| | | Back when I was getting set to retire, we packed up the house in Torrance into pods in preparation to go north. We had everything stored in Sacramento, because we didn't actually know where we were going. We sold the house shortly after I retired in the summer of 2015. We bought a used popup tent trailer and a couple of rooftop carriers and headed up the 101. Since you took the 1 north, you must remember the part of it between Ft Bragg and Legget. That was an awesome drive, but we didn't have the trailer with us then. We camped at the Willits KOA for the month of October that year, at it really got hot then. Sleeping in a tent trailer after a 95 degree day is let's say interesting. We didn't know we were staying so close to Mike at the time, so we didn't hook up then. I thought he lived in Humboldt, because he had mentioned the Emerald Triangle on the board a few times back then. We then relocated to the Eureka KOA for the winter of that year. Fuck it got cold, and also windy in that rolling tent. I had to stake the trailer down for precaution. Our air mattress leaked so it had to be refilled daily. We had the interior lined with blankets we got at Target, which we clipped up inside. I think we got a small electric space heater because it was in the 30s outside. We finally found a listing over the New Year changeover, which turned out to be where we bought. I used to have visions of sunsets through the trees near the ocean back then, and didn't know where the images came from. I realized a few months after we moved in that the visions had gone away, because we were getting those sunsets where we now lived! This place is about a quarter acre on a hill looking over Humboldt Bay. The place is a hodge podge of different construction additions since 1917. A fine albeit kind of poor community since logging has almost stopped. If it weren't for the cave trolls running the country, it'd be almost perfect. As a side note, I've a student of the martial arts since I was stationed on Johnston Island back in the 73-74 time frame. I've had several good teachers along the way. Dr Painter out of Arlington Texas, Kam Yuen in Los Angeles, and many books from many other teachers, to mention Master Yang Zwing-Ming. A couple of years ago I saw him at the local Costco and was so struck I couldn't hardly speak. I've seen him a couple of times later and have had some conversations with him. Turns out he relocated to a spread up in McKinleyville; really close. Now I can't afford to attend his workshops, which carry on for a week at a time. His DVDs are excellent though!
This was a fun memory to write about! I can still feel the chill from that first winter up here. Oh and I can't forget carrying out little dog outside in the rain so she could pee under a Redwood across from the trailer in the rain. The whole time we camped I could hear this roaring sound and thought there was a factory nearby. It was the surf! Even where we now live the surf is like nature's music for soothing the nerves. |
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