Location: Humboldt COunty…Behind the Redwood Curtain
Originally Published: Thistle & Thread: March 2026: Friday Feature
Wrecked & Beautiful
Quick Snippet: “….Up there, among those towering, ancient redwoods, it’s known as the Emerald Triangle, and the weed was almost as native and plentiful as foliage endemic to the area. No shortage of rowdy rage-heads to get after it with, and the cold jagged coastline meant there would always be a plump babe-a-cita that needed to be snuggled – so what? If you’re her sixth back-up plan...you play like a pro when you get your shot in the game.
I surfed, partied, maintained a passing grade level, and earned regular status at all of Arcata’s shittiest dives. As itineraries went, it was only rough on those early mornings, opening the shop.
In the haze of the shine-side of the rising sun, a hay truck waited to get unloaded…..”
Up on that rugged North Coast of California, where you can feel satisfied, disconnected from the ravenous flow of Normal Society. There’s more mileage of redwood timber than paved interstate, cut into those jagged, point Break cliffs.
I was there to work—busting brain veins to get a degree, Running long hours on my Liver, Frat-migo style: laying lines on Loose Ladies to get a shot on a bedsheet romp, and Busting my butt, bucking hay, earning a check for these wild & raucous Good-Times—Bleary Eyes, leave the Punctual Nerves fried.
I learned a lot, on that gritty coastline. I found the right answers, and accumulated enough credits to get a degree. I learned that labor is good for the soul, and that I didn’t want to have freshly calloused hands, and a fatigued head of slick hay sweat, at the top of some barn, out in the backwoods. I didn’t want to break myself, before I became an older, broken man.
I learned that any good time should be seized, and that brutal locales make brutal beings act brutally. savor the smiles, shred the waves, when the swell rolls in. You won’t get these days back again.
Read the full Coastal Ripper: Short Shrift on the Livin-Grind @: https://thistleandthread.org/short-shrift-on-the-livin-grind/
