The couple first drove through G-ville after a casual coastal drive down Hwy 1 from a weekend visit to Fort Bragg. As they approached the town of G-ville she noticed groups of men with glistening gorgeous bodies covered in suntan lotion flaunting their beauty in odd combinations of speedos, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats.
“What is this place? Slow down!” she ordered her husband. “I want to live here!”
They hadn’t realized the full story on the gay population of the town. She didn’t have the exact figures, but she estimated that the gay population was about 40%. In the summer on some days it seemed more like 60%. They didn’t really care.
She had many friends her whole life who were gay . Her husband was a liberal tolerant sort. It just didn’t matter. They loved the trees and the river and the odd assortment of recluses, writers, musicians, poets, mermaids, artists, loggers, hippies, gays, and old timers who made this place their home.
As a family they took several vacations to The River and stayed at School House Beach and Cassini camp grounds. She recalled one early morning as the kids lay sleeping in the family tent when she and her husband, thinking they were alone, disrobed and jumped into the river for a skinny dip only to find several amused fishermen a little ways upstream.
They decided to move to the river after finding what they thought was a great deal. A four bedroom house for rent for $400 a month! Six months later they discovered why the rent was so low. The house was inundated with four and a half feet of water during the infamous Valentine’s Day flood completely destroying all of their books, beds, clothes, stereo, piano, children’s toys, photos, TV, etc.
In spite of it all, they decided to stay when some people offered them a house for free until they could settle on something else. People on the river are happy to give. That’s when they found the little knotty pine cabin up forty stairs in a canopy of redwoods, laurels, and ferns that became their home for over twenty years. They purchased the little house from the owners, raised their kids there, and finally lived quietly as an aging loving couple.
There is such a sense of peace there in the woods. She felt like she was living in a protective envelope of giant trees. Thwoop! Thwoop! She heard the sound of being sucked into an avenue of trees towering overhead. The forest was so dense it made its own weather. Only in the full heat of mid-summer were the shaded streets dry. Otherwise it was constantly damp.
Up on her completely private hill she could dance around naked, sing at the top of her lungs, watch the jays and squirrels frolic, hang up prayer flags, fairy bells, and bamboo chimes without bothering anyone. She felt so free in the little town. #G-ville
(First published 9/26/11)
