It's Not Goodbye, It's See Ya Later

Hello everyone!  As we reach our 6 and ½ month of traveling, we must apologize for the lapse in Daily Life updates; the time has gotten away from us! We just arrived in Salem, OR yesterday after spending a month and a half in California. We had so much fun and made so many new friends that it seems impossible to list them all, but we will try and fill you in on at least some of the things that we did!

Our most memorable adventures were with the new friends that we met while we were staying with Ron and Stephanie. One weekend after another we got to experience exciting new things. For example, we got to try our hand at wine tasting when Ron and Steph took us with them to Temecula Valley, the southern version of Napa. It was so much fun and we learned a lot about wine culture. 

The vineyards in Temecula Valley.

Angie wine tasting with Ron and Stephanie.

On one of the following weekends, we journeyed to the California desert with our new friends Mike and Genevieve to visit Slab City. We had heard about Slab City before because it is featured in the movie “Into the Wild,” which is one of Daniel’s all-time favorite films. Slab City is a community of RV’s, trailers, and other structures that are both temporary and permanent. Some people move to Slab City when they are down on their luck and plan to move out when they find a job while others move there because they no longer wish to be a part of mainstream society. There is also a giant shrine to Jesus that one man spent his lifetime building called Salvation Mountain that draws many tourists. The real reason we went to Slab City, though, was to check out East Jesus, a section of property in Slab City lived on by a fellow named Charlie. Charlie passed away recently, but not before he left his mark on many friends and the community itself. In fact, we went to East Jesus because his friends were hosting a memorial event called “Art Slam.” Essentially, East Jesus is a sanctuary away from mainstream society where people can go and be themselves. It is largely self-sustaining, utilizing solar for power needs. It is filled with sculptures created by anyone and everyone out of recycled materials, or “trash.” The “Art Slam” was a sculpture competition that we were happy to be a part of, in memory of a person who created such a wonderful place for everyone to enjoy.

Salvation Mountain, Slab City, CA.

Daniel sitting in a recycled vehicle decorated with all kinds of things at East Jesus.

Mastodon sculpture made out of tires at East Jesus.

A recycled bottle wall at East Jesus.

Our friends JP and GirlBob fire spinning at East Jesus!

We got to make even more friends when we went to the mud caves in the Anza Borrego desert the following weekend. The mud caves are pretty self-descriptive – caves made of dirt. They can change every year depending on the rains and during the dry season, people go explore them! I was incredibly nervous to go crawling through mud caves at first (and yes, there are some parts where you literally have to crawl on your belly because the opening is so small!) but it ended up being an amazing experience. The next day, when we were headed back to San Diego with our friends Darlene and Fernando, we stopped to do a short hike to a palm tree oasis in the middle of the desert. We had never seen a desert oasis before, and believe me, they are much more breathtaking than in the movies! It was truly beautiful. 

Part of our group of friends who we went to the Mud Caves with.

Daniel, Angie and friends about to enter another mud cave.

Darlene, Fernando, Angie and Daniel heading towards the desert oasis!

The last weekend we spent in San Diego was incredibly bittersweet. We spent the whole weekend working on a mural with Stephanie and Ron so that they would always have a little piece of us at their house. It was a sad goodbye, but we know that we will be seeing them again soon since Ron’s family lives in Fauquier County, VA! (Only the best county in Virginia, if I do say so myself) We have to believe it was fate that led us to them, considering how much we love them and how perfect of a fit it was.

Genevieve, Mike, Daniel, Angie, Stephanie and Ron (and adorable pups Chloe and Emily) in front of the mural we painted for them!

The rest of our time spent in California, those days we weren’t being adventurers, were filled with work! Daniel finished a commissioned mural as well as some other smaller paintings and I, thanks to my friend Mike, had plenty of freelance writing work to do! It definitely worked out great for us!

Daniel standing in front of the mural he painted in Santee.

After we left San Diego, we headed to our friends Bob and Karen’s house in the high desert of California, several hours north of San Diego. We were just planning to spend one night there, interview a wonderful non-profit called Cal-Earth in the morning and head north to Portland afterwards. Well, we did get to interview Cal-Earth (there will be a separate article on that in the near future) but our stay ended up being a bit longer than we anticipated. Luckily, Bob and Karen are amazingly hospitable and invited us to stay as long as we needed. Of course, the culprit behind the prolonged stay was a bus issue. Big Easy had overheated continuously on the way from San Diego to the high desert and once we parked at Bob’s house, we realized there was also a large coolant leak. We ended up needing to replace the radiator, which ended up being a bit pricey. Fortunately, we found an awesome mechanic who charged us about half as much as other places quoted us. Daniel also put in a new fan clutch and Big Easy has been running smoothly ever since. 

Daniel holding Big Easy's fan after surgical removal.

It ended up being a great decision to replace the radiator because our drive north was incredibly mountainous. We detoured through the Redwoods National Park and spent two days hugging enormous trees. Northern California is on our top ten lists of most beautiful landscapes, quite possibly number one. We camped on a gorgeous beach, with the Pacific in front of us and Redwoods directly behind us. There was even a magnificent rainbow to top things off. It was a beautiful journey and if you ever have an opportunity to visit that small piece of the world, you should immediately take it.

Daniel hugging a giant Redwood tree.

Angie posing between two Redwoods.

Big Easy sticking her nose into an enormous California Redwood.

Daniel gazing out over the beautiful Northern California beach.

A wonderful rainbow appeared over our beach campsite.

Daniel and Angie in front of the trunk of a California Redwood.

Beautiful Smith River, on the border of California and Oregon.

Angie standing in a dinosaur-sized Redwood forest.

The rest of our trip, thanks to Big Easy’s new radiator, was smooth sailing. We made it to Salem, Oregon on April 15^th where we will stay until Daniel finishes a very cool (and very large) commissioned mural work. Then it will be onward to Portland!