I’ve decided to end this blog.  How can I top the “Female Orgasm Cult” post!?  Impossible.

I’m Kidding.  This blog will continue – but don’t expect insane stories like that every week.

Ashland

At the end of my last post, I was in Ashland, furiously scribbling together my story.  Fleeing the commune was a huge deal!  It was stressful, exhilarating, exhausting and exciting.  In the days afterward, I was basically decompressing, catching up on computer time and in shock from the events that occurred.  I didn’t have a clear plan; but was thrilled to get the heck out of there.

I ended up having a really nice time in Ashland; I stayed for about 4 days.  I didn’t know it existed until I arrived but was pleasantly surprised.  It’s very small, cozy and laid back.  There is a beautiful park that runs alongside the creek (the park was designed by the same guy who did Golden Gate Park).  The park is super green and lush (which I now realize is very common in Oregon).  The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is based in Ashland; there are several beautiful theaters and shows are constantly running.

There is a hippie vibe that exists in Ashland; it’s difficult to describe.   The following story sums it up nicely.  On Saturday night, I heard some killer psychedelic rock music emanating from the local bar, Oberon’s.  I wandered inside, grabbed a beer and joined the rest of the small crowd in nodding my head and slapping my thigh enthusiastically to show my appreciation for the beautiful music.  There were all sorts of characters in this bar; business men and women, dirty hippies, crazy hippies, aging hippies, standard hippies (whatever that means),  guys who looked like they wandered in from the PCT (backpack and all) and myself (I don’t know how to classify myself).  It was quite an eclectic scene.  Eventually, one of the aging hippies struck up a conversation with me.  He was a man in his late 60’s with long white hair and a goatee; he seemed like a local kooky character, talking with everyone and wearing a shirt that had Russian characters on it.  He was also a very enthusiastic dancer.  Later on in the night, he’s dancing enthusiastically with a guy around his age wearing nice jeans and a sports coat.  Sports coat man turns to aging hippie and exclaims  “I took a little bit of acid!”  The hippie responds right away: “I took a lot!”  They both laugh and hug each other and continue dancing.   It was in between songs so everyone in the room heard them; I was dying with laughter.   I felt that everyone was just being themselves, whatever that meant, and there was zero judgement, posturing or “trying to look cool”.  It was refreshing.

I fell in love with Ashland, but it is also quite small and I started to feel a bit claustrophobic.  I realized I needed to find a new farm/work opportunity – I wanted more community – I didn’t want to go vagabonding around national parks again and I didn’t want to be in a super rural environment.  I felt the strong need for community.  Speaking of friends and community, I met up with my friends Jocelyn and Jon, who are traveling around the U.S. trying to find a place to settle down.  They were traveling to Eugene and we had some food and beers in Ashland on their way up.  I didn’t know anything about Eugene, but they seemed to be really into it.  Thus, I opened my search for farm/work opportunities to both Ashland and Eugene.

I fired off some emails to non-cult-appearing work exchange opportunities close to Eugene and Ashland (if I saw the word “intentional community” in the description I instantly crossed it off my list).  Within a few days, I had a neat opportunity lined up in Eugene.  It’s a historic house that has been converted to a bed and breakfast and it’s a work in progress; so there are plenty of opportunities to help with renovations.  Advertised projects included painting, fixing windows and some gardening.  The couple has hosted dozens of travelers and many exchange students stay with them; so clearly they are open minded, excited to meet new people and hopefully not a cult.  I was excited about the opportunity; I told myself it will be good for me to have some structure, have some projects to work on, learn new skills, meet new people, have a place to call “home” and get all my meals taken care of.

Eugene

I made the final decision to head to Eugene late on a Monday afternoon – and simply got in my van and drove north.  I had a moment where I thought to myself: “wait I need to go back to Ashland before heading North” (since it was my home base for the last 4 days).  But then I realized that my “home” was my van and I was driving my “home” around.  A simple epiphany but a great feeling.

I arrived in Eugene and spent a few days with Jocelyn and Jon.   They were wonderful hosts; we ate a delicious home cooked thai meal, played Argentinian card games, traveled through space and time by watching ‘Baraka’, went on some epic hikes, visited many breweries and engaged in general revelry.  It also happened to be my birthday, so it made it extra special to spend it with awesome friends.

By the way, check out Joceyln’s writing at Blore’s Razor – she’s an extremely talented writer that uses words in such beautiful ways that I can’t even properly articulate  it on this blog.  Also, her fiancé Jon, is releasing a book soon – based on the many verbal descriptions of the plot, it will undoubtedly be a hilarious and entertaining read.  Their children will surely be incredible writers as well.

Anyway, after a few days parking the van at J&J’s place, I made the 15 minute drive to the next town of Springfield to start the new chapter in my work-trade adventure.  This time, there was no secluded compound or brainwashed minions.  Instead, it was a warm, gracious and very hospitable couple.  I quickly fell into the routine of working for 4 hours or so in the mornings and exploring Eugene in the afternoons.  The meals were hearty and delicious and the work was somewhat interesting.  I spent most of my time working on improving the dilapidated exterior of their historic victorian.  The work included scraping, sanding, painting and a lot of caulking.  It was interesting to learn various restoration techniques and although it became a bit repetitive, I enjoyed the feeling of crossing things off my list and experiencing the satisfaction of completing tasks.  It also made me value my free time more – and I still had plenty of it!

In my free time, I explored Eugene by bike, bus and van.  It is similar to Ashland, but much larger.  The University of Oregon has a big presence in town, but since it is summer, there weren’t as many students around.  There are tons of breweries, especially in the hip Whitaker district.  There are epic hikes 10-15 minutes from town; for many sections of these hikes, I felt like I was transported to a tropical rain forrest.  I also played sand volleyball for the first time since I had surgery, over a year ago.  It felt amazing to get back out there.  The teams were well matched and we had some awesome rallies.  It reminded me how much I love playing volleyball.  I was glowing on the drive home.

Unfortunately, my hip was severely aggravated in the days afterward.  Dammit.  To be fair, it wasn’t entirely volleyball; it was also a bit too much standing/caulking, socializing and sitting.  It’s super frustrating to have this limitation on doing things I love.  My hip will usually start to feel better after a few days – but it requires that I baby it and severely limit standing, sitting or laying down for extended periods.  Basically, I need to walk around a lot – but not too much.  Fun right?  Standing and Caulking for hours on end is not healthy for it – and walking around Springfield and Eugene get’s boring fast.   Well, at least I love hiking and doing photography in nature.  The wilderness called me – I decided to end my 2 week stint a few days early and drive east into the Willamette National Forest.

Fast forward one week to present day.  I’m currently in Sisters, Oregon – a cozy resort town in the high desert.  In my next blog post, I’ll talk about my adventures in the wilderness.  Let’s just say I parked the van by the river many times, did dozens of time lapses, adventured on countless hikes and went on a 3 day stretch where I spoke to 4 humans.  It was incredible – and my hip feels way better than it did a week ago.