Grace 6 - Guest House

[Sharkey]

This is the sixth installment in an ongoing photo essay detailing the history of Prakash's bus Grace.

The previous installments are:

The Early Years
Room Addition
Repaint then Road Trip
The Great Highway 1 Housetruck Race
Extreme Makeover

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During my next two visits to Santa Cruz, Prakash was acting as a caretaker and handyman at a small estate up in the hills above the town. He had remodeled a run-down house on the owners adjoining property, and was trading his skills for rent in the now comfortable house.

Grace was parked alongside the house, and her own remodel was complete by now. I was given use of the bus as my guest house during these visits, and was able to appreciate the new interior and take many new photos of the interior.

Photo 31:



The overview of the house and bus. This house is located directly above the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Pietra earthquake that devastated the Santa Cruz area and caused extensive damage to San Francisco. The house itself suffered only minor damage, the brick chimney fell away from the side of the house facing the bus, you can see the white paint on the boards where it stood.

Thankfully, Grace was not parked here during the 'quake, but several miles away at a location which I will tell more about as this story unfolds.

[Sharkey]

Grace's interior remodel was a big improvement over the 'beta' version. All of the rough barn board wood with it's many splinters and uneven surfaces had been replaced by nicely stained and finished dimensional wood, and all of the trim either replaced or refinished.

The overhead compartments were completly rebuilt in similar materials.

The two laundry tubs that served as the kitchen sink were separated and only one was reinstalled, perching on a new frame with storage to the left, where the other tub had been, with a solid maple cutting board for a counter top.

The area behind the sink and to the right under the hand pump were finished in marble and the pump itself was rebuilt, repainted, and installed with the handle turned 90 degrees so that it no longer interfered with the lift-up contertop to the right, which has food storage underneath.

Photo 32:



I'm actually in this picture, for those of you with a keen eye.

[Sharkey]

During my 1990 visit, Prakash, Kamala and I took a two-day excursion to Tassajara Zen Center and Hot Springs, located in the Los Padres national forest outside of the Carmel Valley. The road into the center is tortuous, after leaving the pavement, there are 17 miles of narrow, steep and twisty dirt roads, with two mountain peaks to ascend and descend. We took my company pickup truck, a full-sized 4x4 to better deal with the road.

An entry from my travel journal:

"Hit the road at 10 am, heading south on highway 1 through Watsonville, Castroville and Monterey. In Carmel we stopped at noon to get gas and cruised through a Safeway for food. Continued the trip up the Carmel Valley.

A few miles east of the coast road, we stopped at a natural foods deli to pick up some lunch, potato salad and sandwiches. We parked alongside the road in front of an Italian restaurant that was closed, housed in a traditional stucco/adobe building surrounded by a low fence and well maintained although comfortably wild landscaping.

Twenty miles further up the Carmel Valley, we left the main road. A sign post said simply "Tassajara, 17 mi.". Two miles further, the pavement quit. The wide dirt road got steeper and narrower. Washboards appeared. Curves turned into switchbacks. We did pass a few homesteads, Prakash getting out to open and then close gates in the road, designed to keep livestock in.

At the summit, before we began our decent into the valley where Tassajara lies, we drove through a deserted National Parks campground, China Camp, which was home to the migrant laborors who built the road a hundred years prior."

[Sharkey]

Well, time to wrap this installment up with a few final photos from the 1990 visit.

First, a view into to the cab, showing how the interior in that area was finished with a new panel door and the closet enclosed with a blending fabric pattern:

Photo 33:


Then a portrait view looking forward, which shows off the relationship of the library very nicely:

Photo 34:


(I think there may have been some weirdness with either the print or the scanner when this was digitized, those dark shadows across the counter top aren't there in RL.)

Finally, what I consider to be the best photograph I've taken of any subject:

Photo 34:


(There's a larger, high-resolution version Here.)

[dadeo]

very nice. I've been wondering; how does one get up to the library?? with a ladder?

[Sharkey]

Library and sleeping loft access is via the kitchen counter. It's kind of a hop up, and even more exciting when it's time to visit the great outdoors in the middle of the night when you're groggy and not physically pumped up! I suppose that there wil come a day when Prakash (and the rest of us) will have to live in facilities that are all on one level and have ramps insted of steps. Until then, the best way to keep fit is to exercise those muscles climbing in and out of bed.

[dadeo]

Serious? I gotta say, this is one of the cleanest rigs I've ever seen, but what you described is like climbing through the window of a Cadillac!!
I mean... I guess its cool, but why not a ladder??

[Sharkey]

I dunno, that's how Prakash built it when he was a young man, and it never got changed. For example, I still hop into bed in the Housetruck after stepping onto the seat of an antique swivel office chair. Things will have to be different in the Crown, as the bed will be another 6-8" higher off the floor, and I'm not getting any younger. What I have planned there is a fold-out ladder sort of thing. When I explain it, people think it sounds kind of nautical.

[dadeo]

totally, i see. And accually, when I was workin on my bus, one of the best pointers I got was to follow designs derived from nauticle designs. Indeed, most boats move around even more then our busses in "off road" conditions!

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

Hi Sharkey

Got any new installments for the Grace sags?

[Sharkey]

Proceed directly to the next chapter: Rural Retreat