The Mountains Have Defeated Me

Today I share the with the digiverse some disappointing news regarding my quest; the mountains and my quest quarrelled, and the mountains were triumphant. I am currently laying low in my homeland of Santa Barbara, mending my questing life force. Although this recent series of unfortunate events has knocked me off balance, I still feel my journey calling me to the road, I will stop here only until Sunday, then I will continue North.

Oh, you want to hear what happened, do you?
Well I suppose I had to get to that eventually;

Early Wednesday morning I left Palmdale, charged up and ready to head into the mountains to the West. My destination was a campground called Bear Campground, North of Lake Castaic in the Los Padres National Forest. I had plenty of time to do the 30~ mile ride, and figured I would arrive not too long past mid day, but as it turned out, the dirt road that I took was too loosely packed, with many sandy areas where I could not get traction. I did my best to get on my bike at any opportune moment and attempted to stay on it for as long as possible, but this action of repeatedly getting on and off the bike just caused more stress so I ended up pushing my bike and all of its load up almost the entire road (about 7miles, I believe). This day was certainly brutal, but I made it to the campsite and rested for the night. The campsite had no water, but I had planned ahead and brought extra.
        The following day is when all of the pieces began to fall apart. After a somewhat uncomfortable evening at the campground (it was eery, probably used for drinking and shooting) I set out to descend the other side of the same dirt road. After a little bit of pushing the bike I was at the highest point of the road, so I jumped on the bike and began to ride down, enter, flat tires. The road was certainly too rocky for a road bike carrying such a heavy load, it was only a few minutes before my back tire flatted. Hardly phased, I found a nice shady area to put in my spare tube and got back on my way. After only one turn, PFFFFF, another flat, now I wasn't in such a great mood. I was out of spare tubes so I began working on patching up one of the flatted tubes, all was going well until I went to put on the glue, it was empty! I ripped the glue tube in half and managed to squeeze some out, it seemed like it would work for a moment, but then the patch peeled off, AAGGGGHHH!!! At this point it was down to desperation, I tried various methods of makeshift repair to get my bike moving but nothing got me more than a few hundred meters. The reality began to set in that I was on the top of a mountain, via a very scarcely traveled road.
         I walked for a mile or two with the bike, planning out my possible next move, I decided I would have to ditch the bike. I found a nice area of shrubbery and hid the bike, grabbed a few essential items and continued on foot. ~~ Perhaps it would be a good time to explain the main objective of my quest, for anyone who is not informed; I am learning how to best impact my earth through efficient, sustainable means, with my anchoring point being the ability to travel without motorized vehicle. ~~ While walking, I began to mull over my possibilities, I knew that even once I hit the road at the bottom of the mountain, I was in an odd space where there would be no cities within walking distance. The truth is that there was certainly the possibility to make it without infringing upon the essence of my quest, but given my state of mind at the time, and perhaps my freshness to hardcore adventuring, I could not pull myself to the extremes necessary. I walked for about 10 miles, down the mountain and along the freeway, hoping I might find a small town to stay in. Once I realized that there were not any within reach, I accepted that I would be joining the world of cars.
          This has led me to where I am now, at home, repairing the essence of my quest, and preparing to start anew. Although I am certainly disappointed that I arrived here via car and not bike, I know that my adventure is still just beginning, and I am eager to depart once again, surely my mind will return to that beautiful wandering place soon after getting on the road.
           As much as I did not want this to happen, it has, and I accept it for what it is, and I shall put it behind me as I move forward and continue to live in the present. I shall connect again when my quest enters it's new skin.

Until then,
Be happy, share your energy, and smile :)