Drive North on Highway 5 from Sacramento,
Turn Right on Highway 32...
Keep Going until You Get There...
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| A Cruising Destination... (Like the Movie American Graffiti) |
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| Neon sign in the dining room window of Big Al's Restaurant |
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| 13 Redwood Trees in Bidwell Park... |
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| Inside Picnic Area 37 looking at my Van - Bidwell Park on Chico Creek |
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| Butte Creek Canyon photographed on the Skyway to Paradise, California Real name of a town Named for a "Pair Of Dice" |
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| Mike Swimming in the Sacramento River |
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| City Hall Fountain - Good for soaking feet because it's clorinated |
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| The One Mile Showers and Cantina |
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| Looking Downstream in One Mile Pool - I waded to get this picture. |
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| Looking Upstream in One Mile Pool - I waded to get this picture. |
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| Crossing Chico Creek on Highway 32 near Forest Ranch on the way to Lassen |
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| Sign at The Bear Hole - swimming destination in Upper Bidwell Park |
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| The path to Bear Hole a swimming destination in upper Bidwell park The Black Rocks are Lava from Mount Lassen |
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| "The Well" parolee housing and a great place to buy a used car. |
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| "The Well" free baked goods for the poor |
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html
My AutoBiography: Growing Up in Los Gatos, California in the 1960s by Gregory Vanderlaan - Chico, Washington DC, Eureka
After high school I went to Chico, California to attend college. My major was biology and I found out that I had no interest in studying that subject or ANY subject AT ALL... I spent a lot of time smoking marijuana, drinking and playing music with my friends. After two years I flunked out. However, I did get to experience swimming in Upper Bidwell Park where the Black Lava Flows from Mount Lassen are. I swam thru a Lava Tube at "Bear Hole"... That tube has been closed by the Park Rangers after a student drowning... I really enjoyed swimming at One Mile Pool, Day or Night. Not many Parks are open all night long but Bidwell is so long and thin that a fence is impractical. Plus, a fence is, like, totally opposite to the culture of the Chico-Freako! It was super fun to go swimming nude with my girlfriend... Last Year I read her Obituary on the internet... So Sad...
I remember Tubing on Butte Creek. During the Spring it was a wild ride due to melting snow coming down from Mt Lassen. During my second time living in Chico my wife and I swam at Oki Dam.
I remember riding my bicycle everywhere because Chico is a totally flat town and parking is difficult to find near campus. In general, automobiles were expensive and unnecessary too. However, some students DID own them and they were handy for visiting San Francisco (Like the time we went to hear Led Zeppelin at Kezar Stadium).
I remember Tubing on Butte Creek. During the Spring it was a wild ride due to melting snow coming down from Mt Lassen. During my second time living in Chico my wife and I swam at Oki Dam.
I remember riding my bicycle everywhere because Chico is a totally flat town and parking is difficult to find near campus. In general, automobiles were expensive and unnecessary too. However, some students DID own them and they were handy for visiting San Francisco (Like the time we went to hear Led Zeppelin at Kezar Stadium).
I got to go on a Magic Bus Ride with a many other students to go hear The Grateful Dead at UN Reno. My friend Jimmy played his guitar and I played the Harmonica while everyone else sang along... Then we stayed at a cabin on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe and the next day I ate some LSD and went to hear the legendary "Wall of Sound" at the University of Nevada football field. The Dead had a lot of trouble making that absurdly large public address system work but... we all had fun anyway... Especially playing slot machines after the show and driving down that street where they have giant sculptures of Showgirls.
~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~
In the springtime Chico State has a week long celebration called "Pioneer Days". My friends and I decided that the last place we wanted to be was in town when it was invaded by drunken strangers. We went camping at Yosemite, took LSD and climbed the trail to the top of Yosemite Falls. The higher we got in elevation the Higher We Got... By the time we arrived on top of the mountain it appeared to be moving wildly... as if the granite was dancing. I lay down on my belly and crawled to the edge... That's a great view but really dangerous because it's a tall cliff with no guard rail. We walked down to the valley floor and rode the double-decker bus around... sitting on the top, with no roof... bliss... we also walked to the base of Vernal Falls on the mist trail. I looked at my arm and it looked like a bear, with claws... I went fishing in the river and slapped a fish out onto the shore... just like a bear would. That evening we were playing guitars and my harmonica around the campfire when a ranger ran out of the darkness and tackled me... We were passing around a joint and I was holding it. He gave me a ticket for "Disturbing the Peace" and told us that we had to leave the park the next day or he'd change the charge to possession... In my humble opinion, The Ranger was the one "disturbing the peace" by tackling me...
The next Year we took a camping trip to Hetch-Hetchy reservoir. Another beautiful granite mountain near Yosemite. We took LSD and went free-climbing up a chimney and then hiked around above the tree line. I went down to the edge of the river to admire the bubbling water and accidentally slipped in. Could have died as there was a large waterfall downstream. The water out powered me and took me to the bottom of the pool. I gave up, accepted death and bubbled up to a place on the far shore where I climbed out. A cosmic near death experience... Hey Kids, Don't Do This!
I lived in Chico in 1973 and 1974 and then for a few years in the late 1990s early 2000s. I Joined AA and quit drinking Alcohol. Chico has a big active AA community. Since Chico is Famous as a "Party Town" it makes perfect sense that it's also Famous for being an AA Town too. Going to meetings at Campfire Council Ring behind Caper Acres, Bidwell Park is an experience I will always treasure. I spent one summer "Rent Free" camping outdoors at Picnic Area 37 in the grove of 13 Redwood Trees.
~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~
In the late 1990s I moved from San Jose to Chico. I took my acoustic guitar, some clothes and lived in a cheap motel.
It was called the "Club Chico" motel on the Esplanade at East Ave and the manager was a skateboard rat. I was glad to live alone after having roommate problems in San Jose. I was drinking heavily at that time and one night I fell asleep while smoking a cigarette and caught the mattress on fire. The manager woke me up and hauled the mattress out into the parking lot. He replaced the mattress with a spare and I stayed there for a couple more weeks. I was expecting that he would be upset about the fire but he just shrugged it off... That motel was often visited by the police... So, just a fire was no big deal to him.
I sold my stock in Radio Shack (about $6,000 worth) before I left San Jose but the Investment company was very slow to pay. I ran out of money before I got paid. Without money I couldn't pay the rent and so I went camping in Bidwell Park at Picnic Area 37 - The Grove of Redwood Trees. I called the investment company every day and yelled at the man who answered the phone. I believe it was a standard company policy to delay payments a couple of months in order to increase profits. They hired college students to answer the phone and make up excuses...
I showered at the One Mile swimming pool and ate at the Jesus Center. I also ate at "Food not Bombs" in Train Depot Park and on Sunday I ate at the Salvation Army... with organ music. It was "Chico on Zero Dollars a Day"... I picked up cigarette butts from ashtrays...
I started going to AA meetings every day and stopped drinking. One big influence was New Years Eve 2000. I was in my motel room, alone, drinking and watching the VH1-Behind the Music show. Every band's biography had drug and alcohol abuse problems and then they either stopped using or died. I did a little introspection and saw that I too had a drug and alcohol abuse problem... As a matter of fact, AA has some excellent parties for New Years Eve, Halloween and Christmas.
I remember that there were terrible forest fires in the mountains behind Chico. The air was filled with smoke and the Summer heat was over 100 degrees... I spent every afternoon inside the library playing with the computers. They had the internet for free if there were no students that wanted to use the terminal. Since it was Summer, there were very few students... I also went swimming in Chico Creek a lot. I had to take some defensive action (like swimming) due to the smoke and heat.
In the Fall it started to rain and I moved into a cheap motel. Then I rented a room from some gay women for a few weeks... then I moved in with Victoria... I bought her $300.00 worth of propane and so she had heat in the winter. It gets really cold in Chico in the winter... maybe 30 degrees... cold enough that without propane, you could die... We lived on Highway 99 north of town a few miles in a "granny shack" in the middle of a corral with horses. And Almond Orchards... I got a Job at WREX Plastics as a machine operator...
~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~
In the springtime Chico State has a week long celebration called "Pioneer Days". My friends and I decided that the last place we wanted to be was in town when it was invaded by drunken strangers. We went camping at Yosemite, took LSD and climbed the trail to the top of Yosemite Falls. The higher we got in elevation the Higher We Got... By the time we arrived on top of the mountain it appeared to be moving wildly... as if the granite was dancing. I lay down on my belly and crawled to the edge... That's a great view but really dangerous because it's a tall cliff with no guard rail. We walked down to the valley floor and rode the double-decker bus around... sitting on the top, with no roof... bliss... we also walked to the base of Vernal Falls on the mist trail. I looked at my arm and it looked like a bear, with claws... I went fishing in the river and slapped a fish out onto the shore... just like a bear would. That evening we were playing guitars and my harmonica around the campfire when a ranger ran out of the darkness and tackled me... We were passing around a joint and I was holding it. He gave me a ticket for "Disturbing the Peace" and told us that we had to leave the park the next day or he'd change the charge to possession... In my humble opinion, The Ranger was the one "disturbing the peace" by tackling me...
The next Year we took a camping trip to Hetch-Hetchy reservoir. Another beautiful granite mountain near Yosemite. We took LSD and went free-climbing up a chimney and then hiked around above the tree line. I went down to the edge of the river to admire the bubbling water and accidentally slipped in. Could have died as there was a large waterfall downstream. The water out powered me and took me to the bottom of the pool. I gave up, accepted death and bubbled up to a place on the far shore where I climbed out. A cosmic near death experience... Hey Kids, Don't Do This!
I lived in Chico in 1973 and 1974 and then for a few years in the late 1990s early 2000s. I Joined AA and quit drinking Alcohol. Chico has a big active AA community. Since Chico is Famous as a "Party Town" it makes perfect sense that it's also Famous for being an AA Town too. Going to meetings at Campfire Council Ring behind Caper Acres, Bidwell Park is an experience I will always treasure. I spent one summer "Rent Free" camping outdoors at Picnic Area 37 in the grove of 13 Redwood Trees.
~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~
In the late 1990s I moved from San Jose to Chico. I took my acoustic guitar, some clothes and lived in a cheap motel.
It was called the "Club Chico" motel on the Esplanade at East Ave and the manager was a skateboard rat. I was glad to live alone after having roommate problems in San Jose. I was drinking heavily at that time and one night I fell asleep while smoking a cigarette and caught the mattress on fire. The manager woke me up and hauled the mattress out into the parking lot. He replaced the mattress with a spare and I stayed there for a couple more weeks. I was expecting that he would be upset about the fire but he just shrugged it off... That motel was often visited by the police... So, just a fire was no big deal to him.
I sold my stock in Radio Shack (about $6,000 worth) before I left San Jose but the Investment company was very slow to pay. I ran out of money before I got paid. Without money I couldn't pay the rent and so I went camping in Bidwell Park at Picnic Area 37 - The Grove of Redwood Trees. I called the investment company every day and yelled at the man who answered the phone. I believe it was a standard company policy to delay payments a couple of months in order to increase profits. They hired college students to answer the phone and make up excuses...
I showered at the One Mile swimming pool and ate at the Jesus Center. I also ate at "Food not Bombs" in Train Depot Park and on Sunday I ate at the Salvation Army... with organ music. It was "Chico on Zero Dollars a Day"... I picked up cigarette butts from ashtrays...
I started going to AA meetings every day and stopped drinking. One big influence was New Years Eve 2000. I was in my motel room, alone, drinking and watching the VH1-Behind the Music show. Every band's biography had drug and alcohol abuse problems and then they either stopped using or died. I did a little introspection and saw that I too had a drug and alcohol abuse problem... As a matter of fact, AA has some excellent parties for New Years Eve, Halloween and Christmas.
I remember that there were terrible forest fires in the mountains behind Chico. The air was filled with smoke and the Summer heat was over 100 degrees... I spent every afternoon inside the library playing with the computers. They had the internet for free if there were no students that wanted to use the terminal. Since it was Summer, there were very few students... I also went swimming in Chico Creek a lot. I had to take some defensive action (like swimming) due to the smoke and heat.
In the Fall it started to rain and I moved into a cheap motel. Then I rented a room from some gay women for a few weeks... then I moved in with Victoria... I bought her $300.00 worth of propane and so she had heat in the winter. It gets really cold in Chico in the winter... maybe 30 degrees... cold enough that without propane, you could die... We lived on Highway 99 north of town a few miles in a "granny shack" in the middle of a corral with horses. And Almond Orchards... I got a Job at WREX Plastics as a machine operator...
I remember playing "Witchy Woman" in Chico on Main street with a college girl... Busking for spare change... When she sang I expected to see her head spin around like the exorcist... She was an enthusiastic singer and we collected a LOT more money when she was performing than when I sang solo.
I also played "Witchy Woman" with Mike Gardener (Lou's Son) after the AA meeting at Campfire Council Ring in Bidwell Park. Then we played "Keep your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" to bring the listener back into the LIGHT... Send them into madness then bring them back with an Old Negro Spiritual..
I had a meaningful AA meeting with Lou Gardener. He was the Chairperson and we were discussing making amends. The 12 steps says you should make amends to PEOPLE where needed but it DOES NOT say anything about making amends TO CORPORATIONS. How would you even do that? Should you do that at all? Do we have Freedom to Screw Over Corporations at Will? Who did I really harm? The Stockholders? It was an interesting conversation... His advice was that IF it was bothering me and making me feel guilty THEN I should make amends to someone... Maybe an employee in Management... but if it did not bother my conscience, just let it fade into the past. The point of making amends is to help you stay sober and events that don't bother my conscience are not really significant. He also recommended I stop bragging about my life of crime...
Other songs that were fun to play in public were... "People Are Strange" by the Doors, "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles and "Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show...
I also played "Witchy Woman" with Mike Gardener (Lou's Son) after the AA meeting at Campfire Council Ring in Bidwell Park. Then we played "Keep your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" to bring the listener back into the LIGHT... Send them into madness then bring them back with an Old Negro Spiritual..
I had a meaningful AA meeting with Lou Gardener. He was the Chairperson and we were discussing making amends. The 12 steps says you should make amends to PEOPLE where needed but it DOES NOT say anything about making amends TO CORPORATIONS. How would you even do that? Should you do that at all? Do we have Freedom to Screw Over Corporations at Will? Who did I really harm? The Stockholders? It was an interesting conversation... His advice was that IF it was bothering me and making me feel guilty THEN I should make amends to someone... Maybe an employee in Management... but if it did not bother my conscience, just let it fade into the past. The point of making amends is to help you stay sober and events that don't bother my conscience are not really significant. He also recommended I stop bragging about my life of crime...
Other songs that were fun to play in public were... "People Are Strange" by the Doors, "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles and "Time Warp" from The Rocky Horror Picture Show...
Read More on My Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/GregoryVanderlaan
Numbers have cultural meanings... For Example 5150 meaning is Danger to self and others. 1,4,9 is the shape of the TMA in the movie 2001... The Big Black Box. This is my list of every number I can think of and what they mean...
https://gvan42.blogspot.com/p/for-example-and-its-one-two-three-what.html
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.jpg "Who WAS Ram Dass? In the Sixties, He was a Psychedelics Researcher and Promoter at Harvard with Dr. Timothy Leary. (LSD, Magic Mushrooms and Peyote)")
.jpg "Peace Sign Pie Chart")
.jpg "Military Death Chart USA")