In the spirit of Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac, I have a new job as a fire lookout!

[DemoTex]

I have not been so excited (I turned 61 on Monday) since I got hired as an airline pilot at Piedmont Airlines. I'll be a USFS Fire Lookout Ranger in Oregon's Deschutes National Forest. The head ranger, who offered me the job, warned that I would be isolated. Racist as Joel Chandler Harris's 'Brer Rabbit was, I had to say: "Throw me into that brier patch!"


Hidden Lake Lookout in the upper Skagit .. the lookout that McCarthyism screwed Gary Snyder out of in 1954 (after two previous seasons of exemplary service at Crater and Sourdough).


The lookout where I will live from mid-May through late October of this year.

[MadMaddie]

1. Congrats!@!

[knowbody0]

2. I am so envious

what a cool place, are you a writer?

[DemoTex]

6. Yes .. I have worked as a writer and editor for 30+ years (and airline pilot)

Yeppers. I need this job for a novel I'm writing. And if I like it, I plan to return for as many years as I can. It is a dream-come-true. I could have had Kerouac's Desolation Peak Lookout this season, but it is still a pack-in (mules and air-drop) site and I'm too damn old for that (the Desolation vacancy is still open, I think).

[knowbody0]

12. thank you for guarding our wilderness

that "shack" with a 360 degree view! OMG, you will be living in the sky! Inspiration for your words.

[villager]

3. Damn, you lucky Dharma Bum!

Will you be able to keep us "posted" during your good, wild, sacred phase?

[DemoTex]

7. Indeed ..

I plan three blogs: mild, hot, and Mo-Fo Haberno! I'll post the un-censored blogs' URLs here.

[ret5hd]

4. my 6 month forecast:

(congratulations!)

[DemoTex]

8. Hell .. that's me now!

[Suich]

5. I am insanely jealous!

Oh, and Happy Birthday!!!

:party:

[DemoTex]

10. Thanks Suich!

Looks like you live in the general NW neighborhood. Come visit. Part of my job description is to meet and greet hikers and give them the tour of the lookout facility. I'm serious!

Mac

[eleny]

9. Nice deck all around, too

I can't help but recall the lookout character on Red Green's old PBS program. But that's got to be an old joke amongst all you ole lookout guys.

Best of luck and don't forget the duct tape! :hi:

P.S. If you haven't read Kerouac's published letters, bring a copy of those, too. :smoke:

[DemoTex]

11. The biggest box I'm carrying is books ..

I have the scroll version of "On the Road" that I need to read. I'll get the letters. I'm reading Gary Snyder essays right now .. so good I'll take to re-read. Otherwise, my reading list is very eclectic. I'm re-reading a lot of my old favorite classics (just read most of Faulkner's major works and did a pilgrimage to Oxford!). I'd love to get literary recommendations here on this thread.


St. Peter's Cemetery, Oxford, Mississippi

[villager]

14. Some Ed Abbey for the rucksack? Perhaps a book like "Fup?,"

Or some Barry Lopez -- including his cache of trickster tales, "Giving Birth to Thunder, Sleeping with His Daughter..."

And perhaps some Mary Oliver poems, too...

[DemoTex]

16. I'll look those up, indeed ..

On your recommendation! Thanks.

[sazemisery]

19. Have you read my stepdaughters book?

Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan. Set in post WWII Mississippi, it deals with racial inequalities of the times. She won the Bellwether Prize from Barbara Kingsolver in 2006(I think it was 2006). Check it out:

http://hillaryjordan.com/books.php

She is in London today for the Galaxy British Book Awards as she has been nominated for an award.

[DemoTex]

21. Wow! Sounds great. I'll order it 2-night from Amazon.

I dated Harper (Nelle) Lee's niece, M___, in the 1960s. She .. the niece .. was wonderful. Viet Nam got between me and a proposal. A current neighbor who is a well-known Faulkner scholar tells me that my former heart-throb's daughter was a stellar student at Furman University.

M____ Lee's deceased dad was Jem Finch, Scout's brother, in To Kill a Mockingbird. "Dill" was Truman Capote, who I had the honor of meeting in 1966.

On edit: Your step-daughter is marginally richer now. I just ordered her highly-rated Mudbound from Amazon. $10.94 .. free shipping with my Amazon Prime account!

[DemoTex]

22. Hillary's book came today (Amazon Prime!).

I'll read it and report (I've got a couple ahead of it).

[RebelOne]

13. I'd love to do that, but I'd hate to climb all those stairs. n/t

[DemoTex]

17. Plenty of stairless lookouts .. some on the rental program.

Bald Butte is $40/night.

[YankeyMCC]

15. I would love do that too...i'm sure you'll treasure the experience

best wishes and happy b-day!

BTW: In the spirit of the forum...have you considered what books you'll bring to read? Just thinking about what I would bring makes me grin.

[DemoTex]

18. This is the most vexing question of the gig .. what books to take.

1. "Young Men and Fire" by Norman McLean. Because 8/5/2009 will be the 60th anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire.

2. KJV Bible. I need it for the language and the myths for my writing. Also, a good Bible is perfect for elbow-in fly-cast training. Better than a gin bottle, say the Presbyterians. Don't worry, I won't thump it!

3. 'Poets on the Peaks" A well-illustrated coffee table book with a great history of Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac and their fire lookout days. I want this book in the lookout for the many visitors (hikers, bikers, etc) that it will be my job to meet and greet.

4. Most of Kerouac's works, especially Dharma Bums and Desolation Peak.

5. Some southern Gothics (Faulkner, O'Connor, Crews, etc).

6. A bit of Shakespeare

7. Hell, I could go on and on. I'll have an address at the main ranger station and Amazon/UPS will find me there. My main thrust now is making sure I have night reading lights. I have compiled a bank of eight 12V/12Ah AGM batteries that I can run my ham radios and a few lights at night. I have a small invertor-generator (2KW Honda) and a 30-watt solar panel to re-charge those batteries.

[DUgosh]

20. Very cool