Thursday 9/6/18
I’d hoped to be able to keep up my journaling every day or two, but I’ve been on the road continually, driving up to 8 hours a day, and then arriving at each destination barely in time for dinner. Evenings are filled with socializing, and by the time I can get to bed, it’s too late to write. But I want you all to know that my Walkabout is going splendidly! I need to design a road trip T-shirt like bands have… I’m having wonderful adventures, and meeting wonderful people all along the way.
To catch up a bit since my last entry, I picked up Maureen/Judith Saturday morning, 9/1, at her hotel in SF, and we went over to the Beat Museum (http://www.kerouac.com/), which is run by her old friend Jerry Cimino. We spent a while touring all the exhibits on two floors, and took pictures with the 1941 Hudson featured in the 2012 movie of Jack Kerouac’s famous beatnik novel, “On the Road.” Then we drove 248 miles up to Weed, just north of Mt. Shasta. On the way, we had to stop for gas right in the middle of the smoke from the huge Hirz fire, and my voice was harsh for days afterwards… We were put up in a lovely B&B, and had long visits with Rasa and Marlis.
The handfasting was beautiful, with friends and family coming in from Germany, New Zealand, France, Georgia and SoCal. Here’s what my friend Rasa posted on Facebook about the ceremony on Sunday:
Richard Rasa is with Judith Maxine Barnett and 4 others.
Both old friends of Robert Anton Wilson, Oberon’s officiating at Marlis’ grandson’s marriage was a coincidence that began when they first met in Santa Cruz, July 23rd, RAW Day 2017. I think Bob would have loved knowing he had a hand in that serendipitous connection.
Oberon and Judith conjured magic for Demian and Leslie’s handfasting this past Sunday. Grandson of my dearest friend Marlis, Demian has led something of a magical life – born in Berlin, now living in New Zealand with Leslie (pretty magical in her own right). Guests from NZ, Germany, France, Spain, as well as Leslie’s family from California traveled along smokey Interstate 5 to arrive at Mt. Shasta. We have had weeks of fires burning around us and many days where you couldn’t be outside for more than five minutes without a mask. On Saturday Oberon and Judith arrived. They drove just past the Hirz fire only some 40 miles south of us, but arrived in Mt. Shasta just after the winds died down, gently blowing down from the North. The Hirz fire could be seen in the distance with giant plumes of smoke rising, but none of it coming our way. Saturday and Sunday were perfectly clear with clean air. I could certainly feel the magic all around us on Sunday, but I have no idea if Oberon’s familiarity with the appropriate gods had any effect on the weather.
I replied: “You’re welcome.” (1st Rule of Wizardry: Always take credit)
Monday Maureen and I drove back down to Oakland, where we visited with Morning Glory’s daughter Gail, her husband Joe, and vivacious 12-year-old daughter Alessandra. We stayed in their downstairs B&B, and I soaked my sore ribs (from getting knocked off that horse a month ago in Guatemala) in their new hot tub. We stayed up ‘til 2:00am working on the class rings ordering form for the Grey School.
Tuesday Maureen took an Uber south to Santa Cruz to deal with her stuff in storage there, and I hit the road for Reno. Stacia recommended the buffet dinner at Harrah’s, but I arrived there just after 8:00 to discover that the buffet closed at 8. Instead I got rather unimpressive fish and chips with no chips at another restaurant downstairs. This was, however, the only glitch in timing so far on my journey, so I think I’m doing alright!
After eating, I went over to the local Pagan community center, Sacred Heart Sanctuary in Sparks, and had a lovely evening hanging out with Rune Emerson and Andre. Andre is around 7 feet tall, and his mother, who loved “The Princess Bride,” actually did name him for Andre the Giant. Stacia showed up after work, around 11:30, and took me back to her place for the night.
I hit the road for Salt Lake City early Wednesday morning, the 5th. It’s an 8-hour drive, through a change in time zone from Pacific to Mountain time, and I was pretty beat by the time I rolled up to Crone’s Hollow at 6:30. TaMara and crew all went out to dinner, and we got back just in time for my scheduled “Moot” at 8:00. It was very well-attended—at least 30 people showed up—and we had a good time talking about the early founding years of the Pagan movement. Afterwards they took me to the Ramada Inn, which is where I am now as I write this.
Today I have a 7-hour drive to Cheyenne. I don’t have a gig there, or anyone to visit, and I look forward to a quiet night in a motel before going on to Omaha on Friday, where I’ll be doing a book-signing and talk on “Cycles and Seasons of Pagan Emergence” at the Next Millennium bookstore.