EXPLORATION

PUSHING BOUNDARIES

     Here's some context.  Jimmy Carter was in the White House, Magic Johnson was at Michigan State, Stephen King released The Shining, Tom Watson won the Masters and Apple released their new color logo. 
     35 years ago today one of this planet's greatest accomplishments was launched. Voyager 1 began the journey that today has taken it 11 Billion miles and to the edge of our solar system.  Voyager 1 and companion Voyager 2, now some 9.3 Billion miles in another direction, continue to mine data of deep space, soon to be interstellar space. Voyager has gone the farthest human kind has reached.
     On board are those gold discs containing sounds, data and renderings of human life, in case an intelligence encounters our sub-compact car sized "human offspring" wandering beyond our knowledge base.
     Alicia Chang of the Associated Press reports each Voyager "has only 68 kilobytes of computer memory.  To put that in perspective, the smallest iPod-an 8 gigabyte Nano-is 100,000 times more powerful. Each also has an eight-track tape recorder."
     Mind bending isn't it?

THE OTHER BOUNDARY

      Jack Kerouac's cult classic On The Road was published by Viking Press on this day in 1957.

From back cover of ON THE ROAD

       The original manuscript, a long continuous roll of type written script, now belongs to Jimmy Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts.  

        A few years ago the late George Plimpton told me he was in an office as the On The Road manuscript roll was being read and considered.  He said while it may be revered now on that particular day, people in the office were having  fun unrolling it across the floor and back, like a kid's toy.

Photo from mountholly-lamano.com

DAY FILE

GARDEN NOTES

      We've got a "volunteer" and "mystery" squash growing
down the back hill side.  

     Not sure what it is-something like a butternut or summer squash.  We've had a few and it bakes and sautés nicely and is great in a casserole.  I decided to pick a few when they were smaller.  One that had "hidden" beneath a slope side leaf grew to the size of a small pumpkin. That "prize" went home with a stone mason working on a neighbor's fire pit. He was delighted.

     A tomato update.  The "beautiful" greenhouse continues to endure evening breezes and winds and the crop inside flourishes. It ain't pretty, but the crop is.

      It continues to amaze us that we can grow tomatoes in this climate near the Pacific fed by the cooler than 
hot and humid mid-west conditions which favor tomatoes.

See you down the trail.

ON THE ROAD-NEVADA CITY

A LEGACY OF GOLD

(Nevada City)The Pennsylvania Engine House number 2 went into operation in Nevada City 1861 and has been in continuous operation since.  It is an icon in a Gold Rush town full of visual wealth.

The National Hotel, completed in 1857 claims to be the oldest continuously operating hotel in the west.

Nevada City is home to 3,100. In 1856 the population was 10,000, at the time the third largest city in California.  After a series of fires, the fire companies were organized and buildings were constructed of brick and many with iron doors.

The gold and silver rush moved to other areas and the population declined.

Today Nevada City is laid back, relaxed, but the beautiful Victorian style homes remain on the old miner's trails that are today winding and hill sloped roads and streets.

Enjoy one of California's most beautiful towns.

 Nevada City is a town of picket fences

Also a town of balconies and sloping streets

Out of the norm juxtapositions and building shapes

Probably won't find this combination elsewhere

It is also a town of walls

and an early fire hydrant

Just up Highway 49 Grass Valley offers a unique tower of its own

This part of the Mother Lode Highway shows that one legacy of the Gold Rush era is homes with charm.

See you down the trail.