Takilma Stories

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Takilma Pictures

 

 The Love House  had a sign that said 'Love' in a psychedelic pattern. It was the local hangout.
The Mayor. Delbert , nicknamed 'The Mayor' because he lived in the first hippie house encountered coming into town He had a house and a firewood business, kept his house open and became the intermediary between the kids and the real world. an aura of psychedelic stability. He is mentioned in a number of stories including Gunsmoke and Speed Trap.  
Mirage Garage. When I arrived it was the crash pad right beside the road, and being right next to the swimming hole so was the energy center of town. It was built by the Fanatics or some such. As the community became somewhat established it was considered a local eyesore and mysteriously was burned to the ground. No proof of arson was found. It was an icon of the early hippie days.
Funky Egg. This was the next energy center. Robert brought his chicken operation up from Marin county and established the 'Little Funky Egg Company", a sort of crash pad, with many permanent core of dwellers. Robert the Laird had his own house with the dual use as the kitchen, named the 'Nebulous of Andromeda'. The  other house, where everyone else dwelt was named 'The Other'.
Donnie and Rebecca on the porch of "The Other". Rebecca and I got together when I arrived at TK. I was royalty with a VW van. When I left the winter before she left with me. She got together Donnie who had a DD from the navy. Something to do with smuggling drugs into the U.S.  He was very charismatic and occasionally had psychotic episodes, often related to Tequila. He got busted a several  times, escaped and hid out in the woods. The visit to Donnie and Rebecca is Chronicled .in the chapter The Freeze.
Funky Egg Family. This particular version of the Funky Egg family includes From Left back row Steve, Robert Raina. The middle row Dianne, Sheila, my cousin Connie , Arizona Don and Blonde Jim. The front row kids are Shanie, Maia and Steve.
Buckwheat Bob and Virgo Jack. I didn't realize until it was pointed out to me recently that we are both without clothes. What can I say? This was not unusual in those decadent times. Jack was one of the French canoeists in the chapter Gunsmoke.
Group W bench. First person on left is unknown. Next is Brow, Sandy , Rebecca, Michael Perry or Medicine Man and  Mel Fleener. Michael was a member of the East Fork of the Illinois River Boys, as were Robert and I. Michael was prominent in the New Years chapter. Mel was my old buddy from San Francisco who I spent time with in Newport Beach , hiked the Muir trail and ended up for a short time in Takilma. He is featured in the chapter Lucy.
Robert. Squire of the 'Little Funky Egg Company', Robert is mentioned in many of the Takilma stories and featured in Ashland and The Tomasson Creek Massacre. He was and continues to be one of the most committed members of the Takilma community. He has ridden almost all of the trains, passenger and freight, in North America and many in the rest of the world including the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Takilma Store. Owned by Andy Anders, who detested hippies. Parked in front is the 'Blue Heron', the Funky Egg transportation system. The overhang in the picture was the one torn down by Black Michael's truck 'Godzilla'. Andy shot his .45 into the street rather than Michael. Sometime later Andy fired his pistol at Bryan Bones and Charlie Two-Shoes when they were naked and too close to his house. I arranged a boycott of the store until he agreed to change his behavior. The only objections to the boycott came from Charlie and Bryan because we closed down their liquor supply.
Nick. Talkilma Nick was prominent in several stories including and especially Takilma Rifles, and Speed Trap. We were off and on partners in various unsuccessful enterprises. Very charismatic, he seems to have envisioned himself as a cross between Che Guevara and Wild Bill Hickok. Like many of the wild members of the tribe there was obviously some reality to their public persona and no one was about to question them about their credibility.
Gunslingers. Pictured are Hope Mountain Michael and his girlfriend Sandy, and Shotgun Paul and his wife Carol. They appear prominently in Gunslingers, Battle of Hogues Meadows, Duel at the Funky Egg and Speed Trap. After they moved to the mining claim at Tennessee Pass they were not totally welcome in Takilma, mostly because they were always heavily armed. They were generally loved as brothers and sisters, but they made the hippies nervous. Mara and I made them welcome at Canaan . They would drive through town with half a dozen of them riding in the back of their pickup with their shotguns sticking up like making it look like a Hedge Hog. Mara lived with them on the claim for a time.
Robert as Gangster. I had to include this picture. Kinda reminds me of a picture I have of Jack Kerouac in William Burroughs dressed like gangsters in the early New York days.
Rainbow Bob. So named because he had on blue eye and one brown eye. He grew up in the Bay Area on the wrong side of the tracks in a bi-racial family. He was street-wise and delightful. He wasn't wise enough not to have a drunken run-in with a bunch of psychotic bandits and along with an older comrade, Moses, was killed and beheaded. Both good brothers
Meadows. Location of many fine full-moon celebrations, first occupied by some very lovely peaceful people, later purchased by the family. Mentioned in several stories.
The local movie theatre. The sign in the lower right corner says "We do not solicit hippie patronage." Half a dozen or more businesses in Cave Junction carried these signs. We decided to go see Woodstock . We thought we might need some street theatre. Robert devised a bag with a microphone protruding. When the owner came out to leave Robert pulled out the rig and pretended that we were recording the event. He called the cops and we finally left, went toe the Dairy Queen, got milkshakes and went home well satisfied. No wonder they hated us.
Teepee. Mara acquired this Teepee and she and Bret and Maia, (and sometimes me) lived in several places in this device which was quite functional in cold snowy country but not in the rain belt. Mara was (and is) a trouper.
East Fork of the Illinois River Boys. The original Takilma house band, because there was no other in the beginning, consisted of Robert, Gemini Bill, and Michael Perry (Medicine Man). We added David Cook, who soon after was killed in a car wreck. Flo Michels was matriarch of the Michels clan who lived in their junk yard in O'brien. Flo had played bass and sung with many of the top country bands in LA during WWII. She had pretty much retired from music until she realized that I know a lot of the old tunes and she started playing again. She sometimes played with the East Fork guys so Robert renamed us 'The East Fork of the Illinois River Boys and Girls. This picture shows Flo, Robert, Me and John Whiteside.
Canaan. Mara, Maia and I lived here for one winter, the winter of the freeze. It was across the river and to the South or the meadows. It was beautiful country, as pictured through the window, but very cold and drafty.
River Road. This road is featured prominently in The Freeze. Had many nice visits with Mar, Cilla and Walt, Jack and his family, and Montana Rick. Obviously it didn't look like this when we trudged back from the Carat claim during the freeze.
4 Corners. When we passed 4 corners and entered Takilma we felt like we had entered the safety zone. It is mentioned in Gunsmoke as a couple of us drunk hippies sat in the middle of the corner to try to get a ride. I think in retrospect that wasn't very smart. However, I did get home.