Summer 1997 - Yukon to California
Journals - 20 August 1997
Day 41
20 August 1997 (slightly rainy early; sunny afternoon; mileage = 4.1 [X
only]; Ft. Bragg) -- A - It actually rained pretty impressively last night
and early this morning. We slept in our sleeping bag on top of the bed once
Carolann got home and gave us the official go-ahead (approx. 11 PM). We
each had a shower and the bed was heavenly. It felt so good to my achy
back! I think I was out completely all night, in contrast to being awake
very frequently and being very uncomfortable the last few nights. Welcome
relief. We got up around 7:00 or 7:30 and packed up our stuff and went into
the house per our invitation to have coffee. We talked for a while and were
easily coaxed into spending the day here. Carolann had volunteer work to
attend to, so Chris and I headed off to explore Ft. Bragg on foot. They
have the good layout of the houses with alleys behind. Most of the houses
have very nice gardens and a few really stand out. One down the street has
mostly rose bushes, but also some fuchsia bushes and a tree plant with the
most vividly purple flowers I've ever seen. The shopping district is pretty
substantial for all the tourists, but a few of the shops did have some
originality. A music shop had a huge outside wall covered in an awesome
mural that I think we'll have to take a picture of. It's too neat to
describe. We walked a little further up that street and saw a large
storefront filled with newspaper articles and several printed statements,
as well as lamps made from sliced rocks (that looked like stained glass) --
one even in a geodesic pattern. There were just so many things to look at
and apparently this guy did all these experiments and loves to talk about
them. He had a phone number and claimed he would come meet interested
parties. We called and arranged to meet him later. We had a snack in the
bakery and looked in a couple of shops. One was a bicycle accessory-only
shop. They had some art pieces that were neat. Bike rims made into
dream-catcher things (with chain links threaded in the web) and a macrame
plant hanger. We checked out a hippie-sort of place and an art
gallery/store. We had looked in the used bookstore next to Larry Spring's
and went there agin for the final wait of his arrival. Once he got
there, we were entertained by him for nearly 3 hours. He used simple models
to explain physics and had his own theories, based on his experiments for
some readily (X - commonly) accepted otherwise (X - different) ideas of
physics. He was very enthusiastic and gave us one of his books as the
reward for listening. He was well worth staying here a day for. We returned
after stopping for a pizza and learned dinner was scheduled for 6:15. I
lounged in the cushy bed and read a book on how to be a housewife while
Chris went in search of some flowers as a thank you to our hostess. He came
back with roses from a street fair that were very nice. We had dinner as
promised and also attending were Steve and Cyndi (son and daughter-in-law)
and their 3 kids. Then for dessert came Astrid (Swiss!) and her husband
(maybe Dave?) and another man (Rick) and a kid or two. I believe these
people were friends of Cyndi's. There were lots of conversations going on,
but they were all very nice. Apparently, today was the first day back to
school and Carolann has been away for a couple of months, so everything was
chaotic. It was getting dark, so we left when others started leaving. We
came out to our guest house and started looking at old books again and
Chris went around the corner to get us some chocolate milk. I requested
some candy also, but he came back with a fart-in-a-bag, instead. He got so
excited over it, he forgot the candy! Ugh! Now he's looking at his new/old
Latin book found in the bookstore today. I guess it's time for another
cushy-bed night. Yeah! X - Larry Spring was a cool guy. Kind of like that
styrofoam artist in Centralia, which is to say, normal people would think
he's a nut. BUT he is DRIVEN by a burning desire, as if to be rich or
famous, yet specifically, these specific things are not his quest. THIS is
the greatness -- climbing a different mountain, not just climbing.
![[Bike]](./only2500b.gif)
