A Living Magazine - Day 45 - The Church Found Out

I slept very well and stayed around the sleeping spot - on the hillside, beneath a Presbyterian Church - a little later than, in hindsight, I should have. But the day sky was clearing out the overcast of the night, and I enjoyed watching the red of the rising sun touch the tallest trees. Then, I was on my way...

This is Commercial Street, east of Salem's downtown. It has been my commute route.

Trying to find the species of this bush. Haven't seen it before.

Fountain and truck at the Fussy Duck, pre-owned stuff store. 

I always pass by my favorite pizza place. That's when I know I'm near all the stuff I need--library, Bush's Pasture Park, the Arco AM/PM, etc...

My absolute favorite pizza place when I have money.

The bacon, chicken ranch is quite yummy. Good prices too.

I stopped at the Arco for a coffee. Then I headed directly to the library, to power up the laptop and write the day's post. I took this shot to explain what I was talking about in a previous post. The sundial-like wedges in the courtyard of the Library/City Hall are angled to be shadowless at certain times of the day. This wedge has no shadow at about 11:30 PST on this day of the year. The shadow is in fact under the wedge, thus can't be seen. But ask yourself this, grasshopper, if it's always dark under the wedge, then where is the shadow at this time of day?

An object that casts no shadow.

I got my work done at the library and intended to try to take a nap, going back to my favorite spot in Bush's Park; the table at the edge of the field. I felt good despite being a bit hungry. The weather was... I think... perfect. I sat down, bathed in the sunlight of late afternoon. I sat there for a few minutes just thinking, until I realized I was not alone...

Luckily, I had more pumpkin seeds. He ate a few from my hand, but wasn't quite as trusting as Chester--the little guy from the day before.

My tricked-out backpack (now affectionately named, "Saggy") was making life easier. Look how compact it is for all that I need...

Saggy in the sunlight.

The sky was a flawless gradient of blue mellowing down into a pale violet. And, I love green and blue together...

Then, there is the real brains of the operation: The Nextbook 10.1...

This little tablet-keyboard combo is ideal for this kind of reporting. For the money, I got a tough little workhorse computer. It is about to be Windows 10. And, I simply downloaded all the open source apps I've always used, for free. It is super-thin, and it has no moving parts (being solid state), so nothing to wear down. I mostly use it as a laptop, but the touch screen is useful too, and occasionally I'll use only the tablet.

It came to that part of the day, right after sunset, that I knew I'd have to get back east, to Salem Heights. On the way out of the park I walked by the rose garden and these pink clouds caught my eye...

This is a cool looking place between New York Pizza and the Arcos. Supposed to be great Chinese food. I've never had the pleasure of trying it...

I was a bit spoiled now. I knew where I could top off the laptop's power on the way to the sleeping spot--Wendy's. I walked past the cemetery, past the Texaco and the Daynight Donut shop, to the grass hill. when no cars were around, I bolted up to find...

A FENCE! In the time I'd been in town, the church had erected a temporary fence, with 3/4" PVC posts and a rubberized net. somehow they found out about me! I looked around, and there was still some room in front of the fence. But why would I stay there now, when I knew they'd be looking out for people here. I thought at the time that it must have been one of the city buses. They were they only vehicles high enough to see up on the hill. Or, it was someone wandering around the top floor of the church, during the wee hours. Either way, I was screwed and it was already 10:15 pm.

I had no back-up plan for this. I figured it was a slam dunk. But, I wasn't worried. I always look around for general emergency-type places. I thought I'd check those out, now that is was nice and dark out. I began retracing my steps back down Liberty Road (what Commercial Street turns into in Salem Heights). I passed a side road called Medrona Avenue and my intuition - I thought - told me to check it out. So, I took a left and headed down it.

It was long and dark, twisting, with a nonexistent shoulder that I slid off of once, stopping my fall with my hands. My palms hurt a bit afterward. I reached a point - which you'll see in the image below--where the road switches back on itself as it going down a mountain side - where the driveways were the only level ground. On all sides of the road were large 50 foot chasms, stuffed with thick vines and spiny blackberry bushes. 

Attempt 1: It seemed that one area had a trail that might lead to level ground, so I went off the road, across an easily tumbling-pile of baseball sized rocks, over a ditch and onto the mountainside. The tree angles told me just how steep it was, and my stupid intuition finally caught up and told me this wasn't the place to sleep...duh!...doh! Shit!

With each hour that was going by I was losing an hour of sleep. This was an unpleasant reality, but still I was sure I would find some place to nest-out. At times like this, the song, "Somewhere (There's a Place for Us)", from West Side Story, comes to mind. It makes me laugh to sing it to myself when I'm lost. The next best thing was to turn around and head back up Medrona. 

Attempt 2: When I did, I passed a spot at the top of the hill that looked like it had a grassy area behind it. It was an optical illusion caused by the blank wall of a house beyond. Shit! 

In the back of my mind I had the cemetery calling to me. 

Attempt 3: But, I wanted to try the middle school field first. I went in. That was not a problem. There weren't many lights, so that wasn't an issue. The problem was the lack of trees. There were 24 hour stores across Liberty Avenue that I was sure would see me. Shit!

My three nest attempts on Medrona Avenue.

Ok, ok! The cemetery it is... I relented, and started back down Liberty, until I reached the open gate of the cemetery. The stores on Liberty Road were situated in such a way, that only their corners were adjacent to the cemetery. The Pioneer Cemetery itself was quite large, perhaps 5 acres square, and the stones were old. I went directly back to the furthest corner from the entrance--where the shadows were, and behind a large grave stone. I took off my shoes, immediately climbed right into the sleeping bag, and fell asleep...

Salem Sleeping Place 3.