The Marker

Aaron Van Gossen

PO Box 2113

Fort Bragg, CA. 95437 215-756-3321 A.vangossen71@gmail.com

2075 words

The Marker

by Aaron Van Gossen

Finally, after two years in the making, it was finally happening!

Hundreds of YouTube videos, more money saved up than he ever had before and six months building it out. It had been quite a journey. Blood (literally), sweat and tears had been poured into this dream.

Now, David was on his way!

David had always fashioned himself a nomad. He tended to get bored easily and was always looking for new experiences. He had lived all over the country, his parents moved a lot while he was growing up. After high school he moved to Los Angeles, not because he wanted to get away from anything, he just wanted different experiences. After living in LA for a few years the Hollywood culture irritated him.

Next up was Chicago. Second City, The Windy City, City of Big Shoulders (whatever that meant), Chi-Town! David loved Chicago. He loved the night life, the people, and the architecture. However, after two years the freezing cold winters and hot humid summers got to him. It was time for another change.

That change included Miami, Philadelphia, Austin, New Orleans, Jackson WY, Seattle and eventually San Louis Obispo on the Central Coast of California. He stayed there the longest, six years. He planned on moving in 2020, but Covid put the kibosh on those plans.

While stuck at home for nine months he started watching van life videos on YouTube. He discovered these people quite by accident. He had never thought of van life as an alternative to moving every few years. Honestly, he viewed van lifers in a very poor light. He thought they were either spoiled kids traveling on their parents dime, or homeless people with nowhere else to live. While both of those are true, he also discovered many van lifers chose this lifestyle for a myriad of reasons, and most of them worked very hard for their money. Either remotely or they work static jobs for a while before moving on.

David hoped that this would be the life for him. Instead of moving every three to five years he could move every three to five months, or three to five days, whatever he felt like doing. That was freedom!

When he returned to work he saved his money. He had an old car, but it had been paid off, he had very few bills and rented a cheap room. No relationship to speak of and no family nearby. The perfect recipe for embarking on van life. He quit going out, restaurants were only once a month, and he started minimizing his possessions. That wasn’t so hard. Twenty years of constant moving around had proven to him what a drain too many possessions can have on a person.

Finally, he found the perfect van. A 2003 Ford E-350 passenger van. Over 60 square feet of living space! For a van that’s not bad. He designed and built it himself. He had never done any kind of building before. Never so much as hammered a nail, but YouTube University served him quite well. He was actually quite pleased with himself. He put in a plywood floor with vinyl tiles, built walls and a ceiling out of cedar (expensive, but cedar smells good and repels moisture and bugs). He built a full size bed that converts to a couch, plenty of storage, a kitchen set up which was basically a small sink, a gas stove and a large cutting board. He also put solar panels and deck space on the roof.

He was all set to film a video for Tiny Home Tours! Not that he would put his life on the internet. He was too private for that. Besides, he always figured he had a face more suited to radio.

Now the time had finally come!

He hit the road to start his new journey. Had had amassed quite a few friends in San Louis Obispo and had a little gathering to say goodbye and show off his new home. Now he was headed north. He always loved the coastline and decided to start his journey by driving up Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway. His plan was to drive up to Alaska. It was Spring, he should hit the northern most state in a couple of weeks. He planned on taking his time and

camping on the coast as much as he could. He had enough money saved up that he could travel for a year before needing to work again.

His first stop was Monterey. After a day of exploring the town he went to find a place to park for the night. That’s when he discovered how many areas don’t let you camp in your vehicle. After seeing ‘No Overnight Parking’ signs everywhere he decided to look up the nearest campground. It was $45 a night but he figured this was the ‘rent’ you paid as a van lifer.

After that he drove further up the coast. Drove through San Francisco and Sonoma County. He decided on the way back he’d go through Napa Valley and try some of that world famous wine. He wasn’t much of a wine drinker, but figured he should finally expand his horizons. He stopped for a few days in Mendocino. Beautiful seaside community, nice weather (for now) and very friendly to van lifers. He grew up watching “Murder, She Wrote” which was filmed in Mendocino, and just had to see the Fletcher House.

While there he took the Mendocino Ghost Tour. He wasn’t a believer in ghosts, or the supernatural (even though he was a huge fan of horror movies) but this looked like fun. It was led by a guy named Robert who dressed in all black and wore a black carriage hat. The tour was a lot of fun. Robert was very entertaining and had some great ghost stories. A couple of the other guests on the tour shared their strange experiences as well. He kind of felt left out having never experienced the supernatural himself. Oh well, he’s in for a lot of interesting experiences.

After a couple days exploring the area he decided to continue north. Not too far up the coast he found a vista spot. A nice little paved parking lot with a beautiful view of the ocean. He hadn’t had any where near enough of the ocean so he decided to stop and enjoy the view.

He made a lunch of grilled cheese and tomato basil soup and enjoyed it while looking at the endless Pacific Ocean.

After a nap he put on his hiking boots and went down the trail to the coastline. He preferred headlands to sandy beaches. Watching waves crash on the rocks was mesmerizing to him. He could watch it all day.

He took a few photos and videos to share on social media and continued his hike.

A ways down the trail he saw a small cross in the grass alongside the trail. A grave marker? Someone who died on this trail? Someone who just loved this area? Who knows?

As David approached the cross to see who it dedicated to he noticed a single name etched into he metal plate on the front of the cross.

David.

Well, this was weird. A grave marker with his name on it. Now, David is not an unusual name, but it was still weird seeing his name on a cross. No last name, no dates, no reason why it was placed there. Just a name.

David.

He took a photo, made a short video of it, texted it to friends and put up a post on social media. ‘Look! I’m dead! LOL!’ He wrote.

He got lots of likes, laughing emoji’s and even a few shocked-face emoji’s. A couple of superstitious friends weren’t as tickled as he was, but all in all it was a popular post.

After the novelty of it all wore off he hiked back to his van. It was getting late, he could have left and driven a few more hours, but he figured he had no where to be so why not take his time. After all, isn’t this what van life is supposed to be about? Enjoying the moment?

David cooked a dinner of spaghetti and Italian sausage in tomato sauce, set up his camp chair by the van, opened a beer and enjoyed his dinner watching the sunset over the Pacific. It was very overcast this day so he didn’t get his usual sunset of dark orange and yellow. He mostly just saw the thick clouds just get dimmer and dimmer as the sun went down.

He watched a movie on his laptop, Highlander, his favorite, then settled into bed. He was looking forward to another peaceful night listening to the waves crash against the rocks.

It was...mostly peaceful.

***

CHP Officer Howard Banks was driving north on the 1, his usual patrol area. He noticed the same van parked in the vista area for the last four days. Although there was no time limit for camping in this spot, he found this odd. He decided a wellness check was in order.

Officer Banks knocked on the driver side door but there was no answer, it was locked. He went to the side door but it was also locked. However, the window was cracked open and there was a smell coming from inside. A very powerful smell that he recognized immediately.

The occupant was not well. The man had been dead for at least a few days.

After identifying the man was, and whom to inform, Officer Banks performed the difficult job of making phone calls to friends and family.

It had been a month since David’s sudden death from natural causes. Kelly, his friend and ex roommate, and Hailey, his favorite work buddy, decided to drive up to the vista point. Both women received David’s text about the cross, and decided to make the pilgrimage to remember their best friend in the last place he had been. As far as they were concerned this was David’s cross now and they wanted to place flowers there to honor his memory.

They had both watched the video so they knew where the cross was. They parked and made their way down the trail to the headlands. After recognizing a large boulder from the video they made a right turn, they knew they were headed in the right direction. They arrived at where the cross was, but there was nothing. No cross. No marker of any kind.

Kelly even examined the ground where they saw the cross in the video but she couldn’t even find any disruption of dirt. Nothing had been placed here in years, if ever.

The two women assumed they were in the wrong spot, even after studying the pics and video David had made. They spent the next hour walking up and down the trail, but no cross could be found.

Hailey even called the CHP inquiring if they had removed the cross or knew anything about it. They had not moved it and knew nothing of it.

Confused the two women left the flowers behind where the cross should have been and drove home. Saddened that there was no marker for their friend where he spent the last night of his life.

***

Joshua Evans was driving south on the 1. He lived in Eureka and his girlfriend, Stacy, was going to school at UC Berkeley. He was going to surprise her with a visit. He rented a small RV, and was going to take her on a surprise trip to propose.

He got hungry and pulled over in this little parking lot alongside the highway. It was a cute little vista spot so he decided to stop and have some lunch.

He had his sandwich and decided to take a quick walk down along the headlands. Give his lunch time to settle and stretch his legs a little bit.

It was so nice here he decided to stay the night. He had time, it was Thursday and Stacy had classes anyway.

He walked down the trail and strolled along the coast enjoying the view of waves crashing on the rocks and the sound of birds flying around looking for their dinner.

As he walked along the trail he saw a little cross in the grass. A grave marker. As he got closer he noticed the name on the cross.

Joshua.