our peace and quiet was cut short the following week, but hey, what can ya do. the spot was free and pretty easy to access. we weren’t too surprised
the top picture is Darell - he was a welcome distraction. probably in his early 60′s. he rolled up alone one day looking to camp with his two little dogs but all the sites were full. we felt bad, offered the spot next to the bus and he set up a little tent. he turned out to be a great dude, had spent time on the road in his RV, and we talked for quite a few hours about places to camp around northern california. he was bummed we didn’t have any beer left, but totally understood when we told him we weren’t about to drive 25 miles down the harrowing road just for a six pack. he left the next morning but said he’d be back with some brews and beef cuts the following friday, and if we were still there, we’d have a little potluck. a man of his word, one week later Darell was back with a case of sierra nevada and a tri tip. we threw it on the smoker and had another great night chatting about random shit. simple random interactions with folks like this are one of the things we love most about bus living. there are lots of good people out there
the fire burning in the bottom shot is from the neighboring site about 100 yards away. there was a pretty big crew of people camped out there, and based on many things we saw, heard, and smelled - I’m almost 100% positive they were cooking meth. on this particular night, they were burning all their spent gear. lots of plastic and other trash. I’m not sure they slept the whole time we were there, and the saddest part of it all was that they had a few little kids with them. it was pretty fucked and put in motion our search for a new spot
on another occasion, while working on some art in the bus, a super drunk, rugged dude wandered out of the wood right next to the bus, yelling something we couldn’t understand while swinging a shotgun around. he looked pissed, and I laid on the floor of the bus hoping he hadn’t seen me. looking back on it, I regret not getting a picture of him. it was pretty mental. we left a day or two later
