I recruited my friend John and we rode up to the quaint little mountain town of Nevada City having only an address from the Facebook invite to get us to the event. The drive took a little over an hour, mostly through back country roads. We bounced along the bad pavement through oak savannahs listening to an assortment of bluegras and theorizing on what might be discussed for the night.
A stop by the Safeway for bread, dip, veggie platter and a case of beers. I pulled over to find a WIFI signal and check my GPS. Location acquired, we found the house in no time. I explained to John, “I have no clue what's going on here tonight really, I might not know anybody, or maybe I'd know a couple folks.”
We drove past, and noticed a few people hanging out on the stoop, looked encouraging. We parked and unloaded the food for the potluck. I carried the veggie tray and beers and headed to the front door, obscured by a tall hedge. As I came around the corner to a walkway leading right up to the front door, I noticed my old friend Jake was who had been on the stoop, Malori stood in the walkway.
“FRITZ!!!” they yelled out, shocked to see me.
Jake lept up to give me a hug then ran off to his van to get a delicious bottle of merlot. “For You!” he put it in my hands. We caught up for a while, filling each other in on the last year or so since we've seen each other. Jake is one of the people who inspired me to me current lifestyle and I appreciate getting to see him from time to time. He said he'd been following my pursuits on my blog and was envious of how well the world treats me. He was getting ready to move to the bay area and invited me to come checkout his new setup once he gets there.
It was good to catch up and meet a few new people. Most everyone was recovering from Burning Man. We moved out back and laid our some food on a table. Others followed suit. Soon, we were munching, drinking, laughing – having a good old time.
The person who was putting on the presentation arrived and asked for some help setting up his projector and screen. The crowd flew into action, digging up cables, securing the screen to the wall, and setting up speakers. There was a few short tests of the setup. The woman who was hosting the event asked if we could get her stoned... no problem.
We settled in and watched the show. It was basically a bunch of short videos that had been dug up online showcasing some creative projects that people worked on, primarily art projects for the notorious Burning Man. There was an automated electric rickshaw, self propelled kinetic sculptures, a few funny videos and a few serious ones, but unfortunatley, nothing earth shaking, nothing really giving a glimpse into any technologies that will let us live in a sustainable world. All in all, although I was glad the event went on, but I was rather disapointed by it. The booze didn't even help. The presentor said that it was a rough draft, the first version of a show that he was just begining to develop. I hope a lot of deceloping goes on.
Jake, John, Mallori and I went down to the local bar for some beverages, and to try and meet up with more local friends. We caught up with a crew of Mallori's girls from Portland, and one local girl who invited us all over to her house for the night to party. We kept up at the bar, enjoying two-for-tuesdays then went back to her place to drink whiskey.
I woke up in a strange house surrounded by cute girls and I knew everything was going to be all right.
John and Jake were soon stirring and we rallied for another day's hedonism. We loaded into Jake's van, made a trip to the Gross Out (Grocery Outlet) for cheap eats, and went down to the stream to cook up eggs and bacon. After our kings feast and a little machette juggling, we piled in, went to pick up Mallori, and ventured into the wilderness to spend a day at the Yuba River.
My little Geo crashed through the brush, deftly avoiding potholes and rocks on the dirt road. We hugged the cliff and wound around the corners of the tiny road making our way down a canyon. After about a half hour of this, we got to the parking lot, grabbed our minimal gear, and started the few mile hike down to the spot we wanted. We passed group after group of naked hippies they all seemed to be drinking, smoking, soaking up sun and frolicking in the water.
We found our spot and set up – chairs and beers. I tried to stay in the shade, while others sat on the hot sunny rocks. After a while, a middle aged, naked german lady came up and befriended John and I. She loved Americans, whiskey, the sun, and ganja. She hungout for a while, stretching this way and that, making sure we got the whole picture. She drank with us, asked for a smoke, and eventualy invited us back to her campsite “for some bacon”, she put it.
The bacon was a good shot, but we weren't ready to take off from this paradise just yet. The naked german wandered into the water and swam off. It was a long, slow, lazy day, soaking up nature and beer. Eventually, as the sun was going down, we hiked back out to the car and drove to a nearby cemetary, where we cooked up the leftover bacon from breakfast. One last feast with the mountain friends, amidst the dead, and I started off down the hill, back to the city.
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