Travel Log - Hunting, Hitchhiking, Painting & Getting Dirty: Traveling Across America

[Keepitrail]

Ahhh, finally returned from a loooonnng week of depravity. Lots of flicks to share..

 

For those of you who don't know, google Burning Man. Here is some beautiful pictures this guy takes every year.

 

We applied for & was lucky enough to be awarded low income tickets (180 instead of 380) which was a blessing. I picked up a GoPro Black 3+ on the way there for $300, with some extra bits as well. Unfortunately I was not as adept at using it as I should have been, I have never used one so it took a minute to get the hang of it.

 

We left at about 8:00 tuesday night, which was pretty stupid, considering it's a 6-7 hour drive, and at least a three hour wait IF you're lucky. We had a mutual friend with a camper trailer, so we decided to link up with them. We arrived somewhere around dawn and decided to just stay up. That was the first dumb shit we did, the second was camping with these chicks. Not so much the girls, but the location they camped at was fucking retarded. Literally thirty feet from the largest techno-house-jizzno-rave camp in the entire festival. It's sponsored by Paul Oakenfold, so you know that shit is fucking massive. Anyway, it's 24/7 techno. Literally, they never once took a break the entire time we stayed. I ended up sleeping out in the desert a couple of nights just to get away from the noise.

 

Aside from that, HOLY SHIT this place is incredible.

 

My chair in the desert.

 

 

Bicycling is a huge part of it. I love it. Everyone is encouraged to spice up their bike, it's a lot of fun. It also helps prevent "accidently borrowing" someone's bike. You really have to have one to even get close to seeing half the shit there is. I still only saw maybe a third of everything there.

 

That's my painting of the BoobMan hanging on for dear life in the winds. Skirts are 100% fucking awesome on the Playa. Full breeze on the nuts and no chaffing. Plus easy access for sucky sucky

 

 

I met back up with SkateCamp and did some spray on their ramp. They had a much larger set this year, complete with neon Man & skateboard. Lots of powder in that schoolbus...

[Keepitrail]

 

There is shit burning everywhere, every day. I don't think there was a time when I could look around and NOT see something on fire. I don't even know what this was but I bet it was wicked.

 

 

The amount of ass & titties on the Playa is paralyzing. Everywhere you look. Full blown nakedness in all its glory. It's much different than, say, a nude beach. Because of the extreme weather, the lack of easy mobility, and the difficulty in getting there, Burning Man caters to a select portion of society. Old people, fat people, and ornery people generally do not do well there, and shy away from it. What's left is about 60,000 beautiful, healthy, and good natured people from 18 to about 50.

 

 

People would regularly stop by the camp and drink. Everything at Burning Man is free. About the only thing that's hard to come by for free is food. If you know the right spots, though, it's a fucking feast. Waffles & Jameson for breakfast, strange smoothies for lunch, and carne asada grilled tacos at the rhino car for dinner.

[Keepitrail]

 

THIS THING ! One of my favorites. Human powered sparkjet incinerator. I will upload the video soon.

 

 

Eat a pickle. Ride the pickle. Shot of Dickle chased with a pickle.

[Deine Mudder]

Looks like fun

: ]

 

 

Cool update & pictures, thanks for sharing..

[Keepitrail]

Looks like fun

: ]

 

 

Cool update & pictures, thanks for sharing..

 

It was. Hahah... Thanks for checking in, always good to see you stopping by. I forget, where are you located? We are planning a trip to Europe or Africa, trying to plan in advance. We have friends in Italy, London, and France, so might go that route. Try and hitch or ride freight around there and couchsurf.

[Keepitrail]

Damn this could be the coolest post on 12oz... ever...

Going to lurk through the rest the posts I missed.

 

Thanks!! I love seeing new people stop by. PM me whereabouts you live and maybe we could hook up and grab a beer. Or send me your address and I'll mail you a zine I'm working on.

 

15ft? ouch, dude.

 

Yeah, funny story. We went and tried to paint another rooftop that night, but cops were posted right under the ladder. I wouldn't have made it up there anyway, sprained wrist and ankle. Next night my boy Panda went back to the billy and climbed up it again, right when he got to the platform a cop rolled up and spotlighted him. He did the slide thing down - open hands and feet friction style, then caught at the bottom rung and fell from where I did. Then jetted thru the fence and juked the cop. His foot's in a cast now!! Dude fuckin outran a cop with a sprain/fractured heel. What a fuckin guy.

 

15 ft aint nothing for KIR tho, he"s a true american hero

 

I'm still aching!! Sometimes I wish I was 19 again. God, the shit I've put my body through these past 8 years...

[Keepitrail]

damn...i can only imagine how cold it was through the sierra nevada winter storm without a jacket or poncho.

Yes... that was fucking brutal. Hope we catch paths soon!!

Not that I don't appreciate the update, but I think hospital maybe should take priority over oontzing?

 

Haha, yeah, I was waiting on the car. had a couple hours to kill, eat some vic's and a few shots of jack was nice.

 

Sorry I missed you... Again!

 

You check out Double Down?

 

I know right! Fucking A. Sadly, no. I completely forgot. Frown.jpg

 

I did go to the Catholic church on Saturday morning, the one near Fremont strip. It was actually pretty incredible. I love the accoustics and the stained glass. It's quite an emotional experience even without believing in any religion.

[!@#$%]

damn. nice. really. you make me think it might still be an incredibly fun experience

[Keepitrail]

[Keepitrail]

 

This is a rough draft of Page 10-11 of zine I am making. It's basic US paper size, the fold is in the middle and the "crease shadow" is actually just the way it scanned, and it lent itself to being a portrait style layout - so this image is rotated 90deg clock. The painting was done in 2013. I have it here, roughly 2ft x 4ft oil on found painting if anyone is interested. The layout will be regular hamburger style. I've decided to go with a zine format, hoping to make several issues, then if interest takes root, go somewhere further to something link Crimethinc. and the "Evasion" style publishing of a more fleshed-out elongated version.

[Keepitrail]

[Keepitrail]

Mushrooms, LSD, C, K, White Russians, "why not, let's split it?" cruising amputated leg bicycles through dusty playa libraries, writing acid madness in handmade paperback sand dunes... Dawn, Catch a ride on the hindquarters of a 15ft neon rhinocerious with dos xx dripping out its asshole, --- Early hour desert winds countered by hotblack gasoline generators supplying lifeline electric blood into rhino hide armor, pulsing variants.

 

 

Arrive five, miles deep. Last chance Tennessee Whiskey on ice poured into a dustmud cup - Don't fucking wash it out, I want it all - thick grudge slips down the throat. Made a self-promise to tie that cup I kicked on the playa to my foot. Not drink from anything else rest of the fest. Strange steps and sunrise peeking through my underpants.

[Keepitrail]

I brought a lot of spray to share with folks. I did a big piece for the "white ocean" camp, the one next to us sponsored by Oakenfold. About 30 of the 31 people at the camp were stoked on it. The 31st was not, and declared me to be a vandal. He was the manager of the camp and the guy directly under Oakenfold, so it got into a bit of a tussle. Words were had, but no fists were made (it's burning man) so it was left alone. Fortunately the other 99% of the camp was super down and brought me aside to present this W necklace. It was like lord of the rings, they were fucking super stoked on it and made it magical.. like, with this necklace comes true power... and all the booze and food you could ever ask for......

 

From then on I had this fuckin magic wand that just gave me access to P.O.'s vast burner wealth. Wacky times indeed.

[Keepitrail]

[Keepitrail]

[Keepitrail]

[/url]

 

This is a video link! Click it!!

 

 

 

 

 

About as silly as I've ever gotten at about zero degrees on the societal give-a-fuck scale.

 

 

Caught a ride home with this guy on his magnificent whitefur coated mutant artcar...

&NOTMYPHOTO&

[Keepitrail]

2AM PLAYA

 

 

Doin the thing at skatecamp

[Keepitrail]

Absolute transendence. Of all the camps, all the wildness and drugs and debauchery, all the insanity and dawnbreaking decadence, this camp stands alone. Found on the last day.... the last day of the shitfueled, mollified index producing mayemfilled week. My camp. Lord had I found this camp a mile out in the middle of the desert any day sooner than the last fucking day I'd have never left.

[Deine Mudder]

Looove the balloons...

 

Would definately buy the zine.

 

Oh, this is Berlin by the way..

[Guest]

Pinche muddafuck

[xen]

Dude, all I can say is I wish I'd have spent my younger years a bit different and anyone in your age bracket that's not out there doing it is doing it wrong.

 

I've done my share wandering and had some times but nothing that could come close to your level. If you don't write a book out of this shit, you have done this for nothing and a disservice to the rest of us lames without the balls and skills necessary to make it happen in our own lives.

 

it means something. i just want the book. i wouldn't even pirate it.

[Keepitrail]

Looove the balloons...

 

Would definately buy the zine.

 

Oh, this is Berlin by the way..

 

I am planning a trip through Europe, just backpacking and couchsurfing, I will definately hit you up if you are down to host a wayward traveler for a few days!! I would love to paint in Berlin, if you want to get down, there is a guy in Germany that writes the same name as me, the only other guy I can find that has the same name. I have talked to him several times on the web and set him up once with the people I do graff for here in SF when they went to Berlin to do a booth at a festival.

 

Let's kick it in GERMANY!! I will keep you updated & give you 6 or so month's notice. Hollar!

[Keepitrail]

Dude, all I can say is I wish I'd have spent my younger years a bit different and anyone in your age bracket that's not out there doing it is doing it wrong.

 

I've done my share wandering and had some times but nothing that could come close to your level. If you don't write a book out of this shit, you have done this for nothing and a disservice to the rest of us lames without the balls and skills necessary to make it happen in our own lives.

 

it means something. i just want the book. i wouldn't even pirate it.

 

 

Damn, thank you. That means a lot. Seriously, I can't say it enough but the support I get just from 12oz has been an incredible impetus to keep me going and take pictures, write notes, and just look at everything from a more share-able perspective.

 

I am about 1/3 done with this zine, which I will be doing a full color and b&w version in order to sort things out and get a bit more of a base to jump off before compiling the lot of it. I want to do at least 5 of the zines before getting into a larger format somewhere in between "Evasion", "Rolling Nowhere", "Travels with Charley", and a few others.

 

I have a lot of regrets about not travelling more when I was younger as well, I didn't even truly leave my hometown until I was 23. Four years later, I am realizing how incredibly vast the world is. I have come close to dying several times in my life, close enough to realize what it means to be alive. It isn't death itself that scares me, but the idea of looking back and seeing wasted years. Years upon years spent doing little dances for what is it, half a crown a tumble? (Conrad)

 

My biggest hope for this thread is that someone will find it and be inspired to drop their shit and just go for it. To know that no matter what, you can always come back to whatever it is you're doing - even if you hate it, you can come back to it - if you've gotten to where you are now, it won't take much to get back to it if you risk it all and end up flat. The most important thing is to have stories. Lots of stories and adventures. No one wants to hear about how you almost lost the Ferguson account, or the twenty years of toil you spent working for a promotion and how you finally got the corner office... The most depressing thing I experience is coming back home and seeing the people I grew up with just trudging along, year after year.

 

Anyway, thanks for the prodding, it's shit like this that makes me really happy. Thanks yall.

[Keepitrail]

 

 

I'm working on a video edit of some pretty cool shit we saw at the burn. I'll be done in a day or two.

 

I just got off the phone with this guy in North Hollywood. I found his bag full of camera gear, credit cards, ID's, electronics, etc splayed out on the highway a week ago on a return trip to pick up a friend from Black Rock City, and just now got a hold of him. What a great feeling, you could literally hear his smile. There is little in life that can hold a candle to seeing the joy in someone when something they thought was gone forever just pops up out of the blue.

 

On that note, Very Bad News.

 

While I was in Tennessee, and subsequently at the burn, someone cut the anchor line to my sailboat. It drifted about a half a mile onto the rocky shore of Tiburon where someone - probably the person who cut the line - stole everything off of it. Of course this happens when I am not in town... They took two of my paintings, the sails, the tiller, all of my tools, books, a book of my fucking DRAWINGS and NOTES from the past year, my cushions (WTF?!), my anchors, chain, rope, and literally everything that wasn't bolted down, and even some of that, too. The shell of my once beautiful companion is now sitting at the scrap yard, where the harbormaster (you may remember him from a previous adventure - fucking piece of shit scumbag) says he won't let it out unless I pay him $1200 - about $400 for towing and $800 for back-fees for when he brought it in last time and kept it for a month because he wouldn't pick up the phone when I called.

 

 

Anyway, my boat is gone... There is no way I can afford to pay that fee, replace all the missing parts, and anchor it out once more. I still have my skiff and the outboard engine, which was tied up to a friend's houseboat, but the magnificent "Ceremony" is now on the short-list to be crushed and buried as scrap. A very sad period of time for me, as this was my home, my first learning adventure in sailing, my go-to for solitude, my studio, writing room, and place to go when nothing else could be had. Waking up to the pelicans flying a dozen deep in formation, dive bombing fish, seals popping up and once or twice jumping into the skiff (!) while the delicate rocking lulled you into a timeless place reminiscent of some strange primordial forest... That was the essence of being anchored out. Even the phrase "anchored out", which in experience in truth becomes a sort of tether to nonreality. But, to put into action what that experience has taught me, it is merely the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. RIP Ceremony, you will be remembered and celebrated for many years to come.

 

More pictures and video to come shortly, I will be posting a sort of memorandum of the times on my boat. In the mean time, I've got to build an irrigation system and work on my car. Hollar

 

[Fist 666]

Man, I fucking hate people. I hope somehow you can get your writing back, that stuff is worth more than any of the stuff stolen.

 

Keep your head up and keep us updated, even if 12oz were still popping like the good ol days this would be the best thread on it.

[bobbydigital]

horrible to hear the misfortune about your boat, but i have faith that your good deeds will be rewarded in due time..

[Keepitrail]

Yes... very shit people among the anchor outs.

 

On the lighter side, I just picked up a slingshot from a garage sale yesterday. I have a pretty decent spread in my backyard here in Berkeley, about an acre of redwoods. In exchange for doing all the repairs and maintenance on the house & trails the lady who lives here gives me an absurdly low rent. No utilities either = happy KIR.

 

Anyway, I headed out around dusk last night to see if the ole slangin' arm was up to muster. I fired off a couple of rocks and acorns at the house across the trail (their dog never shuts the fuck up) and it seemed decent enough. Nothing fancy, just a plastic pistol grip and the steel forkies with a surgical tube & a wrist jam. I also had some pretty weighty steel 3/4" beanie weanies that I scooped out of a bin at the construction site down the road. Ball bearings I suppose.

 

I fucked around for a bit, working out the wrist-rust and wailing on the neighbors car with pine seeds, and just as I'm about to be satisfied with my diddlings, who comes prancing along but that sly old tree-rat, rustling his nuts up above my head. "Why if it isn't Mister Squirrel, come to raid my birdfeed and tease me with his silly chatter! Well go ahead and keep that smug look, I've got a little surprise for you, smug basterd!"

 

I loaded up the wrist rocket with one of the steel beans and sent one whizzing past his tail about a half a foot off. He took notice of this and returned fire with a slew of nasty insults, in that ridiculous cheek of his, stuff the good lord knows aint fit for print. Well it weren't much for me - I've hardened ears - I took the time he spent slanderin me to wiggle one more of them balls in the leather sachet. This time that ball went straight home - he wasn't but ten or fifteen yards - but boy that chatter stopped real quick.

 

Down he went - fwump - to the redwood floor. He fiddled around a bit, nerves I suppose, and then took his last one. I put one more load of rock into his head to make it quicker, but It wasn't but a couple of seconds till he was out of this world and on to the next one. I picked him up, said a little something, and brought him back to the house. I tossed him in the trunk - the girlfriend was waiting on me to hop over to the lookout spot for to catch the sunset. It felt nice to have a good, weighty piece of fur in your hands. He was large - probably four or five pounds - and quite clean. I couldn't wait to get him cut up and soaking in a brine.

 

 

[Keepitrail]

 

The girl made the most important observation when we returned home - check for fleas. There aint nothin worse than waking up to fleas. Bedbugs, maybe, but I've been lucky enough so far not to tangle with those heinous creatures. We poked and prodded, and sure enough they were there - not many, but enough.

 

The best "solution" (heh) is to immediately soak any wild animal in a mixture of warm water and soap. Any kind of dish soap, or pure castile (Dr. Bronner') works great. This kills the fleas and drowns anything else catchin a free ride on the fur freeway (hairy highway, if you prefer). It only takes about a minute, and does not affect the meat in any way. Also, who woudn't want a nice warm bath, even if you're dead!

 

I'll save the eyesore of a wall of text - yall've seen it before. This time I opted to cut the feet off first, instead of cutting off the wrists and ankles along the fur line. It was much, much easier this way. I'm going to save the pelt and put it around my shifter knob on Dorothy.

[Keepitrail]

His left eye was broken open and had absorbed some tree-floor party favors, but nothing too awful.

,

,

,

first arm

,

rest of arms

,

,

For some reason when I started to cut his head off the eye kept protruding out. It reminded me of the rabbit in Montana. I tried to get some good shots of it but I don't think anything will ever come close to that rabbit eye.

[!@#$%]

gnarly