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Geysers at Yellowstone National Park

Geysers at Yellowstone National Park

NNo one told me there would be no internet or cell service in Yellowstone. oh nary a warning.
But it’s all right, I am what they call a “happy camper”. We can pitch the tent in under fifteen minutes if we feel like it, and we can go for long stretches of road in Kate’s trusty ‘94 Chevy pickup. At night, the headlights have taken to turning on and off at random–Kate has to drive with her left hand on the headlight button, ready. Also, the car beeps four times when you turn off the ignition. We like to think it’s saying “Good-bye” and not “There is something wrong with me”. When we stop anywhere we haul the backpacks, suitcase and books into the seat area so we can lock them up.

Yesterday, Kate wanted to see the geysers and, especially, Old Faithful. This big geyser used to erupt every hour but now clocks in approximately every ninety minutes. Earthquakes like the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake and the 1983 Borah Peak, in Idaho, are responsible for this change. Scientists and other smart people (Kate) believe that the Yellowstone Caldera is long overdue–about 30,000 years overdue–and that the whole place could blow any minute. That’s okay…we’re ready. I suggested we might want to just stay in Yellowstone. We could enjoy a magical life, an instantaneous death–and be surrounded by wild animals.

The geysers are everywhere, in jewel-like colors. This one looks like an old lady’s sapphire brooch, that one a milky drink you can buy in chinatown. Nearly all of them steaming and bubbly. Japanese tourists with their tiny digital cameras, kanji-ing away like there’s no tomorrow (maybe there isn’t! We’re all gonna blow!), Norwegian couples in breezy linen clothes. We all want to peer into the jewel-like depths of our planet, our awe tinged with a bit of the grotesque. What was that phrase? “The lure of the abyss”. mm-Hmm, something like that. Kate and I wondered how, if the ground in some areas is merely “Thin crust over Scalding Mud!”, they could calculate where to safely build the boardwalk. In some places there are a measly four inches from the edge of the walkway to the gurgling, hot pools.

On the way back to the car, I bought a cone of ice cream. We set up camp for the night and had dinner at The Outpost Restaurant in West Yellowstone, just outside of the park. Not the best of ideas–this state has not yet been set up for vegetarians. But I needed to make a few phone calls, charge up the ‘tops, and wash my face with hot water.

Kate is still licking her wounds. I hope this trip can help her see that life is big, bigger than the both of us.

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den Himmel so fern

den Himmel so fern

WWe are scurrying around Kate’s place getting everything ready, Leonard Cohen is blaring on the tape deck. Bag of oranges? Check! jar of apple cider vinegar? Check. Thermal underwear, sketchbook, sleeping bags, water purifier? Check! We’re a strange pair with our ziploc baggies of organic nuts and homemade (Kate) nutrition bars in one backpack, and a whole battalion of cords, cables, battery chargers, ipods and two laptops in another. We want to appreciate the idylls of Nature via our WAN access in a moving car. In short, we want it all.

I should probably only speak for myself, though. Miss Kate is a rare bird, and I bet she’d be just as happy without any phones or signals interfering with her enjoyment of the world as it is.

Yesterday we pitched and dismantled the tent on the front lawn, for practise. This morning I contacted a bunch of small, organic or simply local farms where we could exchange work for a grassy spot to settle in for the night. Pam Watts at Yourganic Farm invited us to stay on the farmland and visit with the animals, but they don’t need extra hands–she and her husband have things running so efficiently they don’t even hire help.

And so we are off–Charlie brought by some last minute supplies (a waterproof bag for food, mace to use against Codiac bears, etc.)–hitting the road with 2 rucksacks, a small suitcase, 5 gallons of water, and a blanket.

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what is this thing, called “blog”?

KKate is downstairs taking a bath. I had thought, in the health food store where we bought charcoal pills and Primal Strips, to get her some oatmeal bath stuff. I didn’t–it was pricey–but I wish now that I did.

Today we rode rickety touring bikes down Ash Street to another health clinic. They were doing low-cost blood screenings for the underinsured folks of Casper. It always amazes me when people get together to do a good thing. Volunteers at an elephant sanctuary, borderless doctors, men who fight human trafficking rings–these people are tenacious and kind, and I think it’s the combination of the two that really warms my cockles. With so much strife in the world, it’s easy to forget the good people who beat it back.

As for the blood tests, I had the Chem profile, hemogram, hemoglobin A1C, and ferritin tests ordered. These are but gauzy, meaningless terms to me, promising a glimpse of something beautiful. If I am patient. If I am calm. Being adopted burdens one with problems of alienation and loss, some say its own syndrome; I can’t remember a time when I was not sad. Perhaps now, I’ll gain some insight into my bloodline, through–fittingly–my own blood.

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Kate's living sculpture, her bike

“The Bike”

WWoke very early today with a dull, persistent pain in my left side. I’d noticed it yesterday but didn’t give it much thought. My brother Andrew says that “Pain is Weakness leaving the Body,” but where it goes, or what is left behind is anyone’s guess. I rather think pain is a sign that there’s something WRONG with the body, so I went to the local emergency clinic and filled out some papers. An x-ray and two ultrasounds later, I was declared healthy, with a mysterious pain that Alleve “might could” manage.

We’re still planning the details of our trip, but are going to wait a little and make sure this newfound demoness in my abdomen leaves, quietly, with the admiring feelings of a graceful lady. oh, I have such a craving for muscat gummies right now.

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Chunsoon and Kate in Casper, WY

Chunsoon and Kate in Casper, WY

In planning our road trip to Alaska, Kate and I have decided to make a few checklists. There are the usual ones, of course: camping food, hygiene products, camera equipment, books. But we want to use these 30 days as an opportunity for growth and reflection, not just fun. We want to return home a LITTLE BIT BETTER than when we left. Here is one of those lists (this one pertaining to physical health):

1. Every morning before breakfast, 15 minutes of stretching
2. After pitching the tent in a good place, and securing the food in a tree, a nice long hike or other vigorous exercise for at least an hour
3. No more than three restaurant meals a week! (Kate says even coffee from a gas station counts!)
4. Avoid processed and other junk foods
5. No meat (we are packing lots of soy jerky for protein–it is highly processed, but protein is necessary)
6. Every night after dinner, half an hour of meditation (for Kate) and writing (for Chunsoon)
7. 15 minutes of stretching before bed

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