Slow Food Waltz

ROAD FOODIE
On the Road in Southern Oregon to Northern Cal
Part One: Near-Naked Moments in Wilderness



On the foothills of the ethereal Mt Shasta, at the end of a country road past grazing cows and a bubbling stream banked by blossoming crabapple trees is a cool hot springs

where the locals come to gab about politicals while sitting naked in a Turkish style sauna then dipping into the river like fish.



I found my way to Stewart Springs a few days ago. I was tired from camping and needed a little soak in the hot springs. While sitting in the darkness of the sauna -lit only by a burning wood fireplace- enrobed in my towel, I overheard naked old guy #3 talk about how the "government" was spraying chemicals over the town and he knows because one of his ecologist friends tested a sample off his skylight and it contained higher than normal toxicity. A new couple came into the sauna and for their sakes, I said, 'aren't we supposed to be relaxing here?' I was trying to dispel the negative karmic energy emanating as this gentleman as he spoke about the government trying to kill us. Really, isn't this the last kind of conversation you want to have while you are trying to forget the world and unwind at a mineral hot springs retreat?



Here is a guy who was here with his girlfriend, look, Jesus is on his back. Here's the deal, most of the people who hung outside on the deck at the retreat were literally "hanging out." We were within spitting distance of Mt Shasta (sort of) and Oregon is very close. This is nuddie capitol of the West.

The routine at the hot springs retreat was to spend 10 minutes in the mineral bath and 10 minutes in the sauna, followed by a plunge into the 40 degree creek. I arrived at the same time that a grey-haired flat-chested hippie lady showed up.. the woman who is responsible for the new age oil paintings in the foyer of the retreat. ... the ones with a red naked woman painted to look like a tree in front of a purple sky with yellow blossoming flowers coming out of her head. They are good paintings, don't get me wrong, but I've seen almost exact kinds in Moab, Utah, at Joshua Tree...and Sedona, Arizona.

Here's one of the angels who resides by the river at Stewart Springs. She has wings and her hands are clasped in prayer or is she getting ready to dive into the creek.







So, I took a video of me interviewing a woman who works at Stewart Springs named Sequoia who was living in her jeep while working there. I tell her that I'm living in my car too... which is not entirely accurate. I lived in my car one night.