travel
Shasta Discovery
“When I first caught sight of it over the braided folds of the Sacramento Valley, I was fifty miles away and afoot, alone and weary. Yet all my blood turned to wine, and I have not been weary since.”
— John Muir
When I first heard of Mt. Shasta I had never actually heard of it before. Of course, I had drank Shasta Cola a few times as a kid, but I never really knew there was a real mountain called Shasta. Until that spring of ’72.
As I previously stated in part 2 of my 3-part blog entry ‘Mt Spiritual Adventure,’ my meditation teacher told me in spring about a retreat that was to take place up there in mid-summer. By early summer there was a lot of talk among some of my new-found meditation friends about who was going to make this spiritual trek to northern California … to that mountain called Shasta. A mountain that had a reputation as a sacred, mystical mountain drawing people from all over the world, as if a spiritual mecca of the west.
At that time I didn’t count myself on that list. I wasn’t sure I could get the money together, get time off work, or had a decent enough car to make such a long journey from Texas to a place I knew very little about. At least I wasn’t in summer school (I was 20 and in college at UT Austin) that year, so that wasn’t a problem. But the obstacles were there, and so I wrote it all off.
CA or TX?
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” — Jack Kerouc
I have traveled in most of the states in America. I have lived in seven states, but mostly in just two of them. Texas and California. I have gone to college in both states. I have been married in both states. And I have two sons. One born in Texas. The other in California. I have made a film in California, and have plans to make another in Texas.
I grew up physically in Texas, and spiritually in California. Yes, I began my spiritual search in Texas, and continued it in California. In those early years when living in Texas, I used to travel to Mt. Shasta in northern California every summer. Eventually I moved to California, but have moved back and forth between them a number of times. Ever the wanderer, I guess I am a traveler at heart. How difficult that has been on my family (all of them?) I can only imagine. It seems to be my nature. So, what does this have to do with anything?
Well, I feel I have a pretty decent grip on what it is like to be, experience, and live among both Texans and Californians. But over the years I have perceived a bit of competition among the two states and their people. I’m not sure it is a bad thing, but what is is the unhealthy stereotypes many in each state has about the other. Why do I even care? Well, at first I found it somewhat amusing, but lately it just seems like unhealthy perceptions. And plus, it feels like watching your parents fight. You can see and understand what each one is saying about the other, but neither of them is listening to what the other is saying. A big of self-righteous pride on both sides. And I think that is where some of this stems from.