Sequoia Wild

So, I’m randomly on a tropical island a few hours south of Japan, Saipan, which is a US Territory… which is just a weird arrangement that makes me mainly uncomfortable. Being an American, I have seen little signs of privilege because of my passport/driver’s license, and it has made me think about the whole ‘spoils of war’ thing. I hope someday these people get their land back, and that we haven’t made them so dependent on the US by that time that they can support themselves. I know I don’t know any details of the situation, but my Native American pride feels the pain left in this place.

But, in general, this has been a nice little adventure. I met this really sweet guy working the graveyard shift at my hotel who told me about a secret swimming spot with awesome waves that I am going to check out tomorrow. He also helped me find someone to rent a scooter to me even though my license is expired. When I went down there, it was no problem, and so now I have a scooter, just like in 1999, that I can tool around in. I am having a blast. The first thing I did was take off around the coast, even though the sun was setting. I went toward the various tourist spots that are supposed to have a great view of the ocean. Looking back toward the west, there were these HUGE clouds in the sunset… and 2 cows just hanging out on the roadside. I found a memorial of the “last command post” of the Japanese during WWII and there were some huge guns that surely had killed people in their lifetimes, which was quite moving to be near. Saipan also has a lot of stray animals (I had seen at least 3 stray dogs in town) and there was this calico cat who meewed at me the whole time, but I had no food for her or anything. Also, as twilight approached, the bugs became very aggressive and I needed to leave, so I wished her well and moved on. The bugs were so numerous that I began to be concerned that I would crash the bike from them pelting me as I rode. The stinging impacts came at a steady rhythm and I would not have been able to go on if I hadn’t had my glasses as improve goggles. I decided to go to the Grotto, which is an overlook of a rock bridge-tunnel thing that I could barely see in the fading light, but it had all the right sounds, and the breeze was a perfect temperature, and it was truly peaceful. If it hadn’t of been for the lightning flashes quickly approaching from out over the sea, I would have stayed for a long while. I got back on my moped and was less that 50 feet from where I had parked when the sky fell. Huge, huge warm drops of rain, which happily cleared the way of bugs, but soaked me through in a single minute. I stopped, thinking maybe I should wait it out back at the scenic spot, since there were coverings there, but some part of me wanted a more exciting adventure than that. I felt pretty confident with the scooter, since I know my instincts have saved me from accidents before. So I decided to continue home (about 15 miles away, I would guess). (more…)