The Heated Summer and The California Surf Project

Last year, in the dismal debts of Salt Lake's summer season, I came across a book that would forever change my outlook on Mother Nature's most hideous calender months. High temperatures have been difficult for me to deal with all my life. As a warm bodied individual, I often find myself becoming excessively weathered in attitude, lethargic and bored by the Hades-like patterns that last two months longer than they should. I believe that summer should only be two months long and the other associated months need to be cooler, and then divided between spring and fall.

Despite summer's heat, I do appreciate its visceral beauty and good smelling barbeque along with the cooler temperatures in my mountainous backyard. To help quell my pains, I often find myself searching eBay Autos for old Volkswagen buses. I do this in large part because there is no way that we will ever be able to obtain something near Thalia Street given the astronomical prices of even the most quaint dwellings.

However, I do think we could afford a bus-a VW bus. It's been a semi-secretive dream of mine ever since I was young to buy a pop-up camper, put my surf and skateboards in the back and drift up the coast from San Diego surfing points all the way to The Lost Coast while camping out at the many state parks that dot California's diverse coastline, and most importantly, forgetting everything stressful. Distractions often play into my pipe dreams and I find myself working like a damn dog throughout the summer and fall months, so that I can save enough money for shred gear, a season pass, and an end-of the season trip to Alaska. This self-imposed slave labor has turned into a 24/7 work period that goes the duration of June, July, August and September until the snow falls.

Fortunately, last summer, I stumbled across a book that would alter my perception for the better. The California Surf Project is a well crafted diary of the lives of Chris Burkard and Eric Soderquist as they document their way down the West Coast. The book was everything I had wanted to do and everything I wanted to see. Everything I tried to forget about while working my asinine schedule was now a beautifully bound reminder sitting in my lap with a cold beer within reach.

Burkard and Soderquist's journey from the Oregon-California border towns of Crescent City and Del Norté are set in an atmosphere of what you might expect: a damp, deep-wooded, lonely backdrop that is privy to rain daily and very little natural light even during the warmest summer months. The two chronicle their voyages as they make their way through Humboldt's wave-rich coast and defunct logging towns towards Mendocino's lonely cold waters. One cannot help but take in the richly descriptive images that accompany each chapter's text as Burkard and Soderquist chronicle their journey south in their 1978 Volkswagen bus. The images are unique and by no means run-of-the-mill stock that are in so many surf magazines. By and large part these photographs are stories within themselves. Their riveting colors captivate moods while showing the grit and griminess of road travel, all the while not forgetting the documentation of some truly spectacular surfing in very remote locales.

The duo journey onwards leaving the remote jungle-like-scape's of far-north California for its concrete sister, San Francisco. While in the bay area, city-swells like Ocean Beach and the picturesque Fort Point are detailed and slashed for the reader. Friends are made, camp fires become a way of life, and guitars are plucked allowing for a more simple time to make its way back into hectic life. The California Surf Project provides an amazing escape for those who are in need of one. Burkard's and Soderquist's journey continues as their mustard bus heads south on the Coast Highway until making its final stop at the California/Mexico boarder.

This is a book that one will be able to relate to whether you surf, don't or would like to. The California Surf Project is a great travelogue. It calls the reader to question what he really needs in life to be happy. This is an excellent read that would be a great addition to anyone's bookshelf who enjoys living life outside or on the road.

Wise words from the man himself, click.