Sunday, July 04, 2010

Online again

I've been offline for the last week, up in the redwoods. Today, after six nights of camping out, I needed a long hot shower, etc., to spice up. (So I was told by a clerk at a gas station/market down the road apiece.) And so here I am online at a motel in Garberville, heart of Humboldt County's "alternative economy." I went to a gathering of the faithful last evening--a folk music fest for the fourth held in a nearby town--and I must say I surely fit right in, appearance-wise. I turned down the repeated offers of "herb," of course, because I simply didn't want to clog my lungs with smoke. But we are indeed a scruffy- looking lot, we hippies, especially when gathered in large numbers.

A travel note: The groves of "un-old-growth" redwood trees extend all the way from a few miles north of Santa Cruz up to the Oregon border. Only a few stands of old-growth remain, of course, but I must admit I thought there weren't that many places where they still grew in any form.

Anyway, apropos the normal content of this blog, know this: Nothing has changed in my absence. The stories--Kagan, unemployment, oil spill, AfghanIraq, to name a few--remain unchanged, as if they didn't see my absence as a chance to amend their direction. Indeed, if anything, they've all headed further south since I've been out of the loop. So, it doesn't matter if I pay attention or make posts to this blog or write letters to the editor railing against this policy or that. Of course I knew that was the case, but it's pleasant to have confirmation.

And so--back into the woods.