No. 213 - Five Beds in Five Days
I’m worn out.
In the last week I’ve been in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fredericksburg, and San Francisco. Tonight I have a layover in Los Angeles.
I will arrive in Austin at five in the morning by way of crossing two time zones.
Up until a few nights ago I’d slept in five different beds in five days.
March 15 (Sunday) - Dripping Springs, TX. I woke up in a meditation commune in Texas Hill Country. No plumbing or television - just a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere with a desk, chair, and lamp. I bathed outdoors beneath an oak tree. One morning I showered in the rain, and another in forty degree weather. The views went on forever and it was always silent while I worked in a hammock.
March 16 (Monday) - Fredericksburg, TX. I slept in a 1930s one-story motel, a motor lodge, to be exact, in the Willie Nelson suite. A few posters hung from plaster walls from Willie’s younger days. The curtain in the bathroom was a potato sack. In the lobby, which was the size of a modern closet, was a used record shop. The owner gave me two cassette tapes:
Marty Robbins - More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs
George Jones Greatest Hits
March 17 (Tuesday) - Fredericksburg, TX. I spent the night in a 140 year old house on Main Street. A friend’s family built in the 1880s. The second floor patio is perfect for smoking cigars, and in the bowels of house sits a room where they used to keep preserves and meats. I got terrible sleep, even though it’s nicer than a Ritz-Carlton.
March 18 (Wednesday) - Austin, TX. I slept in a Motel 6 near the airport. which was surprisingly nice. I had an early flight to catch to San Francisco where I had a dinner meeting. The last time I stayed in a Motel 6 was in East St Louis where a prostitute was repeatedly stabbed outside my room door.
March 19 (Thursday) - San Francisco, CA. I stayed at the historic San Remo Hotel in North Beach, one of the most eclectic places I have ever called home. My room had no bathroom, no television, and no phone. Just a small sink. The halls were thin, very early twentieth century, and were stacked with musky books and Victorian furniture.
And now I’m in the library at the University Club in San Francisco. I’m surrounded by ancient books, squash trophies on the fireplace mantel, and a wall-to-wall oriental rug.
I dreamed up this life decades ago. I fought like hell to get it. Sacrifices were made that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And now that I’m finally living it, I’m realizing reality is far from playgrounds in my imagination.
Don’t get me wrong - I love my life, though I hated it for many years. I am living inside a dream, but the dream ain’t what it’s cracked up to be.
There are plenty of days when I wonder just what in the hell have I got myself into.
For now, I’ll enjoy my book and the silence.
All I ever wanted was silence.
*Composed, Edited, and Published at the University Club in San Francisco, CA
