I saw stuff...

Unclebaldrick

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
I just got home from a pretty big road trip. Maybe it is the PTSD caused by 6050 miles driven in ten days but I feel pretty good about it. I got the chance to meet a couple of amazing RIU people and see some amazing things. So I will indulge myself and make a thread about it to communicate my feelings about it and list the wonderful things I saw. Fuck you if you don't like it.

Firstly, this is a beautiful country. Amazing. I have not felt very patriotic for the last dozen or so years but I am feeling something of a flush of national pride. After driving through 14 states you can't help but come away from it with a feeling of awe.

My path was loop covering a voyage through the hinterlands that finally deposited me on the Pacific shore at Seattle. From there I headed S to Oregon until turning W to Crescent City CA. I saw trees. Amazing trees. Then a meandering route through Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino county until reaching the Bay. From the Bay, I headed back toward Oregon until reaching Mt. Shasta (why has nobody ever told me about this place?). From there I headed E on hwy 20 - another great place.

Then I drove through Nevada. And drove. And drove. And still I was in Nevada. The same thing happened in Wyoming. Other states too but I don't want to tell you which ones so you can deduce that I live in Ferguson, MO. But eventually, I ended up in the mountains near Rocky Mtn NP. And then there was more driving.

I brought a camera and have pictures. I will post them when I get beyond my technical indifference.

Have to go carve a chicken. Later
 
Skuxx

Skuxx

Well-Known Member
The beginning of your story had me all excited to read some awesome stuffs, but then you let me down with the lack of descriptions :(. The pictures should help though. Glad you had a good time baldrick!
 
Unclebaldrick

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
Skuxx said:
The beginning of your story had me all excited to read some awesome stuffs, but then you let me down with the lack of descriptions :(. The pictures should help though. Glad you had a good time baldrick!
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That was just the intro. I needed to eat my first home meal in 10-11 days. Chill.Bdo you often walk out of a film in the first five minutes? (I did that once... Rambo. I was correct)
 
Unclebaldrick

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
bu$hleaguer said:
What the fuck are you talking about?
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Exactly! Consider this my timeline. Fuck you facebook.

Before I start on the trip.... Did you ever leave a crop around week five and not see it again until week seven? Well that is how my wife looks now. Week seven for sure.

She bought some maternity clothes including a striped shirt that reminds me of 1970s op-art posters when I look at her huge belly. Her pregnancy has sides now - bulging sides! It has been six months since 4/20 Denver and, though I don't see much tricome development yet, it is starting to look dank.
 
Unclebaldrick

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
Here is a list of animals I saw and did not kill. I mention this because after driving this far, one becomes aware that our nation's highways are COVERED in roadkill. I would guess I drove over 1000 roadkill sites in varying from from still twitching to gobbets to just a smear and some crows.

1 coyote (swerve and miss)
1 fox (didn't really have to swerve)
1 golden retriever (the closet call of all)
2 Roosevelt elk on "avenue of the giants"
1 mountain goat
10 pronghorn antelopes
Several deer but no close calls

Iowa highways look like a set from "Walking Dead"
 
Unclebaldrick

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
The Dakotas: I only saw one Dakota but the badlands look worthy of much further discovery. Regretted I could not linger.

For the first time in my life, I drove through northern Wyoming. Devil's Tower. Remember that big low pressure thing that dumped rain on the PNW 2 weeks ago? I drove through its remains. Vis at Devil's Tower was about 100 yards max due to heavy fog.

So here is my recollection of one of my stops. Starbucks. Some small town. The drive through barista sounded a bit fey. His name was Brett. When I picked up at the window, Brett was remarkably gay. His name tag said "Bretty". and the guy looked like his life was going ok. So, it's ok to be gay in the Dakotas? Damn, we have come a long way Fox News notwithstanding. I thought this was pretty cool.

The fog continued through Montana so I saw less than I would have liked to.

I slept in Butte, MT. And left at sun up. The morning was still rainy but beautiful. Butte is surrounded by mountains and it was the type of weather that one finds often on the tail end of a storm. I have never really seen the way the clouds were hanging on the mountains before. It reminded me of a huge animal claw.

And mountain pix? Please. I learned long ago that the most astonishing sight usually pales in a photograph. So rather than fucking it all up by whipping out a cell phone with its annoying whirrs and beeps, I will usually just let the moment be appreciated and concentrate on my impressions. That is my job as an existential historian. So @jesus of Cannabis (mongoloid esq.), Google the fucking Rockies. I am more inclined to macros.

Eventually I broke through the weather into Spokane. I didn't know it at the time but this is some of your more productive outdoor marijuana crop area in the US. The coastline mountain rise to the West scrubs the moisture out of the air so that late bud mold ceases to be a problem. The land is rolling seer and hilly. I saw straw stacked higher than a three story house.

A lot of people I met thought I was crazy for driving so far but a lot understood. I had been to nearly every major city I had visited before. But until you drive between them, you don't really get a feel for the geography. You all need to do this some time, even you contentious Brits.
 
Unclebaldrick

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
Grow shops.

All good grow shops smell similar. There is a sharp chemical tang. If I go blind, I will still be able to find a grow shop.

There are some places that are just huuuuuge! I was in a warehouse (30,000 feet sq?) full of nothing but bagged soil. I felt like I should take off my shirt, wet it down and put it over my face to filter out the dust.

The people who work at grow shops are fucking awesome. There is no more well established network of freaks in the country today. And they are enjoying their newfound respectability by working themselves into the warf and weft of America. If these guys are your neighbors, you are pretty lucky.

The market is changing. The hippies are being edged out by larger, better organized forces. It cannot be stopped but I feel pretty fortunate to be experiencing the whole rapidly evolving thing.

Washington grow shops have to keep it pretty close to the vest. No mention of cannabis is allowed. So despite having legal weed, the grow shops have to keep up the tomatoes and peppers pretense. The owners routinely have people walking in with cannabis leaves and expecting to talk Nutes and really get pissed when the grow store cannot talk about it.

Oregon has no legal weed. But you wouldn't know that from the grow shops. There is a greater open acceptance of cannabis in Oregon than anywhere W of Denver IMHO. They can talk more openly than anybody else about it.

Cali is in between. I think Cali is pretty good bout splitting the difference in this matter.
 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
Unclebaldrick said:
......snip...........Crescent City CA..........snip........
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So you know the way! Hubby has this as current #1 on the hit list of where to retire. We are looking at pulling up stakes and the three of us plant to setup shop there. Of course if we can find this Shasta County our @dirtsurfr speaks of we may move a tad more inland. However after just dealing with 100's here day before yesterday, my vote is coastal. I think that damn dirtsurfr charges to much for the chairs at his concession anyway. Of course we could set up a rival chair concession. All the due diligence that must go into these major life changes.

hugs,
Annie

PS SO early and already soooooooooo fucked up..... where's ebgood we are heading north tomorrow? I need a place to shack :) (figured that would scare him).
 
dirtsurfr

dirtsurfr

Well-Known Member
Well if you do decide to come by ...
The place is still up for sale I think, my friend that owned it died.
There are so many nice places up here, some are remote some off grid.....
And this time of year in Shasta County carries a certain air about and
this is turning out to be a bumper crop year.
Just teasing, see you at the BBQ.
 
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