Arcata-Humbolt County

Arcata-Humbolt County
August 13th

Is marijuana kind of like garlic or onions? Can we be a little lenient when on the road? Somehow we held strong despite all our previous samskaras and didn't touch a gram.

Today we finally traded in our "Penot Not War" wine bottle for some bicycle maintenance. It did come in handy. Within a few minutes of arriving we met up with all our german friends and performed kirtan. We even got our Pastor friend to chant. He liked it very much. AS we chanted many poeple came up and appreciated the kirtan and invited us to stay for a few days and do kirtan at their homes. Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule trying to make it somewhere for Janmastami. We made friends with the boys at the bike shop and they invited us to stay in the back yard on the half pipe. We took up their offer and upon entering we met three drunken english men also riding down the coast. They invited us to go out to the bars and enjoy Arcatas night life. We declined and also looked for a better place to stay. We went out to eat at a restaurant called Tranquility. Its all vegan and organic. We were so happy. Here we had dinner with our new friend Josh. He was telling us all about his easy going life. Basically he surfs every day and drives his car for free because its a biodeisal. Every few months he helps harvest marijuana from the local plantations and makes hash to sell. In this a his life is easy and he can enjoy without much disturbance. After dinner we walked around town for some time and checked out the "plazoids"-thats a name for the homeless kids and all the musicians who hang out on the downtown plaza begging for change to get drunk. At one time as I was leaving the bike shop with my bead bag in my hand and excited about all the positive reciprocation in regards to being Hare Krishnas in Arcata i saw someone very peculiar... He was dressed in a purple tshirt and a purple lungee. In one hand he had a purple bead bag and in the other he held Prabhupada's Gita. He was standing in the middle of the street literally cussing in an angry mood at all the people driving by. I quite confused and grabbed the other boys to see. we didn't know what to do? Should we beat him up? should we grab him and take the Gita and beads from him? what should we do? He was obviously setting a horrible example for devotees and he was clearly crazy? We ended up letting him go but for the rest of our stay in Arcata people were asking, " is that one guy with you?" Blake went to the local health food store and a young lady asked if he had a bicycle patch kit. He did and fixed her tire. She invited us to stay at her home. we washed our clothes, I stole some music from her computer and fell asleep after half an hour of kirtan. The next day sheet boy made it to town and bought us the supplies for pancakes and our new friend made breakfast. As we left I got my one and only flat of the trip. I completely forgot her name...but she did remind me of my godbrother Radharamanji? Oh RadhaRamanji where are you?We miss you!!!