"When one is young..."

 i did not see many roadrunners (Geoccyx californiaus) come to the waterbowl...but this one did

"UP AND OVER IN THE DOWN UNDER so this is the australia trip as i remember it

i packed everything back into the datsun station wagon (and a damn fine car it had been...bought near portland and then to wyoming, montana and then south to alabama)..and headed west out of alabama...stopped in red stick to see pappyjack...then to houston to get a visa and a plane ticket...the guy with the visa looked into my eyes and asked me if i was going to work or go to school...i answered in the negative...then he asked if i had two thousand dollars...i lied and said i did...i got the visa...i think for 6 months....the cheapest ticket was for january first and was round trip as they demand it and it have a one month turn-around and I had less than a  week till departure.., out of san francisco airport....down interstate 10 then south  on interstate 8 with my little car full of stuff for  the flea market...took interstate 8 to san diego since i knew the flea markets there better...sold the entire album collection and books for a bulk price and gave the rest to thrift stores...then north towards san fransisco to sell the car....I had worked for a month or two then quit my job to a go to a place i had always wanted to see...the land down under...sold the car in mountain view and took the bus to the airport....with my backpack probably too full but manageable...the flight was about 22 hours i think with a change of planes in Honolulu...where the jerk working in the coffeeshop sneezed into my cup...i went behind the counter and gave him the cup back and got my money back...then to cairns on the east coast where i was suffering from exhaustion...i got on a bus to townsville which in1994 when i was there was not very developed...and pretty and tropical...i got a breakfast which had about 4 pounds of meat of at least four kinds...none of it very tender...probably some kangaroo and maybe some camel and buffalo...none of it very tender...i talked to an older guy from london who i think said he was the newspaper seller for the town which i read later is a lucrative franchise to have...i said i hoped the town would not get too developed...he said he hoped it got real big because he said "hoped to make a few quid"...which i heard fr0m several business people...the population of australia at that time was less than 30 million...less than california...i found a hostel and lay down exhausted...i meet several interesting people...too interesting....and so the rest of the month will be equally interesting...then on the bus back to cairns and i am advised to buy a 30 day bus ticket...which i do...then i see a restaurant and go in and tell the guy in the lobby i would like some fish and chips as i have never had that dish before,,,although i have had plenty of bream fried and served on newspaper with french fries...it's a southern thing...the guy walks me out the door and points to a hole in the wall eatery two doors down and says.."mate, that place has the best fish and chips in town." and so i get an order to go since there is no seating. Then off to the bus and towards mount Isa, famous for rodeo and mining...i exit the bus and go to the mining museum. a couple of suspicious fellows take the self-guided tour with me...older guys...one says he is from england and the other says he is from switzerland,,,while we are walking around, they start discussing with one another the possibility of throwing me into a mine shaft...when someone talks about it they don't do it.  they are just a couple of goofs as far as i am concerned....then were are all off to a chinese restaurant...the owner is an elderly man who talks to us about his pearl diving days on the west coast...his grand-daughter is our server and the swiss guy says something rude and lewd...he is ignorant...then back onto to bus to Tennant creek and then south...we are in the "RED CENTRE" as they call the interior of this continent...the bus stops in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere...i awaken and get out of the bus to see a fellow standing next to a 20 foot canvas roll...i ask him what it is and he says its his "swag"...or his gear for the next 6 months on the sheep station where he is headed...he says kind of embarrassed that it is a "small" station only 50 thousand acres...or maybe hectares...anyhow it sounds big to me...i see another fellow standing near the bus and go over to talk to him...he says something that alarms me..."you have troubles mate, the cops think you are a drug dealer and the drug dealers think you are a cop"...i would certainly be the worlds poorest drug dealer...all i can do is be cautious...then back on the bus and toward alice springs...about the center of the continent...i disembark and take a walking tour of the town...i see a book shop and walk over to have a chat with the owner...i pull the only book i have remaining from my backpack...it is wrapped in plastic bags...it is a "Mammals of Australia" with hand colored  pictures...they guy seems interested and i sell it for $20...as i walk down the sidewalk a fellow stops me and asks me if i want to meet the owner of the bus line i am riding on,,,sure i'll bite...he introduces me to an older guy who says his last name and it is indeed the same as the bus line...i ask him if he has ever rode the buses in the USA...he winces and says he rode the bus from new york to miami...or something like that...i ask him how he liked it...he says it was horrid...these buses are large and roomy and clean and with  a large television mounted in the front...american buses...not so much...someone asks me if am going to visit Ayers rock (Uluru to the natives) I say it is sacred to the natives so i say i  do not care to desecrate it,,,but he truth is i am very short of cash and have no  credit at all and the rock is several hundred miles out of my way ...then on the bus and down to coober pedy...famous for opal mines and now the fact that the movie "RIDDICK" was filmed there...i disembark and find the underground hostel...it is the middle of the summer here and hot hot hot! up in the ground level a woman in a van asks me if i want to learn to use explosives...EXPLOSIVES!...whats to blow up un the middle of the desert?...she asks me if i want to go stay in a cave...A CAVE!...i decline...i have to be careful...to many nut cases...then back on the bus and down to Ballarat...famous for gold mining...i get a bed in a  hostel...half a dozen rough looking fellows check out when i check in...i put my folding knife in a place where i can get to it quick...and it is probably there to this day...then on to Adelaide where i get a room in a hostel  where there are a couple of young women who say they are from england and that they have been teaching english in japan...but they say they are broke...i find out that there is a casino in the old train station...i go to see it and itis very nice,,,when i try to enter the doorman says "no blue jeans" i point out that my jeans are green,,,he lets me in...i see a crowd of people standing around a large screen mounted on the wall...i cant see anything to bet on...then a well dressed many tosses a coin into the air...the game is called 'TWO UP"...betting on a coin toss!...i decline to bet...then i wander over to the craps table...i am thinking about making a 15 to 1 bet on an eleven roll...then suddenly an eleven is rolled...then another....and another...and another...whoa buddy!...something smells bad...i leave the casino wondering who has enough stroke to pull a stunt like that in a licensed casino...i return to the hostel and the english lasses are outside in the garden area...i tell them i tried to win them some money...they say i am "cheeky"...not heard much in the USA...then off to Melbourne...it seems to be a bit  thuggish  here...i get a room inthe largest hostel i have ever seen...a remodeled 7 story building....i get a bunk bed and in the middle of the night i feel someone shove my shoulder and i turn over to see several asian men standing over me and one of them sprays me in the face from an aerosol can....soon i feel kind of trippy...drugs in a can...nice invention...i dont sleep very well but i am glad to get on the bus towards Sydney...i go to "Kings Cross" area and check into a hostel...i check my cash and count the days i have to make it stretch...it dont look good...i check out the options...it looks like Katoomba in the blue mountains might be an option...but i decide to go to the cheapest hostel i can find and take the bus as close as i can get...i walk and walk and find a pile of ashes where the hostel used to be...big fires this year...i keep walking down the road and come to the bank of a river (the Nepean river i believe) i hear someone coming down the road and decide to stand behind a large tree...a couple of dirt bikes with dirty looking guys come speeding up to the rivers edge...they look around then leave back down the road...i don't want to go down the the way i came...i look at the river which is at least a hundred yards wide but looks pretty shallow...I hoist my backpack over my head and wade in... i'm knee deep then waist deep then chest deep...not much current...no sign of saltwater crocodiles...then i'm waist deep then knee deep then i step out onto the sandy bank...there are some homes nearby and i want to avoid them...i see a guy at a produce stand and walk up to talk to him and drip dry..he gives me a tomato and laments .that if he were in the USA he could make a lot of money...but not here...its a trade off...more people more problems...i walk down the road and a guy in a car stops to talk and says that the is an olympic facility being built nearby...i walk and walk and take train i think towards the blue mountains...i have to go to the parks office and get a permit...i am the first person they let into the park since the fires have stopped....i have a bag of muesli which tastes a lot like horse feed to me...and gives the jaw a workout...i have four 2 liter bottles of water ...i spot an apple tree in someones yard...it is close enough to the sidewalk that i can snatch a dozen apples...they are not very good,,,but affordable...then down down down into the park...nobody on the trail...after a couple of hours i step off the trail behind some large boulders and sit. against the rules i roll a cigarette and discretely have a smoke...soon a person walks by on the trail...interesting...i eventually take a seat near the trail and have an apple and a young fellow stops to talk...he says he is from denmark...whatever...he moves on...eventually a woman stops by and we chat...i dont remember where she is from but she says something about europe....i find a place to stretch my hammock and eat some muesli...i think it was meant to be cooked....my jaws are getting pretty powerful...i need get to the hostel in Katoomba and then to the train into Sydney and the airport...i wrap myself in the hammock...i have no tent...the biting flies are very very common all over this continent...and here too...the hammock protects me some...about dawn i awaken and look up to  see some movement overhead in the trees...suddenly it sounds like a train wreck or a chain saw or something mechanical and very loud...i am startled...then i see a tail of a bird...it is a lyre bird and i learn later that it is a superb lyre bird (Menura novaehollandiae) most remarkable...then i see some movement down the hill and squint to recognize wallabies....they are hopping onthe rocks...they are rock wallabies...i worked with them in the zoo business...very nice to see them outside a cage...the sun gets higher and i eat more muesil and apples...then i pack the gear and head towards to hostel...there is a small train that goes up and down the mountainside into the park...but i cannot afford it...as i am hiking a group of japanese people pass me going down hill...one of the men is a large man in a robe who shoves me off the trail...yakuza bastard...i make it back to the hostel without getting murdered to death...i figure i can bite someone's arm off by now  my jaws are so strong...i have enough money for one night at the hostel for a hot shower and a train ride to the airport...and ten bucks left over...i get to the hostel and am hanging out when a person tells me there is a $20 dollar exit fee to leave the country...what the hell! i ask what if i will not pay the exit fee,,,i am told i might get a red stamp in my passport which will not only make me persona non grata in australia AND perhaps other countries as well...i am screwed...as i am laying in my bunk i see a magazine under to empty bunk across from mine...i grab it an it is in perfect shape...and i saw the same magazine in the corner store a block away...i take the magazine to the store and ask them if they will buy it...they give me $10 bucks....YAHOO!...saved by porn...the next day i go to the airport and fly to los angeles...when i am getting my backpack there is a very strong smell of rotting fish...a mafia sign...i get my backpack and then go to the currency exchange...i have a two dollar australian coin...the woman says they do not exchange coins...i say it is all the money i have in the world...she gives me an dollar and some change...i head out to the line taxies...i ask a cabbie which way to san diego...it is February an i do not want to head north...the cabbie flings his door open and say get in...i say no...which way is san diego...he says out there to sepulveda blvd. and take a right, but you can't walk to san diego...i say maybe i can...and start walking  south....and more travels to seattle, alaska, mexico, and canada ,before the year is out...

"When one is young, one venerates and despises without that art of nuances which constitutes the best gain of life." Nietzsche (1886)