Arrived last night with Laura we arrived at City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to meet Elaine and Amy to roll off on our road trip. We started at 8am and I aimed to arrive in Oregon at our camp site during sunset. Amy drove and I sat next to her and caught up on the past 7 years of my life. The last time I saw her was when I visited her in Kaui. It was a lot of fun.
Last night on the way over Laura realized she forgot Amy's tent and we did a U-turn and picked up her tent in Berkeley. I thought it would be a bad idea for Amy to not have a tent for a camping trip. I thought it would be easier to make a U-turn now then two hours later. I told Laura it was our last U-turn and she should speak now or forever hold her peace about what she forgot or etc..
Laura had made a CD and song lyrics so that we can Karaoke in the car. We also went through Amy's play list. One of the down loads from Laura was of U2 and it was U2's song in English but it was not Bono singing. It was weird. Then after lunch it was my turn to drive and I played my music for the next 6 hours. It was Jay Chou, Jay Chou, and more Jay Chou. This was the first time I drove 6 hours straight. Now I know that is something I can do.
In Amy's drive, she took us through Avenue of Giants to check out old Redwood groves. Then we stopped by Ferndale and parked at Fernbridge market. I went into the market and met the locals and chatted with them. I would have gone for a pie except Laura had bought two loaves of cinnamon bread from Acme Bakery and apple turn overs. They were delicious and on the heavy buttery side. I think that is why they are so good. The owner told me that in Ferndale there are 28 ranchers in Ferndale and the main source of income is dairy ice cream.
After we pulled out of the lot, we decided to follow the the farmer's market sign and see if we could find some exotic mushroom to fry at the camp tonight. We crossed the first concrete bridge in CA, we kept going and going, and all we saw were ranches. I think close out here is really far for us urban folk. We never made it to the farmer's market. We decided to pull around and get back on track.
We stopped at Lady Bird Johnson Grove for lunch. There was only one picnic bench by the parking lot and the garbage dump. We decided to head onto the trail and see if there were places we could picnic. Laura brought her straw mat and Amy brought her car shade for us to sit on. We found a nice spot to picnic under the sun's rays through the trees. It was quite ideal. We had quite a spread for lunch. Over lunch everyone commented on how it was a worthy wait of two hours this morning for me to put the lunch together. Amy had wanted to set off at 6am but I just woke up at 6 and I didn't want to get up at 4 to be ready to be ready by 6am. I knew I would be one of the driving leg on this ride so I wanted to make sure I had enough rest to drive while other slept in the car.
I drove all the way to the Oregon Coast of Battle Rock beach. I like to walk on this beach because when there is low tide you can walk out far and see big star fish and urchins. They are quite colorful and you can reach out and touch them. But today when I was there it wasn't low tide.
Laura and I walked, Amy and Elaine found quite spot to sit and spent it alone. Laura and I took photos of each other. She tried to pose like the Karate Kid on a rock. 
Then we cut each other's hair to mail in our hair and donate them for wigs for cancer patients. Then all of us ran into the waves and got wet. The Oregon coast is cold as usual. It felt great though for 3 seconds. I continued to drive to camp. We took the wrong turn in the wrong town and went up some mountain. The problem was we didn't check the street sign when we turned, we were too busy singing "Lady in Red" and chatting about our first dance. So it was an extra hour of detour. So, I drove really fast out of the mountain to pick up lost time. I think it made everyone in the car woozy. Elaine ate one sour plum after another to keep her stomach down.
We made it to camp after sundown. Fortunately our friends who arrived earlier pitched extra tents up for us to sleep in incase we got in really late and was too tired to pitch tents. That was really nice of them. When I pulled into the 1/2 Can Silver the mascot here greeted us.
Dinner was saved for us but we were well stocked in the car for all 12 hours of car trip. Even if we had to pull over and camp somewhere on the road, we had food to cook and I brought a stove with me. Amy and Elaine headed straight into bed. Laura and I decided we both want to shower before bed. It was a good idea because I was sticky and salty from the ocean. Then I caught up with Loc who was filling me in on logistics and things to resolve before the rest of the campers arrive tomorrow night.
When Laura and I made it back to the tent Silver was outside out the tent waiting for us to return. I asked him to walk me to the Buddha Hall to pick up more things for bedding and he walked me there and walked me back and then took off for the night. I think he is really special and takes good care of us by going around and sniffing to check if everyone is in their tent. When someone is not in for bed he'll sit there and wait until everyone is safely in their tent sleeping. Good dog!
The big general tent we were in had big air pockets for night wind to come into the tent. So I insisted that everyone had 3 paddings and extra blanket just to stay warm tonight. We were all really tired and could have fallen asleep fine but we would wake up next day tired from the cold. I tucked everyone in. I wanted to make sure no one gets sick and really have a great time on this trip.
I enjoyed Amy, Laura, And Elaine's company. I think we travel well together. We have similar interests and everyone offered their different strengths. I felt it was the right balance and complementary. I was grateful for such an awesome road trip to get here safely and had a blast.
This place, called Turtle Mountain, where we come every summer, where there is no cell phone reception, no street lights, is a place where magic happens. Once a year during this week, we experience utopia created by the strengths of all of us working together in harmony.
