the bad friend...i try my best but i forget - i'm only human...but i do feel badly forgetting the boy's birthday...the twins, marc and brent - buunt and muc to those who love them... - yup..birthday on the first of feb...fuck. well, here it is...my internet birthday greeting. happy birthday boys! i love ya!

g. xo

i feel like....reading, sitting, be alone, struggling....

i don't know who sent me this but i like it...and i even like a lot of the design but the pics are great when coupled with the captions. so serious this design thing....isn't it?

g. xo

another way to measure the distance

that's it.
all done.
another show is in the books, at least my involvement in it. today is my first day off and my first day getting ready to leave town. talk about olympic fever - i have it and the only cure is getting the fuck outta town. and just in time. it's so cold and snowy here it finally feels like winter...ok.

the simplest jobs came be the weirdest.


last night was the installation of a 'halo' shower curtain kinda thingy at storm salon. they needed something to hold a curtain so their clients can change etc. before getting their hair done...and there was this big cement pillar in the middle of the room so i suggested putting a thing around it and ...presto! there it is. thanks to andrew for drawing it up, james for the welding, downtown custom metal for doing the bending and giving me the piece for free (if you ever need some metal work done call them...) and corie for taking some time out on his friday night to lend a hand getting it up in the air. there was an initial problem as it was too big...way too big and i had to take it back to the shop and chop and re-weld it...yikes. but i really wanted to get in done and not be thinking about it as i'm driving down the highway on my way to in-n-out burger.


then it was time for drinks and enchiladas. of course. and it was a slow night at the old topanga. but we still ate like champs and had a few laughs with senor simon and stephanie - stephanie is soon gonna been the hammer on the lawn boy shoot...)there, i've said it so it has to happen now...)
ok...i've got shit to do...i'm meeting marcy for lunch, errands to run and i'm making dinner for a friend tonight here and need to shop for that...

good times.

g. xo

how to.

this is pretty good...oh, the internet.

g.

over achiever

not content to just be one of the best camera operators in the city - or maybe the world...(could be...) john clothier decided he'd come to the shop and try his hand at welding...and tig welding aluminum no less. and by god, he's doing a great job. i have no idea what he's making but he's making it. big smiles all around.

good work.

g.