Johnny D’s Adventures in the RedWood Forest

So the last two post and today’s post are short pieces that John Duke has sent to the radio station in Ely, Minnesota. John is a good friend who has worked for the summer in the Red Wood National Park. John is a veterinarian and for a few years had a practice in Atlanta’s south-side. He was never really happy doing this so he sold the clinic and moved to Ely. He works for either the Boy Scouts or for private companies as a guide. His usual gig would be to spend two weeks at a time guiding groups though lakes and trails from Canada to Ely. He also enrolled in classed at the local college and qualified for his current job in the Park. Knowing John and from these “tramissioms” I would say he is having the time of his life. He is doing something he truly loves. John is one of those people I was talking about who would love to be married and have family, but that’s not the way it has worked out for him and so he has found happiness in other means. This guy would be a great husband and father and I hope like hell one day he is, but til the time is right he doing something else he love’s. Check out this one.

This was my weekly report to WELY about 2 weeks ago:  Hello Ray, Do you
still read Dr. Seuss on the air?  We have a book in our visitor’s center
called  “The Lorax.”  Wondering if you have read it.  When they had
almost cleared off all the coastal redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens.
Semper means always, virens means living), the logging companies
unofficially boycotted Dr. Suess’ “The Lorax.”   I bought it this week
and thought I might send it to you.  Didn’t know Dr. Seuss could be so
controversial.   The main character, Once-ler, says, “But those trees!
Those trees! Those Truffula Trees!  All my life I’d been searching for
trees such as these.  The touch of their tufts was much softer than
silk.  And they had the sweet smell of fresh burtterfly milk.  I felt a
great leaping of joy in my heart.  I knew just what I’d do!  I unloaded
my cart.”  We get all kinds of visitors into the center to browse for
these books, or to get information, or to just see what we know.   I’ll
try to describe two common visitors.  The first is a guy named Ima Ina
Hurry.  He would like for me to explain all the interesting features,
vistas, trees, and trails.  By the way, he has all day.  But he needs to
get to San Fran tonight.  San Fran is 350 miles south.  I look at my
watch.  Its 3 o’clock in the afternoon.   So I patiently point out all
the easy stuff on the map that he can catch along Hwy 101 on his way
down.   I talk for about 8 minutes and he asks, “Anything else?”  I say,
“Well, you see I have already taken your “time bag” and I have stuffed
it completely full.  In fact, it is about to spill over.   Have fun and
be safe.”  (I think to myself, “I hope he doesn’t manage his money the
same way.”)  The other visitor is a lady named Donna  Botherme.  She
walks in and refuses to make eye contact.  I say, “Good morning!”  She
mumbles something back without looking.  We have the antidote for her.
Linda Davis, one of my roommates.  Linda is retired from the Air Force
civilian service and is from Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  She says, “Can
we help you with any information?  We have a 12 minute film about the
redwoods.  Would you like to see it?  Where are you coming from?  Which
way are you headed?”  I mean Linda really wants everyone to not leave
without any info, even if they don’t want it.  So when Ms. Botherme
doesn’t accept any of the proposals, Linda practically puts her in a
headlock with one arm and uses her yellow highlighter in the other hand
to mark up the official free park map.  Ms. Botherme will usually say,
“Oh.  Wow!  I didn’t know.  Thanks.”  Have fun and be safe.   jd

More from the Redwood National Park

Week 7 - The foot bridge is in!
I can now ride my bicycle into
Crescent City on an old
narrow coach road that winds between the
big redwood trees.  I feel like an Ewok riding on a cruiser in the movie
"Star
Wars."  Once on pavement in the outskirts of Crescent City, I pass a
short dead end side street called...Minnesota Ave.  Funny, I have seen
no other state street names here, except for...Iowa Street.  I hiked
into Fern Canyon a few weeks ago, where the valley floor is flat and
about 20 feet wide and has a small creek running in it.  The walls are
vertical, about 35 feet tall and completely carpeted with moss and 8
different species of ferns.  Sunlight slits through the top kind of like
light penetrating a key hole.  Water trickles down the sides in places.
Red alder trees grow along the gravel creek
bed in spots at 45 degree angles and with branches shooting off the
trunk straight up like miniature trees themselves.  They do this because
their roots get washed out easily during winter floods.  Its not spring
floods that washes them out because remember, this is a temperate
climate and winter is the rainy season.  The Pacific Ocean is the big
HVAC system and keeps this area cool in the summer and warm in the
winter - no spring snow melts to flood Fern Canyon.  I tell visitors
that not seeing Fern Canyon would almost be like going to Paris and not
seeing the Eiffel Tower.  I think I saw a Pterydactyl flying through
there!  Maybe it was just a big Raven.  Until next week.  j.d.

Smart Ass

I think the smartest people are the folks that can make themselves happy. I’m not talking bout pleasuring yourself. I not talking bout taking yourself on exotic vacations or expensive restaurants. What I’m talkin bout is the person that works hard to set life up in a fashion that makes one happy and then maintaining that life. You might have a big ol head full of information, you might be able to do algebra in you head, while standing on one foot, but if you let the things in life that make you happy slip away, well then.

I have a couple of friends, they are both guys and they both really want to get married and have kids and a big ol wonderful life. They both date women that would love to marry them, but neither guy will settle. It’s not that they are real picky, it’s just they have the smarts to know the path to happiness can’t be forced. They know it would be wrong to get married for the wrong reasons. Not fair to them and not fair to the woman that is not “right” for them.

Next week I’m gonna start writing about one of these guys. I have not know him a long time, maybe 7 or 8 years, but we have become great friends. We have spent lot’s of time eating meals together and having wonderful conversations. As he sometimes says we are “solving world problems”. I think this guys story is very interesting, he’s is in a really good place in life right now and it was a very different path he has followed, many paths literally.

Not long ago he started a job as Park Ranger. His “office” is the Redwood National Park. A few weeks after he arrived and started his job he sent me a “transmission”, that’s how it read anyway. Then a few weeks later another one. I replied, letting him know how much I enjoyed getting them and how much I liked his writing style. I ask if I could post them as a blog sometime. He told me these “transmissions” were short pieces he was sending to an A.M. radio station in Ely, Minnesota. One of the DJ’s read them every Sunday morning on a program called Pathways, I think that’s the name of the show. Anyway here is the first one he sent me and Stacey. Next week I will tell you more about Dr. Johnny Duke and share another “transmission”.

Arrived in the Redwoods yesterday.  A few excerpts from my
journal:  Carpooling with a lady named Amy out of Ely, a dollar
twenty-five from downtown Duluth to the intercity bus
station and 18 minutes of your time, the scratched out words "No Ringing
Cell Phones" handwritten on the "passenger" side visor of the bus to
Minneapolis, blue sky with wisps of clouds, trees with tiny, light green
leaves, immature bald eagle perched on a tree along I-35, redwing
blackbirds on the cattails in the temporary ponds of the ditches, the
man leaning over to say, "They can afford to build new roads but they
don't have anything for the homeless.  We need a revolution," my reply,
"I've started the revolution, I'm on this bus," cliff swallows flying
into mud nests under an overpass in Salt Lake
City, a kestrel hovering over a field for 20 seconds before diving into
the grass for an unseen prey, riding the transit system in Portland that
is
among the best in the world, walking through the bohemian Hawthorne
district that is
reminescent of Greenwich Village, the thousands of staples
in the telephone pole from the political
activism, lost cat signs, and community announcements, meeting people
from all over the world at the Hawthorne Hostel, picking up
Ernie the hitch-hiker headed to Eugene, Oregon to visit friends, the
emotion that overcomes me when I first see the "Big Trees", the stumps
of long
gone trees that remind me of the enormous boulders in the Boundary
Waters, the proud feeling when my supervisor hands me the heavy, golden
nationl park badge to pin on my (as of yet to be issued)uniform, the
sound of the white crowned sparrow that is a cousin of the ubiquitous
white throated sparrow in canoe country, meeting and having good
conversation with housemates who cooked
me breakfast this morning.
Reporting live from Crescent City, California.  Johnny
Duke

The long way home

If you ever get a buddy-pass from a friend to travel on make sure this person is actually your buddy. That or travel with Stacey. If the person that you have received that buddy-pass from is your friend they will give you more than just the pass. If they are your friend they will give you lessons on how to use the pass once your original flight plans go out the window. Now days that’s almost a given with the number of flights that have been cut out as the airlines try to fill their planes with paying customers. The person handing out these passes should know this and inform you of the dangers of flying standby.

My Aunt and her husband got in a jam on the way home, they had no idea what to do and would have rented a car in Portland, Me. if they had not been traveling with Stacey and me. That’s a long car ride, I bet they would still be on the road today and I can’t imagine what the fuel would have cost them. But, once they relaxed and we talked them off the ledge, I mean out of the rental car, Stacey went into action and got us all home. Sure we had to rent a car and drive to Boston, that was our backup plan from the get go. Sure we got to Boston and the flights to Atlanta were full, no room for the buddy-pass. Sure we had to fly to Washington and spend the night at Anne and John D’s other home. Sure we had to share that house with three people who were already staying there, but we still had a bedroom and bathroom each. There were good restaurants nearby, we were 10 minutes from the airport and the flights looked good enough to get us all to our final destination the next day.

So that’s about how it went, but to hear us all moan and groan about all this, as it was happening, you would have thought we had rented a car and were driving for 15 hours or so. Looking back, it wasn’t that bad and I’m not sure what the hurry was, there was me, Stacey and 4 senior citizens and none of them had a job they had to be at.

Pick a little, talk a little

Least you think all we did on this trip was eat, let me steer you straight dear reader. We also enjoyed many adult beverage’s. Ice cold vodka martinis were the drink of choice come cocktail hour. Sure there was wine, beer, tequila and the likes, and I tried it all, but theres nothing like an ice cold vodka martini or two especially when you have nothing to do the next day.

Stacey and I, being the outdoor enthusiast we are spent lot’s of time on the go. For example I moved from the couch in the den to the chaise lounge on the deck three or four times a day. I got plenty of exercise walking briskly from the sun deck to the bar to the kitchen to the bedroom back to the bar and then back out to the sun deck. Try staying on the move like that and see if it doesn’t wear you out and cause you to long for an ice cold beer.

One afternoon we hired a lobster boat to take us out for a ride. The captain spent about an hour with us, just tooling around the harbor and showing us just how lobster is trapped, which lobsters you can keep and those you got to throw back. He took us to Walker Point and we all waved to Bush 41. He was very friendly and waved back. He and Barb invited us up to the house for drinks and snacks, but someone on our boat didn’t meet security clearance requirements so Secret Service would not let us come ashore. Anyway Mom had been drinking lot’s of beer and with the way she feels about Bush 43 it was best we didn’t get to close.

One afternoon Stacey and I rode bikes over to Walker Point, but security wouldn’t let us in. I told them our name was on the list and he was like “what list” and I’m like ” you know what list” and he was like ” you got one second to leave” and I was like “ok”. I guess I showed him. Anyway John D and Anne’s place was a lot nicer then Walker Point, so there.

Mission : Seafood

So Monday morning a few of us hopped in Uncle Bucks suburban and head to Portland, about 30 minutes from Kennebunk, to procure seafood for meals for the next few days. Anne was at the wheel so we didn’t feel like outlaws so much, she pays her tolls. Anne has a few shops she thinks we will enjoy shopping and so we’re off. First stop is a kitchen store. They not only have tools for the kitchen and I mean a lot of tools for the kitchen, but they also have some specialty foods. One isle alone is devoted to Olive Oils and Vinegars. Stacey and I must have tasted 6 or 7 of each. They have these small kegs with a tap on each and little plastic cups for trying the different oils and vinegars. Each keg has a small card with a description of each. We tried balsamic with fig, we tried 40 year old balsamic, we tried 20 year green olive oil, we tried oil with garlic and many more. The two we liked the best were the oil with blood orange and an oil with truffles, we bought one of each. I also picked up some chocolate. They had these little bars made with exotic ingredients. Some made with green tea, some made with cocoa from Africa. I grabbed a handful of these.

From there it was up the street for lunch. Just across the street was a small place to get rolls and clams and local fare. One of the local offerings was the beer. Shipyard is the local brewer and they have a lot of different beers to try, so I did. Over the next few days I tried all their beers and the only ones I didn’t care for were the beers brewed with fruit, all the others were very good. So we ordered food and sat out on a pier, in the harbor eating and drinking local brew. It didn’t suck, here are a couple photos. One photo of my lunch, it was as good as it looked and another photo of our view during lunch.

Next we hit the local, fresh seafood store. It was on a side street that looked like a movie set. This is a view of the other side of this street, I wish I lived there.

At this classic seafood market we bought scallops, crab meat, halibut, flounder, shrimp and corn. As you can tell we were gonna be eating gooooood!

The weather was a little damp so we quickly hit the bakery for bread and cookies and then we found an Italian specialty shop and picked up some cheeses and olives and the likes. Satisfied with our shopping we loaded back up and headed back to Kennebunk Beach.

Kennebunk, later that day……

So we arrive at the beach and Uncle Buck switches roles from driver to chef. He has thrown dogs and sausage on the grill. We say hey to everyone, some of these folks we haven’t seen in ten years or so. These guys are our hosts, Anne and John D , a couple of the nicest people one could ever know.

They welcome us into their home, show us around and tell us to help ourselves. There are bikes to ride, beaches to walk, food to cook, food to eat, photos to take, and beers to drink.

When we first arrive Anne is preparing a salad. I think all the ingredients came from her kitchen garden just out back. This garden is a sight to behold. She has a few different salad greens, cucumbers, a couple different basil’s, all kinds of herbs, dalia’s, radish, sunflowers and I’m sure there was more. Green-beans, I forgot green-beans.

So we planned a few meals, looking through a couple of cook books. We decided to do a scallop chowder. That’s what I said, a scallop chowder. We talked about doing fish, shrimp and grits, trout menuire and some other dishes. We had fresh figs imported from East Point, Georgia and Sweet Grass Dairy Cheeses smuggled in from South Georgia. So as you can see food was clearly the focus at this time, which was good. We came up with a game plan and the first step was to drive into Portland the next day and shop. Anne had a good list of spots to check out, most of them dealing with food stuffs.

Later that afternoon John D pulled his yacht around front and we all boarded for a sunset tour of the Kennebunk Port area. This was a really nice boat, more like a small ship. It was 1964 Whiticar, a 63′ motor yacht. It was a great boat for tooling around and checking out the sights. We were served champagne and these delicious little barbecued pulled pork sandwich. We cruised over to Walker point , but the Bush family was not receiving. It was a lovely evening. This is a photo of John D’s vessel.