Day 78
Saturday May 17th
VTA River
Saturday May 17th
VTA River
Sparky came back into town for a few days. It was so hot on Saturday we really had no motivation to do anything. But sitting around the house doing nothing was not an option. I have an idea I thought! Let's hike the Ventura River! "Hunh?," says Sparky, "Yah okay sure..." So off we went. Our goal was to start at the ocean and head up the river about 6ish to 8ish miles to the Brooks campus. I thought it was a brilliant idea for a HOT lazy afternoon. As brilliant as I thought it was, we were cursed from the beginning. We get started picking our way through the mouth of the river through the bamboo without a problem. Under the 101 we went, under Main street we go enjoying the shade and the scenery. Everything was going great. Tucked away in a stand of bamboo I spy a tattered tent. I wander over and see this homeless dude "Stuart", rather a jovial fellow, playing with a snake. I saddle on up and start taking pictures thinking this is super cool. The man starts telling me about how cool the King snake is and how it real bad ass and you want to keep them around because they keep the rattlers away. I am quickly getting in to it and lining up some great shots when all of a sudden homeless "Stuart's" pocket starts ringing. Hold on he says, thats my cell phone! A super friendly homeless dude chatting to his life partner on his cell phone in the middle of the river bank? Thats like Christmas to a photographer! I push the shutter button and nothing happens. The camera was dead in the water (pun intended).
We moved on a little bummed out. Okay actually super frikin bummed out, especially because it was A-bloody-MAZING once we hit the river. Everything was lush and green and the sky was a deep blue. Sparky had on coincidentally a bright red shirt. The colors were frikin fantastic and perfect for photog. But my dinosaur of a camera decided to crap out on us. Cursed I say. It didn't stop there. There is still a goodly amount of water in the river so Sparky insists on wearing $2 flip flops from the bargain bin at Target. We could not have gone more then 200 yards before the first sandal broke. Not good. We tried see reeds, bamboo, vines, anything we could get our hands on for a quick fix. We had no luck. He did his best to limp on but after a few hours it was starting to become pointless. I found some old rope and unwound a few strands and Sparky lashed together a stop-gap, temporary though it was. No camera and flip flops on their last legs, it was time to count our losses and call it a day. We found a sunny sand bar jutting out into the river and plopped down to enjoy the rest of the day. We tossed rocks at ducks and chit chatted.
I started getting really anxious and we packed it up and headed out. We decided to forage through the bamboo and push through the underbrush until we found the bike trail along the 33. In doing so we uncovered this huge complex of ummm "temporary" housing. An entire community of squatters had carved out quite a comfortable camp into the hillside. This explains the bath house, quite the impressive feat considering and growing by the day! We chatted with the folks for a bit. They were pretty cool cats and had quite a bit to say, life advice to offer, etc. They led us out to he dirt bike path. Much to our chagrin, when we got to the bike path we could look down the 33 and see almost where we left the car. We could not believe it! We had fought up through the river, thigh deep for the most part for the better part of 2+ hours. And the car was just 15 minutes around the bend. Boy we felt like idots, especially Sparky in his jury-rigged flip flops flapping around. All in all though a pretty rad day indeed. Every now and again it is the small things like a dead camera of broken sandals that make the trip so much more interesting and enjoyable!
We moved on a little bummed out. Okay actually super frikin bummed out, especially because it was A-bloody-MAZING once we hit the river. Everything was lush and green and the sky was a deep blue. Sparky had on coincidentally a bright red shirt. The colors were frikin fantastic and perfect for photog. But my dinosaur of a camera decided to crap out on us. Cursed I say. It didn't stop there. There is still a goodly amount of water in the river so Sparky insists on wearing $2 flip flops from the bargain bin at Target. We could not have gone more then 200 yards before the first sandal broke. Not good. We tried see reeds, bamboo, vines, anything we could get our hands on for a quick fix. We had no luck. He did his best to limp on but after a few hours it was starting to become pointless. I found some old rope and unwound a few strands and Sparky lashed together a stop-gap, temporary though it was. No camera and flip flops on their last legs, it was time to count our losses and call it a day. We found a sunny sand bar jutting out into the river and plopped down to enjoy the rest of the day. We tossed rocks at ducks and chit chatted.
I started getting really anxious and we packed it up and headed out. We decided to forage through the bamboo and push through the underbrush until we found the bike trail along the 33. In doing so we uncovered this huge complex of ummm "temporary" housing. An entire community of squatters had carved out quite a comfortable camp into the hillside. This explains the bath house, quite the impressive feat considering and growing by the day! We chatted with the folks for a bit. They were pretty cool cats and had quite a bit to say, life advice to offer, etc. They led us out to he dirt bike path. Much to our chagrin, when we got to the bike path we could look down the 33 and see almost where we left the car. We could not believe it! We had fought up through the river, thigh deep for the most part for the better part of 2+ hours. And the car was just 15 minutes around the bend. Boy we felt like idots, especially Sparky in his jury-rigged flip flops flapping around. All in all though a pretty rad day indeed. Every now and again it is the small things like a dead camera of broken sandals that make the trip so much more interesting and enjoyable!
High spirits under the 101 just starting out a stones toss from the surfers of C Street.
Heading inland, our goal only 7ish miles to go bushwacking through the unknown. 
Well hello, what have we here sir? A king snake! Righto then, carry on, nothing to see here. And off we went, no snakes for us thank you very much!
After 2+ hours of slogging through waist deep water, fighting off water borne snakes, and battling thick tangles of all sorts we stumble upon a bath house of sorts. How bourgeois! 
Ummm what! Yah I didn't bother to wear shoes, so what!
What he did wear (after numerous stops to bind up the broken flip flops with all sorts of vines, reeds, seaweed, and finally a piece of discarded rope).Day 77
Friday May 16th
I have no idea where the week went. Already it is Friday. The weekend is upon us. The weekend always stresses me out because I am so fixated on relaxation. It is kinda funny really. My free time, time that is suppose to refresh me from the trials and tribulations of the work week, is what causes me the most stress. On one hand I live in my car so technically I can go ANYWHERE and not have to worry about it. Seriously, anywhere I go I am home if I am a few days walking of the car. Man talk about freedom! On the other hand I am paying off bills left and right, I am buying new gear and replacing old gear at an astonishing rate, and then of course with gas prices the way they are and student loans coming due in July I really want to spend as little as possible. So every weekend I am faced with a decision-- should I set forth on yet another adventure or should I hunker down in town and spend as little as possible? It is a decision that is never easy. It is a decision that every five days I am faced with without ever really reaching any sort of peace.
This weekend I kind of found a middle ground. I would do both-- adventure and live like a pauper. I had the amazing opportunity to house sit for the VVV and planned on making it worthwhile. (Remembering of course the whole raging against the night sort of thing of course!) I finished up work kinda late in the day and sprinted to the storage shed. I gathered up enough supplies to last me through the next few days. Most importantly I grabbed my painting gear and headed back to mid town. I spent a few hours blogging and editing photos as you see obviously. Then I built a fire and set up the easel. I brewed up a quick spot ' tea. I laid out my brushes and counted my paints. I lined up my canvas and thought hard about what I wanted to accomplish. Unfortunately by then I was super pooped and decided to call it a night. The painting would have to wait. Tomorrow is another day after all!
On a brighter note, I did a little meddling with the book and now after approximately 9 months of procrastination, excuses, delays, ups and downs, etc., etc., etc., I now have almost 92 pages (unedited of course). As of now we are almost home, well I mean at least a quarter of the way home! At this rate I will finally finish this dang thing around the same time I invest in an AARP membership-- about the same time I finally graduate from college!
In the next day or so I will start to post excerpts from the book for public critique. At least I think I will. Please be honest. Feel free to be brutal. My goal is maybe Monday or Tuesday or when finally get the stones to do so. Be looking...
Chillaxing
Friday May 16th
I have no idea where the week went. Already it is Friday. The weekend is upon us. The weekend always stresses me out because I am so fixated on relaxation. It is kinda funny really. My free time, time that is suppose to refresh me from the trials and tribulations of the work week, is what causes me the most stress. On one hand I live in my car so technically I can go ANYWHERE and not have to worry about it. Seriously, anywhere I go I am home if I am a few days walking of the car. Man talk about freedom! On the other hand I am paying off bills left and right, I am buying new gear and replacing old gear at an astonishing rate, and then of course with gas prices the way they are and student loans coming due in July I really want to spend as little as possible. So every weekend I am faced with a decision-- should I set forth on yet another adventure or should I hunker down in town and spend as little as possible? It is a decision that is never easy. It is a decision that every five days I am faced with without ever really reaching any sort of peace.
This weekend I kind of found a middle ground. I would do both-- adventure and live like a pauper. I had the amazing opportunity to house sit for the VVV and planned on making it worthwhile. (Remembering of course the whole raging against the night sort of thing of course!) I finished up work kinda late in the day and sprinted to the storage shed. I gathered up enough supplies to last me through the next few days. Most importantly I grabbed my painting gear and headed back to mid town. I spent a few hours blogging and editing photos as you see obviously. Then I built a fire and set up the easel. I brewed up a quick spot ' tea. I laid out my brushes and counted my paints. I lined up my canvas and thought hard about what I wanted to accomplish. Unfortunately by then I was super pooped and decided to call it a night. The painting would have to wait. Tomorrow is another day after all!
On a brighter note, I did a little meddling with the book and now after approximately 9 months of procrastination, excuses, delays, ups and downs, etc., etc., etc., I now have almost 92 pages (unedited of course). As of now we are almost home, well I mean at least a quarter of the way home! At this rate I will finally finish this dang thing around the same time I invest in an AARP membership-- about the same time I finally graduate from college!
In the next day or so I will start to post excerpts from the book for public critique. At least I think I will. Please be honest. Feel free to be brutal. My goal is maybe Monday or Tuesday or when finally get the stones to do so. Be looking...
Chillaxing
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