A Living Magazine - Day 17 - Getting to Know Redding

I woke up well rested. The spot had worked nicely. For now, I planned to make it my night space until my boots and some other things arrived by General Delivery. It was going to be a long week. I already knew this, but the experience was now beginning to really dawn on me.

Packed up, I tried to get a handle on the layout of the area so I could remember it. I wrote in the last post that I had stepped over a weak part of the fence to get in, but I realized that the night before I had decided not to do that, and instead found a path around the edge that led to a non-fenced area. That is where I was now.

I noticed that the dirt and rocks were red just like in Sedona, Arizona. It seemed this whole side of the river had that same kind of ground. Walking toward the street I found a pile of gigantic pine cones. I picked one up and brought it back to the path adjacent to my nest spot, in order to locate the spot again...

A pine cone the size of a pineapple will mark my nest spot.

And, check out the red sand.

The walk back down Cypress Avenue was all downhill. In front of Carl Jr's I saw my ant description in action again--yep, cooperation...

Ants divide and conquer a waffle.

Even here in Redding, where a large well-fed river (the Sacramento) runs through it, the drought punishes the land. All that water and none available, naturally, to feed any further than 1,000 feet from the river bank. So, humans have harnessed the river and pumped it around the city. Nonetheless, the irrigation infrastructure is not the greatest. But it it isn't too bad. I showed a broken pipe in one of my Napa posts. Here is one in Redding, angled correctly...

Here are some other things that caught my eye on the walk down Cypress...

View looking north from Cypress Avenue

America runs on debt for the rich, and...

America runs on debt for the poor.

Ivy on the library wall.

 Obelisk near the library entrance. 

Redding is one of the poorer of the cities I've been to. They have grand buildings worthy of a larger city to house all municipal services, but the people might (anecdotally) be considered lower middle class. Of course there is plenty of poverty as well, but I'm not seeing a lot of million dollar homes on the other side of the figurative tracks.

I crossed the bridge and headed toward the Civic Center, and saw another poster (I'd posted the first one at Facebook yesterday, of this same incident)...

It is the talk of the town too. Everyone from the library to the laundromat was talking about it. [I might stroll around the area tomorrow and nose around a bit.]

I got a lot done at the library (2 posts from the days before). Writing can be as tiring as walking. I have noticed I have an issue from about 11:00 am to 2:00 pm when I trying to concentrate. I get so sleepy that I nod. It is so strong I sometimes can't control it and need to get up, drink water or go outside. [Truth be told, this is happening to me right now as I try to write.]

I worked my way though it and then headed away from the library at about 6:30 pm. I photo-recorded my walk back east across the bridge to do laundry and go back to the nest...

Sculpture near the Civic Center

Very cool bench donated to honor a civic leader.

I saw a Subway and stopped in to get my daily meal. The place was especially clean and friendly. I met Tyler, who prepared a great sandwich and asked me how my day was going. I thought that was pretty cool. I told him I felt pretty good because I'd gotten a lot of work done. He told me he just got there and was working until late, but that he loved his job and didn't mind.

I told him about my project and he seemed genuinely interested. I'll probably be back there for another sandwich sometime this week if I can. Nice experience there at Subway. the chain is fast becoming my new favorite place to eat. The prices are very good and the food is very healthy. I also got my free cookie for filling out their online survey...

Tyler

Sandwich Magician at Subway

Cypress Square Shopping Center, 2495 Athens Ave

Finally, I got to LaunderLand. I'd seen it the night before down one of the side roads off of E Cypress. I usually try to avoid the places with no attendant, but I was desperate. My money would be completely gone the next day and it had been 17 days since I'd done it...

Welcome to... The Machine

It was SO nice to have clean clothes. I couldn't wash the shorts and underwear I was wearing. But, I did wash my IWALLK shirt, Red Sox shirt, plaid jacket, green hat and best of all, the sleeping bag! The shorts and underwear would have to be washed by hand in a bathroom somewhere.

I was astounded by how much salt and sun together can bleach shirts. The IWALLK shirt was bleached by the sun around the straps or wherever it wasn't covered. I like it actually. It gives a really cool worn effect. I can't imagine what it will look like by the time I'm done with all of this happy traveling.

The sleeping bag was pretty rank, especially in the foot end. Crawling into that clean bag was sweet indeed.

I know this might be TMI, but, after my Equate wipes bath back at the nest later on, the next day was the first time I couldn't smell myself, in over 2 weeks.

Upon leaving to nest down for the night, I saw another homeless girl walk through the parking lot... crying. I'd estimate she was about 18 years old...

The Sad Stroll of Teen Homelessness

As I stood in line at a Chevron Station to buy water, I felt a click, and the bow of my glasses fell off and on to the floor. I knew the glasses were going to break eventually. This kind of life is just too tough for them. Both screws had come out; one way back in Gallup, New Mexico, and the other sometime in Livermore, California. It was OK. I bent paperclips through the holes on each side and this worked very well. Maybe they should be sold that way. But with the little springy thing that pulls the bows back if they are pushed out far, broke away from its holder. 

If any of you remember, on the last journey I had no glasses to begin with--though I am nearsighted enough to be restricted when driving. This caused no end to getting lost. Finally my friend RhonnaLeigh MacKnight - whom I stayed with in Washington, Missouri - just happened to pull out a pair of glasses that were not her correct prescription. And, they worked perfectly for me. The chance that prescription glasses might happen to work for another person is pretty low. But, suddenly, I had a new pair of glasses--and the world opened up for me. They lasted all the way to California. But they weren't really made for my kind of extreme sport. But I will hold on to them as long as I can. I fixed them fairly well with duct tape, but now the bows don't fold. So, I will have to be extra careful.

When I got near the sleeping place, I walked onto the dark path leading to the field entrance. I looked carefully around and softly stepped over stumps and between trees. There were two guys sleeping on the ground right in the middle of the path. Both were on their backs, with their coats over their heads. They had used large pizza boxes as a mat. I stepped over them and they didn't even flinch.

Eventually, I found the entrance to the field and walked until I saw my giant pine cone. Then it was easy to side-step through the barbed grass to the nest. Off came the backpack. Out came the tarp. I've been using it in double-wide form to give more protection against six-legged critters who might want to bed down with me.

Another day had passed. I had done my work for the day and made no money from it. But, I'm building up a record that any sociologist or historian might be very interested in, someday.