When I wrote my novel, Big Green Country's timeline with road trip action at the start of the book taking place during the month of February, I never imagined blue skies as bright and clear as the February day I returned to the spot where characters Bridget and Bobby, Maggie and Marcus pull up in their truck to eat fresh crab sandwiches, overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Bodega Bay at Bodega Head.
It was pouring with rain in the story and a serious storm was headed their way.
As you can see from these photos and (rather windy) video clip, if the weather had cooperated as well for the McCleery women and their companions, the story would have taken a very different turn.
If you are familiar with the rugged landscape of the Sonoma Coast and tucked-away Bodega Harbor, with its fleet of salmon and crab fishing boats and small, bustling seafood shacks, you'll immediately identify with the sights, sounds and flavors of this part of the book.
If you've never been in these parts, you'll feel like you have as soon as you open the pages of Big Green Country.
Northern California has its own distinct microclimates from coast to valley to mountain, depending on impact of Pacific fog and topography and it has been thrilling to write about the geography and natural history of the region from the Sonoma Coast, through the Russian River watershed and up into the Emerald Triangle of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity Counties.
I'm thankful that Big Green Country is making its early rounds in book groups in Sonoma and Marin Counties and there has been such a lot to discuss given the contemporary subject matter of this novel which touches on so many major elements of modern life in this part of the world, not least, a family struggling to maintain its multi-generational ranch property, while its youngest member has gone missing after leaving home to trim weed in the north.
Without throwing in any significant spoilers, the part where the four adults stop for a bite to eat at a favorite crab shack is a fictionalized version of Spud Point Crab Co in Bodega Harbor.
I made a pit-stop for mid-day lunch and to think about the characters in my book who I've talked about and analyzed with so many readers that they feel quite real to me now.
Big Green Country is available in print and via Kindle on Amazon.com around the world, at Barnes & Noble.com, Bookshop.org and to order at indie bookstores, and also directly from me via the Paypal button on the homepage of this blog post.
Please take a few minutes to post a review on Amazon or Goodreads or Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop.org if you've already finished reading your copy. Let me know if you are within driving distance and your bookgroup is interested in a visit from the author.
Lots of people have asked me about the McCleery ranch and house. Is it real? Does it actually exist? Where is it? It's not one actual ranch but an imagined homestead that I conjured in my mind from my many journeys around coastal Sonoma County. I've always been intrigued by the dilapidated old Victorian ranch homes with their rustic grandeur and long-forgotten beauty.
The McCleery ranch is, in my mind and in the book, somewhere remote in setting though not all that far to the north of the small coastal town of Tomales, tucked into the rolling hills, overlooking the Pacific.
Bodega Bay is about a nine mile drive from this fictional ranch, which would take about 20 minutes on the winding roads.
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