ON THE STREETS WHERE I'VE LIVED

229 Carmel Avenue, El Cerrito, Calif.

Most of my growing years were spent on Carmel Avenue peddling my little red trike, riding my flexie and scooter and skating on this street – well on the sidewalk.  I did play football with the boy up the block on the street, however, and rode my bike on it as well.

And then I moved into my own apartment on Brighton Avenue in Albany, CA.  #7 upstairs.

And here’s Brighton Avenue with my apartment building on the left.  Up ahead is the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) overhead rail.  It was not there when I lived in my apartment.  It was just beginning to be built when I married and moved out of the area.  At that time the only tracks there were the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks with trains running one way and then the other every two hours.  It was noisy – especially with the wigwag signals ding, ding, dinging every time a train went through preceded by a long blast on the train’s horn as it approached the street crossing.  But I got used to it and after a while, never even gave it a thought.  And at night my subconscious mind would say “It’s just the train.  Don’t wake up.”  It’s amazing how the mind can do that.

So then I married and moved off to the redwoods in Northern Calif.  We were living on the U.S. Forest Service compound in Requa, CA. off highway 101 about a half mile after crossing the Klammath River bridge with golden bear statues greeting folks.

We had a very nice house on the Forest Service compound in Requa – 3 bdrms, big kitchen, a brick fireplace in the living room & lots of lawn.  Unfortunately for us, we only got to enjoy that house for 4 months as the Forest Service was about to turn the redwoods there over to the National Park Service and my husband was transferred to the Forest Service Ranger Station in Gasquet – an hour’s drive northeast.

In Gasquet we had to rent a place and found a four room log cabin off the North Fork Road.  It was small but a neat little place set on the bank of the north fork of the Smith River with a big deck off the back.  This is the circle driveway off the North Fork Road leading to our cabin.

The North Fork Road in winter.  No road clearing here.  Cars had to make their own tracks in the snow.  Thank goodness our little Karmann Ghia had rear wheel drive!

In the 7 ½ years we lived in Gasquet we lived in four different houses.  The problem was Gasquet is a resort area and people would buy cabins and homes in prep for their future retirement, then rent them out for the time being.  So we’d rent them, then the folks would retire and we’d have to find a new place to live.  Not so easy, but ya do what ya gotta do!  So our first and second places there were off the North Fork Road, and the last two were off of Highway 199.  Actually one of the places was between the highway and the Gasquet Flat Road which ran alongside the middle fork of the Smith River.  That one had a nice big deck too. J

It was nice living in the area because I was able to drive in such beautiful places as this on my way to and from town in Crescent City where I did most of our shopping.  So pretty.

Howland Hill Road was a gorgeous back way between Gasquet and Crescent City but I only used it if the main highway was blocked by the river rising, a slide, or falling trees because it was chock full of ruts and potholes which shook the poor car to pieces!

And then my husband was transferred to the Bass Lake Ranger Station in Oakhurst, CA where we at last bought our own home on Pierce Circle.  No more renting & having to move every couple of years!

Pierce Circle was a cul de sac and our home sat at the top of it which gave the kids a safe place to ride their trikes & skateboards.

I drove highway 41 through Oakhurst many a time for shopping, dining at restaurants, or going up to the theater where I performed in plays during the summer months.

After five years in Oakhurst, we moved to Groveland and bought a house on Pleasant View Drive.

Twenty-nine years later we moved to Soulsbyville, CA where we lived on Clouds Rest Road and where we got a little snow in the winter.  This time the move was by choice as my husband was retired!

In season Clouds Rest Road became a link for wild turkeys to find their way into neighbors’ gardens.  We had a nice front yard with lots of greenery, but the turkeys weren’t interested in our yard.  They loved our next door neighbor’s yard, though.  One morning I counted 17 turkeys in her yard digging up her flower beds.  A quick call had her out there frantically waving them off.  This picture captures some of them scurrying across the road to safety.

We moved one last time a year ago into a gated 55+ community called “Sonora Hills” in Sonora, CA and this is the scene, as I turn onto Red Chestnut Lane, that greets me every time I come home.

It’s a nice house just the right size at 1500 sq ft.  The house in Soulsbyville was 2400 sq ft so we had a little sorting to do before moving.  Fortunately our youngest daughter wanted some of the furniture we couldn’t fit into the smaller house so I still get to visit it when we visit her! J 

:->

La Nightingail