June 1st. the journey has begun. I left San Diego at 7 pm and i find myself in Irvine at Adam's Place. All is well.

74 ---- 2006-06-01 21:46:59

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June 2nd (Friday) I spent most of the day driving. I arrived in Salinas 6pm, and visited Jeff Meza the infamous Jam almighty. He is a talented Musician / Philosopher / Filmmaker. He always has good stories, and new ideas for film projects. It was great to hangout with him again.

June 3rd (Saturday) Now I'm visiting the college I graduated from: California State University Monterey Bay located in the old abandoned fort Ord Military base. Summer school is in session, and a lot of my friends have moved on, but I'm staying with one of my old roommates, and neighbor: Scott and Noel. They have been very hospitable. We met up with some people, and went to a comedy show at a bar called Docs. It was a lot of laughs which continued through the night.

June 4th: Sunday has been Mellow. It has helped ground me, and let me catch up on writing in this blog. I also added a couple of pictures to the picture gallery. I am not big on taking pictures, but I will try to take more as my journey continues.

Great News!!! I received a phone call from the organizer of the "Best Fest America film festival." He informed me that "Ultra Ping Pong 3000" and "Explores of the lucid dream world" will both be featured in the festival Late July in San Diego.

75 ---- 2006-06-04 18:36:49
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June 5th Monday: I went to a talk on Transcendental Meditation. This is known as effortless meditation, and involves silently repeating a mantra to calm the mind.

In the evening, I drove to San Jose to visit Mike Yin, Heide, and Joe Brennen. Mike and Joe live right next to San Jose State University and downtown San Jose. Mike is my oldest friend. He's more like a brother. We met in first grade, and we have always had a good connecting since then. He is as full of energy as usual, and has endless stuff to talk about. That evening we had fish and chips and beer.

June 6th Tuesday. I woke up after a dream about a nuclear bomb exploding. Todays date is 06 06 06. My thoughts become pessimistic, and I am reminded how fragile my life is. Their is so much in this world which I cannot control. The struggle between good and evil continues, as I search for my place within it.

For most of the day I walked around San Jose. I got a terrible headache, and It has directed my attention to an important lesson I plan to work on during this trip: enforce self discipline to maintain a healthy diet.

I am particularly sensitive to getting headaches. This means it is very important for me to make good decisions about diet, sleep habits, and alcohol consumption. In conclusion, my body is a temple, I must make healthy decisions.

76 ---- 2006-06-06 22:13:32
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June 7th
My friend Estee and Dave (Wavey) used to live in Oakland, and Walnut Creek, but both have moved back to Monterey Bay. So instead of continuing going north, I backtracked back to Monterey Bay just for a night.

Estee is a filmmaker who has recently made a documentary about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. She has some amazing footage, and the film is still a work in progress. (filmkatrina.com) She also adopted my old black cat named Sam now known as “moma kitty” because she had 3 kittens who are about 1 year old now. :-)

June 8th
I parked in Berkeley, and took the BART into the big city: San Francisco. I have reserved a room in a hostel called: “Adelaide” so I had all day to wonder around the city. I walked through china town, and down the embarcadero, and then up market street. In the evening, I checked into the hostel, and then went bar hopping until 1am. As the night went on, I started meeting more people. From a teacher, to a photographer, interior designer, and a stoner filmmaker. On the hazy walk home I was dodging bums and beggers which is a integral part of the streets of San Francisco.

San Francisco is a city full to the brim of interesting people. It is soo full of multicultural life and activity. No matter where I walked, their was something going on, and different things to see.

June 9th
At the hostel “Adelaide” in San Francisco I slept in a room with 4 bunk beds full of random people. I woke up at about 6am, hungover, and dieing of thurst. That is when I got a chance to hangout in the lobby, and talk to people who were staying at the hostel. Foreigners are exotic and make great conversation.

After I checked out of the hostel, I meet up with my old and wise roommate Richard Blair: Part Philosopher, part X-Airborne Ranger, part businessman. We had lunch, and then he showed me some of the building projects he is working on at his job. We went to Treasure Island and that is when I saw the most scenic locations I had seen all week!

Richard dropped me off in Berkeley, where I met up with Z. We hungout at some bars, and listened to live music. I’m sitting at a coffeshop right now with Z. and I’ve been typing for a while, so, I’ll write more about berkeley in my next blog entry.
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June 10th (Saturday)
I stayed at Nick Z’s apartment located not far from the University of Berkeley, Shattuck, and Telegraph. Berkeley has a lot of unique architecture, as well interesting places scattered and sometimes tucked away in hidden places. Curiosity makes for a good tour guide. Good Bookstores, Live Music, abundance of coffee shops, and a culture full of life and intellect, all in walking distance.

June 11th (Sunday)
My last hours in Berkeley, Z and I went to a jazz street fair called Oak Park Fair located not far from the “gourmet getto”. Berkeley was great fun, and there is no one I would rather have shown me the city than Z.

From there I drove one hour north to Fairfield Suisun where my older brother Chris, his wife Pam, and their 1 year old son Liam live. Chris flies KC-10s in the airforce, which are huge transport / fuel jets. Mike Staton was also visiting, and we had a delicious homemade dinner to celebrate Liam’s official one year old birthday. Liam is such a great Nephew. He is very curious, and giggly.

June 12th
After Chris got off of work, we went to fly remote controlled gliders on a hill. That was great fun, and very scenic. In the evening, I met up with my filmmaker college friend Jen (twisted little J). We drove out to no where, opened her convertible top, and stargazed for hours while tellin stories and reminiscing on the past. The moon rise was beautiful, and the first time I got to see it because it had been cloudy the past few days.

June 13th noon:
My journey into the unknown begins today. Up until now, I have visited old friends in familiar places. Now I am driving north of California, where I don’t know many people at all. I’ve booked a few hostels, and organized to meetup with some friends.

This is really where the trip becomes an uncharted adventure.

78 ---- 2006-06-15 11:48:51

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June 13th continue
I arrived in Azalea Oregon to stay at Gretchen’s Cabin in the woods. Gretchen is very nice, and the home cooked meal was great! The following morning we went walking through the woods around her cabin. There is so much wildlife and plants around. We saw wild berries, a fawn and some poly-wogs, She really does have a slice of nature out there. I plan to visit again to go on a further hike to the ridge.

June 14th
Portland was good. The city of roses. (and bridges) It rained just a little. I stayed at a hostel that night.

June 15th
I drove back south to Salem, then Springfield to meetup with my good friend Becca. She was visiting Terri and Richard who I hadn’t met before but were kind enough to let me join them for dinner, and spend a night on the couch bed. Terri and Richard are very pleasant people. Richard gave me a tour of Springfield and Eugene, pointing out all the bizarre statues. It’s so great to get to stay with such warm people in a state I have never been in.
Seeing Becca always brings me mixed up emotions and thoughts. Mainly curiosity and respect, but I see a creative spark in her that I don’t see often. I don’t know how to communicate my thoughts feelings to her.

June 16th 17th and 18th
After 2 breakfasts at Terri and Richard’s house in Springfield Oregon, I Drove up to Washington and into Seattle. I stayed at a hostel called the “Green Tortoise” located downtown. Seattle was great fun. I went to pikes place, Seattle center, and to the Fremont Fair.

At the seattle center, I went up the space needle to see a terrific 360 view of Seattle. From there I went to the pacific science center, where they had an exhibition on video games. So I spent 2 hours plays videos games from all generations, from Space Invaders to Xbox 360. Then I went to a show on juggling and watched comedic performers throw stuff at each other. That night (Saturday) I went to a club across the street and did a bit of dancing, and meet a few people. The quote my friend Z said “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” Kept me out late. It was worth it, but my legs are getting tired!

On Sunday I went to the Fremont Fair. There was so much going on at the fair, it took 3 hours to see everything. I talked to soo many people. I also got a “Reading” from a guy with some kind of tarot cards who I was talking to about meditation. I pulled three cards:

The “here and now” card said: “Breakthrough” and he explained that this is a time of development for me.
The “Past Influence” card said: “Ice-olation” and he explained that isolation (which is a part of my past) was a way of dealing with growing up. And the ice can melt through tears.
The “insight” card said “Conditioning” which had a picture of a lion hanging out with sheep. He told the story of a lion who was raised by sheep. The lion believed he was a sheep, and acted like the sheep. He did not become a lion until he was shown his reflection in the water.
The card reading experience really hit me deeply, and I thought about it for quite some time.

After the fair, I met up with Erik who I was friends with in kindergarten. He had moved to Seattle in the first grade, but our parents have kept in touch. We had lunch and was only able to talk for an hour or so. He’s into politics and law. He’s moving to Virginia soon to go to law school. It was interesting to see him again, we barely remembered each other.

June 19th.
I drove into British Columbia in the morning. I had to check in with immigration who interrogated me rather vigorously. I think it was because there was no one else in line. And it might also be hard to believe that I’m visiting someone named Alyse, who I don’t remember her last name, and the whole story about the train... I suppose it sounds made up. I then waited about 15 minutes until he stamped my passport and granted me no more than 6 days in Canada. I’m just glad he didn’t search my car :-E

I then check into a hostel in Vancouver and spent the day wondering around the city in the spontaneous style that this road trip has adopted. I chatted with a girl from Humbolt at a diner at lunch. She was reading an interesting book called "Beyone Fear" which I will be looking into.

around sunset while walking on a beach, I noticed a group of tents. As I walked up, someone approached me and asked if I had a ticket. I said no. She then gave me one, and explained that her son couldn’t attend because he’s watching the big hockey game on TV. Turns out it’s called “Bards on the Beach” which is a series of plays they have on the beach each summer. Tonights show was called “Lions go Latin” It was great (I took a picture, that’s on this site). I also met some people in line who were friendly and good to talk to.

This trip is going great! And june 20th I’ll be meeting Alyse! The grand finally of my journey. I’ll write again when I can.

79 ---- 2006-06-20 11:15:19

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June 20th
I spent the day driving up the winedy road east to Revelstoke. I arrived at my final destination that evening: the “Pink Palace” is the house that Alyse lives in which is a three-story castle looking structure. (picture included in the gallery) Alyse lives on the third floor, and has decorated the inside with artifacts, paintings, and a unique personality. The house matches Alyse’s character, as she is mysterious, and strong yet compassionate with a sense of humor. She is much more than I had expected to meet, and she made the trip well worth the distance I had traveled.

June 21st
Today was the summer solstice: the longest day of the year. 16 hours and 25 minutes long. Alyse took the day off of work, and we went into the thick wilderness to pick berries, and see the Canadian Wilderness up close. It was beautiful to sit and look at the view with Alyse.

June 22nd to 23rd
Alyse gave me an orange train worker vest and protective glasses, and explained that I would need to wear this anytime I was around the train to blend in with the other workers. That morning we got onto the train with an engineer named Jody. There are three seats in the engine: One for the engineer / driver otherwise know as the hog-head (Jody), the other for the conductor (Alyse) and I sat on the extra third seat in the middle. It was such a great experience sitting at the front of the train, listening to the radio chatter, and watching the scenery go by. This is a once in a life time experience, and I absorbed the experience as much as possible.

They typically drive for 10 hour or so out. Then they rest at the closest bunkhouse before riding 10 hours back on a different train. There were a few tunnels, bridges, and wildlife. We saw 5 Bears, a few deer, and a moose. The weather was nice, with occasional showers. There is a stove where Alyse cooked up grilled cheese sandwiches and also some tea. At one point we were told that there was someone hiding on one of the coaches (a Rider). The police were informed, and showed up to investigate, but he did not find anyone. We drove between 10 and 35 miles per hour, but sometimes we had to wait for trains to pass us by. Eventually, the shift ended, but we were not at our final destination so we were given a taxi to the bunkhouse this process is known as “dead head.”

We were dropped off at “Field” British Columbia which is the last town on the eastern boarder just before Alberta Canada. We were scheduled to get back on the train to home at about 2am.

I explored the area, and found a view point I felt very connected with. It overlooked a parked train, the river, and a distant mountain scape. I sat for hours feeling very content, connected, balanced, and energized. I wrote a short description of where I was, as well as took a picture so I could remember this spot forever. It is the greatest gift I have received on this road trip, and I will revisit it in my mind, and hopefully in my dreams. Here is what I wrote:

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Spiritual Peak
The tall snow covered mountains which loom all around the railway tracks cut through the billowy clouds as they majestically drift by. Roaming Bears and deer are concealed inside the thick forest of dark green trees. Occasionally they emerge to drink the water from the cold streams, which run from the mountaintops. Raindrops begin to fall from the sky, bringing life to the plants and animals that thrive in this environment. As the sky clears a rainbow bridges two mountaintops. I find a place to sit which overlooks a parked mile long train at the station. The sky slowly turns from blue to orange as the summer evening becomes late. The mountain tops glow and a single star appears as it becomes darker. This particular moment at this particular location I have reached the spiritual pinnacle of my journey. This is the furthest I have ever traveled physically and mentally. Tomorrow I will begin the trip home to southern California taking with me a fragment of the divine, this precious jewel or a memory.
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Early Friday morning we started our 10 hour train ride home. We made it all the way back to Revelstoke, and it was a smooth ride. I carried with me the warm feeling of accomplishment I had gained the evening before. Once at Revelstoke, Alyse and I went to lunch and hungout for a bit, until it became time for me to leave. I felt so connected with Alyse, and so grateful that she had made this whole experience possible, it was very hard to leave, and I secretly wanted to stay much longer. I hold Alyse in the highest regard and consider her a spirit guide for her wisdom, and ability to deliver me to such a profound place.

80 ---- 2006-06-24 12:49:32
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June 24th and 25th 26th
Saturday night I arrived in Vancouver Washington USA at the Krygers’ house. They gave me such a warm welcome and it was great to see them again. Dinner was great, which we had outside in their backyard. Afterwards they gave me a tour of downtown Vancouver and the historic statues. On Sunday we went to church before I continued my trip south.

Sunday evening I arrived back at Gretchen’s cabin in Azalea Oregon. We went for a walk to the top of the ridge, and saw 3 big elk who ran for it into the bushes. The next day Gretchen gave me a driving tour of the area after which I got back onto highway 5 south.

Monday I’m back at Pam Chris and Liam’s house in Suisun south of Sacramento. The trip is winding down, and I’m preparing to go back to normal life. I am so thankful for everything who has fead me, given me a place to stay, and great company.

On this trip I found exactly what I was looking for, as well as I achieved a level of understanding and wisdom I had not expected to accompany the journey. Now I have a pile of great memories of people, places, and experiences.

81 ---- 2006-06-27 12:42:52

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