Got up at 4 this morning, got rolling by 4:30, heading down the coast to Santa Cruz. An almost-full silvery-bright moon was reflected in a broad path of shimmering light on the black ocean; called moonglade, nice word.

   Around Pacifca, the moon was about to set on the western horizon, and it was as orange, well — as an orange. I’ve seen lots of orange rising moons, but never a setting one. Stunning. Free.

  BB King and Ruth Brown were doing a spirited version of Ain’t Nobody’s Business, Ruth’s voice like a blasting-off rocket. Then the new Devil’s Slide tunnel, which took forever to build. Made me think of the new Bay Bridge, which overall, sucks. The central tower with cables is sort of elegant, but for like a mile before it, there are 100s of dumb looking lights on white poles maybe 50′ high. Ugly.

   Andrew Loog Oldham has a great program on Sirius Radio’s Underground Garage channel. Very knowledgeable, has creds (early Stones), is funny, plays a lot of 60s music I’ve never heard.

   Now fortified with excellent Verve latte and apple pastry, am heading out into a beautiful Santa Cruz day. Ah, Southern California!

I read this book straight through last night. It’s a charming and informative account of Kelly and Rosana Hart’s many nomadic vehicles over the last 4 decades: trailers, a van, a pickup-truck-with-camper, and several buses.

Kelly’s first bus was covered in our book Shelter (p. 89) in 1973, and his earthbag/papercrete house was in our book Home Work (p. 88) in 2004. He’s been creating new mobile (and stationary) homes ever since. Plus running the info-packed website https://greenhomebuilding.com/.

The tone of writing is conversational and friendly, there are building tips for those inspired to do likewise, there are details and photos from a bunch of trips (including to Mexico), and there are a few hundred color photos. A homemade book in the best sense, made in the USA, $12 at Amazon here.

“If you want to travel through a country on a budget and still sleep in a dry place while it rains, a small camper is perfect. However, I wanted to have a fuel efficient car that could be used as well on a daily basis. I decided to go for a used white Renault Kangoo 1.5dci mini van. It’s highly fuel efficient (5.2l/100km – 45.2mpg / effective range around 1000km – 621 miles), pleasant to drive and if you take the seats out it is an astonishingly big transporter for sport or daily use.

   I planned everything to be modular:

While camping you take the back seats out and are left with two seats and a camping mobile.

You can leave the back seats in the car and install the kitchen box and you have your kitchen with you if you want to go climbing with your friends.

Or you take both boxes out and your car is a normal mini van again.

The main goal was to build a small camper that is very fast and easy to put into a sleeping position.”

Click here.

From Anonymous

This blog has been wonderful for me with feedback. There are a bunch of like minded people out there who to turn me on to things I’m into, and give me advice, leads, facts, and criticism. Totally great, especially out here in the boondocks.

   BUT I’m getting so many good tips in the “Comments” section here that I can’t keep up with them all. I need to get this book done!

   What I’ve been doing is going to the link recommended and if I like it, make it into a post — which takes time — downloading images, selecting text, creating a link, then posting.

   I do this because I don’t think many people read comments on old posts, and a bunch of these things are so great. It’s got to the point where I have a backlog of referred URLs to post, and it stresses me out to look at them all in my (Eudora — still) inbox in the morning

   SO! I’m going to start posting the comments (or emails) as they come in, au naturel, so you can check them out from scratch. Big time-saver for me. To wit:

Hey Lloyd,

A filmmaker friend of mine just completed a short film about a boot-maker in Pendleton, Oregon who is searching for someone to carry on his legacy. Thought you might want to help spread the word.

<https://blog.farmrun.com/post/58742813729/in-search-of-succession>https://blog.farmrun.com/post/58742813729/in-search-of-succession

Best,

Sean

From Lynn Kading:

4-Year-old Girl’s Vegetable Garden Must Go, Says USDA

https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/4-year-old-girls-vegetable-garden-must-go-says-usda/

From Mike W:

“….Have you ever felt trapped in a static life you didn’t choose? Ever considered just walking away from it all and creating your own adventure? When Josh and Jessa Works asked themselves these questions, they answered by loading their son Jack into an Airstream and launching into an exploration and rediscovery of America, not in search of a place to settle, but rather creating a new kind of home out of wandering….”

https://vimeo.com/71385845

stumbled onto this on someone’s facebook page..

From: CLL

FYI

https://www.pressherald.com/news/getting-into-living-off-the-land_2013-08-25.html

Thanks for all your good work.  Been a fan for more years than either of us would want to admit <g>.

Coming down a dirt road at 7 this morning, heading into town for latte and wi-fi (+ ginger scone), Third Rate Romance playing on 102.3 FM, “Real Country,” enjoying the real country surroundings, redwoods and tan oaks, then on Highway One from Pt. Arena to Gualala, Gregory Isaacs singing Tan So Back, reggae an integral part of Mendo culture, my Honda Fit continuing to be a nimble delight to drive, sunny morning on the coast, healthy kelp beds off shore, the ocean blue…

Louie and I went down to the Pt. Arena pier yesterday. This salmon boat was being hauled out of the water. Later we went into Franny’s Cup & Saucer, one of the best bakeries anywhere, to get some almond croissants for afternoon tea; this sign in window, ain’t it the truth…

   In a few minutes, I’m heading north along  the coast and will cut across the mountains to Philo, thence northeast to Hopland and this year’s SolFest.