Time to Finish It Up!

The Morgans and Their Animals Above

Here it is, kidz, the last post!

Things kind of lost coherence once I got to Olympia and felt like home. It's not accidental that these two things, home and non-coherence, go together.

I drove up from Salem and upon encountering traffic in Portland had to use my silk mask all the way through on 205. Recent studies note the problems women are having with particle pollution, and this woman seriously reacts still (unfortunately) to exhaust fumes when they get to a certain intensity. However, the mask worked and kept me breathing, which is cool. And the minute I got past Vancouver, things mellowed out.

Of course, it also started seriously raining, the first rain on the whole trip. By the time I got to Olympia, it was at a steady drip, and I loved seeing people dressed like me slouching around in the grey. Since it was Tuesday and a work day, I ran into Caffe Vita (http://www.caffevita.com/) and had an intense afternoon catching up with myth, along with a bunch of student types all hanging out and slogging through their work. At least I get paid for mine, low salary though it is!

I did manage to trip off a landing I didn't see and sprawl on the floor for a minute to my acute embarrassment. I'd attribute this to age and fatness except that I have been doing this about all my life and just never seem to get hurt. That will surely change, but meanwhile, it's been handy. If you're gonna be a klutz, at least be a bouncy one. (Really helped when I skied a lot--never broke anything.)

John Flory
The wonderful John Flory, so I learned from email, had a close brush with death from a nasty old rat he was handling in his position as veterinarian. His wonderful daughter Adi kept us all posted, and he has now pulled out of this awful disease that starts with "L." I had wanted to do some banjo talking with him since he is a master player and repairer and maker of same, but that will come later.

Hangin' with the Animal Kingdom
My buddies Jim and Laurie Morgan came to meet me for dinner at the new Spar. McMenamin's has taken it over. It was pretty great and does have wifi, but don't order a side of tater tots unless you're ready for some serious food that sits around in your stomach for as long as the decay rate of most plastics. But yeah, it's good. (http://academic.evergreen.edu/b/basdar24/SparStory.html)

After supper, we went back to my camping spot for the week. Jim and Laurie are old friends from our Holy Trinity Orthodox days, where we all sang in the choir together. They have two dogs (Bobbie and Buster the Wonder Dog), a llama (Nutter) with other llama sadly having just passed, and two huge donkeys (Trotter and Abe) that they ride and take to various arcane donkey events. Buster was the newest addition, so I had to get to know him--a sweet but huge dog, and you never want to let him out. That dog can run, as I found out to my grief! Luckily, he soon returned home, but I made sure to shut the front door firmly after that!

I spent Wednesday catching up with laundry, school, etc.


Vicki
I finally got time to hang with one of my best friends, Vicki Scannell, from Pierce College. Once she was done with school and I was done with grading at Cafe Vita, we went for a great long walk around the bay as we almost always do when I'm down there. Vicki is a great writer and walker and a real source of inspiration to me. We went out to Ramblin' Jack's (one of my fave Oly restaurants--they have EVERYTHING!) and then sat around in the living room too stuffed to move, talk, or think. It was great!

Before we totally checked out, we each gave each other a revelation about how to use our online platform for school. That's another reason I love time with Vicki!

Scott Gets Restless
By now, Scott was getting pretty determined to come down, so he did on Thursday night after playing tunes with our buds Becky and Michael and Karen. (He even made them chicken soup and dinner! I should leave more often!)

It was a bit after midnight that I woke up from a cozy sleep in the van to the sound of our camper revving up the driveway. Our camper is a tiny Toyota truck with what used to seem like a small camper on the back, but it seemed like a palace now though, oddly, not as comfy as my cot in the van! Go figure. Still, we re-routed the heater, set up beds, embraced, etc. T-Lou was there, too! So it was all wonderful.

The next day, we actually went and got some foam for the van that really fits the cot, so no more overhang! And we schlepped around and did various stuff.


Fine Times at Our House
We couldn't wait on Friday to see Joe and Paula McHugh, along with my main Coattail Rider man, Forrest Newton, perform at Evergreen. After a challenge finding the place, we made it in just in time to see lots of friends in the audience. Joe has just written a novel, Kilowatt, which Yours Truly is going to copy edit. Joe is a fabulous storyteller and fiddler of the West Virginia persuasion (a definite fave for us thanks to Jim Ketterman)! His wife, Paula, is a great banjo player and artist, and her art was featured--pictures of fiddle tunes. We bought one that looked like a picture of T-Lou. For more, do see http://www.americanfamilystories.org/home.html to listen to some great stories!

And yeah, I'm the one that yelled when Joe scared us!

Heading Home
I decided to go home with Scott on Saturday since I was becoming discombobulated, and with him there, it just seemed like I already was home. So you other Olympians, I'm just gonna have to come down there again so that we can hang. Or you all will have to come up to Port Townsend!

We had a glorious breakfast with Jim and Scott doing all the work. (Yeah!) The Orthodox were about to go off meat for Lent, so we had bacon, of course! And eggs, and potatoes. Well, you get the idea. We packed up and said farewell to our friends and headed over to Joe and Paula's to get in a few tunes before getting on the road. It was another fine time at their house by Boston Harbor (name cracks me up), and we found out we'll be seing them in about a week since they have a gig up here! They're staying with us! Yes!!!

I finally cut out at 3 p.m. because I didn't want to drive home in the dark, and it was great to go up the back way along the Sound, past all the familiar places and trails I want to get in and hike some more. Finally, I was pulling into our driveway! The place looked great except for the coffee table being covered with boat plans.

From there on it was a flurry of cleaning out the van (much faster than packing, though!) and laundry and dinner and then, finally sleep! I MADE IT!!!

Future Plans
Rather than feeling sated, I am already scheming some new plans. I don't want to hang in cities, and Joshua Tree would involve driving through some pretty bad air around Bakersfield, so I am plotting a month down at a beach north of Santa Barbara. I really did fall in love with US 1 in CA, so I want more of it, but I want some warmth, too!

Adieu and farewell for now!

Banjos in Salem! Rain in Olympia!

I drove through a strange haze up through the familiar fields on either side of I5 and was quickly in Salem to visit John Adams and his wonderful collection of banjos. I got set up in the driveway, and then we played tunes, a lot of them with me on the fiddle, which was painful, but John is a heckuva nice guy.

I discovered that a neighbor had a great wifi network, though, and got in trouble staying up till about 2 a.m. doing the blog. I should have been doing work if anything, but at least I got a little caught up.

Rain! I Must Be Almost Home!
The next morning, I headed out crying, "Narnia and the North!" (Some of you, most notably my brother, will recognize this quotation.) I had the first serious breathing problem of the trip trying to drive through Portland. Don't know what was going on, but I think the I5 traffic is still problematic for me. Luckily, my silk mask took care of the problem, and once I was a way into good ol' WA, I was fine.

The first serious rain of the whole trip started to fall. I was definitely coming home.

I popped into Olympia just grinning from ear to ear. I love this town, even if they are developing themselves in a completely gross manner. People were dressed like me. I went right into Cafe Venita and got to work catching up, or trying to, with work. Got the Intel piece done and out, and got through most of my classwork. Chatted back and forth with folks and found out that John Flory, the wondrously kind and talented banjo meister, is very ill and in the hospital. So everyone pray for him or do whatever you can to help.

I met Jim and Paula Morgan, our dear friends who are putting me up, at The New Spar, which has been taken over by McMennamin's, and a good thing, too. Good tater tots and cool booths and good wifi. We had a huge dinner and went home, where I got to meet Buster the Wonder Dog, who is a huge sweetie but does like to jump. I got set up for the night, played a little Wade Ward with the computer, and went to bed!

Wednesday
This blog is winding down. I'm back at The Spar typing. I slept in till about 10:30 this morning until Jim pounded on the door and I chatted with him and our old friend Nilus, who is back in the area. Very good to see him!

Got to meet the Donkey boys, who are both huge, with Trotter being very curious and Abey (sp?) being very shy. Pictures coming.

Then I headed out for Value Village and really scored. I think VV is one of the things I miss most in PT. Gonna go out for Thai tonight and go see Pan's Labyrinth. Review to come.

LSRHS Grads!

Cheryl & Larry's Pad. The Dead Iraquis. The Dead Americans. Cheryl. Larry. Church outside. Church inside. Sabri. C&K at home. Larry's shop. Shawn at his house. Cool teakettle--the little jiggis on the spout turns around from the steam when it whistles and boils. How cool is that?

Saturday morning I headed up to coast to Reedsport, waving a fond farewell to Bob-o and Cuzco, who were taking their morning constitutional. It was a little rough with some asthma; I had been having some on and off for some reason.

At route 38 I turned east and with delight realized I'd be following the Umpqua River, which I canoed with the kids years ago. (See cool picture above that Philip digitized.) It was really wonderful, and I've loved the way the old roads follow rivers, which is probably duh to most of you but has been a revelation to me on this trip.

Before I knew it, I was coming into Cottage Grove and Eugene, which is a somewhat haunted place to me since just south of there was the site of the Christian commune I was in from 1972 until our abrupt departure (as in being kicked out and shunned) in 1976. (For my brief article on this that was published years ago in Communities, see http://communities.ic.org/92/2992.php)
Following my excellent directions from my friend Cheryl, I soon found her and her husband, Larry's treehouse abode.

Cheryl is an old friend from my high school, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School (LSRHS), and, amazingly, we have kept in touch in vague ways over the past 30 years or so ever since she came out to Eugene. She and Larry have also visited us, along with their daughter Sarah, up in Port Townsend. They were hiking then and sleeping in weird hammocks that close you in all around like pod people.

Larry is amazingly handy at all the cool household things, which meant I arrived at the perfect time to help them haul a ridiculously heavy oven up an even more ridiculously steep set of stairs. But we did it! Inside, their house is tiny and crammed with cool stuff EVERYWHERE. I wanted to take a zillion pictures, but tried to restrain myself and not be totally rude.

Cheryl and I probably talked about a zillion miles a minute. Once I was settled, we took their old Volvo to see a moving and horrific exhibit at the U of O, a series of little plastic flags representing those killed in the current war. The red ones each stood for one American, the white for 6 Iraquis. The white ones stretched forever. It was overwhelming.

I wanted to take them out for dinner, so we stopped and had beers while waiting for the Thai place to open. While it was a good dinner, I still think I like Khu Larb in Port Townsend better! We came home to something I never do--games! Darned if I can remember the name of it, but we played a really fun word game, especially fun since I won the second time. We got to look things up in dictionaries and argue and pooh-pooh each others' attempted creations. I also got a little time for work, having jacked into the neighbor's wifi in my usual nefarious way.

Re-visiting St. Nicholas' Orthodox Church

The next morning was Sunday, so I headed out for St. Nicholas' where we had gone some years back after a Shiloh (my old commune) reunion and found it quite wonderful. I had to call Cheryl a few times after getting lost, and a whole line of cars heading to an immense megachurch across the way wouldn't let me make a turn for a while, but finally, I got over there and into an exquisite service in the Greek tradition, but in English. I really like this combination--the Byzantine tones are gorgeous, but it's all comprehensible, with chanters leading and the whole congregation singing along. The priest there has a beautiful soft nasal voice that intones the liturgy in a really meditative way.

His sermon on the prodigal son was utterly convicting. Here comes Lent! And I sing a Doc Boggs song about this parable, so I found it doubly moving.

They just shot through the service, with it lasting about an hour and fifteen minutes. Unheard of with the Russians or the OCA! We're at least 2 hours, usually. I checked out the bookstore for stuff, had a little nosh, and left. People were friendly if I asked questions, but it was lonely being a stranger there. It made me realize how important it is to greet strangers when they come to our own church.

More LSRHS

The afternoon was dedicated to playing tunes with yet ANOTHER LSRHS graduate! Shawn Lockery is a friend from Fiddle Tunes who plays a mean fiddle! His wife Kathy plays guitar, and I was delighted to meet her. Shawn and Kathy live in a beautiful old house with a lot of land. Teenagers were all over the place since someone was having a birthday party, so we went in the bedroom, drank beers, and talked and played.

Kathy teaches Waldorf kindegarden. Shawn is a rather amazing and brilliant scientist. http://chinook.uoregon.edu/index.html His brother Ted is also a wonderful banjo player and human being, who I met first before Shawn at the same festival.

All too soon, I had to leave and get back for a wonderful dinner at Cheryl and Larry's. Then Cheryl and I said we would work, but first we had a long talk and about two hours later got down to work! Finally, we gave it up and turned in.

Bob-o's Again

The Lagoon that says, "Bob-o's is near." The Crazy Norwegian. Friendly waitress! Bob-o's Amazing Art. Lois getting her lesson. Bob-o and Cuzco on the hike. Jeanie and Cuzco on the hike. My promo picture.

Well, it is always great to hang at Bob-o's pad. I really love Port Orford in all its funky glory, especially after being in the city. I actually had to do a heckuva lot of work on Thursday, so I tried a new cafe that said it had wireless. Forget it. The Crazy Norwegian is the only place to go. Much better food, too, though Bob-o says I am being unfair.

Thursday night we watched Galaxy Quest, one of my favorite movies ever, which I had gotten Bob-o to order from Netflix for my return. I was shocked that he hadn't seen it, but unfortunately he didn't seem to be as enthusiastic about it. I think Cuzco liked it, though. Cuzco was really sweet when I got back. It seemed he remembered me and had decided I was really cool.

He thought I was even cooler the next day since I conned Bob-o into a nice little hike (about 7 miles) out to the beach and a lake near the airport. (Bet you didn't know there's an airport in Port Orford! A leftover from WW2, very long runway but very nothing else.) It was a wonderful hike, the trails soft with sand underneath, the shorepines dwarfed, little nooks and valleys and some amazing beach vista. I haven't gotten to hike at all on this trip, hardly even walk, and that has been kind of a bummer. But even I can't do everything.

While I had been gone, Lois had been diligently learning the chorus of "Cripple Creek" bluegrass style on her banjo. Now I taught her what is probably a terrible version of the verse, and she got it right down. While that was going on, Bob-o took a promo picture of me for the Dusty Strings gig I'm doing in May with Bob Carlin and Cathy Fink, which is a little scary for me, but at least Scott and Forrest are going to perform at the concert with me! May 3, y'all come!

Lois is a primo photographer of birds, as already noted, so she took the picture home and photoshopped it. Considering what they had to work with, I think it turned out pretty good!

I had a moment of shock when I thought someone had keyed the van while at the Crazy Norwegian, but after talking with Bob-o about it since, I think it's from my running just a teency weency bit into his mailbox while I was backing the van into the driveway on Wednesday. (Now why was I backing it up? Ya got me.)

Friday night I got ready to leave and washed clothes and stuff. It was tough to say goodbye!

Holy Moly, I Gotta Catch Up!

Here's a scene for you--I'm sitting up in my van a little after midnight, the heater going, typing away, and on some neighbor's wifi. How cool is that? I should be actually finishing up an edit for Intel, but I can't stand letting the blog go any longer. Too much has happened! So, this first part is going to finish my cruise up the California coast and on to Bob-o's in Port Orford.

Caspar Beach

Isn't it great that I found a beach named after a ghost? And a cute ghost. Anyway, I found 'em because they had wifi and laundry and stuff. I really needed a pit stop after Bezerkley and all the wild fun there, a time to catch up and just be quiet for a while. The RV place was nice except for no cell reception, and I got to take a little walk the two nights I was there, but mostly I worked my butt off catching up with my blog and mythology class. And then I watched a whole lot of movies and stuff online, mostly cool musician stuff from John Hartford's site.

I was just north of Mendocino and south of Fort Bragg, which is kind of an ugly pit. But it had a Safeway. My food thing is pretty low key--I bought stuff and just kept what I needed cold out in a plastic box. A beautiful jay kept coming around hoping for crumbs. At night the ocean waves crashed. I love that sound.

Heading Up North, Heading Up North This Fall

Luck Don't Change, I Won't Be Back at All

OK, who knows where this is from? Forrest, you can't answer!

I left a blueberry on the picnic table at my spot, hoping the jay would come and that I could take a picture of him, but of course he didn't.

Vanita was ready to roll. We took off around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, my goal being Brookings, just over the Oregon border, where there were two state parks with electric hookups, way cheaper than the RV places. It was a long drive, but I thought I'd try for it.

Even though Bob-o had warned me against it, I decided I just had to see what it was like to drive the rest of Rt. 1, so I did so. More lovely, haunted hills and cliffs over the jewel-like sea, hairpin turns with coatings of red, and tunnels of eucalyptus trees. And then--the road veered east and took me into the forest and some of the gnarliest turns you ever don't want to drive. So it took FOREVER to get over to 101, but then I was there, and cruising up to good ol' Garberville. I stopped into Treats again for a little wifi and lunch, and there was something cool about knowing the place a little now. Had some awesome corn and salmon chowder and a sandwich, checked in with email and my classes, and then I was off.

And I just kept going. Before I knew it, I was heading over the line for Brookings, the last line of eucalyptus trees fading out in Eureka. Then I was freaking because I had forgotten to do some myth stuff, so I pulled over in front of a motel with wifi and just sat in the van and did my work. There was something cool about that!

It was getting late, so I was hoping to set up in the park. Couldn't find it. Kept driving, and before I knew it, I was almost at Port Orford, so I called Bob-o, and by the time I got there, he and Lois had the burgers going, and I was back!

Cruising up the California and Oregon Coast

Some crappy pictures of my route. These totally don't do it justice. And Scott's garden! And my kids in their animal hats on the Umpqua, long ago. (Thanks, Phil!)


On Monday, I managed to get out of Berkeley by 10 a.m., which for me is pretty good, and I only did one bad thing--snagging a water bottle by mistake! Sorry about that, Susan! Check's in the mail, or will be soon!

It was an exquisite robin's egg of a day, with the sun shining, the air all cleaned out from the rains earlier, and the temperature something warm in the sixties, which felt balmy to this Northwesterner. I drove though all the ugly suburbs on 101 and then turned west on 116 and felt back at home on a country road leading through little towns (admitedly shamelessly tourist ) with things like the Uneeda Eat Grocery and the Dew Drop Inn (is there one of these everywhere?) and redwoods and the crazy people who build houses under them and then get to live with their lights on all the time. The usual roadwork, but all well managed (even with traffic lights--good grief!). I guiltily drove past a Curves. I wanted to get to the coast.

Jenner and Beyond
I came out at Jenner, having been warned to avoid Rte. 1 south of there since it was closed or something. I drove through rolling hills, hairpin curves, and around me soared huge black birds that I thought might be condors, but when I looked up condors, I realized they are too rare and big. They were like hawks but bigger, with red on their faces, maybe vultures? Anyone? There were lots of hawks, too. Some towns were awful--one I called the Place of Big Boxes, all these boxy, modern, identical houses for rich people. Really boring white posts for roads, all the same. But most of the towns were cool and funky with the California twist of "wine lounges," organic markets, and beautiful little B&Bs.

The ocean crashed below in turquoises, blues, and white froth, and I drove along in a happy dream until I got to Mendocino, where I turned off for Caspar Beach RV Park. I had called them the day before to make sure they had wifi because, alas, I needed to work and do laundry and get food and get organized. So I did all that on a beautiful sunny day instead of taking the walk I should have!

Because the next day, it was cloudy and cold. My asthma was acting up, so it was a short walk around the beach and then a long day online. Internet Explorer was acting up and making me crazy. A loooooong day.

But Scott was busy. Check out the beautiful raised bed he is building. I'm starting to get homesick! It didn't help when he told me it was sunny up there!

Tomorrow, I'm going to aim for an Oregon state park. They have electricity and are cheaper, but no wifi, so I'll have to go into town for that. That will be a nice change from the cot in the van. It's nice in here with my Christmas lights and music playing, but my hands are sore from typing, and I think I'll sign off for some serious goofing off with the banjo, fiddle, and a Harper's.

Susan's Hats

Those of you who went to Centralia last year (http://www.centraliacampout.com/) probably know that Susan Sawyer is an amazing felter, but her hats are beyond beyond. I bought one (she wanted to give it to me, so we haggled backwards to a price if that makes any sense). It's FABULOUS. Anyway, here are some pictures of the "hat pole" and hats and me in mine.