I wanted to share with this group my story of how I escaped from the Espanola ashram, from the house right up the driveway from where YB was living. And “escape” it was – just ask anyone who was working in the Ancient Healing Ways building in my front yard the day I moved out.

There was a spiked gate at the head of the driveway my house shared with “The Estate.” It was an antique gate from the Middle East that had spikes sticking out of it, spears along the whole top of it, and an enormous steel khanda in the middle. It was one of YB’s vanity projects, installed despite my many protests.

Although it had a sensor that opened the gate when a vehicle approach, on the day I left, the gate wouldn’t open. It was mounted on a flimsy aluminum hinge that only one person knew how to fix, and he was nowhere to be found.

I had pulled up to the closed gate with a full UHaul truck, ready to finally get out of there, and the gate wouldn’t open. I mean come on, how’s that for symbolism? I honked the horn and a couple of guys who were around came up to the truck and told me to “just wait” until later that day or evening when someone could fix it.

Somehow the whole thing – the barbaric spiked gate, the imbecility of using a cheap aluminum joint to hold its massive weight, the fact that only ONE person among over 50 people who used that gate daily could fix it when it broke several times a week, and – worst of all – that this monstrosity of a gate and the attached medieval fortress with a tower and gun turrets was built on my property right in front of my house despite my objections…. (can you tell I’m still mad? lol)

Anyway, I very calmly backed the moving truck up, then slammed it into drive and RAMMED the gate.

Backed it up again and then SLAM! And again, and SLAM!

By this time, workers from the AHW building (also built in my front yard without my consent) came running out to see what was going on, waving their arms and crying, “ Don’t hurt the gate!! Don’t hurt the gate!!!”

I don’t remember whether I succeeded in breaking the aluminum hinge or someone got a tool to take it off, but by God I went skidding out of there in a hail of flying pebbles and dust.

Good times

Lol