This morning I’m at Trink’s, a fabulous breakfast/lunch/latte/homemade pies/good wi-fi cafe in the town of Gualala. Light blue sunny sky with wisps of high clouds. I sort of have roots on this part of the coast: my dad and his family used to camp at an abandoned lumber mill on the Gualala river in the early 1900s, and go fishing.
Yesterday Louie and I headed north to Queenie’s for pumpkin/pecan waffles w/ whipped cream breakfast, then wandered around in Mendocino, then explored Fort Bragg, which hasn’t yet succumbed to cloying cuteseyness (as has Mendocino).
I’m heading home now, just picked up a freshly-killed grey fox on the road, going to skin him, along with another fox (brought me by a friend) in my freezer. I end up with a beautiful skin, and a (usually) perfect skull.
I’ll put up a few photos from this 3-day trip before heading south…
Left at 5:30 AM, made about 12 photo stops, got to Gualala at 9 — 3-1/2 hours travel time, from pitch black to blue-sky/blue ocean morning sun.
Three planets are lined up in pre-dawn skies right now, about 4-6:30 AM in these parts. Power girl Venus, Jupiter, Mars.
After breakfast, Louie and I took a long walk on the Guala beach.
Spotted on the road last week by John Rainbow
I took off early Wednesday morning with Yogan, my carpenter friend from France. This is Friday morning, so I’m not posting chronologically, but this is hot off the press: at breakfast this morning with Louie and Titsch*, this little boy walked up holding one of our Tiny Homes mini books, showing it to me. “Where’d you get that,” I asked.
“You gave it to me last year.”
Earlier this morning, I’d given a Tiny Homes On the Move mini book to a 3-year-old girl sitting at our able and she started going through it page by page and then said, “This is really cool.”
Made my day, to say the least. Kids are with us.
Here’s Kyle Radic, driving south to San Francisco with his mom and she said he’d brought along his favorite book:
Photo by Titsch Jones
*Titsch and I were born on the same day (not the same year), and my mother’s maiden name was Jones, so I consider him my brother. He’s from Wales.
Jay Nelson’s work has been featured in Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move. Foster Huntington’s Toyota Tacoma camper was featured in Tiny Homes on the Move.
From Foster:
“The car is a Suzuki SJ410. It’s the predecessor to the Samurai and has a 1 liter 4-cylinder engine.
The camper is made out of marine plywood and thin copper sheeting. The camper has a sleeping space that’s just over 6 feet long over the cab.
Jay Nelson designed and built the camper in two weeks with some help from some friends.”
Jay’s Website: https://www.jaynelsonart.com/
More on Jay: https://www.lloydkahn.com/?s=jay+nelson
Foster’s website: https://www.arestlesstransplant.com/
More on Foster: https://www.lloydkahn.com/?s=Foster+huntington
“To give new meaning to the phrase “living out of a suitcase”, one hotel in Lunzenau, Germany, has made it possible to… well, stay in one.
For just €15 (S$23) a night, guests can enjoy staying in one of the world’s smallest hotels.
Each minuscule 2.7m by 1.5m room in the “Kofferhotel”, or Suitcase Hotel, can accommodate only two guests, and includes bunk beds, a toilet and a sink. There is an outdoor shower.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/check-in-to-live-out-of-a-suitcase
From Anonymous
“Hi again Lloyd,
I would be stoked if you threw my name in the hat of those who build cool, small spaces for that TV show…
I just finished another adventure vehicle…
https://pauljensencustom.blogspot.com/2015/07/fuso-recap.html
It is a 2003 Mitsubishi Fuso that is one of the original expedition campers…It has been to more countries than I can name, from Antarctica to the arctic…Around Australia and lived in full time for two years.…Pretty hard miles when the new owners got it and hand it over to me for a change…I was given a lot of creative space and the results are something I am especially proud of.…Have a look…”
More to follow on Foster Huntington’s unique tree houses. It was in the high 80’s yesterday and Foster and I went swimming first in a swimming hole in the Washougal River, then in the mighty Columbia.
Foster Huntington and his 4X4 Toyota camper truck were featured in Tiny Homes on the Move. Turns out that:
1. Foster’s treehouse is pretty close to Portland so I’m on my way there now to hang out and spend the night before flying home tomorrow.
2. Serendipitously, this article on him appeared in yesterdays NY Times (with great photos by Kyle Johnson):
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/style/escape-to-bro-topia.html?hpw&rref=fashion&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
Weather has been really hot. I’ve been swimming in the Willamette River every day. It turns out to be a pretty clean river, cool (maybe 65 degrees) in 85 degree air temp.
As much as I love NYC and New Yorkers and the ultimate big-city stimulation and delight and inspiration, I get an almost punch in the stomach when I come over the mountain and see the Pacific Ocean. Home! I just barely got back into California mode when I took off for Oregon. Coming down yesterday, everything looked so green, especially compared to parched California.
Portland is as sweet as ever. It’s so mellow for a city. In fact, Oregon and Oregonians are mellow. The Feng Shui of the whole state is right. (When I first came here in the late ’60s a long-haired guy came up to me when I was getting gas and handed me a freshly-rolled joint.) After coffee at Stumptown Roastery yesterday, I headed out to the coast, where it was windy and wild. Miles of sandy beaches, off-shore rocks, and a medium-sized swell.
I decided to head back to McMinnville, followed a curvy rural road west, checked into McMenamin’s Oregon Hotel, a venerable 4-story brick structure built in 1905, then headed out to the Golden Valley Brewery, where they make all 10 or so types of tap beer they serve. The bar (shown here) was salvaged from a hotel that burned down in Portland. The owner, Peter Kircher, has a nearby ranch where he raises vegetables and beef for the brewery; they feed spent barley from brewing to the cattle—nice cycle.
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