This oil painting, Long Way There, shows a tiny portion of the Mineral King Road. It is available for sale on my other website, www.cabinart.net.

After getting this blog repaired, I thought I’d post regularly. But, I didn’t have anything to say! Why not? Because I didn’t visit Wilsonia this summer, had no book signings, and nothing of significance in my little world of The Cabins of Wilsonia happened until this week when I had a chance encounter.

I was driving down the Mineral King Road, coming home from my own cabin, when a red car caught up to me. As is the custom with mountain driving etiquette, I pulled over. The red car passed, and I stayed a respectful distance behind, enjoying the chance to follow a good mountain driver.

A little further down the road, the red car pulled over for me to pass. I pulled alongside, put down my passenger window, and the driver also opened her window. I complimented her on her skillful handling of the very winding narrow road and said I’d been enjoying following her. She thanked me, said they pulled over to look at a rock and that she would enjoy following me for awhile.

When we were almost to the bottom of the hill, I saw a propane truck heading our way. I took the nearest turnout, making room for the red car behind me, and while we were waiting for the truck to pass, the passenger got out of the red car and approached my passenger window. 

I opened the window, and he said, “You are the Cabinart artist! We are from Wilsonia!” 

Oh my. CABNART is my license plate. I’m glad I was a courteous driver that day. I may have said something brainless such as, “What are you doing in my mountains??” (probably not quite that stupid, but possibly close. . .)

I had met these folks and didn’t recognize them in a completely out-of-context situation. We had a nice quick chat, I recommended a place for lunch in Three Rivers, and we were soon on our way.

What a hoot!! Tulare County is very small, and it is impossible to remain invisible or anonymous.