Day 2 On The Road

August 17, 2017 at 5:57 pm

Your guess is as good as mine; this was on the outskirts of Colusa, a wierded-up VW bus.

I’m in Ashland this morning. After I left Colusa yesterday, I drove north about 3 hours, and went to Stewart Mineral Springs, just northwest of the town of Weed, and lucked into getting the last opening of the day. You soak in the heavily mineralized water, then get in fabulous large wood-fired sauna, then in the cold creek. Mineralized, flushed of toxins,  rejuvenated, I wanted a beer, walked into the one bar in Weed, Papa’s Bar (Well, YES!) and voilá, Joe Cocker on the juke box (with good sound system), doing You Can Leave Your Hat On. One good song after another, a lot of Stones. My kinda bar. In giving me change, the bartender included a Native American $1 coin AND stood it on edge on the bar.

Then for dinner to Asian-American Bar-B-Q, recommended by worker at Stewarts Mineral Springs. Bingo! The chef, born in Chicago, grew up in Thailand, barbecuing over wood coals, I got try-tip and rice ($12), with coconut juice,  it was perfect, smoky, juicy, homemade hot sauce (no mass-produced Sriracha), sat at table out on road watching one 18-wheeler after another go by. America!

Tammy Wynette, Stand By Your Man, came on the radio as I headed out for dinner; what a beautiful voice: 

 And then there’s Lyle Lovett doing it: 

Drove to Ashland, out to dead end road east of town and slept in the back of truck (my 13-year-old Tacoma 4×4, stick shift, 4 cylinder, 130K mileage, my baby…).

Up this morning, latte and cinnamon roll at Pony Espresso Coffee House in the rather precious town of Ashland. Going to have lunch with bodybuilding legend Bill Pearl and his wife, Judy, then head for Umpqua Hot Springs, then Lew and Krystal’s on outer edge of total eclipse zone.

A lotta adventures in just 30 hours away from home!

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On The Road Again — Eclipse-Bound

August 17, 2017 at 4:47 pm

A great first day on the road. Latte at Toby’s barn + morning bun from Bovine Bakery, and thenceward on Hwy. 37, Sears Point Rd. through wetlands/nature preserve; there were maybe 100 egrets standing, flying diving. never seen so many in one place, heading for 505, then interstate 5 northwards.

The freedom of the road, good to get away from the constraints of Marin County. I get that feeling when I enter Nevada, a sense of release, it’s wide open, not every square inch analyzed and monetized.

I stopped off in Colusa, to visit my friend from 60 years ago, Jim Davison.

My dad had a rice farm 8 miles west of Colusa, and when I was 12, I helped him build a concrete block house there.  My job, on weekends and holidays, was shoveling sand, gravel, and cement into the concrete mixer).

Later, in teen years, I started hanging out with Colusa kids, complete with girlfriend, Roxana. Jim played piano and we did duets with me on ukulele; it was such a different experience, hanging out with these small town kids, for a city boy.  Population 3,000. We had fun! I worked in Colusa in the summer, bucking hay and driving a truck in the wheat harvest. Plus partying hearty at nights. Alcohol the only drug we knew of.

Yesterday I drove out to see the house. No one was home, but I shot a few photos. It looked as good as it did 70 years ago. When we started it was a barren piece of land.

Above: An almond orchard, with all the nuts on ground, ready to pick up

House my dad and I (plus two masons and one carpenter) built in 1947-48

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Van Life, Foster Huntington’s Brand New Book

August 15, 2017 at 10:00 pm

Foster Huntington quit his job, where he was working 70-hour weeks for Ralph Lauren in New York City, and took off living on the road, first in a (very) used VW Synchro van, later in a Toyota Tacoma truck with a spiffy fiberglas camper shell. He started The Restless Transplant, a blog that became enormously popular. I remember seeing it years ago and thinking this is my kinda guy.

These days he’s living in a treehouse in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington, just northeast of Portland and he has 1 million (!) Instagram followers.

His latest project is this book, and the publishers have printed 35,000 copies. Vans are tremendously popular right now, and this book shows them in all their glory.

https://www.amazon.com/Van-Life-Your-Home-Road/dp/0316556440/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502834221&sr=1-1&keywords=van+life

https://www.arestlesstransplant.com 

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Loggers’ Jubilee in Morton, Washington Last Weekend

August 15, 2017 at 10:30 am

This just came in from Paul Jensen. The event took place in Morton, Washington last weekend.

A bunch of photos of loggers, lumberjacks and logging trucks, plus this tough 4×4.

“We went to the 75th Annual Morton Logger’s Jubilee…A unique slice of Americana that hasn’t changed much since it began…Men with sharp tools, rope, strength and courage…The parade seemed like a stream of postcards from the 50’s…”

https://pauljensencustom.blogspot.com/2017/08/morton-loggers-jubilee.html

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Otis and My Book on the ’60s

August 11, 2017 at 10:16 pm

On the last leg of my trip to Oregon this week, I had a great visit with Foster Huntington before heading home, saw his incredible new video project, spent the night in his treehouse, and went to the airport yesterday afternoon, delay of flight, dragged into home about midnight, got up this morning, for some reason had a hard time getting going on my book on the ’60s. I even thought of dropping the project and going ahead with my book, “The Half-Acre Homestead.”

But I did what I advise people to do when they don’t know what to do about a project: “Start.” Which I did, and it started flowing.
I started writing about the Monterey Pop Festival. I was there and thought it was the beginning of a wonderful new world. For me, it wasn’t about Jimi Hendrix, or Janis (her first appearance with Big Brother, I believe), or Bryan Jones wandering around in the crowd, but it was about Otis. Good god a-mighty…

He appeared Saturday night. I hardly knew who he was, had certainly never seen him. He was wearing a green suit, was maybe the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, and was an entire other universe of music.
I pulled up the Youtube video of him singing I’ve been Loving You Too Long, and — I didn’t cry, but it sure brought tears to me eyes. For Otis, who’s gone, and for the ’60s, which never quit materialized the way I thought it would.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vUc17A0SNY

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