Hopland, Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg, Mendacino...

Here is a quick update of my touring in this area.  I spent a day in Hopland, which is approximately a dozen stores along route 101, plus some surrounding residential areas.  I met Parti, who runs a little antique and crafts store.  She showed me a small house she's renovating and asked me for a price to prepare some filing drawings.  My bid was triple what she thought a local service would charge.  I looked at a sample of their work, which she had from a previous project, and I told her they already had most of the boiler plate stuff in the computer for local code requirements and that I couldn't be competitive.  I said I'd meet her half way on the price, but of course that didn't do it.  There were no hard feelings.  She told me about more local towns and what rentals might be available.

I moved on to Ukiah and then spent the night in Willlits.  Two depressed and not so picturesque towns.  I don't remember talking with anyone.

I spent three or so days in Fort Bragg, a town built around a now closed huge logging mill.  I befriended Dan Hemann, proprietor of the Green Door Gallery, and an amazing sculptor.  I played vibes for the Farmer's Market one day and met all sorts of folks, including Tasha, a former cellist and now student of woodwork.  The next day, I went to visit the world famous College of the Redwoods School of Woodwork, a wonderful community of amazing craftsmen, and I saw Tasha again.  I also met much of the faculty and some other students, including another architect pursuing alternative careers.  Tasha directed me to Mahout, a collaborative of three alumni woodworkers who might take another into their shop.  I met with Isaac and later Andrew, and I may get an opportunity to join them in September.  Georgia Pacific owns the closed mill.  I met with the fellow directing the field efforts to clean up toxic waste from the old plant area, mostly spilled oil and wood preservative, some buried batteries, careless remains from an era when nobody thought of such things.  The mill site occupies several hundred acres along the ocean front, blocking the town's access to the spectacular Northern California sea shore.  When this land is restored, the town could boom.  I looked at the redevelopment master plans which include a lovely central park and water's edge nature trail, as well as commercial and residential areas.  It looks like there will be work here for architects in 5 or 10 years.  The necessary cleanup first, however, will be of unknown duration and litigious complexity.

Now I'm in Mendecino, the quintessential postcard modest coastal town.  So much so that it was chosen as the location to shoot "The Summer of '42".  The lush theme for that movie keeps running through my head, and I vaguely hope to bump into Jennifer O'Neil somewhere... oh yeah, it was a movie 40 years ago.  I'd love to live here.

I visited the Highlight Gallery which features high end woodwork.  Spectacularly well crafted pieces, and very high prices; now we're talking!  Owing to the presence of the College of the Redwoods, and the natural resources here, this is the woodworking craftsmen capital of the world.  I spoke to Owen Edwards, a stellar artisan who's number I got from Dan Hemann.  Owen spent half an hour on the phone with me and was very helpful, with suggestions of where to look to live, and names of other folks, other schools, etc.  I also got the clear impression that he was really struggling.  Gulp.  He's an established superstar and his business has really dropped off.  He offered to build my chair on commission.

I'm heading back to Oakland later, will stay at John and MK's and try working in Joshua's shop down there for August.  Then, I may head back east.

Point Reyes, Oakland, and..

I stayed a few nights at Sandy's house in Fairfax.  She showed me some of the surrounding towns, including San Rafael and a few marvelous places on Point Reyes, which include some spectacularly well preserved little villages with shops and galleries, surrounded by luxurious hill houses.  "This is the gold standard for what you are looking for," she explained.  With a phone call or two, she managed to find and introduce me to Bruce Mitchel and his wife Nancy.  Bruce, a big bear of a man, is an established woodworker, turner, and  sculptor, who welcomed us into his home and studio.  After a few days, I went to visit my friends from NYC, John and Mary Katherine, who relocated to Oakland perhaps 10 years ago (time flies!)  While here the last two days or so, I went to a wood shop collaborative in Berkeley that I found some time back on Craig's list, and arranged to be able to rent access for the month of August. Then I went to the Richmond Art Center and saw an exhibit in which Bruce had a small piece, and saw Bruce and Nancy, too.  Tomorrow through Thursday, I'll go to Mendocino, Fort Bragg and Willits to see if those art communities might offer what I'm looking for at a price I can manage.  If not, I'll come back here to Oakland and rent the shop in Berkeley to make some stuff, and take it from there...

30 miles to Reno

Pavement everywhere, again.  Malls.  Autozone, Lowes, and Walmart.  Ugh.

When I was in Mississippi, a friend said I was a runaway, I'd just waited a long time to do it.  At the time, I thought that that sounded right.  But now I think the opposite is true.  I was a runaway for the 30 years I spent in New York City, an angry runaway from an earlier life I loved, but where I had been hurt.

I hate it here, now, in Fernley, NV, 30 miles east of Reno, after having roamed freely these past months in remote areas, and in quirky towns with people inventing their lives.  Coming back into this more conventional realm feels like putting on a straight jacket.  I am looking forward to seeing my friends Sandy, John, and Mary Katherine, in Fairfax and Oakland, but I can't wait 'till I get a few hours further north of San Francisco, back out to where there isn't so much pavement.

I'm concerned that I don't have enough money left to pull off my plan to build a creative workshop, but I'm feeling more and more certain it's the right plan.  Some two and a half years ago, when I was first describing the idea for this travel adventure to my shrink at the time, he said "Not only do I think it's a good idea, I think it's important you do this."  (My eyes welled up writing this)  "You don't want to sit around in your 'shitrock box.'"  (Him, quoting the term that I used for my apartment when I was angry at "the system" in NY)  "This is a great country for driving around in..." (I remembered then my surprise when he once mentioned that he had spent years traveling in Nicaragua, which I'd never have guessed with the crew cut, buttoned down shirt and thin neck ties he wore when I knew him.)  He added successively, encouragingly, until he was sure I'd heard, "Don't worry about the money...  You have skills...  You'll think of something...", finishing with a light hearted pursed lipped smirk and a final affirmative nod.  He was always, always, on my side, and time and again I benefited greatly from my certainty of this.  And yet, I later realized that in my entire experience with his otherwise non-interventionist method, I believe this is the one time he'd ever endorsed a particular course of action for me.

I have a feeling he would like my current plan, too... will like; I'm thinking of calling him to say "Hi" and catch up on the last couple of years.

Here's the first floor of the "shitrock box", the modest Greenwich Village rented studio I converted into a duplex and in which I had built my short lived architecture studio.  It wasn't all that bad :-)

I'm in Ely, Nevada

300 miles so far today, Friday, and it's 4 p.m.  I'm taking a northern route, Highway 50, through the Rockies.  One lane each way.  It offers a shorter drive from where I was in Utah, and it avoids the desert drive on the popular route through Las Vegas and Death Valley.  500 miles more to N. Cali region.  :-)

As I pulled into Ely, I stopped at a police station and asked about the State and local rules about parking a camper.  "In Nevada, just don't park in traffic."  I smiled and asked "How about something like that gravel lot over there?"  "On the weekend, it fills up with campers." 

:-) !

Looks like I didn't go back to Jerome.  I will call Tim McQuen to keep in touch, and who knows, if Ca doesn't work out, I could try Jerome again on the return trip.

Bryce Canyon

Off the charts!

Zion

A chaotic hodgepodge of too many ill proportioned mountains crowded too close together.  Sorry God, nice try, but, it looks like the storage room for movie sets.  I did get some nice photos and have many more to post.

Two small encounters; a twenty-something fellow offered me a seat on the park shuttle bus.  "You are being very nice, now I will have to kick your ass" is what I didn't say.  It was more like, "Thanks, I'm ok."

On the other hand, among the many, many French and Swiss tourists I overheard talking, several of whom I met, was Stephanie, a lovely recent journalism graduate from Switzerland, who said "Oh your the guy who's been traveling in a mini school bus for eight months!  Your the second famous person I've met!"  She wanted to see the bus and we exchanged e-mail and blog addresses.  :-)

Mystery solved: Odelia and Axel, from France, described me to Stephanie (see "comments")  I ran into Odelia and Axel at the Grand Canyon, at Bryce, and at Antelope Canyons, too!

Antelope Canyon

Beautiful little canyon carved in soft sandstone by wind and water.  Lots more photos to post.