route 66, that much-mythologized mother of all roads, has been shattered into a broken line of asphalt and sun-baked paint that stutters across the american landscape. it was only when i lived in albuquerque, nm that i learned that parts of it still existed, first because of a 50s-style diner that served the best chicken fried steak ever, and then through the series of small, sometimes seedy motels/apartments that lined the west end of main street, out where i’d go to see the lowriders cruising. at night, elaborate neon signs shouted names like ‘the apache’ and ‘ desert rose’ into the indigo sky, reminders of a time before highways were super.

other fragments of that same road, stretch through southern california, sometimes as frontage roads, sometimes as arrow-straight secondary highways. on one of these sections, just south of the mojave national park, is a ghost town marked on the map as amboy. amboy is known for two things: the amboy crater — an unusually symmetrical cinder cone that the lonely planet guide warns against climbing during high winds and/or summer months — and roy’s motel — an abandoned mid-century modern motor hotel.

as enigmatic and as creepy as roy’s motel may be, it is not the sole subject of this issue of the unknowable . there is also the strange sight that awaits you just outside of amboy heading towards las vegas. i was so startled by its appearance that i made tim stop so i could investigate.

are they prayers to lady luck left by pilgrims on the camino to las vegas? are they unwanted memories discarded by kids hoboing their way across america? what can this behavior possibly signify? some believe this is just one of dozens of shoe trees scattered across the globe. what a startling idea! what shared human experience does this speak to? what collective emotion vibrates into this manifest form?

about two weeks after the above photographs were taken, tim, mazy and i passed through amboy once more, this time heading east. i had planned on stopping at the shoe tree again to take a few more pictures, but as we approached, i realized something had changed. at some point between february 21 and march 9, 2010, the amboy shoe tree finally gave up and collapsed under the weight of hundreds of dreams, wishes and prayers.

outside a ghost town, a phantom tree stands beside a forgotten highway. the memories of one thousand desires sway in the thin desert breeze, as potent, as puissant as prayer.

Posted by Wordmobi

to be frank, fresno is hardly the biggest or the most sparkling jewel in california’s tourist tiara. the lonely planet’s california guide begins its description of this little city with the words, “swelling like a blister,” and goes on to say little more positive than that. the san joaquin valley, in which fresno is situated, is a broad, flat, arid land that seems to be undergoing an awkward and unappealing transition between industrial farming — think miles and miles of nut orchards and endless, graceless heaps of orange trees — and exurban sprawl — gigantic, misproportioned houses that seem more extruded than constructed. just north of fresno sits the central valley burgh of modesto, rumored to be the epicenter of the housing crisis. a recent piece in the nyt’s opinionator estimates that one in eight houses in this community are currently in foreclosure.

i didn’t know any of this as we descended through the limestone strewn canyons and narrow valleys of gold rush country. all i knew was that one of tim’s best friends from high school — a woman who had played marcia to tim’s greg as part of a high school musical revue — lived there and had invited us to stay a while. so as mountain gave way to plain, and as the darkening landscape began to twinkle and sparkle with the sodium glow of streetlights, i had nothing but good thoughts and curiosity about fresno.

which, it turns out, is all you need.

we stayed with bethanie, lars, and an old white cat named miami for a little more than a week; one of the longest spans we’ve spent as houseguests (not including housesitting gigs). needless to say, outlining our day-to-day activities for such an extended visit might prove daunting on my end — typing is slow on a numeric keypad — and tedious on yours — do you really care to know what i ate for lunch every day for a whole week? and so in order to keep things manageable, i’ve decided to focus on just three of the many and varied forms of entertainment and enjoyment that fresno offered us.

1. skiing at sequoia national park.

notown, as fresno is sometimes called, sits just an hour away from one of the most spectacular and majestic places i’ve ever been to, sequoia national park. one warm, sunny morn, tim and i sorted through our winter gear and ski stuff and then headed out through the exhausted, smog washed land of the san joaquin valley. our destination lay beyond the orange groves, nut orchards, and grapevines that seemed to spread across almost every undeveloped acre: the distant snow-covered sierra nevadas lurking just beyond the heat hazed horizon.

the snow was thick and high, just beginning to give way to the flickering warmth of the coming spring. several inches of freshly fallen snow obscured the path left by previous skiers, so we wound our way through the forest, keeping an eye out for trail blazes and trying not to get too lost. the moment we encountered our first sequoia grove, we were dumbfounded. the only appropriate response seemed to be laughter. what immense, enigmatic beings! what ancient, crackling life!

2. a night at the roller rink

although lots of folks talk about how much they miss going roller skating or how much they want to go, only a few actually follow through. skating at oaks park with matt was tremendous, but seeing bethanie and tim dressed in matching fuschia blouses and attempting synchronized dance moves verged on the epic. alas, because of my selfishness, do footage exists of their final routine. suffice it to say that by the end of the night, small children were dancing along with them.

if you look closely, you may see two pink blurs. if you’d like, feel free to imagine them reenacting their version of the brady kids’ good time music.

it looked something like this, only way groovier.

3. discovering the joys of south fresno

bethanie and her husband, lars, live in what is known as the tower district. nestled in south fresno and surrounded by craftsman bungalows, spanish revival apartment buildings, and mid-century office complexes, the tower district is the best that fresno has to offer. sure, north fresno has an outdoor shopping mall with both borders and barnes and noble, a 22-screen megaplex, a macaroni grill, and more overly-made-up-teenage girls than you can shake a pair of uggs at, but its anytown corporate blandness can be a bit wearing. the tower district, although humbler and grittier, has enough personality for a dozen river park malls. scattered throughout its few scant blocks are dinner theaters presenting revivals of oklahoma!, restaurants devoted to basque, hmong, mexican, thai, french and american cuisine, a microbrewery, a new age store complete with comprehensive herbal apothecary, an antique mall, several tattoo parlors, a head shop, and of course, the tower, a restored 40s-era movie theater that gives this neighborhood its name. while we were there, there was a mardi gras parade in the tower district. as we stood amongst the crowd of onlookers, i asked lars if there were any other parades going on in fresno. no, he said, this is the only place in fresno where anything happens.

there’s even a one-day-a-week chicken and waffle spot. be warned: it takes forever to get your food, but we were there on mardi gras and the combination of zydeco music and good cheer was just barely enough to get us through. barely.

but more persuasive than the humble mardi gras parade or the brass unicorn , or even the tower itself, was bethanie’s gentle, joyful, generous vibe. that a girl from keene, nh from should find her way to fresno, ca via taiwan and germany is singular; that she still has the ability to sing, laugh, fall down, and play like a little kid is flat out wonderful. south fresno is awesome; getting to know bethanie, lars and miami was even better.

here, she and tim relive a melodic moment from nostalgia.

Download: 112854

and here she relates a story from her time in taiwan. extra points if you can provide a translation!

Download: 112852

even mazy found a playmate!

so what if fresno isn’t san francisco or big sur or yosemite? thanks to our three lovely hosts, we left this forgotten, sun-bleached town feeling renewed, refreshed, and full of love. thank you so much, guys! come traveling with us when you get the chance!

Posted by Wordmobi

somehow, perhaps by the power of grayskull, everything worked out and we found ourselves heading due east out of sacramento towards the snow-capped peaks of the sierra nevadas. andy’s niece, celia, had graciously agreed to host the three of us for a few days in beautiful tahoe city, ca. we arrived on lake tahoe’s shores just as dusk gave way to night. we stopped at a scenic overlook of emerald bay and marveled at the deep velvet color of its water. we had left sacramento just as spring had begun it’s headlong charge, and to find ourselves back in full-on winter was a physical shock. mazy was surprised and thrilled to feel snow beneath her feet. momentarily a puppy again, she ran circles and pounced in the darkling air, barking with glee.

despite completely contrary plans that would have taken them south towards sunlight and warmth, our dear friends pati and andy found themselves at lake tahoe as well. it had been almost a month since we parted ways in crescent city, ca and it was awesome to see them again.they are also living as nomads right now, and when we are together, there is a sense of ease and comfort that comes from this shared perspective. our paths have crossed at james gilliland’s ranch on the flanks of mount adams, in portland over the holidays, and again in north bend and crescent city. they are, without a doubt, part of my soul’s family. the lessons they have shared with me, through thought, word, deed, and example will stay with me forever. the knowledge that two of the people i love and respect most in the world are following a similar path does much to assuage the stress of our uncertain future.

the five of us encamped on the first floor of the apartment that celia shares with eddie (her boyfriend) and mike (a good friend of theirs). it was cozy and sweet; part slumber party, part old home week, part dorm lounge.

while we were in portland, tim’s brother davi told us about a magical place called royal gorge . purported to be north america’s largest cross-country ski resort, it occupies some 1000 acres of the sierra nevadas. after some initial problems with my ski bindings (which we dealt with in a most macgyver-like fashion), we bundled up and hit the trails.

the day was beautiful. tim had been out on his skis several times, but this was my first time out since march of 2009 and i was a little out of practice. still and all, we had a great time.

on the way back to tahoe city, we went through donner pass and as the sun settled behind the mountains, we caught a glimpse of donner lake. as we stood shivering in the frigid, lavender air, a train passed in the distance. tim informed me that we had passed this way just a few weeks earlier on the california zephyr! who knew?

the next day, tim got to ski squaw valley. it was the first time he had been downhill skiing in three years and when he came back down from the mountain, he was glowing. i didn’t go with him, but perhaps i’ll get my chance to try downhill sometime in the next couple of months.

while we were in tahoe city, celia was getting ready for a big interview with teach for america. as part of her presentation, she prepared an awesome song about the classification of animals.

Download: 111466

thanks to celia’s biology song, i don’t think i’ll ever forget that insects have three small sets of legs! musical talent runs thick in the johnson gene pool. after celia finished practicing, andy brought out his fiddle and played us one of my favorite tunes, stuart’s waltz, written for andy’s nephew and celia’s brother on the day of his birth. once, andy played this song for us as we sat on a bluff overlooking the headwaters of the mississippi. as we listened, a pair of eagles reared up into the sky and rose until they were two tiny dots in the massive, blue sky.

Download: 111468

in all the bustle of socializing, catching up, and skiing, we didn’t get around to checking out lake tahoe until the last day of our stay. we drove around the perimeter of the lake, stopping occasionally to take short hikes in the snow or snap pictures. it is a beautiful beautiful place.

the day we said our goodbyes to tahoe was the same day that eddie and celia were heading to san francisco for celia’s big interview. i’m sure they loved you, celia! how could they not?

i wish i had taken more pictures of our kind hosts, but i flailed. oh well, perhaps i’ll get the chance if and when we pass back through this beautiful country.

as we left, we stopped one more time at the emerald bay overlook; a sun saturated bookend to our dusky arrival.

we curved and wound our way through the snow covered wonderland of the sierra nevadas. the sun played hide and seek with low clouds and the occasional flurry, smudging the landscape with light.

we descended into the foothills, down past the snowline and into california’s goldrush country.

Posted by Wordmobi