Flesh Eating Hill People Of West Virginia

Mendocino, California : Home of the Mendo Burger, Moody's organic coffee, and the starting point of arguably the oddest night of my life.

I last left you from the Wi-Fi access of the cutesy town (population approx. 900) and embarked upon what was meant to be an easy going night of zero driving, mass drinking, and passing out underneath the shore-line stars. None of those things actually happened.

We set out to hit up the Noth Coast Brewing Company, where we each drank a pint of Brother Thelonious (a tribute abbey "Monk" ale to the great musician) and tried a sampler of their other varieties. The beer was excellent, as were the gift shop items we all left with. Then McDonalds. Then Safeway. Then disappointment.

We pulled up to stop one, the largest campground in the area named MacKerricher, only to see that the camp sites we all full for the night. Nobody was working the gate, no lights were on, and a GIANT whalebone skeleton loomed eerily in the clearing of trees.

We bolted down to stop two, a smaller more coastal campround called Westport-Union Landing State Beach, where again we were foiled by a "Campground Full" sandwich sign. It had taken us roughly 40 minutes to get up to this point, so obviously there was no turning back. At 10:30pm, we set off into the darkness of highway 1 to find a place to sleep.

Zero Cars. Hairpin Turns. Towering Forest. We had on the Knife's Silent Shout CD to help match the creepiness that held in the air. It was fun for a moment, but the deeper we drove into the forest, the worse it got. The air was freezing and the turns were taking a huge toll on me. We stayed at about 25-30mph as we passed abandoned houses, chainsaw carving shacks, and other horrifying visuals. We started talking about what we would do if there was a person standing in the road, flashlights pouring over them as they side-stumbled with un-even appendages towards the window to try and lure us into taking him/her in. Then we talked about Wrong-Turn and the people who ate the passengers. Then about a mutant baby crawling rapidly across the street in front of the car. The cages the members would hold as they approached with torches incadescently growing in the darkness...

After two hours we emerged safely, trying three more campsites before giving in to an 89 dollar a night Motel in freaking Garbersville, California. The desk-clerk and his office smelled of Raman noodles, and we relunctantly forked over the cash and headed into room 126. Decent place, decent bed, decent nights sleep.

Check out was at 11, we peaced at 12:30. Sorry suckers.

More on things later, there's so much to tell. We're posted up in Portland, Oregon tonight and are ready to explore the nightlife.

Paz