Oh captain, my captian Mr. Howe and I did a little night time navigation and were led by the bright lights of a powerplant to the Godforsaken harbor of Moss Landing; where dreams and old boats go to die. Beware, pirates are real.
Moss Landing, self proclaimed "trailer park of the sea" by our local brother-from-another-mother Mike, aka "Mike-a-holic" ex surfing legend (fact or fiction?). Moss Landing is filled with salty characters of all description. Mike is the most bighearted and animated them all, which admittedly is saying quite a lot. Extremely generous and good natured if not at times rather inebriated and incoherent; at times a pretty deep guy. Multiple layers of an onion or the facets of a gem? Well its hard to say, but he didn't smell that bad so I'm going to say he's a gem. The freest person I have ever met. In these times of double-speak and overpatriotic zeal it is rather difficult to discern what freedom truly means. If it has ever existed, Mike is its personification. He is free from all ties with this world, existing on the fringes of society with no one to answer to except himself and his massive burnt out boat. "FREEEDOMM!!!!" he screamed at the climax of a blurry and drunken night on his boat. With this bold proclamation the word was reborn anew.
It was in Moss Landing also that I discovered the continued existence of real pirates. There was Cowboy the pirate that hooked us up with power. He wore a long grey beard, ragged clothes and Jolly Rodger dew rag, he seemed to speak exclusively in one word sentences. Another diamond in the rough was Ray, a drugsmuggling pirate of old. He told tales of his secret treasure troves hidden high in Bolivian caves and Canadian foxholes. He currentyl lives on a 24 ft boat without a mast and is saving his social security money in order to drink cases of Tecate and eventually get to South America. One of the nicest (if not legitimately crazy) people I have met.
While trying to receive more seasoned advice we kept telling people that we were inexperienced and had no idea what we were doing. Mike told us to never say that again: "You've made it this far, and I know what you've sailed and navigated through. Never say that again" I guess were doing alright so far. His other piece of advice was to "stop looking so Lake Oswego". For those of you who know Portland, you know what he means.
One of my happiest moments so far was when we escaped this place. The world is actually a beautiful and happy place outside of Moss Landing. After only two days I had almost forgot.
Hoist the main!! Cast the lines!! Southward ho! To Monterey in search of more stories, glory and plunder!
3 comments:
i like yo style brady lang' ha ha ha, i knew you'd come to appreciate the wonders of the blog world:)
honestly though, you're a great writer- do it more please.
Arrrgh! Beer is delicious!
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