Video

It's been more than 6 months since this video was done. I guess by now I'm comfortable enough with it to post it.

John Muir Trail

David called a few days ago – from the summit of Mount Whitney at the end of the John Muir Trail. So he’s completed the 220 mile JMT, from Yosemite Valley through the Ansel Adams Wilderness, the John Muir Wilderness, the Evolution Valley, Kings Canyon National Park, and to the top of Mount Whitney. What an achievement! It’s a good window into David’s nature that he didn’t complete the JMT last year and went back this year and did it. Congratulations son! Photo: with David in Kampot

JMT photos are here.

There is a bird feeder right outside our bedroom window and about 10 feet further into the yard is a bird bath, both in a line so that lying in our bed we can see them and Leslie and I were lying in bed this morning watching the birds and squirrel excitement and I was looking to the right of the window where Leslie has photographs sitting on top of the cedar chest and there is a photo of David and me standing in front of Becky and Mike’s house, like the photo of us in front of the Cosmic Guesthouse, at Arc en Ceil, in the Grand Canyon, at a sidewalk café in Kampot, and so on and I was thinking, the best I can recall there was never a photograph like these of my father and me. So glad the pattern was broken.

Photo: the view from our bed - actually I took the photo from right by the window. This squirrel's name is Chubby; all the squirrels that visit us are named Chubby, except when two of them are together, then we have Chubby and the Other Chubby.

Four days from now, I’m headed northwest, through west Texas into New Mexico and up through Colorado (stop in Boulder or Fort Collins) and into Wyoming to Pinedale and on to Elkhart Trailhead and from there, a 10-12 day trek into the northern Wind Rivers, out for a night then to the southern Winds for a 6 day trek with Mike Haney.

There are heroic people

I ran into an old acquaintance a couple of days ago, Juan (identity shielded), a Dallas Police officer. We used to hang out in the East Dallas Police Community Storefront, talking about our respective callings, fighting, good & evil, and so on. He is the cop you want to answer your call, the cop you want as a neighbor, the good cop (from a citizen’s perspective, that is). He told me he’s working as part of a team, going after serious felons (robbers, rapists, etc.) in our part of Dallas. “I’m the first one in the door,” he says, with the satisfaction of a man who’s where he needs to be. Photo: some guy playing with the siren.

Here is a true story that tells you everything you need to know to know the essential nature of this man: his partner (a good guy who I’d talked with) was killed a number of years ago in downtown Dallas, beaten down in the street and shot with his own gun while the crowd shouted to the killers, “Shoot the motherfucker. Kill that white motherfucker.” And the person who had the gun pulled the trigger and shot him dead and the crowd cheered. Juan and his partner weren’t working together that day and his partner died alone. When they took him in for the autopsy Juan stayed with the body, throughout the autopsy – which, as you might imagine, is a hard thing to do. And knowing this man, I know he didn’t look away for the cutting and weighing and so on.

I’ve thought many, many times, if I had another life, I’d love to come back as a cop, going after exactly who this man is going after, and especially I’d like to bring to justice the people who hurt children. Photo: A Karen family in Dallas. Photo by Aaron
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Found these notes from earlier this year: Sleeping at a rest stop somewhere in New Mexico, dreaming a Latin couple with a baby and someone after them, shooting with accuracy and skill and still we got away and were in this room of tapestries, old Khmer women in the shadows, wood floors and walls dark with age. I need to remember.
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Strange days have found us, strange days have tracked us down. I was driving down Peak Street yesterday and I saw a morbidly obese woman in a wheelchair French-kissing the Chihuahua she had on her lap.

Food for Wyoming

I added links to all backpacking trips in this journal to the my links section on the right. The last Asia trip is also linked there. Also updated and fixed photos in the Old East Dallas Restaurants guide. Photo: front room, where I write, work, read, hang out ...

So here's the plan on food for the Wind Rivers. Basically I have 10-12 days on the trail, rest a day or so, then 6 days on the trail. So I'm dividing everything into 6 day increments - 6 days of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in a package and so on. It's all freezer bag cooking (FBC), which means each of the hot meals is dehydrated and carried individually in a freezer bag, to which I'll add boiling water and put the bag into a cozy (insulated bag) and 10-15 minutes later, it's ready to eat.

I use a super-cat alky stove to boil the water. A super-cat is a cat food can with holes in specific places. 25ml of denatured alcohol will boil 2 cups of water at 10000-11000 feet, which is where I'll be most of the time, at least when cooking. OO stands for olive oil. I carry olive oil, different salsas, peppers, herbs (all from our garden - basil, rosemary, lemongrass, etc.), teas (for evening), hot chocolate, miso, etc.

Photo at left: dehydrator trays, one with 14 oz baby onion and the other with 3 large peppers, dehydrated. See below for what these went into.

Photos below (1st 2): where the Santa Fe tracks used to be; where David and I walked for many years (the trains were running then), first with him riding my shoulders, later with us truckin' along side by side; where I walk now, trying stay in (more or less) shape.

Day 1
PB&J sandwich or leftover from day before, coffee.
Trail mix
Mash pot, OO, veggies, Spam or bacon, chz, salsa
2
Oatmeal, fruit, pecans, milk, coffee
Trail mix
Pasta, chix, olives, peppers, artichoke hearts, onions, etc. OO (photo is below - is this good or what!)
3
Eggs, flat bread, coffee
Bagel & chz
Chili mac, burger, chz, Fritos
4
Ebar, fruit, hot choc, coffee
Trail mix, Candy bar
Tom ka, rice, chicken, peanuts
5
Oatmeal, pecans, milk, sugar, coffee
Ebar, fruit
Spag, burger, veggies, OO, chz, flatbread
6
Eggs, flat bread, coffee
Ebar, Candy bar
Mash pts, OO, or bacon , miso soup

1
Ebar, fruit, hot choc, coffee
Trail mix, Candy bar
Alfredo, noodles, OO, chix, veggies
2
Eggs, flat bread, coffee
Ebar, fruit
Chinese food (freeze-dry)
3
Cheese toast, coffee
Trail mix or leftovers
Chili mac, burger, OO, chz, Fritos
4
Oatmeal, milk, fruit, nuts, coffee
Ebars, Candy bar
Thai noodle soup, chix
5
Eggs, flat bread, coffee
Jerky, Ebar, dry fruit
Chipotle gravy, beef or chix, noodles, veggies
6
Ebar, hot choc, coffee
Ebar, dry fruit, Candy bar
Tom ka, rice, chix

1
Trail mix, hot choc, coffee
Jerky, Trail mix
Mash pots, OO, Spam or bacon, chz
2
Eggs, flatbread, coffee
Candy, dry fruit
Thai noodle soup, chix
3
Oatmeal, fruit, sugar, coffee
Jerky, Trail mix
Spag, burger, parm cheese, veggies, flatbread
4
Eggs, flat bread, coffee
Trail mix, Candy bar
Mash pot, chix, veggies, flatbread
5
Trail mix, hot choc, coffee
Ebar, dry fruit
Pasta fresca, like in the photo, chix, peppers, etc.
6
Eggs, bagel, coffee
Jerky, Ebar
Tom ka, rice, chix

I'm glad you came here today

(For travel in Asia, go to 11/2008-1/2009 & see link below right; backpacking: Grand Canyon 4-7-2009, Winds 9-12-2008, Maroon Bells 7-21-2008, Bandelier 5-23-2008, Big Bend 3-12-2008)

A middle-aged woman came into the clinic today (her identity is masked here). Her chief complaints were diabetes and asthma. The promotora who saw her in intake asked two depression screening questions and on the basis of the woman’s answers then administered a more complete depression screen, which also was positive. When I saw her she said that “something happened” when she was 8 and 9 years old. Of course it turned out that she had been systematically molested when she was a child. She had not told anyone other than her mother until today. One of her children has been asking her, “Mommy, why don’t you ever hug me?” The answer, which she hasn’t been able to say, is that she cannot. There is something about physical affection between family members…because, naturally, it was a family member who molested her. She and I talked for awhile and it was intense there in exam room 4. When we were done, I told her I was glad she came in and that she had come to the right place. I gave her medications for the diabetes, asthma, and depression (or more accurately, PTSD). She’ll see our psychiatrist next week. I put a note in the chart that she should see our lead promotora when she comes back in and that she should tell her if she wants to see me or Mary (the other NP, my colleague, my friend), because (once again, of course) it was a male that did it to her. Photo: spacer, a device that helps people get much more of their inhaled medication in. They cost $20+ from medical supply places; we make them for pennies.

I’m grateful for the person who saw her at intake; for the other person who helped her in room 4; for our psychiatrist; for Mary; for the promotoras (all involved here); for Estevan, who taught me a lot about how to do these things; for the lady.

And I’m grateful that she came in and that our clinic is a place where people can come, bringing whatever they have – come in, there is room at the inn, bring it on in, whatever, we’ll do the best we can.