The year is 1995. We started the year with a visit with dear friends, Jeannie & Rauf who were living in Alabama. After years of sailing around the world, they compiled a circumnavigation filled with adventure and life experiences. Jeannie has now published two in a series of books, starting with Cannabis Yachties which I highly recommend. Rauf became my web designer for many years...his friendship and expertise were truly appreciated. Geddy surprised me early in the year asking me if I could follow a dream, what would that be. I instantly said I wanted to be a Shaman. Soon after that, he came home with the Shaman’s Drum magazine. The magazine advertised a course offered in Portland in Michael Harner’s Way of the Shaman. He encouraged me to go. However, it was full. I was disappointed but soon, there was an opening. This started me on a path that has been fulfilling ever since. Despite Geddy’s endearing attempt to honor my needs, I asked him to go away for a while. He obliged and traveled off to Honduras in February. I decided to go on a traveling Spirit quest, filling my van with goods to sell as I traveled to the Southwest. My intention was to quest solo, soul-searching as I traveled. However, the solo part was not to be! My dear friend, Susie, living on Hawaii’s Big Island reached out to say she was coming with me! Arriving on March 2nd, we set off for Boise encountering snow along the way. Susie grew up in Hawaii and had never seen snow. At the first sighting, we stopped for her to do snow angels!
Seeing a sign for a Raptor Sanctuary, we left the highway for the unknown. We were so engrossed in our adventure that we were surprised when we ran out of gas in a desolate area. We hadn’t seen a car for a long time! This is way before cell phones. We saw a small truck parked on the side of a tiny dirt road. As it started coming in our direction, it stopped. A young man offered to take me to the nearest gas station, about 40 miles away. I left Susie to go with him. Later, she told me how scary it was to see me leave with this stranger. He turned out to be an angel, bringing me back with a can of gas. We were more vigilant for the rest of the trip.
Zion was the first National Park we visited...outstanding beauty! Then on to Bryce Canyon and Grand Canyon. We took our time savoring the experiences while we noticed that most visitors stopped for a quick snapshot and then went on their way. Our keepsake was Navajo dolls that we bought for each other, here on our nightly alter. Susie bought me the one on the right. I named her Matilda. She still resides in the big room surrounded by other sacred objects.
We ended our trip together camping in the Tucson desert. We were intrigued by the prairie dogs on a visit to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, road runners, and the saguaro cactus. A dear friend, Ginia, a fellow importer of goods from the Philippines, had a huge warehouse, Sangin, by the railroad tracks. We had a great visit, inspiring me in new directions for goods to import in the future. I sold some of my van inventory to her. Another highlight was a visit to the home of Dr. Andrew Weil. Susie had health issues that he addressed. Susie flew out of Tucson back to Hawaii and another dear friend, Jody, flew in from Bainbridge Island to Phoenix. We were off to Apache Junction where we sold some of the van goods at a swap meet. Here, the campgrounds were full. A park ranger directed us to private land where the owner allowed overflow campers to camp on a river...we were elated! That night with our campfire roaring, we heard odd noises close by. Both Jody and I directed our flashlights in that direction. To our surprise, we saw two mating skunks frozen in the light. We felt like intruders. We continued the outdoor adventure, heading for Sedona.
We found a campsite that spoke to us, but it was occupied. We stayed at a cabin until we were able to occupy that Sedona Red Rock camping site in a grotto on Schnebly Hill… on the night of my 45th birthday. A Bainbridge friend, Rich, relocated to Sedona from Bainbridge Island in January. He took a van load of my goods there to sell, however, I hadn’t heard from him since he left. I was able to find him to retrieve these almost lost goods. Thinking back to the incident with the skunks, I considered this to be a lesson in respect, since skunks represent respect. Sedona, known for its metaphysical residents, didn’t disappoint us. We met with friends and new acquaintances who filled us with their stories of ET’s, federal cover-ups, energy vortices, and more...all fascinating.
Susie and I had come through Sedona and then Jerome on our way to Tucson, so this was the second time around for me. Retracing those steps, we went on to the quaint mining town of Jerome, always a delight. Next, a stop in the desert area of Needles, CA., and then to Visalia, CA. to do the Sequoia and King’s Canyon National Loop in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Here stands the oldest tree, Sherman, 2300-2700 years old. Impressive! Yosemite in the winter is stunning, but a little too cold to camp outdoors. Here we got a cabin for the night. I have always been a fan of the black-and-white photography of Ansel Adams. Seeing Yosemite Falls, Half Dome, El Capitan, and more was a thrill. A bonus was that due to the coldness of late March, there were fewer visitors than in the peak seasons. Sonora with its gold rush heritage was very picturesque. Then on to Lake Tahoe where we stayed in a friend’s lovely condo in Truckee. We drove around the lake taking in the extraordinary vistas. In Reno, we thought it was an interesting idea to go to a casino, but after weeks of raw camping and nature, the sounds and smells of the casino were just not in alignment with the gentle space of our minds. We quickly left, taking deep breaths to restore our inner peace. Alas, Jody flew back to Bainbridge Island from Reno….and I am now on my solo quest for the duration.
Back at Dave’s condo in Truckee, I managed to get a call through to our friend John in Roatan to check in on Geddy’s status. Geddy is still in Honduras. I did get through to Geddy who wanted me to join him, however, I declined much to his dismay. Letting the negativity of that go, my next plan is to drive to San Francisco. Here I stay with friends Greg and his son Ian. I also enjoy visiting with an old high school friend, Jim, and his girlfriend. The weather is now beautiful as April began. I stayed in San Francisco for a week relaxing and seeing the sights. The plan now is to drive up the California coast. In Mendocino, I stayed with Jay and Monique at their charming hippie cabin in Little River, close by. Monique and Jay are the parents of Claire who lives in Zihuantanejo and is Geddy’s cousins. I have heard so many stories of Jay and Monique. Monique who is French, is a chef at a Mendocino restaurant. Jay a retired lawyer, is a poet and sculptor. They introduced me to their eclectic friends and store owners. I released most of the remaining van inventory here. I continued camping up the coast at beaches and wilderness. This quest took just over a month. I returned relaxed, centered with money in my pocket!
I attended a 3-day shamanic workshop on Whidbey Island at the Marsh House led by a Norwegian Sami Shaman, Ailo Gaup, at the end of April. This experience was life-altering...he was a truly alive person who inspired me in so many ways. A few weeks later I participated in a sweat lodge in preparation for a Shamanic Soul Retrieval also on Whidbey Island. This was so revealing. The information gathered fit so completely with my life. During the summer solstice, I went on a 5-day Spirit Quest in Umtanum Canyon, Ellensburg, WA. It was during this event that I took on the spirit name of Singing Brook, reflecting my bubbly surface nature hiding currents that run much deeper. Fasting for 3 days while camping solo was an eye-opener. I am such a doer that staying quiet with only my thoughts was a challenge. I emerged a different person. I was so overwhelmed with this experience, that I did it three more times within the next two years...each one uniquely clarifying who I am...the next one was on the Fall Equinox on a mountain near Mt. Baker complete with mysterious fog, marmots, a badger, mountain tarns, and pure magic. I had a booth at the Poulsbo Viking Fest and the Port Angeles Juan de Fuca Festival ...a great start to my many years of vending at music and art shows. I so preferred selling at these events to being open at a store seven days a week. It was a huge amount of work setting up and taking down these booths, but the allure of thousands of attendees buying now because you will be soon gone was brilliant for sales.
We were planning to tow the Boston Whaler to Cuba from Key West. Scarlet, an artist as well as a shaman, helped us select art supplies to bring to Cuba. We knew about a loophole in the Cuba embargo allowing US Citizens to take art out of Cuba. We planned on gifting the art supplies to Cuban artists in return for art to bring back to the US. Geddy left on November 1st in a rental truck pulling the Whaler to Key West. I flew to meet him there. We spent two weeks on the Keys visiting friends. Larry & Marianne, living on Marathon Key, rounded up expired medical supplies that we planned to bring to Cuba as a gift. One thing we knew was that Cuba had zero supplies...empty stores, nothing available. Geddy left the Whaler at a friend’s while he sailed to Cuba on our friend Dave’s sailboat, Bestover, while I stayed with friends Tom and Lori who resided in Key West. Geddy sailed Opportunity right back to Key West. I flew to Norwell, MA to visit my Dad for the Holidays while Geddy planned to sail back to Cuba with a band of four close friends from New England in mid-December… Jeff, Jason, Bob, and Dean. It’s important to have a good weather window for the passage to Cuba because it can be tricky. His friends were on a schedule, however, and pushed to leave despite the weather. Days later while in Norwell, I got a call from a Key West Rescue company. They said they had found the Boston Whaler in Key West! My response was, “Where are the boys? “ Geddy called me from Key West soon after that call. After a while, I asked, “Are you missing anything? Like a Whaler?” Geddy had tried to save the Whaler four times, leaping from one boat to the other but the sea was so rough, that when it got dark, his friends finally said, no more. I have this on video! So they lost the Whaler, but miraculously, it came back to Key West like a homing pigeon and was found! This Whaler had such a life from saving people to saving itself from disaster. It was in perfect condition too! Key West friends retrieved it from salvage after I paid the high ransom. The picture below shows Jason and Bobby with the whaler in tow. Dean, a Hollywood Magician by trade, is showing some card tricks to Cubans on the streets of Havana.
Geddy had hired Carina, (sitting on the deck box in the next picture), as his assistant. One of the boys, Jeff, was determined to find a way to bring Carina back to the US, hoping to give her an opportunity for a better life. Despite this offer, she just couldn’t leave her family behind. I flew to Miami the day after Christmas, meeting a Bainbridge friend, Ann, there. We planned to fly to Nassau, Bahamas, the next day and then on to Havana early the following morning. Ann woke me up at about 2 AM to tell me she had left her passport in another bag at home! There was no way around it...I had to continue to Cuba solo.
The next Blog continues the Cuban adventure...and we do smuggle someone out!
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