Josh left me in late spring. So there I was. I was living in Eugene, Oregon, which was too big of a city for me. I had just spent most of the last ten years of my life in amazing nature. I missed it. I tried to get people I knew in the city, to go out in the woods with me. People just wanted to go to the movies. I was going a little stir crazy. I also still missed Thomas some. At least the part of him that shared nature with me. I didn't really want to go alone to the woods. I was a people person, and wanted to share with others.
I might make mention that I had recently got a drivers license and a nice Ford Van. I was 32 by now, and I finally pulled it off and got the license. That took awhile.
So, it was spring, and I was starting another market season. I went to a crafts show at the university, and was set up by a woman with stained glass. Her name was Oak. This was her hippie name. We talked, and I told her about my dilemma. How I was living in this city, but loved nature, and how no one I knew in town really related to the woods. I said I wish I knew a place to go, where there were people like me. People who lived in the woods, but had community, not just doing it alone.
This must have been a divine appointment! Oak said she wasn't from Eugene, she was just visiting. She lived in a place like that, way up north in North Central Washington, right on the Canadian Border. She said there was one traffic light in her whole county and lots of hippies. That is all she said, and that I should come up and visit.
Oak took my address and I took hers, and we parted ways. I went home and told my roommate about it. Unbelievably, she knew Oak, and told me I had to go. Now my roommate knew my current condition. I was just aimlessly moping around my house. Josh had left, and I was uninspired. So I wrote Oak, and told her was coming up. A few days later I got a post card from her telling be to come.
I packed up my van. I decided to keep my room, as the house I was living in was very nice, and just go check it out. Now this was a big deal for me. Remember I didn't drive all those years?? And I just got my license and the van?? And the van was big. It was a Ford Econoline. So for me to set out, by myself, and drive all the way up to North Central Washington, was a huge, scary deal. But I knew I had to do it.
I set out, and drove up the Oregon Coast. This was familiar territory for me, and not too bad. When it was time to turn inland, I was scared. But I did it, and it was ok. I went over Highway 12, by Mount Rainer over the Cascades, and it turned out to be a real pretty drive. Now I was on the eastside of Washington, and kept going north. The terrain was much different here. It was desert. There were high mountains but there were barren. Much of the landscape was quite barren too. I was someone who just spent the last 10 years in the lush, Cascade Mountain Rainforest, with raging rivers and big green trees and ferns. I thought to myself, "Where is this woman sending me?? How can there be a bunch of people like me here, living on the land??".
I kept driving and kept thinking this. The landscape didn't get better. I really had no idea where I was going. All I knew is that she said I should go to Chesaw, Washington, and ask for her and the Circle, which was the name of the commune she lived on. I had looked at the map, and was simply heading that way. I might mention that this is a 10 hour drive at best.
To get to Chesaw you go to Oroville first. I got to Oroville finally, which was a small little town, in the middle of nowhere. It is about 4 miles from the Canadian border. I stopped and asked someone how I would get to Chesaw. They pointed at a road, and I was on my way. Well to get to Chesaw from Oroville is another 30 minute drive through rugged countryside. There is nothing else. Now I really thought " Where is this woman sending me?". I finally made it to Chesaw. There was a country store and a tavern. The first person I saw looked like a hippie, and I asked him if he knew Oak, and where she lived. He laughed and said yes, and he lived there too. Could I give him a road there??
It was even further back, but I had finally arrived. We looked for Oak and we found her. The land was amazing. It was 500 acres, owned by this large community of hippies, who were living as back to the land as they could. It was off the grid. People had made their houses, they hauled water from this incredible spring creek. They either had solar panels or used candles and lanterns. They were into whole foods. Oak was right. They were like me!
Oak took me around and I met a bunch of different folks that day. Quite a few became fast friends, and I continued being their friends for 25 years. Some of the people I met that day became best friends for 25 years. People were so open and embracing. We just so completely shared the same vision of how life should be. That very day I knew I was home, and so did they.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
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