She gently stroked my forearm with her other hand as we strolled along. When we got to the edge, we both looked into the darkness of the lapping waves below us. She took a small bottle out of her pocket, removed the cork and asked, "Do you mind?" I thought she was offering me a drink.
I said, "Sure." But instead of offering me some, she tipped it and poured the contents into the Bay. All of a sudden fish began to pop up to the surface, lying on their sides--not moving at all. I said, "Huh?"
She looked at me straight in the eyes, smiling, and said, "No, no, silly! These are the waters of death. I want you to show me the waters of LIFE." I told her I didn't understand what she meant. She turned back toward the Bay and looked far off into the horizon, and said softly, "I'm so thirsty..."
I asked what that stuff in the bottle was. She said, "Omega--the end." I told her it was funny that that was also the name of my publishing company. She said, "I know." Just then, thunder erupted above us, and it began to rain big drops. She bent her head back and just guzzled...
When she'd had her fill, she looked back at me and very seriously, and said, "NOW comes the Alpha!"
* * * * * * *
I opened my eyes and saw the sky above me. What the hell was that all about? I had no idea. It seemed like it had a profound meaning at the time, but I wondered how profound something could really be if I didn't even have a clue what happened.
The blue of the day was bleeding out across the night. I heard a dog barking just beyond the tree line. It was getting closer. I had no idea whether he was on the same side of the fence that I was. It was 4:45 am and I was tired, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep longer. I did the pack up quickly, all the while planning my escape carefully. I had to make it through the barbed wire fence again and was determined to do it more successfully this time.
When the moment came, I darted across the field. I could hear no cars in either direction. When I reached the tree near the fence, I took off the pack and lifted it over, dropping it on the other side. Then, I grabbed the two fence wires again, but this time used an over-hand position on the bottom wire, giving me more leverage to push it down, while the other hand was able to hold the top wire further above me. I still got caught. One of the barbs hooked into the back of my jacket.
I pulled left, then right, without letting go of the wires. The barb was in deeply. Shit! I thought. My coat was on loosely, so I wiggled partway out of it, and was able to step all the way through, let go of the wires and then disconnecting my coat. I grabbed the pack and threw it on my back, struggled up the gravely hill and crawled over the guardrail. Another relatively great escape. Sighing with relief, I turned back and took a shot of the spot...
I slept under the tree in the middle of the shot.
A car was coming so I couldn't linger. I moved to the end of the guardrail and took off each shoe to clear them of grass seeds, then continued down San Antonio Road. I still had no idea what road to take to get into Petaluma. Once I'd gone over a hill, I saw this funny sign...
Gotta Be a Good Story Behind This
I reached the intersection with an obvious town road. I say "obvious," because it had a letter name: "D Street." That had to be the one. I also vaguely remembered seeing it on the map the day before. Across from it was a steep hill, where two white horses were nuzzling each other, and old farm equipment stood abandoned ...
Love Bound Horses
Old Windmill for a Water Pump
As you know by now, I have been examining the plants carefully here. A couple caught my attention on this day. The first is a common teasel (thanks to the Giannangelos for the link!)...
A Common Teasel
And, of course, there is the ever-present fennel plant. I've observed that it can grow up to 10 feet tall, with a group of thick stems, some are 4 inches in diameter. And the "flowers" (which are actually just immature seeds) have a neat pattern, not unlike Queen Ann's lace--which also grows alongside it.
Fennel "Flowers"
The walk into Petaluma was easy, in spite of a couple stupid wrong turns. I took D Street into town. There were many interesting houses along the way. The architecture is so varied, but all seems to fit. I'm a sucker for Greek Revival styles, and this was a neat one...
Great Version of Greek Revival Architecture on D Street in Petaluma
This next one cracked me up. A church uses popular culture to try showing how great God is. What TRULY is next?
High Quality Logic
I got the feeling that Petaluma must have a pretty active music scene. I saw three music stores within 1 mile. Here's some interesting stringed instruments in the one I liked the most--Tall Toad Music; pretty unique stuff...
Stringed Instruments at Tall Toad Music in Petaluma
And, to continue the musical theme, I heard someone playing a piano outside. I followed the music and found Petaluma Pete, a piano for public use...
Playing Petaluma Pete (Who Needs a Tune Up)
The Snack Shack
On the walk over to the library I saw one of the most interesting homages to a worn-out idea that I have yet seen in California...
Left Over from the Temperance Movement
I worked at the library as long as I could. I was tired and didn't feel much like walking further when I finally did head out. However, once I hit my stride, I decided to keep going and covered an additional 10 miles.
Not far up the dark highway, I caught site of an object in the road. It was right on the breakdown lane's line. Standing over it, I saw a coiled up rattlesnake, just recently killed. It appeared to have lived for a little while after the hit; enough to crawl to the painted line. It "looked" up at me with its unblinking and empty eyes, as if to say: "I almost made it." I thought about that snake all night
The Google Satellite images I found at the library were promising potential places to sleep, but as I passed each one at ground level, I saw big issues with their locations and avoided them. After some time, I became more concerned about finding something soon--I needed to sleep after only getting 3 hours the night before.
Getting desperate, I almost chose a spot under a single oak tree on the other side of the road. The fences on either side of the highway prevented me from finding the sweet spots beyond them. So, I knew I'd have to settle for a roadside spot.
As I tested the ground for insects with my little LED flashlight and feet, I found the very dry dirt was unusually squishy. And, despite the fact that there are far less insects in California than in other places I've visited, I just didn't feel comfortable with that spot. I took a deep breath and pulled the backpack on.
About 500 feet further down the road I saw three humongous objects some 100 yards long, 20 yards wide and covered with poly, which was held in place by old tires. I realized that these were some of the strange long items that I couldn't identify from the satellite images while at the library. The gate to the field that held them was wide open, and my curiosity got the better of me. I walked in carefully, looking all around.
There were sounds in the field that were like people talking quietly. Around the edges of the road was the same kind of grass I'd been seeing everywhere on my way, but it was growing out of the same kind of sharp, pebbly road shoulder I had slid down the night before. The plants were interspersed with very spiky thistle plants. They were the type that left an itch if one of the prickers stuck me. This same kind of land was all over the field.
I heard the sounds outside my visual range huffing and puffing, making human-like noises and drawing near. Suddenly, very large dark shapes seems to be converging on my position. I thought at the time that they must be workers assigned to guard whatever this place was. One seemed to have a black shirt on, and the others had black and white shirts.
Trying to act as cool as possible, I turned and walked moderately quickly back up and on to the road. From that standpoint though, I saw that I had been paranoid. It was simply a group of cows coming over to investigate me. I let out a relieved sigh, and continued to walk forward. My back-up plan when I can't find a place to sleep is to simply walk all night and rest during the day. I have never had to use that back-up plan, but I was ready to on this night.
Thankfully, I approached a gated house in Cotati,with lots of dark spots around it. For some reason the traffic picked up right at that point and I had to act like I was stopping to check my watch and adjust my backpack, while I continued to vet the property. Outside their gate was a field, with a fence located further from the roadside than other houses I'd seen. The small grove of oak trees had a dark and lovely patch of ivy growing under it as a thick carpet under. This was public land.
I knew this would be the place. I'd never slept on top of ivy before, and I thought it might be a nice experience, that, if it worked, I could rely on in the future. I plopped the backpack down and removed the tarp, stretching it out across the foot-tall ivy. Then, out came the sleeping bag. It made a very successful bivy, with the edges of the tarp folding up all around the sleeping bag--forming a barrier to creatures who might want to explore me. I chuckled to myself that I was like a giant fortress. Forts were often built with walls that extended outward, rising at an angle, so that invading armies would not be able to scale them. Any multi-legged Lilliputians would have to work hard to tie this giant down.
My Bed of Ivy
I was on my side, drinking a mango juice, when a small black cat came walking along the road and decided to come in to my ivy patch. I called to her quietly, and she stopped like a statue, then backed up and ran away. Some time later, I was nodding off, and saw that she was down by my feet in the field, just sitting there staring at me. I called to her again, and she meowed back. She seemed like she wanted to make me her friend. And, I tried to do the same thing with her. I was disappointed when she slowly just walked away and didn't come back.
I fell asleep for about 2 hours when I got a cramp in my throat. This happens sometimes and can feel like a heart attack. So I reached into my backpack, pulled out the can of mango juice and took a drink. Then BAM my tongue was assaulted by the taste of strong acid and tiny stinging sensations. I knew immediately what it was: ants!
This was the last thing I needed. I was already in the sleeping bag. I jumped up and pulled out the flashlight. Shining it into the backpack, I saw a small stream of tiny brown ants going in and out. I tossed the can away. Then I felt movement in my beard. This freaked me out. I rubbed the shit out it, to kill any ants in there. I refused to leave this spot if I didn't have to.
Closely, I examined everything in the pack and on the tarp. The situation was not as bad as it seemed. I sealed the back pack and put it well-away from the area where it was. I knew this would prevent other ants in the colony from exploring it. With all of this activity, my throat cramp was gone. I decided to stay and eventually fell back asleep.
It was amazing that so much could happen in one day!
Cotati Sleeping Place
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