Dan White

Do you ever have one of those days that is luminous and wonderful one moment and grim (and rather disgusting) the next? Just the other day, I was in North Beach, and I stopped by City Lights books. They had one rather lonely-looking copy of “Cactus,” so I signed it, which was fun, considering that City Lights is the land of Ferlinghetti and The Beats. The City Lights staff was very nice about it. They put it back on the shelf with a little sticker saying “Signed By The Author.’ Moments later, I was walking with Amy down Columbus, and an enormous group of pigeons, straight out of Hitchcock, swooped down and voided themselves all over us — a tidal wave of voiding, and it covered both of us from head to toe. We tried to run but the pigeons closed in on us and kept bombing away. Wham, wham,…

So the doomsday clock on my author’s web page has stopped ticking. That can only mean one thing; my book is now in bookstores all over the place. My pal, James, (who happens to be a character in the book) wrote in to let me know that he got “Cactus” in Minneapolis just the other day. It was pretty surreal to see a nice big bunch of them in my neighborhood bookstore up here in the Upper Haight. Today, I walked into the store and decorated them all with rubber stamps dipped in bright green archival ink. I also signed them. Anyhow, if you run into me at some point, I would really like to sign and stamp your book or books. In fact, I will sign just about anything, except for a blank check. Make sure to specify “lizard, snake, or longhorn steer skull” before I stamp it. Otherwise,…

This is extremely short notice, I realize, (as a matter of fact, I’m giving you a roughly four and a half minute notice, to be precise) but if you happen to be in the Ventura County/Santa Barbara area, the NPR affiliate is doing an interview with me today at 1:06 p.m. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I had a fantastic time in the Southeast — I heard my first whipporwil, heard a black bear snort (very close by!), met a bunch of great people, went to a Bourbon tasting and explored some of the greenest, steepest backcountry I’ve ever seen. On the downside, I got a bit turned around up there in the wilderness. I had a close encounter with some kind of invasive rose-bush-like plant; both of my legs have red, crosshatching scrapes all across them. My next order of business is to beef up my backcountry survival skills. I’m hoping to enroll in an intensive orienteering course this summer as soon as i can find an open patch in my schedule. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Friends and family — after I file this, I’m heading out the door and flying out to the Southeastern backwoods, which means that I will be kind of hard to reach for the next three days or so. I’m bringing lots of MREs and a spanking-new seven-dollar nickel-plated compass that I just bought from Robert’s Hardware in Haight Ashbury. I’m in good hands. By the way, this is probably my last ramble ever with Big Mofo, my trusty — and enormous — backpack dating from the PCT. He’s covered with mouse bites and duct tape, the zippers barely function and the hinges are almost rusted out. The time has come for an upgrade. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Mr. Big Bucks, I hope you’re happy. I had my sights on that attractive little cactus-shaped rubber stamp on eBay. It was going to be one of my promotional gimmicks, and now it’s gone — all because of you. The bidding war was ferocious. I lay down $4.50. You upped the ante to five bucks. The next thing you know, you jacked up the price to $6.50. Whoever you are, you are shameless. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I’m heading off to the Cumberland Gap for a while. I will be going on a journey through a remote forest full of elk, sandstone cliffs and wild ginseng. I’ll see you all when I get back. (just so you know, I’m bringing plenty of water this time, and the trail is not that long. Seriously.) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Here is the link to my radio performance on KQED Writer’s Block. I had fun doing this. http://www.kqed.org/arts/writersblock/ http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

A few months back, I mentioned an eventful journey that I took (in a four-wheel-drive vehicle) up a scary dirt road into a remote canyon filled with fascinating Fremont-era ruins in Utah. If you’re interested, my article on this subject (with color photos) appears in this month’s Backpacker, which is now in bookstores and news stands. Check out the pictures of those spooky petroglyphs — and, if you have a chance, make your way out to Range Creek and see them for yourself. It’s well worth the trip. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I had a great time going into the KQED studio and recording a scary section of “Cactus” for radio broadcast. It will be podcast a few weeks from now, and when it’s available, I’ll post the link right here. Stay tuned. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default