The Morning After

Today is like the morning after. The streets are quiet, the drunks are still konked out, and the merriment has subsided. We had to take out the trash and do the laundry and tidy things up a bit to leave the cabin this morning, and now I'm just idling by the Silver Maple again, waiting for the load of laundry to finish a block down the street. The vendors are mostly still asleep, and having already bought a Hawaiian backpack and some books from the library, I think I've done my duty.

Among the books I purchased were biographies of James Dean, Winston Churchill, Benjamin Disraeli, and Henry Kissinger. I also got a book on Australia circa 1968 (I don't think much has changed since then - well, that's not true, but it had cool pictures). The books cost five dollars in total, and the backpack cost fifteen dollars. I needed to buy the books to fill the backpack. Made perfect sense. Oh, and I bought a photograph of the Bridgeport valley with the sawtooth ridge in the background. That will be shipped to me, and in a week will cost me forty bucks, but it's signed and I'll put it in my room or office. The lady who sold me the picture is from Lemoore, California, just fifteen minutes or so west of Visalia where my Dad grew up and around which most of my family lives. So, the world grows smaller.

I have no real anecdotal irreverence this morning, but I'll fill your basket or bucket soon.

Twin Lakes Escape

Right now I am sitting in a car parked next to a motel in Bridgeport, California called the "Silver Maple." You might wonder why. You also might not care. But allow me to explain. Bridgeport is the little town that is seven miles from my family's cabin in Twin Lakes, California. There is no cell coverage or internet at my cabin. Therefore to get online and check my voicemail, I have to go into Bridgeport. And, having done this before, I know I can tap into the wi-fi at the Silver Maple for free. It's not the best, but it works.


Now let me tell you why I love this place. My family has owned the cabin at Twin Lakes since the 1940s. It was built on national forest land so we send lease payments to the government every year (not always so sweet). However, because we are on government land there isn't the rampant commercialism that comes with private residences. There are no obtrusive satellite dishes, no sickly pimped out SUVs, and there are lots of trees and privacy. You also won't find any exotic colors and nasty lawn gnomes. It's just a group of subtle cabins that grace the lake shore. Now cap that with kayaks, a little motor boat, plenty of fishing poles, cozy rooms, a great porch, and big windows and you have a paradisiacal escape. All around the place are things to do or not to do. You could, for example, go hiking around the lake and mountains and head over in Yosemite, go fly fishing in the Walker river, go trolling in the lake, go off-roading, horseback riding, shooting, go to the hot springs, visit Mono Lake, go to Bridgeport, or you could visit America's best preserved ghost town, Bodie. Or, of course you could just sun yourself on the porch and read a book. It is a sweet refuge from the hectic world outside the Sierra Nevada mountain range. And, I invite any of you to come and experience it for yourself.