April 9, 2019 - Near Escalante, Utah
Service is incredibly sparse out here. We kept the WeBoost on and my laptop uploading/charging all night long, waking up at 7am with only 32% of the video uploaded and only 28% of our battery left. Around 9:30am we arrived in Boulder, UT, 30 mins north of the Scamp, and stumbled upon a great little coffee shop called Outpost. I needed to find some reliable WiFi to get my video up and now that we have a new alternator in the Subaru, there’s more current to charge the Goal Zero batteries in the car when we drive, so long distance trips are of benefit to us.
It was a little stressful to get any work done at the coffee shop with Kamp itching his allergy ridden, manic face off, Barron making friends with the local old men, trying to get my video to upload on a network with a 0mb upload speed and a girl named River, knowing us from YouTube, sitting down at our table with a wiggling baby and an outgoing 4 year old who insisted on sitting on my lap as I created the thumbnail of my video.
River was really cool, I later learned that this is not her real name, but I believe that choosing to identify under a different name is a very brave and empowering thing to do, and so I respect River with even more sincerity. She gave us wire wraps she made and a hand-etched piece of selenite from the local area. She talked about her past as a vegan and how she severely needed to switch back to meat for her mental and physical well being.
Barron and River’s 4 year old daughter, Asha
We left and followed one of Barron’s new old friends up a steep hill to his house on a mesa. His name was Anselm, a German artist who’s biggest project at the moment is working with naked barbies to depict the divine feminine. They were all over the yard, on the walls, wearing trout heads and bird legs, he’d photographed them covered in bubbles, decapitated them, separated limbs and organized them into art pieces with quite passionate meanings. One of his most memorable pieces was a shrine of a Ken doll who’s head was replaced with the head of a penis, seated next a naked barbie and stress balls that look like boobs, all of which were surrounding a large dildo, intent being to de-mistify and relinquish the taboo of genitalia. He was a very kind, unique man, “trying to find his place in the universe”.
Owl wings hanging beneath bird cages in Anselm’s work room
Anselm had a guest staying with him, a German practitioner of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. He came to say hello to us at our table in the coffee shop having 5 acupuncture needles sticking out of his balding head like the antennae of a bug. Being a healer, I told him of the pain I’ve been having in my back, wondering if I may be developing gallstones or kidney stones. “No, everyone assumes they have gallstones and your kidneys are down here, not where the pain is.” He quickly assessed the energy of my back, looked at my hands and feet and told me the pain is from my liver and not to worry about it, it’s only slight damage that will heal and to instead focus my attention on the weak areas of my torso that have been drained of energy from the overload on my liver. I am advised to use a small hot water bottle to heat my upper abdomen and lower back.
The back of the German acupuncturists head, sporting 4 acupuncture needles
Our parting experience with the Chinese doctor occurred after a windy walk in Anselm’s garden. His antennae needles kept blowing out of his head and onto his sweater. He only had 4 at this time and re-pinned them into his head after they’d fallen. We walked to our car to say goodbye. He had only two needles left and removed them so as to give 2 less opportunities for Anselm’s bare feet to encounter them later, and as he removed the last needle, his head began to bleed, turning his fine tuft of white hair into a soggy red mess that he tended to by touching with his four finger tips and putting said fingers into his mouth repeatedly. “In other cultures,” he said, “it is forbidden to eat one’s own blood.” He said goodbye with red lips and teeth and we drove down the hill back south toward Escalante, UT.
Anselm, playing us a song about his 30 year old mistress below his gourd art work
We grabbed groceries in Escalante from the limited selection of gas-station quality food at one store and extremely over priced health food at the other. Winds were at their highest speeds of the day (33mph) when we arrived back at the Scamp. I moved the propane and stove inside so I could boil water for the German acupuncturist’s recommended heat treatment. I need to pee, but every time I try, it sprays everywhere in the wind that can’t make up its mind on a direction to blow. For some reason the WeBoost still isn’t working and we have had no service in the Scamp all evening, providing ample time to reflect on our memorable day and for me to write this detailed journal entry.