Swimmin Hole On A Hot Day, Marvin Gaye, Various Pics From Trip

There’s a heat wave in BC. It’s really hot today. People aren’t used to it. When I got my truck lubed (I’m in Courtenay on the east coast of Vancouver Island),I asked the girl where to go swimming and I ended up down at a green, fast-flowing clean beautiful river, swam and cooled off, then walked down a grassy trail back to my truck. Friendly locals. Oh yes!

Swimming hole in Courtney

A bunch of people were in the river. Teen agers were jumping (20’) off the bridge, people floating downriver on inner tubes, it’s all free. Made me think of artificial fun like Disneyland, which burns tons of resources and is a crock of shit. Tomorrow I’m gonna float a ways down the river with my inflatable boogie board and fins, or maybe just swim, and walk back.

Aside from all the great material I’ve gathered, I’m excited about the future. Strange as it may seem, giving up competitive running figures big in my plans. I’m going to put the energy I did into cross-country training into the ocean. More surfing, more paddling, my boat (12’ aluminum with 15 HP Evinrude) back in the water this summer and start fishing and exploring the coast. This last week I learned from Bruno how to anchor outside the wave zone and paddle in for beach camping on a surfboard with waterproof floatable bag). Plus, I’ve seen such a huge amount of building inventiveness, I’m inspired to upgrade my carpentry.

I’ve lost upper body strength the last few years and it coincides with time spent at the computer. I get sucked in. I’m gonna take that time to get in the water or on the beach, to keep usin it so I don’t lose it. Attention all you guys who are feeling the discouragements of aging: what it really is, is disuse. Walk, stretch, feel your body — oops, I’m preaching …

Marvin Gaye

Just picked up the CD Can I Get A Witness, which starts out with what was my favorite MG song, Stubborn Kind Of Guy, but now am hearing for the first time Got To Give It Up, Keep on dancin’, give it up. Check this song out, boy is it good!

Random Pics

Here are some random photos from the last few weeks, emphasis on vehicles:

Adam Buskard and Lisa Fletcher with their 4-wheel drive Mitsubishi Delica van. Right hand steering wheel, used, about $10k. Check with www.vicustomcarimports.com

Mitsubishi Fuso 4x$ diesel belonging to Randy Bernard, who says it gets 17mpg

Surfer Dave’s flatbed Toyota 4×4 Baja rig with fold-out bars for sleeping up off the ground

Heidi and John at their Java Gypsy mobile coffee stand in Port Townsend, Washington

In Port Townsend, this thing is supposed to fly.

At the other end of the boat spectrum, two of carver Joe Martin’s dugout canoes (each carved from a single cedar tree) in Tofino, BC

Quintessential 50s hot rod in Courtenay, BC

Cyclops hot rod in Port Townsend

About Lloyd Kahn

Lloyd Kahn started building his own home in the early '60s and went on to publish books showing homeowners how they could build their own homes with their own hands. He got his start in publishing by working as the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalog with Stewart Brand in the late '60s. He has since authored six highly-graphic books on homemade building, all of which are interrelated. The books, "The Shelter Library Of Building Books," include Shelter, Shelter II (1978), Home Work (2004), Builders of the Pacific Coast (2008), Tiny Homes (2012), and Tiny Homes on the Move (2014). Lloyd operates from Northern California studio built of recycled lumber, set in the midst of a vegetable garden, and hooked into the world via five Mac computers. You can check out videos (one with over 450,000 views) on Lloyd by doing a search on YouTube:

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