A Living Magazine - Day 3 - The Fawn at Dawn and the Barbed Wire Dash

I had stayed up way past my nest time. There were many things on my mind and I just wasn't ready to sleep until about 1:30 am. Some of it had to do with Facebook comments and messages about the first post on this thread. But I'm learning (or trying, anyway) to let things go... For those who are interested, here is a link to my tentative travel plan again.

At this spot the ground was rather uneven. But I found a way to lie on either side comfortably, by having my hips fit into a small trench in the ground.

Around 4:30 I woke up. I really wanted to sleep in a bit, because this particular area was pretty well hidden. But I couldn't fall back asleep again. The same concerns reasserted themselves. I distracted myself by packing up.

As I was folding my tarp, I heard the same sound I'd heard several times the night before. In the bushes, just to the east, I saw a small fawn foraging...

Fawn Having Breakfast

Once the pack up was complete, I continued down the same path I had been walking on the night before, ending up in Novato, where I touched base online and had a coffee and water at Marin Coffee Roasters...

Bike Path In Novato

I passed some gorgeous scenery along the way...

This Could be Southern France

Next, I moved on westward to visit Novato's Marin County Free Library Branch. I passed Scottsdale Pond, where ducks, cranes and other birds were enjoying the morning sun...

Ducks at Scottsdale Pond

An Old Sign

Gradually things were becoming greener. I had spent so long in Livermore's dusty valley that I'd forgotten how nice it was to see water...

Water

I reached the down town area of Novato and there was a street festival of food, music, arts and crafts going on. Each town here in Northern California seems to have dozens of festivals and events each year. I suppose that every American town does, but here there is no winter to get in the way...

A Street Festival in Novato

Novato has a relatively nice library and I got a lot done there. I also recharged the laptop. It was just past 4:30 pm when I left and began the sometimes-frustrating 20 mile walk toward Petaluma. On the way out of town, I saw a tree datura (Datura metal) plant. My sister, Deb, is fostering my own tree datura in Maine. It is a Mexican shrub that I thought would be all over the place here in California. However, this was the first one I'd seen...

Gorgeous, Showy, Hallucinogenic and Sometimes Deadly Tree Datura

Google Maps showed that Redwood Boulevard (the closest thing to a frontage road for Route 101) eventually turned into a section called Redwood Highway, that stretched on for ten miles, passing the Birkenstock offices and warehouses and the Institute of Noetic Sciences retreat... 

The Institute of Noetic Sciences

The Long Walk Along Redwood Boulevard

I caught site of some very large wild turkeys walking beside me and eating their way up a hill. They really look like small dinosaurs...

Wild Turkeys

Another few miles went by until I came over a small hill, to the intersection with San Antonio Road, which turned sharply off the the left, pointing west. I stopped, checked my screenshot map (since I don't have GPS) and noticed that the map ended well before the area I had to negotiate. It was typical issue of my navigational efforts. I had made a bunch of screenshots but on the last one I had apparently clicked "Save" instead of "Save As" and the map of that area was replaced by a map of Petaluma instead. 

I growled a bit... There was a 50% chance of choosing the correct direction. I chose to go straight, hoping there would be another trail alongside Route 101. I chose wrongly, of course. Traveling another half mile, I found myself at a special entry for Route 101 (which is illegal to walk on), and there were no other paths around. I growled again and turned around, walked the half mile back to the intersection with San Antonio Road and began an unintended hike out into the country.

I vaguely remembered this from the lost map, but I wasn't certain about where to turn off, nor when I would actually be on the outskirts of Petaluma. There was very little breakdown lane and no shoulder to speak of. Yet, fortunately, there were very few cars going in either direction.

What I was treated to, were lots of cows, deer and and other animals on farms along the way, and grazing the very steep golden, grassy hills...

Meeting the Local Steer and Cow Folk

Meeting the Local Llama Folk

There Were Deer Everywhere

I walked for what was really turning into "forever." I was exhausted, hot, sweaty, hungry, thirsty and tired from only 3 hours of sleep the night before. I had consumed all my extra fluids. And, to top it all off, the sun was going down.

There were few places to go off the road here. The entire way was lined by a barbed wire fence and hundreds of acres of grass covered fields and hills. And, whenever an opportunity did present itself, there were houses within sight. Finally, I found an elevated turn, that had a hidden slope where I could get off the road, take a break and possibly find a way through the fence. I sat and studied it. One section was very old and it's top wire had lifted the adjacent post out of the ground, loosening the other wires.

The slope was very steep and filled with sharp pebbles. Every time I had an opportunity between cars coming to test the fence, I took it. Because I was unable to get my hiking boots before I left, I'm still wearing the Land's End water shoes, which filled with sand and rocks. They have open sides, where my socks are exposed.

After another car had passed, I just decided to go for it. I leaned the backpack against a tree--to be pulled over the fence after, grabbed a barbed wire in each hand and spread them as widely as I could. It was not wide enough, and as I stepped over the middle wire and bent down to pass my torso through, the wire snagged my shirt and my pants. My right hand also slipped and got punctured in the palm. 

There I was, stuck, bent over, desperately reaching up to try to free myself, but getting more tangled as I struggled. I could definitely see the value of this fence invention for keeping people out. I heard a car coming along the lane that was closest to me, which only raised the intensity of the moment.

Somehow I managed to free my shirt and pull my body through, while I detached the section that had hooked my pants. But, in doing so, I cut my shin, and was now bleeding down my leg. I didn't care though, because I'd made it through. Before me was a half acre of micro-barbed grass (e.g. grass that gets stuck and only moves inward toward its unlucky victim). I hid behind an old fallen oak tree stump as the car sped by above.

I knew where I wanted to get to. It was a very dark space under another, but live, oak tree. It appeared to have been planted (or left standing) by an abandoned trough that had been filled with sand. 

Interesting to note that the surrounding hills have 4 inch diameter PVC pipes embedded in their bases that run to the lower fields for water run-off--not that that has been an issue in recent years. I presume it also saves the hills from erosion.

Seeing my chance, I ran across the field to the shadowy oak tree and was safely under it, when the next car came by. I had not been seen. Looking down, I was astounded by the hundreds of barbed grass husks and seeds jammed in all over the outside (and pricking into) my shoes. I pulled them out in clusters. It didn't take long, and I was free again. 

Although that surrounding grass is a pain in the ass for walking, it would have provided a soft bed, upon which to lay my tarp. But if I had slept on it I would have been out from under my tree and been exposed to the road above. Instead, I resigned to smoothing out the pebbly ground under the tree, laid down the tarp, pulled out the sleeping bag and was all set to just rest. It was about 9:30 pm. I sat there for an hour just thinking over the events of the day and wondering what the next day would bring.

I still wasn't fully sure where I was in relation to Petaluma. I would have to follow my instincts and growing sense of direction the next day. With sleep creeping up on me, I faded into it and had a very vivid dream--the first memorable dream in fours months. Tomorrow I will describe it.