On a trip to Nevada, Utah, and Arizona in 1989
This political nightmare we’ve been going through for some months now may have led me to choosing the subject for my next book.
I’ve been trying to figure out what to do after Small Homes:
- 50 Years of Natural Building
- A book on my trips
- A book on barns
Some kind of context for the 10,000+ photos I’ve taken over the years.
The idea about a book on the U.S.A. popped into my head a few days ago. This would be my version of America. It would start with me riding the rails and hitchhiking from San Francisco to New York in 1965, along with a copy of Ouspensky’s In Search of the Miraculous — seeking enlightenment, if you will, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life — as the cultural revolution of the ’60s–’70s unfolded. (Upon return a month later, I quit my job as an insurance broker and went to work as a builder.)
I would show the America that I love, the people in every state who were kind and friendly and helpful, Pop’s Diner in Page, Arizona; pressmen at Courier Printing in Kendallville, Indiana; squirrel hunters in Tennessee; the waitress in an Oklahoma diner serving me coconut cream pie with coffee at 2:30 AM; farmers, surfers, skateboarders, lawyers, and bankers (yes — there are some good ones); book lovers, musicians, builders; makers…
This just may be the next book: the glass-half-full take on America.
