Intro

Welcome to a story, or stories I should say. A compilation of adventure tales. An ongoing itch to see, smell, and touch the world, or at least the deserted roads and rarely trampled mountains of America. Characters within the descriptive paragraphs of these stories carve out the coming and going companions in life; vital life people and pieces that parallel a universe for moments, days, years. And then spear off, leaving granules of magnificent memories of magical places. They leave a lasting trace, a gained sense of courage to stand tall on oxygen deprived mountains and shout absurdities like: I love you Ralph! Ralph is a teenage reindeer stuffed of the finest synthetic polyester fiber poof; he says made in Indonesia but really tells me he is from the North Pole. Delivered through a chimney one December night 20 years ago, we instantly became cuddle buddies upon that morning's sunrise. He is the instigator. The inspiration. And the imagination. He breathes creativity. Laughter. His is a dear companion. And yes, at 4lbs he tags along atop a pack or strapped to a rack. In delirium of 107 degree heat, the small possession of material belongings gain a persona. Innate objects become friends of the road and trails. And as for the humans who accompany, their presence reads priceless. Without O'Reilly, a 29 year old New Hampshirian with superior taste buds, the mathematical six foot four inch tall German, or handful of organic peanut butter and 99 cent jam eating munchkins, there would be a lot less excitement. The encounters we make with our specie, encapsulating the world with their awkward ways and over consumerist love, somehow we have managed to become overly adored creatures. Their generous hearts restore a faith that goodness prevails in the upheaval of a sometimes lost humanity. As for myself, I'm just the navigator, paddling up the stream of life munching on Clif Bars, with an iPhone documenting the frailties and goodies underneath all the simplified complexities in the world we reside. So again, I welcome you to get lost and dream a little through this typed text and your imagination. My name is Kristen Gentilucci. I live in Berkeley California and I love dogs.


Thursday, August 14, 2014

Day 32.

Miles: 68
Elevation gain: 2000? I'm a metric reindeer. Ahh, fuck it.
Temperature: high 80! Cloudy, they were in down jackets, and I was fluffing my furry.  

Your not going to believe it. They stink, like a trail of restaurant garbage dragged to the parking lot. And I wasn't allowed inside last night because I, me, a reindeer, a wild animal who sits on top of a sleeping bag is tooooo dirty. I was even invited inside by our lovely host, grandma best friend from high school, but the girl scruffed me off like a stuffed animal without feelings. Those two really got treated like the king and queen of England. Even with the smelliest socks in town! Their Family friends, might as well just call them family, fed them farm fresh breakfast from the pancake griddle, toppled with bananas and hand picked blueberries. The cookie lady, O'Reilly mom, sent another package with enough sugar and butter combinations to fuel the five of us home. This included the final touch for the masterpiece pancake breakfast, real New Hampshire maple syrup. There they were, sleeping on beds with real pillows, waking to a table of hot coffee and tea. 

I mean you'd think with eight pancakes between the two of them, we would be flying over mountains. I could have trotted faster than their cadance strokes this morning. It was pathetic. 1:00 pm, a two hour lunch break at Safeway and three burnt Starbucks cups of coffee later, we finally had a mini-breeze going. They lived the life of beds and breakfasts for two days, like they were world champs in the Tour de France and couldn't break a mere 10 MPH. I would have better things to say, if having returned from Safeway the lie wasn't, "they were out of carrot cake clif bars." 

Then at four o'clock, another stop turned into weirdness. A man gets out of his car, pulls O'Reilly's book from hand, reads aloud, then asks,"Do you believe in God?" I'm a reindeer and even I know this answer, yes, duh. But they just shrugged. His response, "the devil all the time man, the devil all the time." I was laughing my red nose off until he said, "Oakland!? Watch out, that's where the blacks are." We were all a glass of wine in, were we drunk? Did we time warp back to 1952? Was this conversation really happening? And like that, he pulled two bud lights from his car, handed them to the humans with a handshake, hopped back in with Scooter (his poodle) and Pudgy (his wife) and waved goodbye. 

Another round of road Rissotto steamed with lots of organic carrots. We're all friends again.