MN to the Bay - Day 3 and beyond

Saturday morning we got on the road and stopped at the Great Salt Lake. It is indeed salty. Utah was beautiful! The salt flats were a trip.

We cleared through Nevada, stopped in Reno to get an oil change and photos, and continued on our way. Cali welcomed us with a lot of mountains and rain. But it was all worth it...there was even a rainbow at the end of the road! :)

Got to spend some very much needed time with my sister, and took her to see the Marley doc. Good to see she's in a good place, and making shit happen!

Overall, this trip made me super grateful of my home, my life, my body, and my soul. Positive energies bring us home.

On this road we let go,
my home becomes my bones
my eyes rooted in my soul.

Remain present in this moment,
no regrets, the land becomes young again,
moving foward to forget
the buildings,
the profit, the tenants (are sleeping)
protected,
under red white blue
Manifest-Burglary.

But I stay
sending waves from my heart
from me
to you, crossing the world, touching the universe
in one beat,
this is the rhythm we need.

These hair threads continue to grow, one day they'll touch stars,
past present and future, no longer know
cause time from a clock is so long ago
focus inside you and the art you flow

keep to the beat of your heart
that's all you need to listen
a jump start

we've been sleeping too long
been fiending for love
they took it from us, but again it's in our hands,
we'll never let go, cause we won't forget...

keep to the beat of your own heart
give everyone a jump start
we've been sleeping for too long
been fiending for love
but now we got it back.

Every heartbeat is a prayer for another awakening,
all we need to do is listen.

MN to the Bay - Day 2

Made it to Salt Lake City, UT!!! My body is loving this bed.

Got up at 5:30 today to see the sun rise on Rapid City, South Dakota. We grabbed breakfast and headed out on our adventure - we saw the faces of 4 dead presidents on a rock, the U.S.'s first tattoo or what? Whatever in the name of history....

We stopped by a Flintstones Theme Park/Campground! Random as hell, even took pictures in front of a huge statue of Dino. :) It was like a whole little Bedrock right there in the middle of nowhere.

Sarah drove the first 5 or 6 hours, and it was crazy! We got rain AGAIN, and this time it was scary cause driving through Wyoming was mostly two-way highways, so we were getting splashed by all the oncoming 18-wheelers. Right after we passed Casper, WY, Sarah said she got a little paranoid so I told her I'd taker over....and as soon as I started driving...maybe one mile down the road, all of a sudden the sun came out!! The skies literally parted, and we found ourselves driving in the clear, deserted highway of Wyoming. :)

Wyoming was very naked - very little construction except for the huge coal mine. Seeing all the land and the rock formations made me think of what this place must have looked like underwater thousands of years ago....So it trips me out to think of underwater deep-sea diving now and looking at all these coral reef formations, and to imagine that one day there may be a McDonald's posted somewhere in between all of it, once all that dries up. (I really hope this doesn't come true).

Utah so far was welcoming, let's see what the morning says. I want to see this big salt lake...

Tomorrow we have a 12-13 hour drive and if all goes well, we'll be kissing the Cali sky tomorrow night.

Love!!

Clau

MN to the Bay - Day 1

Just landed in Rapid City, South Dakota. I drove about 13 hours today, mostly in the rain. Been tripping out looking at this nature, wondering what the colonizers thought when they saw it for the first time.

Minneapolis was a trip!!! I got to see a dope art venue called Intermedia Arts - met my homie Sarah's friend, this dude who is touring a live cooking show. Such a dope concept! It's a one-man live cooking show, that combines politics, history, comedy and food - Diabetes of Democracy - focused on the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes in communities of color. This foo has been working on this idea for like 20 years and he's barely touring it. That's dedication.

Overall it felt good to know that I can find a home in art spaces all over :)

The night took a bad turn when I basically got too faded and both me and S were tripping out on this massive road trip that we were about to start. We got toooo paranoid.

Plus, it started POURING, flash flood status, with lightning and thunder. My stomach got weak and I was just feeling awful! I kept asking myself what the hell I was doing in Minnesota. 

***

I woke up at 7 am and it was still raining, so naturally I went back to sleep. An hour later I woke up and the rain (along with my stomach) had cleared up. We had a good time on the road today, had good food, stopped to take all kinds of pictures, and I am not tired.

Ready for Day 2.:)

Much love!!!

Clau

MN

Gearing up for my trip to Minneapolis, MN. !!!! Haven't taken a road trip like this ever, it will be my longest one so far. I'm especially stoked bc my homie is down to stop in Kansas on Thursday night...so I'll be able to see my family :D. I miss them!!

Apparently we will stop in Albuquerque, which I'm super stoked about cause I love NM. Can't wait to be looking at that awesome desert sunset. :)

The plan is to make it to Oakland by Saturday night, I'll chill for a day and then bounce to LA on Monday. I'm going to take so many pictures! I found my old Cannon Kiss (cheesy ass name!) and I'm just gonna buy some film and batteries and I'm good to go! Haven't used my baby in forever!

So grateful. I am so blessed and READY.

New Moon Solar Eclipse

Definitely feeling post partum after completing a series of images in the way of salvadoran history. It was a project that challenged me and opened my heart so much! Feeling much gratitude for the universe, which has put so many wonderful people in my path that open these doors for me to express myself. (Thanks J!)

Yesterday I completed a crazy week, and it was sealed with rest, a new moon solar eclipse (it looked as if the sun had a gray gel over it) and watching Marley. Bob was on some Jesus Christ tip. He lived his life with unconditional love, and invited everyone along. Fuck all this separation bullshit, it's ONE love. Handle it.

My love won't settle for less than humanity. This is the stepping stone! My heart is open.

Laughter from Far

It's been a crazy few days...

As always happens when I'm about to finish a project, I get this feeling that everything is garbage. Haha. It's true. Every time I'm working on anything I'm passionate about, I reach a point where my eyes don't see what my heart is trying to put out there. It's a tough point to be at, but it's also really beautiful. It's an opportunity to bring freshness to it, to re-define and really challenge myself and the message I'm trying to send, with color. That's when time becomes circular. The trick is to remain connected to the Source..

I'm also bogged down by work responsibilities at the moment, and I realize I'm not passionate about what I'm doing here. 

Yesterday when I got out of work, I drove to the beach  to get some perspective. By some awesome coincidence, I had my bathing suit AND a towel in the car. So I changed, said "fuck it!" and jumped in the cold ass water. Felt like my own baptism, thank you Badu. 

My spirits still needed some help today during the almost 1.5 hour drive to work...I thought about calling my super-homie Pedro, to have a laugh, but didn't for some reason. As soon as I got into my office, I get a phone call from P!! Man, it's so awesome to know that even though we live like 4 or 5 hours away, me and P are still tight. And officially telepathic. 

I have arrived.

:)

Next

Changes coming my way, can't escape the year without shedding my skin, learning my lessons and my blessings.

Forgot what it felt like to listen to heavy distorted guitar holding hands with drums. Fell in love once again with the RATM flow.

Conversations: Sometimes we forget what stimulates our heart, and instead listen to what stimulates our minds - all the illusions and expectations that we create in our heads block the truth. We forget what's real. We start thinking of the end product like it's a prize, forgetting about the present moment and letting each other be free.

But when all of a sudden your heart gets a hit, and everything happens with ease and without ego, you know some shit's real. It's what happens when you let your spirit lead you.

Massive blindness confines us to 2-D interactions with folks...Let's look for the real shit. 4-D connection with ourselves our ancestors, our partners and our earth.

Fluid Dynamics

Night swim! Sometimes I forget how crazy it is to move through water. Makes me think of how thick outer space must be. Water feels like the thickest and lightest fabric to be surrounded by.

Ancestral peoples thought of the universal community as a fabric to be knitted. Einstein described the relative motion of objects to be as if they were on a stretchy fabric. This allows us to see the interconnectedness of our movements with relation to others (humans, animals, plants, single-cell organisms). We're constantly sending waves.

I wonder what our skin looks like under a microscope when it's submerged in water - the water all rushing in between the space between your cells, breaking them apart slowly. Maybe?


Reminds me that it's a miracle how our cells stick together. How the f!!!