Michigan Home

Home. Well that could be an entire blog in and of itself. Home.

I told my mother on the phone when I walked in the house that I would trade the last stretch (from Chicago to Pinckney) for the entire other four days. Tough going through midwestern storms, blinding rain, flooding highways, and Michigan drivers who don't get the concept of the left lane. I had to get off the freeway twice, once because I could not see and once for flooding. A serious accident humbled all of us blasting along, and the average speed plummeted to about 4 miles an hour. Again, very thankful I made it back in one piece with even bigger patches of poison oak taking over my driving body. Mendocino lives on. 

I called this entry Michigan home because I am blessed by the sensation of multiple homes right now, California and North Carolina being close contenders. It has been an incredible seven weeks on the road, the last month concentrated in the Bay Area and north. There is nothing better in the world than feeling welcomed and loved. Nothing.

Perplexed

I've just got one question this morning. How with the antiseptic atmosphere of these hotels lacking operable windows, congested with intervening lobbies separating you and the outside, do mosquitos get into my room? I see them gathering outside my window this morning; that I can take. But last night when I surprisingly discovered what I thought was a solo transgressor and smeared him against the vinyl wallpaper, I assumed that was it. Not so. Morning greetings at six am, buzzing in the ear. Could they be living in the air conditioning system?

Other Curvy Paths

All this driving reminds me of earlier confrontations with curves. The Gualala River meets the Pacific Ocean. More framing studies - what should the river do to the edge of the page?

Happy Accidents in Nebraska

You cant know what you are getting at high speed. If they've eliminated talking on the cell phone while driving then taking photographs is probably not a good idea, but it's hard to resist. Sometimes you get lucky and catch an image that resembles what you saw (and captures why you wanted it) and other times the photograph itself reveals something you never saw. 

In each of these photos (shot from the car), objects and their backgrounds change up who is standing still and who is moving. Bales of hay roll faster than my car, spaces between train cars are trees swept from their woods, a single stone freezes atop a whizzing hillside. 

Crossing Wyoming

I suppose Best Western is its chain name - Outlaw Inn is where I rested last night and just ate breakfast. Accompanying me was the Casper Star Tribune (though I am in Rock Springs) and its assembly of headlines is worth noting. 

The United States is unprepared for an asteroid attack.

Handguns by Hand

"Wyoming remains a raw, sparsely settled place where guns are a way of life. Wildlife

is thick and people hunt to eat." The guy who owns the store is proudly holding what looks

to me like a pistol with a long goose neck.

(I order a Belgium waffle)

Rainbow Family attacks Forest Service Officers

And lastly, going national, old homey Helms finally dies. All I could think was how did this man with so much evil in his heart manage to die the same day as John Adams. Who gave him the right to command a headline on the day we celebrate our collective citizenship? (remember his nightly "viewpoint" on the news in the late 60's Wren?)

Off for another driving day. There would be days like this Mama said.

eighty on eighty

If the temperature at ten this morning held steady, it would have been a triple eighty.

I had an officer tell me that it was okay to go five miles over the speed limit. So I set the cruise control just a touch over eighty. Made good distance, reconnected with Meatloaf. 

Instead of the triple eighty it was 102 degrees most of the way across Nevada and Utah.

In chronological order; a view from the driver's seat. Trucks and me.

Likeness

Specimen trees are symbols. The Boonville Big Band, whom I had the pleasure of hearing rehearse for several hours at the Anderson Valley High School, embraces a cast of characters who reminded me of this tree. Larry comes to mind - sliding his trombone to his own rhythm, but still in sync. A little guidance goes a long way. 

Big band leaders share lineage or at least behavioral traits with those mesmerizing conductors of the past. I spent an evening rocking in my seat as Bob, a former clarinet player and high school band man, lead an eclectic collection of Anderson valley folk in preparation for the fourth of July concert. While I listen to lots of music, seeing people play live and with one another is addictive like sports. The inescapable in the moment demands of keeping time, hearing others, and reacting moves me like nothing else. If you get a chance head to Mendocino tomorrow and fill your heart with the Boonville Big Band. 

Navarro Beach

Makes you wonder what essentially constitutes a home. Is duration part of the answer?

Sparks, Nevada

Not Reno, but close. Is that not always the way with gambling. Intermittent reward I heard it is called - the most compelling of all, stimulating a search for patterns, predictability, solid ground. I got it here at the quality inn last night, my first on the return trip. I'm opting for the straight shot this time, highway 80. Not so scenic they say, but so far I like it: Uhauls and brown hills sharing a frame. If the California stretch of 80 is any indication I believe I might be paralleling the route I took on the Southwest Chief crossing the country by Amtrak several years ago. 

phases of a house

Projecting imagined futures, ways of living, what to see when and in what light are but a few of the flurry of options darting about in your head at the start of designing a house. I thought my camping days were over, well hopefully not forever, but dormant. Then it is seemed obvious that sleeping where a bedroom might want to be makes sense. And drawing full scale in bright green tape a better form of sketching alternatives to pen and paper. What Sarah and I discovered, having no clear site plan with north arrows, is the sun rises in the east. Now we could align ourselves. Right here at the infancy of a new home, some shifting seems in order already. Those large siting questions are the haunting sort - you have to get this part right. Joe (Esherick) still resonates: if you build on the best part of the site, you no longer have it. Should the ridge go past the house, in front of it so to speak, or should the house be divided, formed up around that virtual slot slicing through. Thank god for some facts. The sun rises in the east.

Mendocino Crops

Though perhaps not the most abundant plant scattered about this lovely county and in particular Anderson Valley, poison oak has a staying power beyond other obvious vegetation. What I had forgotten about this oak is its time release shooting star sort of behavior. This patch on my side spawns babies that masquerade as bug bites for a day or two, then gracefully develop into the real deal. Mind over itch. I have to think of it now as a new topography, a road map for this next phase of my journey.