Taj Mahal sang Going Up The Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue! Well, I just did! We packed it up and moved from Berkeley to Nevada City, California. Nestled cozily into the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, maybe it’s a good place to hunker down the recession/depression? Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino did during the big one in High Sierra.

Nevada City is about 140 miles north east of San Francisco near the stunning Yuba River, mid-way between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe. It’s near the towns of Truckee, Grass Valley and Rough and Ready! Nevada City was an old mining town during the Gold rush and after and is now a thriving community of 3,000 or so escapists like Nano and I [as well as fellow traveler and newbie Drawger Richard Downs and his wife Gwyn Strameler]. And at about 2,500 feet above sea level, I‘m hopping we will be well out of range of any rising coastlines [at least in my lifetime].

Known informally as the Sierra, the Sierras, the High Sierra, and the Sierra Nevada [Spanish for "snowy mountain range”] they stretch 400 miles, from Fredonyer Pass in the north to Tehachapi Pass in the south and are bounded on the west by California's Central Valley, and on the east by the Great Basin. It is a section of the Cascade-Sierra Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System. This is the same system that also houses The Yosemite Valley, Mount Whitney [highest point on the continental United States] and Lake Tahoe. It is also home to the Giant Sequoias, the most massive trees on earth and among the oldest living things on the planet! In other words, that’s a lot of breathtaking shit to see and experience! Richard put it best when he said, …”some people take vacations, and we live in one!”

Although The Bay Area is a swell place, I’m all for hightailing it back to even more big nature -all the time [I lived in raw boned Taos, NM for 7 years]. It’s a special kind of exhilaration. Big starry assed skies at night, a Daphne bush and a birdfeeder! The property borders 11 acres of federal forestlands with decks running all the way round the house, 80 ft.+ pines [filled with Pileated Woodpeckers and lots of other critters] and virtually no neighbors in sight. Even the studio has it’s own deck! Netflix, good pizza, draught Anchor Porter and a DSL connection are all I need! It’s not too far from the famous Donner Pass either, although I’m not planning to give up vegetarianism any time soon: No Meat! [Redrum!].

I recently heard that just a short visit in nature could increase creativity by 20% on the average over those who don’t visit. I’m counting on it! Pinewoods Road. Come visit! Look for the blue mailbox. Call first, the phone number’s the same. And don’t forget to check with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office for weather conditions and to see if the pass is open ☺