Tall Decaf Soy Moksha

I’ve been in Davis, CA since Saturday and I’m really enjoying myself. I met up with my friend, Josh, and have been hanging out with him on and off since I arrived. He’s a very busy guy! His school schedule keeps him active for 10+ hours a day during the week. He’s letting me use his house as a home base while I’m here, which is great!

Since I arrived, I realized that I’m pretty darn strapped for cash after repairing my van. I’ve spent a good portion of the last couple days figuring out how I want to deal with that. Honestly, it’s not an easy question for me to answer, there’s too many options and many that I’m resistant to. I’ll do what I have to though. 

I’ve visited Davis on several occasions, to visit Josh and my other friend Hari who is in Singapore currently. It’s not the same without Hari! While I’m here, I’ll be cafe hopping to get work done. Davis is a great college town, but it feels like a college town. I have to admit, that gets old after awhile. So I’ll be moving on to Berkeley to visit friends before I head to San Jose.

Living in a van has some serious pros and cons for taking care of basic needs. Finding a place to sleep is usually one of the easier needs to fullfil. I wasn’t comfortable with this when I first started. I would roam around until I found the PERFECT spot, but I’d waste a lot of gas doing this. After spending some time with my friend Zach, I’ve got a much better method for picking my place to settle down for the night.

Obviously, car camping is a no brainer! Just choose the site. I don’t do that very often, so my process refers to finding a spot in a town or city. I look for a series of things depending on how big the town is. In a medium to large town/city my process looks like this:

• Look for a nice-ish looking neighborhood with cars parked on the street. 
• Look for street lights. 
• Look for a flat spot near a hedge or fence. 

I prefer to park right under street lights. It deters car thieves, lets light into my van and masks light coming out of my van. A smaller town is a bit harder because people don’t usually park on the street. Some times you just have to make the best of the situation. If I’m really having trouble, I might look for a well-lit industrial/business area not on a main road or the parking lot of a 24-hour store. Many Walmarts allow people to stay over night too, but I’ve only tried this in Hawaii… they aren’t those kinds of Walmarts!

The other night I stopped in a small town. They had paved all their business and industrial areas so the shoulder was the size of a bike lane. No dice. I ended up on a very slanted street with no street light nearby. I was next to a large hedge though. I picked a street where there were a few rv’s parked, because I figure the people that own them might understand van dwelling… maybe lol. Anyways, I never park in the same area twice in a row unless I’m in a big city or college town. If I’m staying in a city for several days or weeks, I usually rotate through different areas and hope to find places that don’t have time restrictions on parking.

Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I can usually find a spot in 1 - 10 minutes. That’s how I roll =)

That’s right. I needed repairs done from the get-go; that’s just how it goes when you buy old vehicles. I probably shouldn’t have waited as long as I did to take my van in, but honestly, I’m glad I waited for Oregon’s no sales tax lol! I took Anahata in on Tuesday and the mechanic (a real honest fellow) told me that my tie rods were in such terrible condition that I shouldn’t be driving the van at all. $500 to replace all 6 tie rods in the front of the vehicle. While he was replacing them he said the upper right ball joint was awful too. He seemed really sorry to tell me that, so I had him replace that as well. My engine had been stuttering too, so I had him take a look. It’s $70 just for him to get into the engine! He found a clogged spark plug and replaced it. $715 total with an oil change! It was worth it though because my van is getting much better gas milage and isn’t so wanky to drive. The van was pulling to the right pretty badly before.

He told me that I should get it aligned VERY soon so I called up the local Les Schwab to see if they had time and I brought it to them an hour before they closed. The mechanic here took a look and then told me that the lower right ball joint would have to be replaced for him to align properly, which would cost an extra $100 on top on the $50 alignment. He said I could bring it back the next day to get all the work done. I didn’t really like his attitude about the whole thing, so I told him that I;m travelling south and won’t be around. The van was aligned poorly before the tie rods were replaced, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt too much to go a bit further. I schedule an appointment at a Les Schwab in Roseburg for Thursday morning. (Les Schwab had the lowest price for alignments and are consistently right off the highway.) The mechanic in Roseburg was MUCH nicer. He didn’t say anything about the ball joint needing replacement. He even test drove it after he aligned it and when it was still pulling to the right, he swapped the front tires!

Yup! Anahata is driving much smoother now! I’m still a bit nervous to take her on some of the more mountainous highways though. I’ll wait and see what happens as I continue down to LA to determine how much I should rely.

I left Seattle on Saturday and started heading toward California. The plan is to visit friends and family along the way to LA while I work on my computer and on myself. My trip started almost immediately by me shorting out my electrical system in my car. I had no radio and no way to charge my phone which was close to dead. I decided not to worry about it too much and stopped at a rest area at some point to locate the fuse box and see if I could figure out which one blew. No luck, so I continued on.

My first stop was at my aunt Linda and uncle Patrick’s house where I met up with them and enjoyed a great Indian lunch and a trip to a farmer’s market in Vancouver, WA. It was great to catch up with them and Linda told me about her Thriller Zombie Dance class that she’s teaching! I took off after lunch to make it down to my brother’s house for dinner in Coravllis, OR.

Nate, Thonda and Skylar are doing great overall. Well, as great as they can with lack of sleep (Skylar excluded of course). Nate is still a fantastic cook and I had outstanding meals while I was there. Thonda made pumpkin cookes, which were also very delicioso. We talked, took turns holding Skylar and just hung out at home on Sunday. I was planning to take off Monday morning, but I decided to stay one more day so that I could get my van inspected on Tuesday.

Monday was chore day. I had pulled my winter clothes and a few other things out of storage and my car was a mess! I organized it and got it ready for sleeping in once I leave N&T’s. I knew I had to get my electrical system up and running again. There’s over 20 fuses under the drivers console and they’re at an awkward angle; I wasn’t looking forward to taking each one out until I found the bad fuse. That’s when I noticed a key hole on the center console that I hadn’t noticed before. I took my door key, stuck it in and the darn thing just popped open! and guess what!? The manual was right there! Problem solved. I found the correct fuse in no time. The fuse that blew was the wrong amperage, but I replaced it with the correct one and bought a set of mixed fuses for backup.

I knew I was in the market for a deep cycle battery and solar panel, so I checked craigslist. There was nothing good for solar panels, but I lucked out on finding an almost new 100Ah 12v Deep Cycle Battery for $70. Great deal! Now I just need a way to charge it =P I bought an inverter in the mean time. Once I get the solar panel, I might be able to figure out how to hook the conversion wiring to the battery and run the 12v outlets that are installed on the wall of the van… we shall see.

Moksha!

Moksha (mokṣa or mukti) is a Sanskrit term that means freedom. It literally means “release” or “to let go.” To be in a state of moksha, as I understand it, is to be self-liberated from avidya - that which causes false perceptions. The idea is to unite with the supreme consciousness and liberate yourself from suffering.

Moksha is attained through self-realization. The second branch of yoga, niyama, deals with how you relate to yourself. By following the path of niyama you gain insight into your ego (asmita), desires (raga), rejections (dvesa) and fears (abhinivesa). These are the branches of avidya. As you continually work through the layers behind each of the 4 branches of avidya you achieve more and more clarity about your true self until you are able to let it all go and attain moksha.

Yes, well this all sounds very philosophical doesn’t it? Sure yoga is my thing and all, but the deep philosophical stuff is for my other blog, True | Shift. The exploration of freedom is my theme right now and I’m interested in it physically, mentally and spiritually. My current lifestyle (van-dwelling) is part of that exploration.

Tall Decaf Soy Moksha is my freedom blog.