Sunday in Hollywood

Technically. We should have been somewhere in Colorado by Sunday morning, but well, we were back in Hollywood. This time not as tourists. The brothers and sisters at The One Thing Church gave us a warm welcome. The pastor, Bryan Chan hopped on the bus and showed us where to park. They had hot coffee and candy bars and plugs and water and music and a Fresh, right on word from God and BOY, were we needing it.
Chris even played with Shun- Lee who was filling in as worship leader . After the service I m not sure if ramen noodles were cingular out of our ears or the look othe fact we looked at the candy bar table like an angel had descended from heaven but someone put enough change in our pocket for a hamburger!
We interviewed Shun Lee and Karen about the GreenHouse and Hollywood Connect. That will be posted soon!
Later that might, after meeting a few people curious about the bus and taking pic, we headed back to Hollywood Blvd.
Chris busked, and made some nice " change!"
We took in the evening sights and cool air. Last night in Cali chillin'.

Laytonville Local: Richie Robinson

Richie was the first person we saw when we pulled into Laytonville, CA with a broke down bus.We sat on the store porch, and listened to him tell stories for a few hours the night we pulled in. So, even though we were far from home, and close to broke, with a busted alternator, we felt safe.
Much love Richie.

He also writes and sings music.

Mondays Much Needed Song of the Day: Headz in the Cloudz by Danielson

Bad seeds take us to the depths of darkness. Grace keeps us climbing back up. I see light. Lots of it.

Laytonville Welcomes Us

Marcus, the Vanoven's grandson came down to welcome us this morning mainly to see Ethan who befriended him the night before.
We took some time to sweep and make ourselves look respectable since we were now company. Chloe decided this was the perfect time to give us some cards she had stashed away. They were from the Koehls and WOW! Not only were the words perfect for each and every one of us ( Chris' had a man on top of a mountain) there were funds enough in there to replace the money we paid for the first work on the alternator! Amen!
We were in the middle of rejoicing when, Patti, Dan's wife came down to greet us and next thing we know Chloe and I are headed to Ukiah with her to drop her beautiful grandsons back to their parents and shop at the Ukiah health food store. We became fast friends on the drive. She even treated us to yummy salads for lunch! When we returned, we thought Jubilee might be fixed, but it turned out Dan downed us. Our alternator was out and a replacement wouldn't arrive 'til Monday or Tuesday, so . . .
Patti took some tri-tips put of the freezer and we were invited to dinner later that night. Yes!
I pulled some victuals together to prepare later and commenced to re-packing our bus to make it less precarious.
(We have some really odd bruises in really weird places due to falling and sliding objects. Sometimes we are the falling and sliding object;)
Later that night as Patti cooked the tri tip on the grill , we talked marriage, and children, and God on her front porch as the sun disappeared.
Already we were seeing fruit from a setback. I can tell you we only budgeted for gas and brought all our food, so tri- tip was not in the budget! This waiting was starting to not feel like waiting at all. 

 Too sweet, too sweet. (As our friend Ruth would say. )

Laytonville: Day 2

The next morning Chris and I awoke to the sound of a diesel engine at our back door. I was trying to see put of the window when Chris nailed me in the lip with his elbow!
Good start;) Dan seemed to think it was an easy fix and we were ready to go by noon. Chris went down to the resource center to film a local poet while Chaz and I stayed at the parts store to charge phones and cameras.
By the time Chris came back, the chirping noise was back, so we called Dan and waited for him to come back to check it out.
We walked the strip in Laytonville, hitting the thrift store, Pour Girls and Book Bunny before we headed to the resource center to use the free wifi and charge our stuff again.
It was nice and cool in the shade and Chris napped on a table and worked on some art. Chaz caught up with friends at home, Caleb ripped a CD, Ethan checked on his financial aide and I attempted to upload video;)
The bad news was the alternator had to come off and Dan would need to begin again in the morning. The good news was he took us around the corner to his house and downed us as he calls it;)

Chloe's Take 2: Blue Lake Bath

Not sure why we didn't video more in Venice. I guess we were busy hustling, music and balloon animals that is:) Here is Chloe's take 2.

Hwy 5 to Hwy 20

We decided to take the 5 to the Redwoods instead if the 1 because Jubilee's a little wide and the locals said DON'T DO IT!
The Grapevine (aka known as the really big hill leaving Los Angeles) was a booty kicker. The road was so bumpy And the hill so steep and long we weren't sure we were gonna make it. I am not sure where we slept but I know it was a parking lot outside of motel where other truckers were stopped.
We started the next morning with a lot of blue sky and mostly flat scenery heading into some stinky territory called Cattleman's Corner.
But boy, it was worth it! The mountainscame upon us so beautiful, and then lake after lake. Clear lake, Blue Lake, Lake Mendocino and then Upper Lake. Absolutely stunning.
We stopped and and swam before we our drive into the Redwoods.washed two days dirt from our skin and let the coolness sink in. Blessed day.
The night however found us pulling into Laytonville with our alternator chirpinglike a cricket on speed. Fast and loud and a bit wobbly.
Interestingly enough the little town of 1500 had two auto parts stores, so we pulled into the one that appeared open.
This is where we met Richie and JR. Tracy , a local attracted by our bus came over to see what was up. He called Dan from DV Diesel, who said he'd be down at 7 in the morning we Judy sat on the porch of Laytonville Auto Parts and listened to Richie tell us stories about the history of the town while we soaked up the cool Mountain Air.

B-Boys on the Beach

Theus tells us a little about about why they do what they do!

Venice: Wanna Be Street Vendors

This was our first whole day in Venice. Chris found a great spot a block and a half from the beach on Canal St. Sweet!
We unloaded our pop up tent, coolers, music equipment and balloon stuffs and headed toward the beach where we quickly found a spot by Beth, the Rung Lady who gave us the scoop on the ons and outs of street vending!
It was afternoon when we started and by dusk the kids made twenty bucks!
The next day, between Chris and the kids they made sixty so the kids got fifteen each to eat and by some sunglasses!
The people in Venice are super nice and super weird!
Even though we were a bit out if our element, they made us feel welcome!

LA-Day 2

I worked hard in the morning ATTEMPTING to get stuff uploaded for the blog while the kids slept in and Chris worked on a drawing. Eventually we headed to the beach. Chris decided to go down Wilshire instead of taking the highway, so the twenty minute drive took two hours. Yikes.
We arrived at 4:30 and tried to park, and tried to park, and tried to park, and eventually we did. AT 6:00 we are sitting on the beach when we decide to take a walk to see the street artists. Chaz refused to wear shoes and he ended up ripping the skin off of the bottom of his feet, so he and I went back to sit on the towels, get his foot doctored,  and enjoy some sun, wind, waves and a nap.  I woke up and realized I had no phone and Lori was waiting for us and we were running LATE. I power walked to find Chris and the kids who were taking it all in.
Eventually, we got back to Chaz, back to the bus, back to Lori's and made some falafal and stuffed our faces!
We woke up the next day to oatmeal and a song:

Lori Fox is on the Move

Here is here an insightful interview on how God leads artists in good and loving ways.

My take. Whew!

LA-Day 1

We rolled into LA and went straight to MOCA to check out some street art while we waited to hear from our friend Lori about doing an interview.
There is a hill in front if the museum that all human drivers should avoid. Especially drivers in an old school bus. SCARY! Ethan has not asked to drive the bus since.

We decided to hang in Hollywood while waited for Lori to get off work. After driving around looking for a parking spot forever we picked a two hour spot a few blocks away, on the side of a cute house.

As we gathered on the sidewalk, the owners of the house walked up and asked us if we were broke down or needed anything. We thought we were gonna get in trouble-ha!

Shanah and Kevin and their friend, France were so kind to us. After hearing about our trip and interviews, Shanah, the director of the Art Council of Hollywood gave us her card in case we needed artist or event information and they let us use their neighborhood pass so we could stay in our spot longer. 

The usual tourist attractions were calling our names, so we headed to the boulevard where my feet didn't even come close to Liz Taylor's, Cookie Monster and Elmo were making some serious change taking pics with the kids, I found Jerry Lewis' star, Ethan bought the token t- shirt, Chris did impersonations of all the usual suspects, and Chloe and I gawked at the Betty Page DRESS store! 

 
After seeing all we could stand, we rolled into Echo Park and a neighbor moved her car for us so we could have two car lengths! Thanks Edith!

We had planned to get an interview and hang for awhile , but Lori was so gracious to us. We cooked in her kitchen and shared our dinner, took showers there, and the kids even spent the night in her apartment. What a Blessing!

News from the Canyon

We headed to The Grand Canyon a day later than we thought. We met some cool people in Flagstaff!

Pre-trip Gratitude

A zillion thanks to the following people in a stream of consciousness order. If I forgot you in this list , never fear, you'll most likely get your own blog where I, in a mortified star of guilt, grovel for forgiveness and thank you profusely!

Kara for instigating this trip
Rich and Sandy for the extra filing work
Janine and Adrienne Lane for letting us fit in the clean and packing job
Cindy for prepaying for work
Grams (Patricia Mason) for the chairs, the flip flops, the last minute dinner, and  most importantly taking care of / spoiling Shelby;)
The Oas's for the gift
The Kohl's for the snacks.
The Perry's for the home made going away cookies
The Clarks (Nathan and Rachel) for the offer of steak dinner even though we had to cancel (postpone;) because of the accidental brake line mutilation and their constant support
Common Grace for letting Grace flow, spiritually and tangibly 
My sister , CJ, for holding my hand through the Costco ordeal (  I have issues) and helping me run last minute errands and taking my car to my parent's house
And to my dad for working on it while we're gone
Raymond and Chandler for the income earning opportunity
And to Cory Raine for taking over Chris' jobs while we're away. Feels good to know our clients are in such GREAT hands. 
Our church family, family and friends for praying for us! 

We are definitely feeling the love in all kinds of ways!  

Flagstaff

We arrived at noon and parked on a small hill in front of a bed and breakfast. The weather was amazing!
We headed for the town square, me with my computer to do some downloads and Chris with his trumpet to get some practice time in. Quite a few people talked to Chris about the music scene and said he should come back down that night around 7. So we made plans to do just that.
This town had it all. Small town living with big city taste. Murals, cool ones;) Outdoor music and nightlife. Skateboarders and bikers and political science majors and cool lawyers who let us park in front of their building when the bed and breakfast asked us to move;) They even let us charge our jump box and get water from the spigot. And a prayer house two spots down from where we parked that let us come in, brush our teeth and charge phones, even though no one was there- I just called the number I saw through the window and they gave us the code!
Then we were greeted by Spencer, a trail conservationist, who invited us to potluck later that evening. Chris and I headed out for a bike ride in the beautiful mountainside and found some nice trails.
We made some curry chicken salad and grabbed some fresh green beans which went perfect with Krysta's  lebna. Spencer made these amazing bean and rice burritos, ate some shepherds pie and a yummy phillipino drink made by Melvin called halo halo and talked Krysta'a ear off!
We received lots of information about the Redwoods;the best way to get there and where to go with the least fog. Wonderful hospitality!
Video and pics to come!
When we headed to the Grand Canyon the next day, we definitely didn't want to shake the dust off our feet. Wanted to take of that with us!

Krista Brooks, Retropets

Had a great talk with Krista in Santa Fe about how she came into painting and designing.

Randall Garett, Plush Gallery

The Driver's Seat

Chris, movin' us on.

Albuquerque

We didn't meet up with Mark Weaver, a musician and supporter of creative music,  right away and the only way we had to reach him was via facebook. We stumbled upon 516 Arts where we found contact info for Mark and saw an encouraging exhibit. One that made me feel like maybe how we are living is good. And yet we are considering getting jobs and moving into a house when we get back to Dallas. 

Who knows what we will do?

One of the pieces was an interactive city exhibit. We had to follow a trail of sketched city landmarks to get to the forest where we found a sign that said "NO Entrance to the Woods. Extreme Fire Danger. You will be prosecuted."Here is where usually I would say, "Oh, well, we better go back." and Chris would say, "Let's do it anyway." 

But in recent years,and the farther we are from home, our roles reverse.

We didn't go in. But I don't mind closed doors. Sometimes I burst through them and sometimes I go another way. And that's okay.

The wind bullies

 the flames 

which keep us from the forest. 

Extreme danger
they say. 

You can not hear the we song today. 

You may stand on the paved trail 

concrete underfoot,

 A world away from the thing- 

It makes the song
you know, the wind. 

The bully, the friend.

Mark Weaver

Connected with Mark Weaver, tuba player and creative music advocate. We lost the performance footage;) Shocker, huh?



http://theroostabq.com

http://theshop.free-jazz.net/patti-littlefield-mark-weaver-resonance-plutonium-records-006/shop/music-label-and-artists/

Ethan's Turn

I admit, sometimes I worry about what Ethan will think about us when this trip is over, but then I remember we act like we always act around him, we've known him since he was ten.

Evin(?) and Shau Ping in Albuquerque

We stumbled upon these guys on the porch of their house making some primitive tools.

Chloe's Take So Far

As you can probably tell I am not editing these video clips. I am not even previewing, so God help us.

Katsina Kachina

On a shelf in a New Mexico souvenir shop sat a myriad of wooden dolls. The Katsina's dolls caught my eye. It felt disrespectful to take a picture without buying, so I made up a story instead.




Katsina Kachinas

You stare at me 
From the shelf
Oval ball eyes
Painted red
Wooden feathers
Striped yellow
Your robot head
Baring your
Triangle teeth
So angry
Your bull horn 
 nose ready 
To defend
The butterfly princess placed next to you.
The one holding the broom
Who could away
The orange at the top of her wings drips down like
 liquid fire
Yet her wings do not disentigrate
She has swept the dirt  floor so clean , so clean
she never even flaps her wings. 
Why would she?
Her eyes are cast
Down.

Rollin OUUUUUUUT!!!!!!

About six hours later than planned!

Monday's Much Needed Song of the Day: Sail by Awolnation

I love the sound of this. Maybe I am missing me some White Stripes.

Revving Up

Making a video blog is harder than I thought. I guess I need to watch a few more successful video bloggers/documentarians to see how it's done.
David Choe I am not, in all kinds of ways;) (Like the overuse of the winking smiley face;)
We're getting ready to go and I am nervous, in a good way.
Worry for nothing. Pray for everything.

What it IS-On the Road

We have been praying about rolling Jubilee out for a LONG time. When the Lord asks you to unravel your life and take hard looks, you don't ge what you want right away because sometimes you have deceived yourself for so long, you don't even know WHAT you want.
The beginning of this year found us repeating the words-diligence, diligence, diligence.
We made a list of "things" that needed to happen before departure and now we are down to, making a few more bucks and well, then, actually . . . leaving.
It has been our hearts desire to roll around a bit and take what we have to offer with us. We are hoping to leave out Monday afternoon. We will be traveling through New Mexico, Arizona, California, (Oregon and Washington only if we make enough money on the way) Utah, Colorado, and back to Texas unless, well . . . unless otherwise directed by the Holy Spirit. We have a few possible gigs and a few possible places to plug up to and stay overnight. We have some street art ideas, instruments, a new sewing machine, sharpies, chalk, paint and some good books and our good friend Ethan to help us hand with Chaz.
We need now to have your prayers and any suggestions for places to play, look at art, participate in creating, hold artist interviews and basically encourage and be encouraged in any way we possible.

I have pasted the link for What it Is into this blog for MAYBE a better explanation, or MAYBE more confusing.

http://loveliftstheload.com/Love_Lifts_the_Load/What_it_Is.html

Please let the praying commence.

Chris Koehl-TONIGHTTTTTTT!!!! Watch! Vote!

This is the dance for his life from last week. Rocked IT!

The Sweetness and Her Machine

Chloe's birthday was two weeks ago and for, oh, about three months now, I knew we were going to get her a new sewing machine. I asked friends for advice, carried around all the crafty, sewing store ads until they went out of date, searched online, fretted and fretted some more until FINALLY, a week and a half after her birthday, totally stoked and ready to buy, I went into Hancock's with some cash and a store ad that  . . . wasn't effective yet.
Luckily for me, the sale they had going on that day was better and I got it for $40.00 cheaper than the sale in the paper.
So much for all that stupid buyer's anxiety. Worry for nothing. Pray for everything.
Can't wait to see what she makes;)