Stranger On A BUS

Busking Tour Fall 2001

Eureka/Arcata CA

Eureka, CA, behind the "Redwood Curtain", is possessed of the Carson Mansion - the absolutely most stupendously outrageously Victorian House you may ever see! I will try to get up a link here...so you can see it. The real reason for my visit was to see two long time Indiana friends, who now reside in Eureka. They took me to the beach of the peninsula that helps form Humboldt Bay, which is where I tossed the second shell from Myrtle Beach...and picked up several small surf-rounded stones for a jar of them, when I get my own dwelling together once more. My sense of propriety prevents me from naming my friends unless I have their expressed permission, which is still in the works. Suffice it to say that I've had the truly distinct pleasure of acting with them in community theatre - twice, in Macbeth (...the "Scottish" PLAY!), and GB Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra - we share other interests: old victorian houses, history, and civic service. I got shown the old town of Eureka, the above mentioned gaudy extravaganza of a showpiece Carson mansion. He wanted the world to see what carvers could do with redwood...I spent the morning checking out coffee houses, and busking in a pocket sized plaza, took the local bus to Arcata, found the town plaza much to my liking. I will recommend Los Bagels there if you make it to Arcata - friendly, outside tables (it was mostly sunny). In the plaza, I delighted to have a young toddler rocking to one of my tunes. That always makes my day when I play. When I packed up to head back to the Bus depot, some young folks gave the Busker for FREEDOM a vigorous high sign. Upon returning to Eureka from Arcata - they're 6 miles apart - a tour of the Clark Historical Museum was in order. Fine, well preserved specimens of Victorian wardrobes, bureaus, desks, shelving and clothes. An entire room dedicated to the local indigenous folk and their hunting/fishing implements, many woven baskets to hold fish, to catch eels in, and skullcap like hats - especially interesting to me were the ceremonial pieces. Maps on the wall displayed the range of the various tribes and the distribution of all the native language groups found in the rest of the continent as they were spoken in what Europeans have designated and mapped out as California. We had a great dinner in a Mexican restaurant, which featured a trio singing some of my favorite Western Swing songs: Cool Water, Ghost Riders in the Sky, and Tumbling Tumblweeds. In fact The Tumblweeds. was their name - they played steel string, gut string guitars, and dobro, and sang that high tight, tenor range of harmony that people identify with bluegrass. The Greyhound north to Portland was nearly an hour late...my friends hung on faithfully, and I teased them as to why...the local agent for Greyhound produced a guitar and asked me strum a number...without actually thinking about it, I played Dylan's Love Minus Zero/No Limit... and had to fight my own laughter during the second verse - I was singing..."In dime stores and bus stations, people talk of situations..." in a bus station as a command performance! Oh...La! La tee dah dee DAH! Finally the bus arrived...my friends still patiently waited for our departure....now, here's the kicker...I knew I needed to wave out the window at them, as the bus started moving....sure enough, both they waved like it was worth doing up! More than that, one of them began jumping up and down as she waved!! Gotta love my fellow thespians!

Healing resources

See this phrase translated!

"My heart's in the highlands, gentle and fair..."