Somewhere between Caring too much and Not Caring Enough

As I head into the arid heat of eastern Washington, I have to admit to myself that things are getting more difficult. My van is constantly in a state of disheveled flux, and the subtle signs that guided me before are now growing fainter. It is hard to know when to work and when to stop, when to move and where to rest. Is this a part of the journey, or have I strayed? Sometimes I wish I had stayed in the lush coastal pine beds of the Olympic Peninsula, but here I am.


The boys of Sultan, WA, were wondering what I was doing and introduced themselves.


Eggsploration

Truck stop shower

Melodramatic self portrait




The town of Forks, Wa, used to be a thriving logging community. Now that logging is coming to an end out here, a new economy takes its place, as it is apparently the setting for the Twilight books, now the movie and tabloid phenomenon. There are preteens in Twilight t-shirts wandering around the desolate little town with their digital cameras, and the local motels offer "Twilight Rooms"--your guess is as good as mine...

But there is something totally intriguing about the place. Perhaps it's that there are no sidewalks...the grass just kind of blends into the pavement at the edge of the lawns. It does feel like a setting for something, or a set--a temporary town built quickly and somewhat shoddily so that next time you come to visit, it won't be there.


The Bear would not share his salmon with the people so the Raven sat on his nose and gave him shit for it.

Down by the water, just 20 miles from Forks in La Push, you find the Quileute reservation, under curtains of fog.

The melodramatic coast


Deforestation

Aberdeen, Wa. As depressing as they say, if not a little worse than you could imagine.

Cliff takes me down to Kurt Cobain's old living room under the bridge.




The bartender back in Olympia tells me the story of how Kurt got evicted from his apartment up there on the hill the day Nevermind was released, and how he was hanging out outside the bar homeless with all his bags and stuff as he sold millions of records.

Whenever I get in a bad mood from now on, I'll say Humptulips five times fast.