They had sent everything I ordered with one crucial mistake, they sent the wrong tent! Not only did they send the wrong one, it was a cheap, week-end only type that would blow over with a sneeze. The tent I ordered was not the best they had to offer but it was far better than this piece of crap they sent. Why couldn’t they have sent a better one? I checked the invoice and felt my anger rise when I see that they charged me for the one I ordered. I went to the website and found the customer service number to find out what went wrong. The company was very unsympathetic to my anger about their mistake, they offered no compensation and seemed genuinely put-out when I told them that I would settle for nothing less than the tent I ordered. They reluctantly agreed to send me out the right tent but would not upgrade or refund anything for their mistake. They wouldn’t even put a rush on the order telling me that I would have to wait at least another week for the replacement. My rage was only heightened by the fact that I was helpless make it any different and had to plead with Gez to let me stay another week until it came. He was very cool about it and said I could stay, he even told me that I was the best room-mate he had ever had because I always cleaned up after myself. I wondered what kind of frat-boy types he had previously lived with but was happy that I could stay.
During the week I was waiting for my replacement tent I saw an e-mail that had been sent to everyone in my contact list that was from my old bosses ( the bitch Lena to be more precise ), saying how I had ripped them off and was an all around terrible person. It backfired on them bigtime! During the next few days they were overwhelmed by replies that defended me, telling them that they were petty and small to sink so low. I sent out a thank-you to all my friends who knew me better than what some bitter strangers had to say. When they saw that their plan had been a bust they shrunk back into their holes and I never heard from them again, they had finally realized that they had been bested by the servant class and that thought alone made my smile grow from ear to ear. As each day passed my impatience grew while I waited for my replacement tent, partly because of my anticipation for my new life in the camp. I knew it would be a big change but I had spent many fun times camping in my past and this I felt would be the funnest yet. It would also be nice to own the place where I live, it might only be a tent but at least no one could tell me what to do or how to live, something I had not experienced in many years. Finally after 9 days of waiting, the right tent showed up and it was perfect. I took it down to the green area of the condo complex and tried my hand at setting it up. It was a breeze but not because of the instruction sheet that came with it, if I had relied on that I might still be trying to figure it out. I love the internet age as finding a video of someone putting up the same model as I had was as easy as putting the name of it in a search. The video made it very clear how to do it and in what steps, like I said, it was a breeze.
The next day I was ready to head out to the hills, Stu had promised to drive me over in his passenger van but was nowhere to be found when the time came. I remembered a guy I had met during my visit to the camp who had offered to come get me if I pay for the gas and an extra 20 for him. I decided to give him a call and see if he could help. He was available and said he would be over in less than 2 hours. Just like he said, in less than 2 hours he was pulling into the driveway with his beat up old Mercedes wagon. I was doubting that all my stuff would fit into his car and felt myself regretting not waiting for Stu. Somehow he made it all fit and even had room for my bike, Miss Kitty was a bit apprehensive about the ride but she mellowed out once we were motoring down the highway. It was only about 2 hours to the camp so I thought it would be a relatively cheap endeavour but as I watched the gas needle decline at a steady pace, I knew that I had underestimated big time. That old jalopy of his ended up eating almost 150 euros worth of gas and add another 20 and I was seriously regretting not waiting for Stu. Finally we pulled into the camp and drove as far as we could until I had to carry my stuff the rest of the way. It was about 200 yards further up the road and after 10 trips I was definitely feeling it. Once I had all my gear at my new site, I thanked him for helping and said I would see him around the area. I got my tent set up near the far end of the eucalyptus forest with enough area in the sun to charge my solar panel without leaving my site. Once I got everything set up I sat back and smoked a big, fat joint. The rest of the day I just relaxed and enjoyed my life of camping then had one of the best nights of sleep in years.
In the morning I set out to find a suitable place to grow some of the top grade seeds I had gotten from Adam. I wanted to find a place where I could grow a big enough supply to be able to sell some to fund my winter. I scoured the mountain, climbing areas I thought would have been too difficult for most folks but everywhere I looked I found that someone had beaten me to it and already had a garden growing. As the day wore on, my frustration grew as I slowly realized that I was too late to find a good spot anywhere near the camp and my only recourse would be to plant a personal plot right at my site. I returned to my site and started creating a nice little spot for a garden. I had been a bit concerned about Miss Kitty and what she would get up to when I left but my worries were laid to rest when I returned to find her sitting in the shade next to the tent, she was truly the best cat I had ever known. I sprouted some seeds that night and a coupe days later I had ten sweet momma’s ready to put into the ground. As I got to know some of the folks in the camp, I as told about a guy down in Orgiva who was looking for someone to grow with. I took the bike and basically pedaled once and held on for dear life as the entire journey to Orgiva was downhill. I made it in less than 5 minutes and found the place where the guy worked. He was an Iranian guy who along with his Eritrean wife, owned a hippie shop in the center of town. He told me about his big plans to grow 50 kilo’s to take to a festival in Portugal the following spring. We spent a few days along with the guy who had helped me move, trying to find the perfect spot but as time went by without finding anything suitable, the plan started to fray. At the end of 3 days the plan had fallen apart as we all realized that no one had the needed funds to get a proper grow started much less finished so we gave up saying that we would try again next year, only much sooner in the year. After that I settled in to camp life quite nicely, with nothing to do and all day to do it, I was feeling very relaxed. My plants were breaking the surface of the soil and looking very strong in the Spanish sun. Miss Kitty had adapted better than I ever could have imagined. After being an indoor cat for most of her life, she took to the outdoors like she had always been there. she stopped using the litter box and did all of her business outside of the site in the bushes. She never went more than 10 feet outside of our site even when I spent hours down in Orgiva. She even made friends with all of the dogs in our area, sometimes laying in the shade with one that she became best friends with. Seeing that along with the peaceful easy feeling I had, assured me that I had made the right choice in coming to the hills. Life was once again, grand.
A Continuing Story About Life On The Run