Waking Life

it's nice to be up at first light again.
a fleeting moment of clarity and calm
between the dream world and consciousness.
(0.8ft. slack tide, bait fish surface at the inlet)

Samba Cloud

It has been five years since I passed the torch of my '87 VW Vanagon. A series of circumstances (including a hit and run, a blown motor, and a feral drunk breaking in, passing out and pissing all over himself and my van) forced me to let her go. Like so many of these stories begin, "I bought mine from this old dude"... the original owner, a retired professor from UCB in '99. I lived in it the better part of that first year and on and off thereafter. We had a six year, 150k mile love affair that spanned Baja to BC. And in all that time, she never left me stranded.

Recently, due to a nagging itch, and the request of my wife (she digs van life too!!) we have started to search for and dream of life in a-Vanagon-Again. Certainly not the most efficient, economical, or reliable ride to own, but there is something undeniably addictive about the experience. Thanks to a nostalgic urge and a romantic notion, the search for another Vanagon begins and (hopefully) the journey continues.

photo by: juan b. a fellow sambanista

Serene Island

There's a place in my mind I go to check the surf. Usually in the wee hours of the morning just before the dawn while my body rests and my mind is reeling. Some call it REM. I have always dreamed of this place as an island. The physical landscape changes, but always an island. Sometimes it's the inland waterways of the pacific north west, where getting your bearings and spying a view can be a challenge. Other times it's the grassy, fog rolled hills north of the gate where whites outnumber surfers. Mostly I'm on foot, walking fire roads patiently waiting to crest the next ridge or stumbling through soggy paths along moss covered creeks hoping to find the mouth. Almost always, the feeling is one of patient anticipation. There is a calmness in my search that comes from the knowledge that the perfect set up will present it self... when the time is right.