Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 9 (St. Louis, MO)

I realize now that the Travelogue turns more private and less public, maybe that even started some days ago. What I really like to do is to write everything I want to write, and then I can edit, and edit more and then even more. This was going around in my head yesterday in terms of just letting myself flow as I write, knowing that I will go back and edit and edit. In this way then, I get my flow going and do not diminish what I want to say as I express myself. This seems to be a key for me.

Naturally, as I come to St. Louis the whole issue of family becomes paramount in my mind and body, and in actions as I hang out with them. There is some curious phenomenon that many of us experience around family, where it feels like we regress back to some childhood family dynamics. Where we are seen or dealt with as some role from long ago even though we’ve changed so much and are at peace in our normal lives. I have heard this experience from so many at Esalen and have experienced this myself as well.

I had a wonderful visit with my family people on Sat morning, sharing the experiences of my trip and the artwork which I’ve created. They were genuinely interested and asked me great questions about the journey. I showed them the Petrified wood and then the paintings and carpets which I brought from California.

It’s wonderful to see and be with these loved one’s and I am so grateful to have my family and to be able to see them 3 or 4 times a year. The Mother continues to shrink and shrink into herself. Anyway, this woman, my mother is becoming quieter and quieter, more self contained, more indrawn and less controlling of the social situation.

On Sunday, 27 June, my family celebrated the birthday of my sister Denise. Yah Denise!! God Bless you dear sister of mine, Cancer Sun, 18/9 the Moon card and Hermit respectively. This one is very deep and quiet and intuitive being and is connected to Source in a soft and private way. After dinner and cake the family decided to watch the California video which Dad created with his little video camera. We watched this home video in honor of my Roadtrip 2010, since I have been traveling HW 66/40 which is the basic old route.

Om Namah Shivaya!! Watching the video was deeply stirring for me. I was 8 y/o in 1966, imagining I was going into 4th grade. I had so much energy and ran around a lot like any child. There was also video of pre California and this was the period when my family all calls me droopy drawers, b/c my diapers were always hanging down my butt. Often I was with no shirt and had my drawers hanging down. So funny! When the color video started I was often dressed in red, the warrior color. It was red shirts and red pants and shorts. Unbelievable really. Was I showing or manifesting the family energy of repressed anger and rage? I don’t see that energy on the video but I know this with all my inner work and contemplation.

I was also so deeply moved to see my older brother Bobby holding me as a small boy, and then I’d jump out of his arms and go do something. And my cousin Timmy also holding me. I felt so touched to see this.

I really honor my father over and over again for being such a visionary in the sense of buying this video camera in the early1960’s. My dad had issues, no doubt about it. A terrible repressed anger I suppose since he beat and spanked Denise and Bobby a lot. This is a dark shadow of my family. The expression of anger, rage and violence through accepted norms of discipline at that time. I was recently reading a psychic reading that I had a year ago, and she said, “ Your brother endured a severe abuse in his early childhood, and developed a defensiveness and guarding in his belly region.

I am ready to see the other video also. Apparently, my sisters Colleen and Denise collaborated and got all the old video’s and had them put on DVD.

Pretty awesome sisters!

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 8

Guten Morgan Everyone,

Coming to you from Canyon de Jemez, on the western side of the mountains of Santa Fe. It is another glorious day here in the elements, in this canyon and from under this cool and breezy canopy. With departure in 4-6 hrs, there are still so many things I want to do. Yipee!! I’m groovin’ and doing one thing at a time and it’s good.

I wanted to go to Santa Fe and Bandalier on Tues so that I would have these 2 days here for art and play. It’s worked out well for sure and I can see myself coming back here on my return trip to California.

I guess I need to briefly explain what I am doing out here on the road. I had originally carved these 5 weeks out to be in Peru, giving myself a Creativity Personal Retreat in this magnificent garden house I rent in the Valle Sacrado(Sacred Valley), Urubamba Peru. This year, the house was rented out, and I have my home rented out and no work set up. So Boom, after considering many options, I decide that I’m going to visit Camp Miniwanca in Shelby Michigan, squished b/w Stony Lake and Lake Michigan. I spent about 12 or 13 partial summers up there, and it was the place of my first Communal experience, where I was Opened up to a Larger View and Experience of Life. Anyway, this is what propelled me onto this trip, and also having my family and dear friends in St. Louis as a natural place to stay on the way to and back from Michigan.

I’m intending to spend the next 2 weeks in St. Louis and the Miniwance area, departing on 9 July, returning drive to California, and back into my house for 16-26 July.

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 7 (Canyon de Jemez)

Hello to you all,

It has been a wonderful morning for me, waking again in this red and yellow canyon, the early morning and day sky so clear like you can touch the clouds. I feel so grateful to have this alone time in the splendor of nature. This campsite is next to and visible to HW 4, and the cars pass occasionally, but mostly it’s the sound of the creek and the birds and the wind. The most important thing is that there is a 12-15 ft. high overhead covering the patio and picnic table, making the mid-day Sun totally tolerable. I have gotten out all my art supplies and cooking supplies and really feel like I have moved into this space here. My Taurus Moon is Very Happy!!!

I must say that I have really adjusted to the camping and quite like it as long as there is some shade in the day. The tent now is totally in the Sun for a good part of the day, and, I’m nice and cool here under the roof above. I’m really grateful to Heidi and Greg Marsolais for giving me all the equipment I needed, the stove and tent and supplies. I really am into this groove of life, the camping and simple eating and way of being. MMmmmm Good....

I could write and draw and paint here for weeks or months I think. The amazing visuals and the quiet and shade are in balance it seems. The temperature under the canopy is perfect and I just need to get some place for plugging my computer battery in. And now that you know how I feel about stones, I went to the creek(about 25 yards) and did my Kniep tx for more than an hour, being totally naked the whole time. I bathed myself without soap, and stacked and balanced stones on each other, and pressed my hands and feet so hard into the stones under the water. I love this so much, repeating the mantra, Om Namah Shivaya, and consciously absorbing the energy and Shakti through my hands and feet. Yo baby, this is good medicine!!

Some of you are saying, What is a Kniep treatment?

Bernard Kniep lived around 1880 in Bavaria which is southern Germany. At 20 yrs. age he was diagnosed with TB and told to go to the sanitarium for isolation. Bernard said, Fuck that! I’m going to nature and will heal myself there, or die. So, he healed himself by walking barefoot on river stones. Over the years he became a priest and a master of many different bodies of knowledge. In my awareness, the hands and feet are reflexology points in the body. In a sense they are microcosms of the macrocosm of the body. Through this treatment the stones press on points of the feet as the feet are absorbing the freshness and moisture of the water. The body becomes more alkaline or base as opposed to acidic.

Furthermore, I learned that there is also an accumulated Energy in stones that are at the surface, with a rushing of water over them, like miniature rapids. I received this in a Naturopathic retreat in Peru. As well, walking barefoot on the morning dew grass also has a very alkalinizing and softening effect. They use this in the Andes mountains as a treatment for Cancer.

Whether we are laying on the lawn or doing any of the earth treatments listed above, what is required is that

“We Slow Down, I Slow Down” If I’m walking on the river stones or gazing at the beauty of the environment or walking barefoot on the dew grass, I am in the present moment and Everything can slow down.

Yes to Yoga and Tai Chi and all movement and exercise and being fit.

And, I/We also know how to Slow Down to a Stillness of sorts.

What I’ve learned is, the body heals most easily in a state of rest and relaxation. The Prana flows most easily when the body is in a calm and restful state. Examples of deep relaxation are when we get a massage, or Savasana; the last pose in yoga class, yoga restorative poses, meditation and pranayama practice and when we sleep. This is a natural time for the body to rest and to heal.

So I really appreciate having this river/stream right here next to my campsite.

It was hard to leave here yesterday (Tues) but I knew to make the trip to Bandalier NP and then on to Santa Fe.

I would Highly Recomend HW 4 as a beautiful and very scenic road. From Santa Fe you drive North and then west onto HW 4 into the mountains. The road makes a northerly curve through the mountains ending at San Ysidro and HW 550. My campground and site is more on this side. There are many campgrounds and parks along the way and the scenery in the mountains is so gorgeous.

I first visited Bandalier in Dec 1998 when I left Esalen for a week and flew to Albuqurque. I rented a car and drove around to different places. Bandalier most impressed me then with a re-built Kiva which I entered into by climbing down a ladder. The soft light in the kiva was extraordinary and the temp so cool compared to outside.

This Kiva moment really stands out for me.

I made my way yesterday to the Cliff Dwellings of Bandalier and climbed up the ladder into one of those and just hung out for about 20 minutes. I really cooled down and got my journal out and reflected a bit there.

It’s always so impressive for me to remember and contemplate that people lived in these places for their homes at some time in history. Chaco Canyon also had cliff dwellings adjacent to my HOT campground, which I visited late in the day and in the shade.

I was able to add up all my National Park receipts, and paid $24.00 more to get my yearly pass to all the National Parks. Wow Yippee!! Hooray! I take that as a good Omen. I’ll make an effort to use this as generously as I can. (When I was in Switzerland last summer, I bought a 2 year Swiss 1/2 price rail card. I think both of these are good indicators for me............

After about a 90 minute hike I got in the car and drove to Santa Fe. Maybe I’ve been here 3 or 4 times over the years, and as I return I see and feel why. The buildings of the city are all Adobe and the city is ringed by mountains. The city blends into the environment so well and it is sooo beautiful here. Very well done city planners. I drove right to where I always park, picked up a few things at the store and then had a super picnic along this little river-park. The issue of food and nutrition while camping is really something, and really important. I brought olive oil and my spray Balsamico, salt and pepper, and then with a bag of salad, a tomato, cheese and crackers and Voila. Super Yummy! The fruit is also super important and is making a huge difference at this elevation and in the heat of the southwest generally. I’m loving the grapes and plums and cherries and cantaloupes.

I picnicked and wrote in my journal for awhile and then walked around the streets and the cathedral area, going to some of my favorite spots. This is one thing about me and my Taurus Moon....I love to go back to the same cities, towns and places, finding my way, and seeing the same people in the same shops and remembering and greeting each other. I love that familiarity so much.

I was sooooo happy to be coming home to my campsite last night. So Grateful to come to my tent and my sleeping bag, so close to Mother Earth.

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 6 (Canyon de Jemez, HW 4)

Dear friends,

I feel I have found the spot I have been looking for. Ahhhhh..............I am in this beautiful red and yellow stone canyon. I’m calling it, Canyon de Jemez, since this area is just beyond the reservation for the Jemez Nation. The radiant beauty of the stones is so amazing. I am in awe in this exquisite expression of Pachamama.

There was a sunrise service this morning in the Chaco Canyon park in honor of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. We could just easily say that the solstices and equinoxes mark a Sacred Geometry in the movement of the planet in relationship to the Sun. It is a matrix of energy(Sacred Geometry) which supports our planet and all the people living and breathing on it. Like a calendar, the Solstices represent summer and winter and are a way of marking time by indicating the extreme movements of the earth north and south, in relationship to the earth.

It appears that the people of the Chacoan culture(early Pueblo people, Hopi, Navajo,Zuni) lived here from 800-1250 AD. Naturally as indigenous people, they spent a lot of time observing the natural forces and elements and were adept at watching the movements of the Sun and Moon. There are several Kivas here (circular ceremonial rooms, normally underground), where the light of the rising summer solstice Sun comes through a window and hits a large niche on the wall, exactly within a half hour of sunrise. This is where we met this morning, observing this phenomenon.

It’s interesting to me that the Inka’s, in the Andes mountains of Peru,(where I’ve spent the last 5 June solstices) did the very same thing in their building and rock structures. They aligned windows with the Sun, so that on Solstice mornings, the first light of solstice would come through the window and make contact with a special niche on the wall. As well as making markings in stone which marked the extreme movement of the Sun/Earth at the solstice time.

I realize that for the average North American now, we rarely raise our faces to look at the stars or to watch the phases of the Moon in the night sky. Sadly, we as a people are deeply dis-engaged from the rhythms of nature, more obsessed with material desires and financial concerns.

I was awake several times in the night and went outside to pee and was overwhelmed with the night sky. The Moon had already set and the sky was ABLAZE with all these sparkling lights. Now this is someone who has watched the night and early morning sky from the place of the baths at Esalen for so many years....the Sky here was unbelievable, I suppose b’c of our elevation and no city close by.

Om Namah Shivaya....that was something

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 5 (Chaco Canyon)

Oh my goodness! I came here b/c for years I have looked at the petroglyph photographs from Danny B. at Esalen. Danny comes here every year or so in Sept and has accumulated an amazing collection of these awesome photographs from Chaco Canyon. He has spoken of this place in a mystical way and deeply appreciates his time here.

I left Gallup this morning and once again made my pilgrimage onto the roadside, over and over as I stopped and took so many photographs of the beauty of Mother Earth. So many times in and out of the car. I think of you Elliott as I do this, so free and just stopping wherever I want, totally in the moment.

They make getting into Chaco Canyon a little challenging, as any approach to Sacred territory will be. There is 20 miles of unpaved road before entering the park, so the going is slow and purposeful. This moment of challenge is critical in all mythical stories of the Hero/Heroine. Before entering the Golden Palace or the Emerald City, (the place of Communion with Spirit), the Hero/Heroine will have to persist through some difficulties and an ordeal before making their entry and contact with the Golden Vessel. This trek into Chaco canyon is well worth the challenge of the heat and difficult approach.

The Pueblo tribes(Hopi, Navajo, Zuni) have an oral tradition, and they all honor the place of Chaco Canyon as the home of their ancestors. So I carried this awareness as I walked among the ruins of their Great Houses. These buildings are mostly the original foundations now with some archaeological rebuilding. They imagine that thousands of people lived in this canyon at the time(800-1250AD) and the great houses were more the administrative and ceremonial centers for the people, some living close by and others further away. The stone work of the Great rooms is so beautiful, such small stones placed like bricks with no mortar.

The big feature here is the intense heat of the day. I found my camp spot about 2pm in the full blazing heat and came back around 5pm expecting to be in the shade....no chance. No shade till 7pm when the Sun finally dipped below the rocky outcropping. I pitched my tent and the wind was blowing and blowing and it was sooooo hot, and I was in such a bad mood! I’m telling you, between the wind and heat, I was not a happy camper. No trees here and no shade and it’s Really HOT!

The cool thing about the heat is that I don’t want to eat anything, or only fruit, so that’s a good thing.

I chilled out after sunset and hung out and talked with a New Age guy. It’s so interesting to listen to people, to hear their stories and to be present for them.

I’m so grateful for this life, and so Grateful to you Mother Earth.

Guten nacht everyone,

Thomas

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 4 (Gallup, New Mexico)

Good Morning Sunshine,

I’m kinda talking to you and to myself. It’s Sunday morning and that always feels so special. Not so much the church connection as the “later morning” feeling, when everyone just get’s up whenever they want. I love that! I love being out in the Sunday morning environment before everyone gets up.

Well, I’m getting ready to head off to Chaco canyon this morning. I love this space I am in, just being in the moment and flowing with what I want to do. I had a plan for where I was going yesterday, and then I actually ended up doing the same route, but in reverse. I didn’t freak out, it’s just what happened and I went with it. It was a car-journey day, and I made so many stops taking photos and just appreciating the landscapes outside the car. I never turned on the radio or music and just drove in silence all day. Wundebar!

I traveled from Gallup west into Arizona again and north to an Inter-tribal meeting spot at Window Rock, a very beautiful and impressive red stone and mountain landscape. I got out of the car for awhile and just walked around, so impressed with the deep quiet of the place. All I could hear was the blowing of the wind. There are so many natural Stone Monuments jutting out of Mother Earth, Wow!! Then driving back south and to the east, I entered the Zuni Pueblo. Wow, Wow and more Wow!!! Just the word itself, Zuni, feels good to me and magical and feels turquoise in color. Their town, or pueblo, lies in the high valley with many multi-colored and magnificent mountains all around. Om Namah Shivaya! Really breathtaking. The mountains are with special shapes and features and the colors are the deep reds and purples and pinks. I feel very happy for this tribe, that they secured this remarkable landscape as their reservation, their home and land.

I see that I’ve not been doing much drawing and painting yet, mostly photography as my art so far, and the writing. The conditions outdoors can be challenging for an artist, the heat is so oppressive so shade is critical and then the wind is incredibly frustrating.

I’ve been saying recently in yoga retreats that “Being in the Flow” is one of the spiritual practices in the Age of Aquarius. Being at peace with what is as opposed to forcing what we think we should be doing. Ahhhhh....this surrender to what Is always feels so good to me.

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 3

This Travelogue is serving several purposes for me. On the one hand I’m doing most of my daily journaling here as well as communicating to my friends and family, and then documenting my daily activities and travel experiences. This is a good writing exercise for me and may lead me in directions I cannot see at the moment.

It is Sat morning and I’m in my hotel room in Gallup New Mexico. I have decided to spend 2 nights here and will go out on field trips today to Red Rock park and then maybe to the Zuni Pueblo.

Yesterday was an awesome day really. I finally got out of my campsight and the GC park by 10:30 am and then made another stop at the Petrified wood lady, Marge. Her place is a Mecca for me. Her late husband had spent many years collecting stones and petrified wood and they were All laying in many and various piles. I went to each pile in my 3 visits there, picking my most favorite pieces, and only from the top layer. What fun was that!

I decided to just wiz past Flagstaff and went onto stops at Meteor Crater, where the Advertisement was........

Feel the Impact.

I heard it on the AM station as they gave info for the place. Hearing their voice say those words still makes me laugh and smile. Funny how some things can just make me laugh and laugh.

Well the Crater and museum was cool, and just getting a sense of something like this happening. I’ve seen a lot of shooting stars at Esalen. Mostly in the early morning hours, and I can imagine sometimes one of them is big enough and can make impact with the earth. It was cool to look at the research in the museum, and viewing the photos of the Moon and Mars gives us a visual of the normalcy, in a way, of meteors making contact with planets. And they suppose maybe a meteor is the reason the dinosaurs went extinct. Hmmm

I also stopped at the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National parkland. I see that stopping and taking photographs is another way that I’m making art on this trip. I have a lot of editing to do and Wow, is it beautiful! The landscapes over and over again are so stunning. Really uplifting for me. If I see it as an artist I look at the shapes of the mountains but also the shapes created by the various colors of the landscape. It’s also a play b/w light and dark, shadows which look more purple or blue to me and then the bright greens and yellows and reds of the landscape.

I’ve been doing a small sketch book and one watercolor the other day at the Grand Canyon. I didn’t like the WC and felt/feel discouraged. This is a normal process for anyone who creates art, dealing with the inner judge which is often overly judgemental and harsh. I look at it this way. If I make 10 drawings or paintings of the same thing, 2 or 3 will be trash, and 4-5 will be okay, not bad, I’ll keep them for a while, and 2 or 3 will be really good and I like them a lot. Every thing I create does not have to be a masterpiece. This is a very calming salve for anyone who is expressing creativity in their life.

Alright, I have made it to Gallup, New Mexico and will spend the night here in this train town. I like it here. People say it is in the heart of Indian land and indeed, I feel like I am in the Valle Sagrado de Peru or Oaxaca Mexico with all the indigenous people, all the dark skinned native peoples. I feel so at ease and so comfortable here in this environment.

I realize that my and our ancestors committed a Holocaust of sorts against the Native American Peoples. I have often felt the grief of this collective injustice when I am around them, and my heart feels so sorry for what happened to their people and way of life. What I can see about native peoples of the world is that they are more intimately connected to the primary forces of nature and have a developed intuitive sense about them. They are seemingly less well educated, I can feel this in my interactions with them. I feel so sad that the Native community deals with such a demon in the form of alcoholism, surely coming from a loss of identity, I don’t know.

I walked into a native restaurant this evening and I felt so honored to be there, nearly the only white face. I was so impressed by how quiet the room was, a large room with maybe 30-40 of us in there. Maybe life is boring in this isolation/small town and at this elevation. It was like a heaviness or weight in the room as everyone spoke very quietly. It was just a remarkable experience. I love looking at the features of these native Navajo people. They are so beautiful as a people.

Okay, off to bed....

Buenas Noches amigos y amigas,

Thomas

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 2

Dear One’s,

I really have the feeling of coming home somehow. As I arrived to the Grand Canyon on Wed. afternoon, I found my camping space, #24, in a campground outside the park. Such a beautiful spot in a quiet Pine forest! I clearly felt this gleeful sensation of coming home. Part of this is the camping I’m sure, we did so much camping as a family in my childhood. And the other coming home part is being Silent and Alone in nature. I have experienced this so many times over the years; at the ashram, on personal retreats and Vision Quests(3 Days alone in nature in one spot, fasting). It’s an experience of being in the majesty of nature, and all the anxieties and concerns of normal life are completely irrelevant.

The Forces of nature are so powerful and profound.....

And too, being in nature like this can be challenging as well.

I left Kingman Wed morning, and as I drove away I realized that this little town is built among a cluster of small mesas and stone monuments from the earth. The sight of this was so beautiful. I wanted to turn the car around and draw those mesas, and, I have committed that I will come back to Kingman on a roadtrip to see Tom Robert’s parents in Buckeye, AZ (Phoenix is 2 hrs from Kingman)

I’ve continued to meander along my path, stopping here and there, taking pictures and just looking at the beautiful landscapes. Om Namah Shivaya.....I found a petrified wood stone shop on the road north to the Grand Canyon. I just love stones and have picked them up and made alters with them since being a child.I must say I found the motherload here. Wow!! This is very exciting for me for sure!

Remember the “I Love Lucy” program when they were on their road trip to California, and she had collected so many stones their RV almost tipped over as they drove up the windy road.........

Arriving to the Grand Canyon park, I found my way to Mather’s point, to the edge, overlooking that magnificent expanse of Mother Earth-Pachamama. I had brought my little sketchbook so got it out and did 4 ink sketches. Boom, it’s an hour and a half later, and I’ve been gazing at the beauty of this place all this time.

I keep thinking of Jean Peters’ and Tom Robert’s while I’m here at the GC. The 3 of us came here in 1985. Tom and I also hiked down the canyon to the river in 1984, just 5 months into our relationship.

The camping has been excellent. Well, my first night’s sleep was not so good as I adjusted to the hard and energized floor of Morther earth. I figure we’re about 7500 ft. up here, the Sun is Very Strong, and mother is just absorbing this Shakti every moment; The Energy feels very strong here. The Sun is setting around 8pm and the light begins in the morning around 4:30 am

I slept well on Thurs night and awoke at 5:30 am, got the Coleman stove out and made a cup of coffee as I took the tent down and packed up the campsite. I also had phone conversation with Greg Marsolais, Patty Witte, Chris Desloge, Sarana Miller and Norma Bischoff in Deutschland. I do love the alone time for sure, and then my need for loving-human contact is so Strong and Natural. Thank you friends!

I thanked my campsite and the forest before I left and am ready now to drive to Flagstaff and on to Gallup New Mexico. I figure to have a night in a hotel room tonight and then back to Mother earth for 3 nights on the ground of New Mexico. I want to set up my little art studio in some beautiful spot in nature. It’s not so easy to draw and paint rocks, but I’m getting a little more practiced at it. Let’s see what develops..

Love to you all from the Grand Canyon,

Tommaso

Travelogue of US RoadTrip - Part 1

Hey friends

I left Big Sur on Tues by about 8:30 am and got to Kingman last evening about 8pm. It was a little hard to get away from the coast, I kept stopping for pictures along the coast and took my time in Cambria........and then I finally got on my way.

The landscapes of southern California were stunning as I was approaching the Arizona border. Wow!! I felt like a child just gazing and gazing at the horizon line of the mountains and desert. I kept looking with an artists eye seeing the shapes and colors and imagining how I would draw or paint such a landscape. I stopped along the highway once and did a small drawing.....and it was SO HOT I could hardly stand it. Wow!!

Let's see what the Grand Canyon and Flagstaff are like today. I plan on camping around the Grand Canyon tonight and then going into New Mexico tomorrow for a few nights.

I am always deeply impressed that the Native Americans were able to live here and still I can feel their mystical energy so strongly. I love feeling their influence and presence. As a child I always played the part on the Indian, never the coyboy. Even then I was always for the underdog.

My family went on a 3 week road-trip to California in 1966 when I was 8 years old and it still seems that I am looking out the window with those 8 year old eyes, filled with amazement at the colors and shapes of mother earth. Om Pachamama Om...

and thank you All for your friendship and Love

I'm grateful that you are in my life

Thomas