Not the Hike to Bare Ass BeachSix Souls Sojourn
into the absences of Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA
...
Please consider going over and sending condolences to my friend Laura, Lynxun, her beloved dog of 13 years just past....
...
Six characters braved the four hour drive from Chicago to spread mutual healing, and excesses.
The weekend was festive, restive and instructive. It was like we stumbled into a ancient monastery, filled with 10,000 acre secret gardens, thousands of years of struggle and wisdom, sages and fools... but, we came on a weekend when all the monks were in Vegas.
I will therefore out of respect for the absent monks share my 48 hours in Viroqua, with reference to it's spiritual symbolism where ever I can.
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At the Public Market we founded.... in my hometown of Viroqua
The hours began with the Kickapoo Guatemalan Accompaniment Project annual fundraiser.... The group works with Guatemalan people in an exchange of ideas, culture and humanitarianism.... Latin American food, dance, culture and a kick ass performance by John Tully's band Building Equity.... a funky, back-street New Orleans, Reggae family jam. Its the first time I got lost in transitive dancing since the last time I saw Paul Cebar and the Milwaukeeans.
Photographs from Friday night:
Town Gathing in the Public Market
Red
Once Read
my sister Rachel's (rachelmacasaet) little book store
Beautiful Red
Festive
Gong
Yellow
A lady Waits in Red
VIVA
Man to Man
the band, Building Equity
{Led by John Tully, who also happened to do the wave mural behind the band)
Mass Trance
Geese
I think a Viroqua friend and I are forming a band. More on this when it's more solid. It will be a band based on organic expression, balance and bliss.
S y m b o l i s m
Rest Well
frequent gestures, acknowledging fondness for other humans
promotes well-being
doors kept, unlocked
suggests the absence of fear
B&B
The seven of us began the expedition into the Kickapoo Valley Reserve not at the point we planned too.... (I drove to the wrong trail head, lol).
Make organic decisions and decided on a path at each fork you encounter,
especially if it is not the bifurcation you expected.
Reserve trivia... there is a place in the Reserve called Bare-ass Beach (named for the obvious reasons)... however as the rangers began to refer to the beach on their two-way radios {eg, "Base, there is a broken sign at BARE-ASS Beach..."), the Sheriff, who also hears the communications, asked they use a more appropriate name, lol.
We didn't go on a hike to Bare-Ass Beach, though it sounded fun... instead we wanted to hike the unrecognized trail leading to the top of a legendary bluff... a trail not on official reserve maps, "probably because of legal reasons", lol. ....of course had to take that trail.
Be aware of ego, and the folly of allowing your ego to blaze your trail.
Let us Share these strides
Our hike began on "Old Highway 131"
My Mistress... the Kickapoo River
let go
There is a tractor called
SAME
now is a time you must walk alone
Occasionally pause.... and ask yourself
am I on the right path
have no fear
to leave the path you are on
or remain when others leave...
if that is what you must do
ego and fear
and their absence
at one point during the journey, we took divergent paths, that ended at the same rendezvous point... four took a meandering, peaceful path, and three sprinted up a sandstone cliff-side, with a progressively steeper and steeper grade....
We each had vastly different experiences, reaching the same place
It was said they "rolled" down the hill
"rolling" implies a willful, gleeful act...
therefore, what they did was
fall
There are places
where all is abcesnt
except the comfort
that this is the place
your body
feels at home
to die
we found a quiet spot where numerous animal bones lay
the tranquility there
suggested they went there to sleep and transition back
to the source
halo
jump
be a warrior, but shed no blood
take the middle path
today, once again
do the thing you think you cannot do
Formerly Fears Heights
be blessed
tony
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