On the Road in Mendocino County

I haven’t done much blogging in a while. Too busy. To tell the truth I love reporting on what I see in my life, so here I am on the road, and you can ride shotgun for a bit of the trip, thanks to digital photography.

I took off from Bolinas 2 days ago, my truck loaded with books and a booth that Lew and I will set up at this weekend’s SolFest, the annual solar energy celebration and fair at Real Goods headquarters in northern California. I dropped my son Evan off in Ukiah; he was picking up his 2000 VW Golf bio-diesel sedan. It was good to get out into the real heat. It’s been a cold windy summer at the beach.

I’ve shot this little farm building on several occasions.

I jumped in the Russian River under a bridge near Ukiah (cold!), then headed out to Boonville and through the giant redwoods to the Navarro River on the coast, heading for my friend Louie’s place. I went out to the beach where the Navarro hits the coast, where there’s a lot of driftwood.

Navarro river in background

This is a Ford diesel van converted to 4 wheel drive by a company called Sportsmobile. The owner loved it. it’s got bed, table, stove, frig, the whole enchilada. These rigs start at 60K.

On to Louie’s where I stay in this beautiful room. I do some writing and computer work looking out at the grape vines and sun on the redwoods and occasional deer.

Central ring is truck wheel.

The river running by Louie’s is great for swimming this time of year, with the occasional deep green pool. I went a ways upriver yesterday, took off all my clothes and lay on the warm sand. I’d forgotten how great it is to get naked. No one around. Just the sun and the water and the trees. In Baja I’d spend days on remote beaches sans clothes. A simple and wonderful type of physical freedom, getting warm in the sun and then slipping into the water. A few hours ago I went swimming in a big pool and swam back and forth for 10 minutes in the clear green water.

David Bailey’s “007” salmon boat

Dude!