We moved from Santa Cruz to Eugene in 1980, so we planned a full week in Santa Cruz to reconnect with old friends. We had intended to stay at the Santa Cruz RV Park in Scotts Valley, but when I called to reserve a spot, they were completely full. (We had forgotten this was spring break week.) Our friends Laura and Karyn carefully measured the width and length of their driveway and determined that we could fit Bessie there. A perfect solution, and free! But we had forgotten to relay Bessie’s generous height, and when we arrived, one look at the pine tree overhanging the driveway threatened to squelch that plan.
A little impromptu pruning to make room for Bessie.
But Laura is not one to be easily defeated. While Kate and I were trying to figure out if we could park on the street if we didn’t put the slides out, Laura came around the side of the house with a 20-foot fruit picking ladder. “I’m not opposed to giving the tree a little trim,” she said. A curious neighbor offered up a rusty saw, and before I knew it, I was high up in the tree, hacking away inefficiently at a couple of sturdy low limbs.
It was slow going, and I apologized to the old tree for every tear and split, but I finally managed to cut through both 12-foot limbs, one barely missing Kate’s head as it fell. I’m not sure whether onlookers were impressed by our middle-aged strength and tenacity or amused by our stooge-like near mishaps, but it was a success. When Kate backed Bessie in, the remaining limbs just softly brushed the roof air conditioner and vent covers.
It was a tight squeeze, but we were able to fully extend all three slides, and with Bessie’s front door opening to their front yard, it was a perfect guest house extension.
History of a Feminist Web
I first came to Santa Cruz in 1976, after a stint as a nanny in Beverly Hills had soured. I arrived in the night with a young hitchhiking couple on board, and we all slept in the van in a UCSC parking lot. In the morning I started a methodic search of the campus for the only person I knew west of the Mississippi. It was Jessie, my Irish setter, who found Erica; she bounded wildly across the green toward the familiar scent when Erica emerged from her dorm.
Me, Laura and Ray back in the 70s.
Dogs weren’t allowed on campus, but it was winter break, so Erica allowed both of us to sleep on the floor of her dorm room until I was able to land a room in a mountain cabin for $50/month. I lived in that cabin for eight years, and then in town for another five.
Within the first month of claiming Santa Cruz as home, I landed an editorial position with Matrix, a monthly feminist newspaper run by a collective of volunteers. For the next 12 years, I devoted my free time to getting that newspaper in print each month. In the 70s and early 80s, Santa Cruz was a Mecca of lesbian feminism, and Matrix was the heart of it. Every single friendship I made and kept (including that with my wife) was spawned by Matrix. And if you mapped the liaisons between Matrix volunteers, both casual and serious, you would draw a web so thick and tangled, not a single insect could escape it.
Now when Kate and I return to Santa Cruz, it’s to reconnect with some of those old and dear friends and dredge up a few memories of that era that had such an impact on our lives.
Technical Difficulties, or “Whoa, Bessie, whoa!”
The Honda’s brake assist system had stopped working on the way to Cloverdale and before we started our drive to Santa Cruz, I called Ken at Hitch and Tow Pro in Eugene who helped me determine that the cable from the brake assist cylinder to the brake pedal had broken somehow. He suggested a cautious drive on to Santa Cruz, unhitching before descending the Santa Cruz mountains, and he immediately called me back with an appointment to get it fixed on Thursday at a place in Santa Cruz. They would send him the bill. Hitch Tow and Pro is a local business in Eugene, but the manager, Ken, has been so responsive and helpful. It’s like having a dad back home ready to come to the rescue.
Me driving Lizzie’s car, Little Bessie.
On Thursday, we had to take both Bessie and the Honda to an RV Repair shop on Mission and leave them there several hours, but the manager, John, was just as helpful. For temporary transportation, we jumped Laura and Karyn’s daughter’s vehicle, which is the family’s old minivan painted by Lizzie with cow spots, with “The Bessie Moobile” written on the back window. How perfectly appropriate.
All About Friends
It felt good to be back in Santa Cruz and see familiar places, but the focus of this visit was connecting with friends. We didn’t get to see everyone, but we had several wonderful visits with close friends who remain close in spite of years away.
Laura and Karyn.
I’ve known Laura since she came to volunteer at Matrix in 1980. We even lived in that mountain cabin together for a while. And when she moved to Alaska for a few years, I drove up with her to help her find a place to live. We might not connect for a year or two between visits or phone calls, but I’ll always feel close to her.
It was an absolute treat to spend the whole week in Laura and Karyn’s driveway and have as much time with them as we did. I went to a writing class of Laura’s and to a yoga class at the studio Karyn co-owns with two others. Karyn gave both Kate and me private yoga lessons and a list of poses we can do in right in the RV to help with back pain after driving. Laura cooked us dinner a couple of nights, and one night we had them over to Bessie for dinner. I got to know Karyn so much better and Kate got to know both of them.
We had a great visit with Ray, a poet, writer, and painter from Wales. She’d been a sort of resident poet at Matrix, and her country property was the setting for many a Matrix gathering, most of them ending with a soak in her fire-fueled, wine-barrel hot tub. She still lives in that idyllic setting, now with her beloved horse and dog.
Friends Marie and Rox had us over for dinner, Angelica came over to Bessie for a good catch-up visit, Barbara bought us coffee, and we had breakfast one morning with Darcy and Sharon, their daughter, Tani and her boyfriend, Leslie.
Darcy and Sharon and their daughter, Tani.
Darcy and Sharon were in that first wave of lesbian parents with us, Tani being just a year older than our Tobi. But they pushed the boundaries even further with donor egg insemination at 50, and now they’ve got 13-year-old twins. They eyed Bessie longingly, but it will be a few more years before they can seriously consider such an adventure for themselves.
Sometimes trips to Santa Cruz exhaust us with back-to-back visits, trying to catch up years in just an hour or two. But having a week there (and our own private turtle shell) gave us the space we needed to regroup between visits. We left wishing we’d seen a few more old friends, but feeling so good about the visits we had.
Thank you for inviting me into your rig today, lunch and all! This blog (and you two) are an inspiration.
The Skagit Valley flower fields made me want to drive up there now. Perfect pictures of a perfect place.
Jennifer, somehow I missed this post when you put it up! But now I’ve seen your great description of your week here. And I love that you put Little Bessie in your post. I’m about to send it to Lizzy so she can see that her cow-painted car is famous!
I’m listening to the chimes you gave us right now…hanging from that very same tree we had to trim!