"Mabel" is an entertaining, informative and humorous tale of three wildly unusual characters, in an eccentric old roadster, trying to survive the unexpected dangers they encounter as they explore the back roads of Western America, far from civilization. What starts as a simple vacation trip transforms into a life changing adventure that will take you to exciting places you've never been before and leave you computer links so you can rediscover them.
Meet Everett, he's an Artist and two hundred and twenty, roly-poly pounds of fun and wit. He, along with, the all too serious Engineer, Jon, and Clark, the wise and wily, straight from the back woods mountain-man are on a several thousand mile vacation trip to Canada and back. This eccentric trio discover hidden Ghost Towns, grand vistas and adventure on the twisty, two lane roads that wind through California forests, Oregon lakes, Washington's Mountains and picturesque Islands.
However, they seriously tempt fate when they choose to explore those little used back roads with a thirty year old, open cockpit English sports car and a motorcycle.
Along the way they face many unexpected challenges, not least of which proves to be the car that carries them from adventure to adventure. Mabel turns out to be the unexpected fourth, and very female, member of the party with a mind of her own.
But then, unexpectedly, they find themselves caught in the middle of one of the greatest raging forest fires to ever hit the mountains of Western America, the Firestorm of 1987. Helplessly exposed, miles from nowhere, their lives depend on this temperamental old car with a personality. But, will Mabel want to save them? Find out in Mabel, A once in a lifetime travel adventure
I knew Everett from about 1966 until he passed away in 2016. During that time I don't think I ever saw him downhearted or sad. He was always upbeat and looking for the funny side of things. For years he was a senior designer and supervisor at Lenkurt Electric, a division of GTE. For a time he was an inspector of cell towers, meaning he climbed 100-300 ft towers to inspect them. Always over 200lbs, imagine a man of his bulk climbing a 200 ft tower. But those were just jobs. He was an Artist and humorist all his life. He created novel artworks using straight lines that tricked the eye into seeing curved images. He created characters of lady bicyclists, cartoon commentaries of flying geese, and towns embellished with lights and style that could only be considered 19th Century modern. Everett was an original, a unique person and I will forever miss his jovial outlook, personality and the times we laughed our selves silly.
I lived through this story. I was the somewhat straight-laced, nerdy engineer. Among other things, I have always been a life-long sports and classic car enthusiast. As a writer I have contributed to Hemmings, Sports and Exotic Car and Jag Mag magazines. I had been lucky enough to have owned a sports car during their heyday when they were changing the automotive landscape. I started to restore Mabel in my twenties originally wanting to continue that fun but, life and family intervened. I was in my forties by the time this story took place. After we returned from the adventure, realizing what an unusual, intense experience it had been, Everett and I intended to write this together but before we could start collaborating he presented me with the first draft copy, done over a two week period of inspired, intense writing. From that point on, I did the major job of rewriting, editing and polishing as his English composition was 'challenging.' But life, once again, intervened. It is in his memory I present this look into our past. An adventure of three friends who didn't know how wild a vacation trip could be.
Having given up living in the turbulent society of the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s, Clark decided to move back to safety of living with nature in the High Mountains in the Trinity Alps. Building his own cabin, he made friends and became a feature in the local community, helping to found a local car club and hold events that have become a staple of the area. A strong lover of the freedom that comes from self reliance and love of country, Clark found the trip throughout western America to be a learning experience. He contributed his experiences of his solo trip to help round out the books view of the Pacific Northwest before returning to his beloved Mountain retreat.
