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Subject: Victor Antonio's Odyssey

Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 07:01:32 +0800

 

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Victor's Odyssey

     Since I walked so much in San Antonio, like 2 or 3 years, I

finally took that all as training.  Towards the end of 2002 I decided

I was going to walk all the way to California. It would've taken me

about 3 months, 2,000 miles.  But hey, all I need is a destination. 

Patience is a virtue.

     The night I got ready to leave, December 26, I grabbed two

backpacks I had found over time and stuffed them full of clothes and

supplies.  It was going to be a little awkward with two backpacks,

but I had to take more stuff than I could fit in one.  I hiked 5

miles down to my friend's house, because he lived closer to I10 than

my mom did.  I was going to crash there and take off walking in the

morning.  I knock on my friend Bob's door at 3am.  I wake him up, he

opens the door and looks at my bags.  His jaw drops and he says,

"Oh shit, Victor. You're really going to do this.  We all

thought you were full of shit."  I smile and Bob says, "You

know what, I am going to consolidate that for you so you'll only need

one bag." Bob had been in the military and he hooked me up with

his badass army rucksack.  Huge bag, frame and a backpad.  I felt

like I was meant to do this.  

     He calls up my friend Andrea and tells her, "Victor just

showed up.  He's really going to walk to California."  After

hanging up with Andrea, Bob tells me, "Hey, if you want to leave

right now and not in the morning, Andrea and I are willing to give

you a small boost west."  I quickly agreed.  I was so excited I

was actually going to do it.

     Bob and Andrea ended up giving me a 40-mile jump to Comfort, TX

and I started walking I10-West.  Now, I wasn't going to hitchhike one

bit.  I was walking to prove for a fact that we have two legs for a

reason and it's not to push the gas and the brake.  And that cars

were killing the world and had made everybody lazy, impatient and

overweight.  I was also going to do it without money, just to prove

that could be done too.

     I ended up walking all day, about 20 miles.  Right before the

sun came down, as I was walking past Sonora, TX, I was just walking. 

I didn't have my thumb out or anything.  Some guy just pulled over. 

He had a big Jesus Is Lord sticker on his back windshield.  He pulls

up and tells me, "Hey, I'm going to California.  Where are you

going?"

     Shit, West Texas to Los Angeles.  I didn't even have to ask for

it.  Generosity picked me up.  I'm just following signs.  Everybody

says, "Oh Victor, you cheated.  You didn't walk."  I tell

them, "When was the last time you walked 20 miles in one

direction on purpose?  I felt it was in the best interest of all

humanity that I got there sooner, so I made an exception.  You know

what, I walk so much I fucking deserve a ride once in a while. 

Everything in moderation."  That's how I justified it.

     Now, let me back up a little.  See, before I had left San

Antonio I had put everything I own, my computer monitor, my whole

wardrobe, everything you need for a one-bedroom apartments, I put it

all in my mom's front lawn.  I put up a big sign that said,

"FREE STUFF."  I figured if I gave all my stuff away I

wouldn't have anything to lose and I could walk to California. When

people stopped to pick my stuff up I would tell them, "Keep in

mind I'm walking to California soon.  I accept donations if you want

to give me something.  If not, just get it out of here."  I made

like $50 like that.  I gave more than half of it away.

     By the time I got to LA I had $37 left.  I had bought some

cigarettes and some food.  I crashed at the homeless shelter downtown

and got a good night's sleep.  The next morning I am just wandering

downtown LA, not looking for anything and I end up at the Greyhound

bus station.  

     I had considered taking the Greyhound all the way from San

Antonio, but I thought, "Nah, a bus trip will be boring.  If I

walk half the fun will be getting there.  Imagine the education I'll

receive from all the people I talk to on my walk to California.  You

can't get that shit in school. That's the school of reality.  Where

you learn the truth and it's free like knowledge should be."

     I had been sending all my ideas to the San Francisco chatroom on

AOL.  They were kind of expecting me.  So, in LA I asked them how

much a bus ticket was. The lady told me $42.  Shit, I only had $37. 

I need 5 bucks.  I was all bummed out so I go outside the Greyhound

station and bum a cigarette.  The guy I get the cigarette from, some

Mexican dude, I tell him about my mission, my ideas.  Man, before I

even had to ask him he hands me a $5 bill and says, "Man, if

you're going to get marijuana legalized, more power to you."  So

bam, San Francisco.

     San Francisco, I rode the bus around for 3 days, walked around

and learned the city.  I didn't pay bus fare one time in San

Francisco.  All you have to do is get on and ask for a courtesy ride.

 Every single driver gave me one.  Other people were paying.  It just

goes to prove the generosity of the West Coast.  Hell, that's how I

get around in San Antonio.  Everybody has it in them.

     I was crashing in Golden Gate Park for three days.  It was like

a fairy tale.  I was there for the big New Year's celebration. But

after about 3 days San Francisco started to get on my nerves.  It was

just way too crowded and all run by money.  I felt I had to get out

of there.  I told myself, "Let me look up my friend BJ in

Oakland.  Last I heard he lived there. I don't know his address or

phone number.  Maybe I'll run into him.  If not, I'll learn a new

place.

     Well, the random courtesy ride I scored in Oakland landed me on

Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.  Are you familiar with Telegraph

Avenue?  It's where all the hippies were in the 60's.  They have the

People's Park place there.  There was a big protest there.  It was a

huge landmark for the peace movement back in the 60's. Now, I hadn't

heard about any of that stuff. Isn't it kind of ironic that on my

quest for world peace I acceidentlly land on Telegraph Avenue? The

bus didn't say Berkeley on it or anything.  I was in Oakland.

     Now, Telegraph Avenue was like heaven on Earth.  I didn't have

to worry about anything.  They had breakfast at the church at 8am

every morning. A meal at 4pm. People just gave you stuff on the

street.  They have the Free Box in People's Park full of clothes. 

Hell, five minutes after I get off the bus, some street kid hands me

a loaded pipe. I was crashing in front of the church every night,

taking showers at the public pool.  Everything was cool.

     When I first got to Telegraph I noticed all the people on the

sidewalk asking for spare change.  I thought, "Hmm, I'm going to

tap that medium.  I won't ask for anything though."  I made up

my own sign.  It read:

With the Internet I plan to...

     -eliminate money, make everything free, prove that it's

human-nature to be generous and bring world peace

     - get rid of cars in big cities and save the ozone layer

     AND

     - get marijuana legalized and chill everybody out

I'VE GOT IT ALL FIGURED OUT

ASK ME HOW

rightprotect@hotmail.com

just doin' it for the cause

Wait, I have a visual-aid.

(I have a picture I keep in my wallet to show people, ask me for it

and I'll send you the .jpg)

     

     Now, when I first started flying that sign I just stood it up

and nobody would just stop and read it.  So, every single person who

walked in front of me, Telegraph is mostly pedestrians, college kids,

my generation, I would tell them, "Hey, will you read my sign? 

I just want you to read it.  It's really important."  People

would eventually stop and read it.  When they would read the whole

thing and I explained it to them I would tell them, "I want to

put up some flyers up around town, get the ball rolling a little

quicker, so if you have any spare change that will help.  But if not,

just take down my email address and I'll back my shit up."  

     Man, people were handing me dollar bills. I was making

$100/night easy with that sign.  I had a damn good paying job in

Berkeley, hehe.

     The coolest stuff happened when I started flying my sign. The

first night I flew it this one girl stops and reads it.  She starts

freaking out.  She tells me, "Oh my God.  My grandmother told me

I would meet you tonight.  She said I would meet Antonio." 

Antonio is my middle name.  I was all tripping out.  This girl ends

up taking me to dinner that night.  Delicious Indian food.  It was

badass, just a little weird.

     I was on Telegraph for 15 days.  On the last day this one girl

stopped and read my sign.  She ended up talking to me for hours. 

Some 18 year old girl named Sammie.  She tells me, "Later on my

friend Kate and I are going to hang out at my apartment.  You're more

than welcome to come if you want."  I said sure.  We go to her

apartment and I meet her friend Kate.  I was telling Kate about how

I'm traveling and Kate goes, "Oh, do you want to go to

Arcata?"  I freak and tell her, "Umm, you mean Northern

California, Humboldt County, where all the weed is Arcata?  Hell

yes!"  That night we drive up to her mom's house in Martinez.  I

get a guest bedroom to sleep in, shower, laundry and the next day we

drive up to Arcata.  5 hours north.  She even lets me drive the car.

     Now, Arcata was awesome.  It was up in the mountains.  I was

still getting everything I needed but after six days I got bored.  It

wasn't nearly as populated as Berkeley.  I couldn't fly my sign too

good in the plaza.  I thought, "I have to go back to work.  Now

how am I going to get to Berkeley?"  

     What I did was ride the city bus as far south as I could, to

Scotia and started walking 101 South.  I wasn't going to hitch hike,

it's California, I was sure someone would pick me up as I walked. 

Well, I ended up walking for another 2 days.  

     On the first day when the sun came down I ended up at some RV

park on Stafford Rd.  I noticed the sign said Camping on it, so I

went inside and asked the manager, "Do you have anywhere I can

crash for free?  I'm walking through.  He lets me crash in a building

in the back.  The next morning I wake up and use the restroom they

had for the campers.  I walk to the nearby town of Redcrest where I

get hooked up with breakfast at the Eternal Tree House Cafe and I

start walking the highway again.  

     I walk for two or three hours then it starts raining real hard. 

Now, I had my rain poncho, but I couldn't fit it all the way over my

rucksack because my arms couldn't reach.  So, my bag was all getting

wet and my feet were all tired.  I thought, "Damn, I wish there

was a place I could rest my feet at."  I noticed that there was

an exit coming up on the highway, in one of the many places it

crossed Eel River.  I figured there was probably a bridge I could go

sit under.  Sure enough, there was.  I rested my feet, stood up and

as the cars were stopping at the intersection I would go, "Hey! 

Will somebody help me with my rain poncho?"  Nobody stopped to

help.  They thought I was asking for a ride.  So I said screw it and

started walking the access road.  

     All of a sudden I walk into a forest.  The Avenue of the Giants,

these big tall redwood trees.  Now, I noticed the road the forest

went on seemed to run pretty parallel to the highway, so when I got

to the access road I just kept walking straight.  It was dryer in the

forest.  I walk this road for about a quarter mile and right when it

turns left, like it almost touches the highway and I could just jump

over to get on, I see a truck pulled over.  I think, "Cool! 

Someone can help me with my rain poncho." I wasn't going to ask

for a ride, they were going north.

     I walk up to this truck and there's a 23 year old kid and his

girlfriend sitting there.  Tony and Molly.  I ask them, "Hey,

will you help me with my rain poncho?"  They say sure.  Then I

ask, "Hey, will you give me a ride to the next town south,

Weott? It's like 6 miles I think."  Tony says, "Sure, when

the gas gets here."

     Check this out.  Tony hadn't run out of gas yet.  Tony had

noticed that he didn't have enough gas to get to the next town, so he

chose that random spot on the highway to stop and call someone on his

phone to bring him some gas.  Now, if I would have done anything

differently right before then, if it hadn't been raining, if I hadn't

rested my feet, if I had gone to the highway instead of the forest I

would have never met Tony and Molly.  Everything happens for a

reason.

     First off, I go, "Hey man, I have like one hit of weed left

on my pipe.  You're more than welcome to it."  Tony tells me,

"Ahh, don't worry about it.  We've got it covered," and he

hands me a loaded pipe.  Hell yeah, ran into some stoners.  

     I tell Tony about my ideas and he goes, "Whoa, that's

weird. Looks like we're working on the same thing."  You see,

Tony was on his way up to a medicine camp, a healing camp up in

Oregon.  He was hauling all this wood. He was going to help them

build a kitchen.  Well, he ends up inviting me and I go, "Umm, I

really should be getting back to Berkeley...but I guess I can go back

to Berkeley AFTER I see Oregon.  I shouldn't pass this up."  So

when the gas finally gets there we drive up to his friends house in

Arcata and crash there for the night.  

     The next morning we drive up to O'Brien, Oregon.  This small

town about 6 miles north of the border on 199. This Vietnam Vet

Shadow lives there.  He owns 40 acres at the base of a mountain.  8

people lived there.  All without money.  Just how I want the whole

world to be.  How perfect it was that I landed there on accident, eh?

 They were total minimalists.  Living in travel trailers, old buses

and a big barn.  Solar power for electricity and generators.  They

even grew their own food.  Frontier life.  

     Now, at this place they had an Indian Medicine Woman who would

have healing lodges, channel spirits and heal people.  Her name was

Fawn Journeyhawk, Sioux tribe. When I first got there Fawn had to

run me by the spirits to be sure I was cool.  Well, before I even

explained it all to her she comes up to me and tells me that the

spirits told her that I was a beam of light for others to follow. 

That I was the one who was going to bring balance to the world.  And

that I was a child of Love.  I flipped out.

     "The spirits got my back," I thought.  I never really

believed in spirits, but now I play around with the idea a little bit

more.  What more do I need to motivate me and keep me going?

     I was totally accepted at this place.  Any time I got hungry I

would walk up to Fawn's trailer and she would fry me up some potatoes

they grew in the garden.  I got to go hiking in a mountin in Oregon. 

I'm from San Antonio.  It was incredible.  I was there for about a

week when Fawn comes up to me and tells me, "Ok, Victor.  We're

going to move you on your mission."  They sent me to live with

these hippies in Williams, Oregon on the other side of the mountain.

     Nate and Vivian.  These 60 year old hippies that have been at it

since the 60's.  They lived out in a trailer in the country.  Long

hair, long beard.  Medical-marijuana, 215.  They grew their own stuff

in the back.  Hell, when I first got there they gave me my own

private stash. Like a whole ½ ounce.  

     I was helping them out as much as I could.  I'd wash the dishes

all day, restock the firewood. They'd let me crash inside.  I was

going to help them with the computer stuff.  They had an old 300mhz

system not even on the Internet.  I even called my mom in San Antonio

and told her to put my 1.2ghz in a box and ship it over there, but it

ended up costing more than a hundred dollars.

     You see, on my whole adventure I had my minicassette recoder the

whole time.  I logged the entire experience.  Easiest book in the

world to write.  I just have to let things happen.  

     With the hippies I decided I was ready to return to San Antonio,

type up my book, unleash it on the Internet for free, try and score

me a traveling partner/girlfriend(because to get the true measure of

joy, you must have someone to share it with) and head out for a

sequel-trip.  East Coast.  Go live another book.

     I wanted to double-back.  Arcata, Berkeley, La, San Antonio. 

The way I came.  So I got a ride back down to Arcata.  In Arcata the

first day I was there rumor had it that some street kid was willing

to trade a bus ticket to San Francisco(where Berkeley is) for a

dimebag of weed.  I went, "Shit, I wish I knew who this kid was.

 Hell, I wish I had a dimebag of weed."

     That night I ride the bus 6 miles south to Eureka and go hang

out at The Raven House, some place where they let you take a shower

and eat food.  I met this one girl there who hooked me up with a

litte bag of shake.  Not that much weed at all, just a small pouch of

trim.  That night I get bored in Eureka, so I walk the 6 miles back

to Arcata and crash under the 7th Street bridge where I had been. 

The next morning I'm in line at The Endeavor, the place they give you

lunch every day.  Some kid comes up to me and say, "Do you want

a bus ticket to San Francisco?"  I freak and tell him, "Oh

shit, you're the guy who wants some weed for it, right?"  I told

him I didn't have that much and handed him my little pouch.  He looks

at it, smells it and goes, "Ok," and hands me the bus

ticket.  Bam, ticket to Berkeley.

     Now, I ride the bus about 100 miles south until it stops in

Garberville.  The guy sitting next to me on the Greyhound had been

telling me how cool Garberville was.  How it was like Arcata before

the cops got there.  I thought maybe I'd check it out, and I just got

off the bus.  I figured I had 200 miles left to San Francisco. I

could just start walking and somebody would pick me up.

     Garberville ended up being kinda lame.  No kids anywhere. All

these old people.  I stopped and talked to these homeless guys and

told them my ideas.  When I'm finished one of them looks up at me and

tells me, "Trade me hats."  Dude, my hat wasn't nearly as

cool as this rainbow beanie he gave me that has become an intricate

part of my acquired-uniform.  I still use it all the time.

     Everything I've needed for this mission has just fallen into my

lap.  I used to have these badass military-style combat boots. Made

for walking kind of stuff.  I had found them.  About a week before I

left for my walk to California, the house across the street from my

friend Bob's got evicted.  I found me a whole new wardrobe.  Two

pairs of boots.  These Dr. Martens and the combat boots.  Both size

12.  What I wear.  I have been equipped.

     Back to Garberville.  I got bored real quick so I started

walking the highway again.  After the sun came down I walked past

this building and saw a guy smoking a cigarette outside.  I asked him

if he could spare one and he agreed.  I told this guy about my ideas,

look inside and see some lady sitting down eating some food.  I ask

him, "Don't suppose you guys could spare some gasoline for my

stomach?" He tells me to hold on and goes inside.  About 5

minutes later he comes out with this big plate of food.  Two fat

drumsticks, some mashed potatoes and some greens.  Then he tells me,

"There's an RV park a couple miles down the road."  I go,

"Cool, I can talk to the manager or sneak in if I have to."

     I was all fueled up so I walked the two miles easy.  In front of

this RV park they had a gas station.  It was still kind of early so I

was outside bumming cigarettes, asking people, "Anyone going

south?"  After about an hour or so I ask this one kid and he

tells me to jump in.  This kid ends up smoking me out all the way to

Santa Rosa.  In Santa Rosa I crash in the park downtown and the next

morning I ride the bus and the train back to Berkeley.

     Telegraph Avenue, everybody recognized me.  I ran into this guy

named Joel.  Now, I had met Joel the first time I was in Berkeley in

People's Park. I had told him how much I walked and he took his wool

socks off his feet and gave me a $20 bill.  Well, the second time I

go to Berkeley I see Joel again.  He ends up taking me to his house

in suburban Hercules, let's me do my laundry, gives me food and

smokes me out. I ask him, "Hey man, think I can bum some bus

fare to LA so I can make my way back to San Antonio from there?"

 He goes, "Hold on, lemme check," and gets on the computer.

 He couldn't figure out how to order the ticket online, so he stands

up, turns around and hands me $160 for my bus ticket all the way back

to San Antonio.

     Round-trip adventure.  All expenses paid.  

     Now, there is many a magical update to this story that would

bring me to my current position.  I have been hard at work for quite

some time now. I have it all documented too.