The Next Chapter of the Journey

August 1st brought a new chapter to this journey of mine. I’ve left the relative comfort of my homeland and am now south of the border in search of music and adventure. I left 4 months ago tomorrow, and I honestly don’t know where the time went. I had been planning this journey for years, and as the time to leave came near, time seemed to crawl…now it is flying by.

I left Victoria on Friday with my hostess, A. and we crossed the border into Washington state that night, and found a space to camp at Walmart. Yes, Walmart. It was safe (so we thought) and easy to find, had open bathrooms all night (24 hour Walmart) and best of all, it was FREE. Just as we were pulling in though, this crackhead idiot came racing over to our van, and said he was hoping there was a man in our van…that conversation could have gone soooo many ways…except he was drunk, disgusting and clearly a crackhead. He wanted help starting up his generator. He also was trying his best in his drunken cracked out state to charm us…it was never going to work. I finally had to tell him to LEAVE ME ALONE and I rolled up the window. Of course, the van chose NOW to not start again….I gave it a couple of tries as asshole was still nattering at my window, and finally had to take a breather, wait for asshole to return to his camper and try again. It started. Phew. We didn’t want to look for another camping place, so drove around the parking lot and parked elsewhere. As expected, the parking lot was full of campers, so we could park far enough away that the crackhead asshole could not see us…and so we popped the top and settled in for the night. We didn’t hear from him again. Phew.

The following day we headed for Chateau Ste Michelle Winery where Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band was going to play that night. We checked out the venue – quite small and intimate – perfect. There were also people lined up to get in, rather early in the morning, camped out in their chairs with their coolers. We left again in search of camping space, liquor and food. After coming up empty with respect to local campgrounds or RV parks, we finally found ourselves in a ball field parking lot, just down the road from the winery. Well, we thought, hmmm, let’s just camp here. We didn’t set up for the night as we didn’t want to be obviously camping in a parking lot, so we had our own little tailgate party for the afternoon, pounded back some liquor and then headed to the concert. Unlike the line-up to get into Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers where we waited for hours for 2 (yes TWO) single people to screen 35,000 people, the winery was smooth and swift. The Sheriffs checked our bags (not very well) and sent us on our way to have our ticket scanned and in less than 5 minutes of line and screening, we were in the concert. They should talk to the Gorge staff…in any event, the show was amazing as expected. The only alcohol available was wine, so we picked up a bottle and settled in. We were to the right of the stage, and had a clear view of everyone, particularly Ringo. I knew every song that was played, and sat down for very little. We left our patch of grass for most of the night to dance just off from the right side of the stage. Not many were dressed up, but there were some Beatles t-shirts and tie dye. And two members from a Canadian Beatles tribute band, wearing Sgt Pepper outfits – they looked awesome. There was also a strip tease from a very drunk fan that was soon cut short by the long arms of the Sheriff. A gal came up and recruited A. for a dancing tour of the audience, but I wanted to stay exactly where I was and was enjoying myself where I was. A. did get noticed, as she found herself in the reserved seating without a seat…Ringo said – “I see you lady!” or something like that. At one point before she left, Ringo was talking to the audience, and there came a short lull in the noise, so I hollered out “I LOVE YOU RINGO!” not realizing how it would carry and not expecting it would stand out that much…but it did and the crowd roared, and Ringo heard me! Sometime later, Ringo left the stage briefly, and exited out the back of the stage, right onto a small balcony that I could see VERY CLEARLY and it was just about 50 feet away or less so I did it again “I LOVE YOU RINGO!” and he turned, and gave ME the peace sign…I cried. I surely did. What an epic moment! I have been a Beatles fan for many, many years and while my heart belongs to John, my second favourite Beatle was Ringo. It was quite a pleasure to hear him drum in person, and to see him truly enjoy what he was doing. He said he goes on tour every couple of years just for fun. He was on the microphone a bit, singing out front, but he doesn’t seem to be as comfortable there, and seemed awkward, rocking from one foot to the other as he danced. When he was at his drum kit, he was very comfortable looking, particularly as the second drummer seemed to be overacting, although it was cool to see them drum in unison, leaning down into the drum kit at the same time.

We walked back to the camper after the show, stopping at the public washrooms on the hiking trail that ran right next to the ballfield. Good call, as there were insane lineups at the concert grounds. Once we came out of the bathroom, A. spotted a young man sitting at the picnic table, writing poetry. It was dark, but he was able to write by the light of the bathrooms, his bicycle leaning against the table. We sat with him for awhile, discussing the meaning of life when it began to rain big fat drops. We excused ourselves as he needed to head home, and returned to the camper to set up for the night. By this time, the parking guards had left the lot (I think others who came after us were charged for parking) and we were alone in the lot. We rehashed the concert for a bit before putting our wine-soaked heads to bed. We packed up in the morning and I dropped A. off at the ferry in Port Angeles, where she took the ferry home to Victoria.

I spent a few hours in town, picking up supplies, and looking for a next destination and finally decided to head west on the 101, and my GPS led me to a beachside campground not too far from town, facing Vancouver Island. The sites are small, but face the beach, which has a beautiful surf to listen to. Unfortunately it is rather expensive, so I won’t be staying long, and booked in for just two nights. There are also some pesky kids who have chosen to play rather loudly in the woods directly behind my camper. They have been at it for hours and hours and after a little break for supper, they are back at it again. I’m very close to becoming a bitch and telling them to find somewhere else to play – like the HUGE DAMN BEACH that is completely empty, or the many OTHER forests that surround the area, anywhere as long as they were not RIGHT BEHIND ME, yelling and screaming. If they were playing quietly, I wouldn’t care, but they have been playing some sort of battle game with some plants they have been ripping up all day, so very aggressive yelling and hollering after each other. Sigh…I just want to listen to the ocean surf, not 8 or 10 kids yelling…

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There is however, electricity and internet, although the internet is PAINFULLY slow, and intermittent. I have taken to writing the posts in Word instead of live on the site, too painful to lose all my work if the site bumps me off.

Gorgeous sunset tonight, and on the way back I stopped at the office and mentioned the noisy children to the staff and they acknowledged that the kids were indeed noisy, and they would speak to their parents as I hadn’t been the first to complain today. Apparently the girls are sisters, and come every summer for a month here, and typically play quietly, but the boys arrived today and as we all know, they change the equation. Suddenly games of “house” or “school” turn into KILL KILL KILL or be killed. In any event, I am hoping for a quieter day tomorrow, or I shall be pulling out.

So there you have it…the next part of this journey will be mostly by myself, going from concert to concert, and taking time to write in-between, and explore the many beaches of the west coast. I’ll be driving down the 101 aka the Gold Coast Highway. Once I get to California, after some time in San Francisco, I plan to head to Malibu in search of Matthew McConaughey…three weeks in a row so far, he has been spotted at Malibu beach, shirtless…I can hardly stand it.