Gypsy Caravan Dealer

“The Deep”

“There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.” 
― Jack Kerouac, On the Road: The Original Scroll

Those of us from the Boomer Generation remember a time when the car was a culture of its own. If we lived in a city, we went for drives in the country. When the weather was nice, we went for a drive to a nice picnic spot. Summer vacations inevitably included some sort of long-distance car travel. Over the river and through the woods, to Grandma’s house we go. We got our kicks on Route 66. Following the sun to an Endless Summer.

Then there were motorhomes. RVs. Winnie-Whazzits. Packing up your house-on-wheels and hitting the Open Road. Camping was a big deal to a lot of us. It was our way of getting Back to Nature.

What a quaint term that is…Back to Nature. Going Home to visit Mother Gaia. Camping out near the ocean or the lake or the river just to hear the rush of Living Water.  Fishing. Hiking. Acting like Explorers, Adventurers, Survivors, and remembering how different life was just about a century ago. Yesterday, really. Even Today, for many. It keeps us a little more humble. And a little more grateful.

If you’re looking for a great off-the-beaten-path experience when you’re visiting the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles (or even New Zealand)… you know, the kind where you leave the City and go see the “other wildlife”… consider renting an Escape Campervan:

Escape Rentals New Zealand was established in 2003 by 3 good friends, Peter, Mike and Andrew who saw an opportunity to offer a product with a difference.

We figured people didn’t want to go away in their living room and they would instead prefer to get away from everyday life and enjoy the great outdoors. Hence the name ‘Escape’ was created.

We also realized that people wanted to go away, enjoy the culture, sights and delights of a country without having to sell body parts to pay for their Campervan holiday.

We developed a product that seemingly offered the bare essentials, but at the same time delivered absolutely everything you needed to travel and explore a country safely, comfortably, cheaply and uniquely.

We not only wanted to offer a high quality product with excellent customer service and support, but also wanted our clients to embrace the Escape spirit by converting a boring white van into a work of art.

The decision to sand all the clear coat off a new van and then have artists cover them in paint was not a decision we took lightly.
It was a frightening thing to be trying this concept that had not been tested before…our mates thought we were crazy. The artwork on the Campers goes a lot further than just making the Camper look great, it acts as an interaction piece for our clients when they are travelling and allows them to mix not only with other travellers, but also more closely with the locals.

Most people assume the Camper is your own and that you have painted it yourself. The feedback our clients gave us after their Campervan trip reinforced the initial crazy idea as being a pretty good one.

Our fleet grew to 175 over 3 Years operating in New Zealand and we wanted to expand this product to other shores…and so here we are.
Our Los Angeles operation opened doors on 1st June 2009 and San Francisco and Las Vegas are now operational as serviced depots..

We look forward to seeing you in the America. ~~Team Escape

These “Minibagos” are decked out with a camp stove, sink, mini-fridge, and a seating area that converts to a bed. Cooking/dining supplies & bedding are included (very nice!). The custom paint work on each van is unique (ours was “the Deep,” pictured above), and quite attention-getting. And, as promised, we spent many happy moments interacting with others about the van, camping, and being out of the city. It certainly added some wonderful memories to our trip!

Team Escape provides travelers with maps, atlases, and campground guides gratis (merci!) and offer GPS for an additional fee (totally worth it!). They’ll even map out an itinerary if you have a route or destination in mind. They also offer insurance at varying rates and roadside assistance in some areas (check for details).  Everything to make your adventure a success.

Crazy Annie thoroughly approves, and looks forward to many more Escapes into the Woods.

The Witching Hour

 ”The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world all to themselves.”~~ Roald Dahl ‘The BFG’

My life experience in the last 5 years has been one of ‘dropping out of the matrix’ of Modern Western Life~~

work

to make money

to buy things

to make me happy with a life focused

on work

to make money

to buy things to make me happy…

spinning into infinity.

It broke me.

But that’s not completely true.

The cycle didn’t break me.

Workplace Bullying broke me.

Pressure to achieve, rush hour traffic, social obligations, multitasking…

System Overload.

The Gears were Stripped.

Looking for work became painful.

I developed insomnia, accompanied by nightmares about traps and conspiracies and humiliation…

so I withdrew.

Stop the world, I’m out of here.

The signal I was getting from my dreams, from my body, from my moods, was that I was in crisis.

I developed a need to be rescued.

I had not experienced these thoughts since adolescence.

It became a psychological death-spiral.

Fear. Despair. Escape. Futility. Depression.

My Dark Side.

When it comes out in dreams, we call it  Nightmare.

We feel the fear & let it go. It was only a dream…

When it comes out in the arts, we call it Catharsis.

We laugh,

we cry,

we see the zipper up the monster’s back or the cartoony cgi-effects.

We feel better.

When it comes out in the culture, the neighborhood, the nation, we call it Injustice.

Evil.

We blame it on Others.

They. Them. Those Monsters.

In the Wee Hours…

The Witching Hours…

The time when the whole world is asleep…

It is our own Dark Side who comes out to play.

It is the Stranger we fear in others.

We cannot see It in ourselves.

What’s more, we edit it out of our lives.

We carefully rearrange our reality to exclude any reminders…

We compartmentalize, sanitize, rationalize

We look at the world through filters of expectations and assumptions

Perception is 9/10th of the law.

What happens when those filters break?

The psychological term is Cognitive Dissonance.

Seemingly opposite “realities” cannot exist simultaneously.

Perception breaks down.

For a moment, Reality ceases to exist.

Some people call that crazy because that’s how it feels.

Falling down the Rabbit Hole like Alice.

Flying through a Tornado like Dorothy.

It’s the Other Side of the Mirror.

Peace comes from recognizing that.

We realize we DO have the power to change something.

Even if it’s only our own minds.

“Sometimes you have to be your own hero.”

03172013

Crazy Annie, Queen of Arts

Let Freedom Ring…

Out of the Closet…

God is definitely out of the closet. ~~Marianne Williamson

I’ve been carrying a secret for a very long time. It started as a curiosity when I was very young. I used to spend hours poring over books that danced around this taboo in my heart. I dreamed of a different life, a different world…one where I was allowed to… no, celebrated for…being who I am. I never told a soul. Not even my best and closest friends. I’d hang around others who seemed to be like me… whatever that meant. They were judged by others to be odd, misfit, creepy… I didn’t understand the judgments. They seemed okay to me. It was all very confusing. I experienced bullying by other children, and judgment by adults, because I was “different.” I gave up trying to fit in with normal people. They seemed to see right through my pretenses of being just like them.

I explored the ways that others thought, acted, and lived normal. I attended church with my Christian friends. When I heard about the message and persecution of Jesus, I thought for sure that I’d be safe in that world. Love & acceptance were taught there. But the practice I observed in his followers spelled out to me, in neon letters:  DON’T TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHO YOU ARE. They often quoted their scripture, saying that what I am is a sin, an abomination, punishable by death. I tried like hell to hide my wickedness, to deny this longing, to kill my evil soul.

Adulthood didn’t make my secret any less a burden. Having children shined a spotlight on my secret and made me question my fitness to be a mother. I just knew, in the deepest corners of my heart, that I couldn’t be myself & be a good parent to them. For the greater part of their childhoods, I was dependent on the state to help me house, feed, and clothe them, so I was subject to the opinions of others: social workers, case workers, taxpayers… the unspoken law was this:

If we don’t approve of the way you live your life, you will lose everything.

I buried my secret deeper in the shadows of my consciousness. But I acted out when I thought no one would notice. I played with an alternate identity. At times, I would fully become this other person, so different from the face that I put on in polite company. I thought I could have my cake & eat it, too.

I opened up to one other person about my secret. We had been through many times together– good & bad. I was in my mid-thirties & felt confident that being myself was finally the right thing to do. Despite his belief that he was open-minded & even rebellious, he freaked out. I recognized the potential powder-keg of rejection & shut that door once more. Things would probably never get better if I persisted.

Now, in my graying years, I’ve made peace with my demons. It has nearly cost me everything– my relationships, my sanity, my life– trying to keep this secret. I acknowledge that, in former times, I might have been murdered for being who I am. I recognize that my fear of judgment & persecution has held me back from my own greatness.

I see others opening up to the world with their own deep secrets. My heart swells with admiration for their courage and self-respect. I’m envious of the beauty they reveal in their Coming Out… I want to bloom like them! I want to feel the fullness of being the self I was born to be. I listen to the music of their souls, hoping that some of that power will rub off on me. Surely, if they can Be True, then so can I!

So, here I am. As I write this, I feel a trembling in my solar plexus–the center of Personal Power. All the old fears taunt me: Am I giving you power to harm me by telling you my secret? What will you do with this when you know? Might I lose my job…my friends…my family… all for the sake of telling my Truth? I fear I must justify, explain, or excuse the passions that burn within me or risk losing what matters most.

But fear never serves us…it never, EVER serves the Greater Good. What I am is what I am…(to quote the New Bohemians). The opinions of others have run (and nearly ruined) my life for far too long. I’m ready to reclaim my Power & stand with those brave souls who step before me, out of the closet and into the sun.

I am, and always have been, a Witch. My spirituality revolves around Nature & the unseen, unexplainable Power that creates everything. I am a Wielder of Magick and a Weaver of Dreams. Even without benefit of coven & cauldron, rite & ritual, I have innate powers of influence and intention. My powers have served me & others in my work, in my family, and in my day-to-day dealings. I come by these powers through heredity, through multiple incarnations, and through the blessings of God/dess. I am not self-taught, have not had formal training, have not been initiated into a tradition.  I am a Natural Witch.

I’ll conclude this confession with a few questions for you: What secret are you hiding in the darkest closet of your soul? What has it cost you to keep it hidden? What would the world be like if you were to come out of your closet? Let’s you & I begin a conversation that has been avoided for far too long. It’s easy enough to say “Be Yourself.” Let’s practice what we preach. You are who you are. What matters is YOU. In all your Twisted Glory. In all your Hide-ous Beauty. You’re welcome to Be here.

Blessed Be.