As I got to northern Washington, approaching the Canadian border, I decided to divest myself of ganja. I stopperd in a cute home-made-looking little espresso stand, ordered a latte and asked the barista girl if she smoked weed. Well, yeah-uh!
” Here’s some California Gold, I don’t want to take it into Canada” I handed are a baggie with maybe 1/4 oz of organic homegrown and she started jumping up and down. Her eyes were sparkling (and she was cute!). “I’m going to call my friend…” She handed me my latte and said:
“The coffee is so on me!”
Reminds me of the line in the movie American Beauty where Kevin Spacey’s wife drives up to the window of the hamburger stand where he’s working — in a car with her boyfriend, — and as Kevin’s co-worker hands the wife her order, she says, “You are so busted!”
Valley girl poetry.
This was by the side of the road near Newport, Oregon. It’s 8 by 12 feet plus 4 feet of deck. Put it on wheels.
Our next book is going to be on tiny houses. Let us know if you have info to share. Don’t get involved with banks. Don’t pay rent. Do it yourself in a small and resource-conserving way. Email shelter@shelterpub.com
I ran across this building as I was just about to cross a river on the road east-to-west across Vancouver Island to the “wild coast.” Nicely situated and designed. Hey, there’s way too little good architecture these days! It’s apparently an “administrative building” for the Tseshaht tribe. First Nations peoples have got their shit a lot more together than their more southern brothers. When you get to Washington there is an Indian casino complex that is well-designed (contrast this with the black vinyl air building casino near Clear Lake, Calif.)
When I got into Vancouver yesterday morning at 7:30, after getting up at 4:30 AM in Robert;s Creek to catch the ferry, I had the biggest day of my trip waiting for me. A TV interview, newspaper interview, meeting a publisher friend, and presentation/signing at the Vancouver Public Library. I was beat. I used my new GPS device (Garmin Nuvi)* to find a hotel and it turned out to be a nice Best Western across the street from Vancouver’s legendary blues venue, The Yale Hotel. In fact I ended up with a corner room looking down on the hotel:
This is a great club, the only other town I’ve been that had places like this was Chicago. No effetes. Real people. The house band, Brickhouse, was playing and it was a dance partay, with red/orange/pink spotlights, a large room, pool tables, an ambience that can’t be faked, or acquired, the blues filling the room and dancers’ souls.
It was my first totally fun night in 3 weeks.
*I absolutely cannot believe what one of these devices does for you. I can’t see how I could have managed this trip, with all its addresses, without it. More later.
Above: view from Tom Chudleigh’s quite unbelievable spherical treehouse in the woods, where I spent last Sunday night
***
It’s a rainy night in Vancouver, and I’m just about done with 3 weeks on the road promoting my new book, Builders of the Pacific Coast. Mama Mia, has this been a wild ride! 1200+ miles in my 2004 Toyota Tacoma 4X4 truck, 11 slide show/book signings in 11 towns/cities, hanging out with my wonderful Canadian friends once again, getting inspiring feedback on this book and our building books in general, trying to keep my act together singlehandedly, having a two-week long cold, and making some amazingly dumb mistakes along the way (more on that later), but all in all an amazing trip and fitting conclusion to the making of this book, which began over 3 years ago.
Even more than usual, I have a ton of stuff to tell you about. The “I Am A Camera” faculty of my brain continues to generate endless photos and as usual, my encounters with life on the road have been rich in encounters and experiences. Over the next week I’ll try to get stuff up on the blog. I’m going to skip being linrear; much more fluid and fun that way.
Below are a few more photos of Tom’s sphere, where I had a wonderful night hanging in the trees and the next day dreamily looking out at the misty woods through the circular windows.
Above: the sphere is 10-1/2 feet in diameter and paneled with teak.
Above: Door is curved to the sphere’s curve, opens on these arms on the right; the 4-way latch uses bronze castings that Tom made himself
More (and info on renting it for the night) at: https://www.freespiritspheres.com/
Somehow I’ve always had good luck in Portland. Like a few years ago coming into town cold and ending up at the Stumptown Coffee Roasters, great coffee, wi-fi, hip young people. And then going for a run in the park on Mount Tabor (inside city limits) and discovering it’s a mecca of downhill skateboarding…
I rolled into Portland just after dark last night and punched in “hotels” in my Garmin Nuvi GPS. This miraculous device lists the hotels closest to where your car is positioned (which it knows!). Closest was a Travelodge and upon arriving, it looked dismal. Another nearby hotel was the Avalon Hotel and Spa and I hit the jackpot. Much nicer hotel than I usually stay at, this would be $350 a night in NYC, but was about $110. Everything elegant, well thought out. Plus the spas part was fabulous. Big gym, fully equipped, good-working sauna, great way to start the day.
I’m now at Powell’s bookstore, where I’m going to do a slide show and signing in a half hour. Powelll’s is fantastic, a full block, 3 stories of books-books-books. Just now wandering around the neighborhood looking for a meal I stumbled upon Jake’s Famous Crawfish (Since 1892), a lively, brassy, hustling popular good-vibes restaurant and had an Oregon draft porter and steamed mussels. Music was Al Green, Aretha, the Stones, and as I got ready to leave, Otis…O she may be weary, young girls they do get weary…
By side of road near Carlton on Hwy 47, southwest of Portland. Notice how straight the eave line is, meaning the barn’s foundation is sound — no sag.
