The kindness we received at Antioch were disconnected acts from each other. Our next stop at Locke would enfold us into a community of kindness. To get there we put in a 32 mile day, our longest for the entire trip on only our tenth day out. Were we nuts?
We had the support of Ky for this stretch and only needed daypacks. The terrain was basically level, mostly following the Sacramento River and neighboring levees. The real motivator was to avoid the deluge weather forecasts were predicting for the next day. My left foot was killing me by the end of the day. I resorted to various mental tricks like counting steps to get me through.
Locke sprung up as a Chinese enclave in the Gold Rush era. When the gold rush subsided, agriculture became prominent because of the fertile river soils. In both cases Chinese labor amounted to compensation just slightly above slavery. They needed to economize and the housing structure of Locke reflects that. Multiple family homes where living space is kept very small and utilitarian.
Now Locke is inhabited by crafts people and artisans, the type of community that also needs to economize. The housing gives them a natural head start, though we spent some delightful time with Locke historian James who, along with his son Wesley and his “neighbors” Tony and Jan, converted a single family home into two families.
Our first day in Locke was a rest day during the deluge. They were supposed to have a traditional chili cook-off that was cancelled due to rain. That did not stop Dan Beghin from coming with his chili and handing it out to everyone. It’s customary for the chili to be accompanied by copious amounts of alcohol, and a young crowd from beyond Locke gathered to enjoy Dan’s “Tres Diablos” chili in a rowdy ambiance.
We stayed at an apartment just being readied for habitation by its owner, Brock Alexander. Brock is an art teacher who very much “practices what he preaches” in the sculptures and art work with which he renovated his apartment for rent. Brock also connected us with a small community of crafts people and artisans in Locke. James, Wesley, Tony and Jan were part of this crowd, as were Russell (kind of the central figure of this community and our first contact in Locke), Debbie, Stewart and Alfredo.
We spent an afternoon and evening with this community, working in their community garden and partaking in their community meal. Our contribution to the community meal was GORP (good old raisins and peanuts, with M&M’s thrown in with our recipe). We conversed for hours into the night, and wound down with Stewart and myself playing guitar. This was community economics at its finest, not only reducing the cost of living for all involved, but doing so in a way that brought people closer together.
