I'm back!!!

 Well folks, CB has recovered my blog's password, after these 5 years of me not knowing how to do that.

I'll be blogging again soon. 

CATCHING UP, A TOWING ANGEL, THANKSGIVING AND TRAVELING THE TRIBE TO TONOPAH.

Can you see that thin book on the shelf of the Cottonwood library with my name and a library number on it?  It's a heady and gratifying experience to have your words out there for the public to consider.  I watched as a lovely lady checked it out.  Couldn't resist saying to her:  Hope you enjoy that book. Then I punched up Amazon books and spent a happy hour reading my reviews from around the world---  about 100 of them--mostly 5 stars.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment, and thank you my readers for returning to this blog after so long an absence and for indulging me in this little surge of ego.  It really amounts to nothing.  There are a thousand books of poetry out there.

Our little band of Nomads stuck together during this year of virus, hunkering down in the southwest in various places, sending one of us to town for groceries etc.  We had each other for company and for many adventures. Here's an unhappy one:

 MY TRANSMISSION QUIT WORKING IN A MOST INCONVENIENT PLACE---In the middle of the Navaho Indian reservation---then a corona virus hotspot that did not allow tow trucks from outside. You may find this hard to believe but a beautiful and powerful lady came by, saw my dilemma, made a phone call.  A half hour later a giant wrecker whisked me, with my truck and trailer, away to Flagstaff---150 miles away and would take no money.  I found out later that she had absorbed the thousand dollar cost. Believe it or not! When I get my camera working again, I will show you her picture.

                                            A new transmission cost $4,000, which I paid.

 Our people parked in the California desert west of Yuma. I think we celebrated Thanksgiving here.

And here's an essay on our group.

MUSIC AND MIND CAMP

Randy’s view

There’s a million of us mobile folks out here escaping rent, drudgery, loneliness and unpleasant weather. Most of us will eventually join a cluster of others to enhance our experience. Perhaps a hundred such groups of varying interest have formed.  Which ones will you be drawn to?  My favorite is MUSIC AND MIND CAMP, --about three years old.  My notion of a great tribe.

We define ourselves as an enduring nomadic neighborhood of friends.  Our members are mostly in the fourth stage of mobile living: (1. getting mobile 2. comfortably mobile 3. connected and 4. finding meaning.)

What is meaning?  It's a feeling—of aliveness, purposefulness and connection—- intimately associated with movement—physical and or mental movement toward chosen ends. Scratch an itch and you will have generated a flicker of meaning----chase a dream and you may generate years of meaning.  It vanishes from time to time when we stop moving— on a project for example. We seemingly run out of meaning or it mysteriously evaporates when we forget that movement is an essential component. Intensely felt meaningfulness is called FLOW and one can recognize it as interest so intense that time seems to distort.

A major goal of our group, as I see it is to train ourselves or inspire ourselves to improve our MEANING-MAKER skills. Expert meaning makers are called AUTOTELIC personalities which some scientist say are the most meaning-filled humans.

Bit by bit we have shaped a fun and effective tribe,  Here’s a glimpse into our thinking and doing:

We:

• Move toward good weather and free campsite
• Charge no fees
• Move freely in and out of community
• Respect the need for solitude and privacy,
• Seek to master the art of friendship,
• Invite visitors and accept new members,
• Seek to know and be known with games, ideas, traditions.
• Enjoy the thrill of personal growth.
• Share our knowledge and skills,
• Take responsibility for our lives, actions, feelings,
• Look for ways to improve the world,
• Play games, enjoy music, appreciate good minds.
• Welcome splintering.

Now some of us are cooling ourselves in the forest near Leadville, Colorado--elevation 10,000 ft.

Pictures as soon as I can master this new computer and a new camera.

Here's the loaded truck

And here's the powerful lady who spoke a few words into her phone then said to me: "it's handled"

AND TO MY AMAZEMENT-----IT WAS.  I wish a few words from me could call in the forces of earth like that.  I speculated that she had a support team behind her that jumped when she spoke.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:When a subject (like meaning) is buzzing in your head and you think you have something to say about it, you might try my technique to express it.  I put the major words associated with the subject like FEELING, MOVEMENT.GOAL,FLOW,AUTOTELIC etc on paper and ask myself how they fit together, like puzzle pieces.  Then I construct sentences and let the paragraphs sit.  Almost inevitably I can improve them the next day-----and the next.  When I can't improve them anymore, I'm satisfied.  I spent three days on the above paragraphs about meaning.

REASSEMBLING THE TRIBE AT SADDLE MOUNTAIN

IT'S BEEN NEARLY A YEAR SINCE WE HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLYASSEMBLED HERE.

WE SCATTERED FOR THE SUMMER BUT SOME OF US COULD NOT BEAR TO PART,

SO A FEW OF US STAYED TOGETHER THROUGH THE SUMMER.  NOW WE REAAEMBLE!.

 

You may remember these lovely mountains 40 miles west of Phoenix.

Now we are back---here is the first wave of returnees gathered to establish how we are going to deal with the corona virus.  It was a good meeting and we set a good policy to protect ourselves.

Our rigsare strung along this road.

And C.B. unveils his latest electronic marvel:  giant screen movies for our entertainment.

For the guitar crowd, a practice session.

Hiking in the morning for the vigorous.

Games at two for gamers.

Slow shuffling walkers at 5.

Snoozing, solitude and privacy at any time desired.

And that's the way we while away the days.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:  I REMIND MYSELF  WHAT I AM DOING OUT HERE IN THIS DESERT WITH THIS SELECT GROUP OF FRIENDS:  WE ARE REINVENTING THE TRIBE,

Making it voluntary, free, fun, supportive, even transformative.  .

TWO WONDERS AND A POEM

C

CAMPED IN THE SHADOW OF A WONDER--MEXICAN HAT

A town and a rock in the Utah desert..

Hundreds have come to see it since we've been here.

Its story a million years old.

You might imagine the details

Buried in sediment layers under the sea.

Pressure makes them stone,.

rising with the Colorado plateau uplift five states wide.

Then weathering away of its layer --all but this wonderous rock

can't guess why, but there it is,  balanced 

on its pinnacle. Wonder enough!

As I gather myself to leave, a second wonder begins.

Perhaps you can see the visitors  under the hat.

 Two of them. I was unprepared for what came next.

Can you see this amazing man defying gravity on the underside of the hat?

                                                  Slowly he makes his way to the edge                                                                                 

Then on top!

And his buddy also!. They wandered all around the rock--seemingly unafraid it might fall

Needless to say, I was dazzled.  I waved--they waved back.

 Here's what came to my mind:

"WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS MAN.

HOW NOBLE IN REASON,

HOW INFINITE IN FACULTY.

IN MOVING HOW EXPRESS AND ADMIRABLE.

IN ACTION, HOW LIKE AN ANGEL.

IN APPREHENION. HOW LIKE A GOD.

THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD.

THE PARAGON OF ANIMAL."

(My readers may recognize this quote from Shakespeare's Hamlet)

My happy tribe--moves on through monument valley to Flagstaff.

RANDY PHILOPHIZES:  Wonder: a verb, a noun, an emotion.  I let this wonder remind me of the greater wonder: that of being able to wonder. Only humans wonder; are puzzled and dazzled.

A gift we are born with

can be lost by crude living.

I keep my gift.

I wonder at my very being.

Perhaps my wonder-ing can lead me out of myself

where wonders abound.

t

AN AMAZING VISITOR

 I'LL TELL YOU ALL ABOUT IT AFTER I CATCH UP A BIT.

We went to Colorado and settled in on our old campsite on the side of this mountain just 5 miles outside Buena Vista.

Down the hill, by a stream and semi hidden is a humble cabin that has peaked my curiosity for several years now.  It is precisely the same dimensions  as Thoreau's famous cabin on Walden pond.  This time I lucked out--the owner came camping---I engaged him.  And No, it was not built with Thoreau in mind---just a coincidence.

After two weeks we decided to get seriously into the mountains by moving across Monarch pass to Montrose , to Ouray and then to Silverton.

Settling along a lovely creek  nearby.

 Made friends with several others--one of which took us in his mountain climbing vehicle to a magical lake at 12 thousand feet.  Pictures later.

Then we went across Wolf Creek Pass--a legendary climb immortalized in a truckers song as a "bearcat of a pass".  

On the other side we found a lovely plateau and stayed 2 weeks while we worked on an internet presentation of my Walt Whitman performance.

Then we backtracked a hundred or so miles to Salida. finding this gem of a free parking place near Brown's Canyon

at the base of these famous mountains--the college peaks--all 14,000 ft or more and named for the colleges--Harvard, Yale, Princton and one other I forget.

We had a group meeting  to discuss a serious event coming our way.  All of us are out of qarentine and do not mask up.  We're "family".  We decided to stay put and face the worst of it.

Christy gave me this splendid expensive mattress.  It's way too big as you can see--so I'll have to cut it down to size.

AND THEN IT CAME---A REAL LIVE SNOWSTORM.  ABOUT A FOOT OF IT.

It was a shocker to wake up to this.  But it was beautiful--haven't seen anything like it ever.

Next morning I'm snowed in but I have two days worth of power stored in my 6 batteries plus a full supply of food, water and propane for my fine heater.  No problem:  Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,

We all went out to play.  The dog loved it even more.

I probably will never see this sight again. "The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot" are gone away

and only we remain.

I went to work clearing my solar panels---they charge my batteries nicely even on overcast days.

I tried to make a snow angel.

AND THEN IT ALL WENT AWAY IN 3 DAYS FLAT.  Today it's 80 degrees and lovely.  We've been here 2 weeks and plan to move tomorrow to a new spot.  

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES: I THINK OF THIS GROUP AS A BOLD EXPERIMENT IN FRIENDSHIP; HOW TO GROW IT AND HOW TO ENJOY IT.  It is wonderful to be surrounded by quality people who enjoy being surrounded by you--- a pool of wisdom, skills, experience and empathy readily available for the drinking.

WHERE THE COOL IS

Where the Cool Is

To all who sizzle at a hundred three,

Come to the mountains and camp with me.

See on your road map the color green

Shows the mountains cool and clean.

For every thousand feet you climb,

Four degrees are left behind.

Keep on climbing and it’s for sure,

You’ll find the perfect temperature

Somewhere between the heat below

And the chill of mountain snow.

Find a spot near aspen trees;

Let nature cool you with her breeze.

WE ARE IN THE COOL--AND COOLING OUR HEELS  while the pandemic rages across the country.  We have camped at 5 spots on the Colorado Plateau  which covers 5 states with altitudes around 7000 feet. (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Utah)

You may remember yhat a handful of us chose not to scatter for the summer but hung around this lovely free spot 30 or so miles west of Phoenix to wait out the corona virus pandemic.

Got a bit warm so me alll moved uphill

to the Mogollion rim, high country of Arizona outside Payson
till we tired of it and moved on---

to this lovely lakefront spot near Concho, az for 2 weeks.

By this time I sorely needed a haircut.

We moved to this terrific spot outside Springerville, Az at 9000 feet elevation and perfectly cool.

Then crossed over to New Mexico

and through the flatland plains 

passing the El Malpais Nat'l monument 

and settling in at Bushrod's place--my oldest friend.

where I bought a badly needed new chair.  Christy approved kt.

Then goes with me to the Taos high bridge across the Rio Grande.

Notice anything dirrerent about me?  I got a haircut

People sometimes come to this bridge to die--jumping to the river and rocks below in about 3 seconds.  Several of these machines beg them to think things over, press that red button  and talk to someone.  THERE IS HOPE it says in large letters..

Christy and I stayed the night

so as to appreciate these wonders next morning,  They are called EARTH SHIPS by the locals---made of largely recycled materials, lovingly and artfully constructed as off-the-grid, self-sufficient  homes.

There are about 50 of them in a vast meadow----cost about $40,000 upward to build.

And then we made our way to a grand plateau--elevation 8,250 ft--perfect--near Salida, CO.

7 of us are nestled along a cliff and among the trees.

RANDY PHILOSOPHIZES:  SWEET PEOPLE--THIS IS THE LIFE YOU HAVE BEEN FANTASIZING---living as cheaply as a flock of sparrows, connected like a herd of wild horses, free as the wind, embraced by a great set of friends.  It's doable and we are living proof.