The Church of the Open Road Press

Narratives about motorcycling on Northern California's back roads; Reflections on the history and geography of the North State; Memoirs and early recollections of youthful visits to towns and forests and mountaintops. Also middle-of-the-road takes on current issues in politics and education. Middle of the road? Isn't that dangerous?

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

TRESPASS

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   …sneaking about a roadside attraction… There’s an old barn  tucked around the bend of a rugged two-lane road, just on the other side of a...
1 comment:
Saturday, August 29, 2026

DEAD BIRD

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  …things wished undone… I’d not hung out  with Tommy very much. A roly-poly high school kid who hadn’t yet lost some of his baby fat, he wa...
Friday, August 14, 2026

DONATING THE GUZZI

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  To everything, there is a season...  (Ecclesiastes 3:1) In the summer of 1967 , after moving on from Chico Junior High, Bill Reed*, my nin...
4 comments:
Friday, August 7, 2026

Reflecting on “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!”

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  …history, as they say, repeats…   As kids,  my folks would pile Beebo and me into the Ford and venture from a simmering Chico over to a na...
Wednesday, July 29, 2026

THE GARBAGE MAN. THE GARBAGE MAN.

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          The Garbage Man. The Garbage Man.     circa 1956   Before there were  cul de sacs ,       we had dead end streets.  I lived on one...
1 comment:
Thursday, June 18, 2026

Selling My V85 tt

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Up for Grabs! 2022 Moto Guzzi V85tt Travel      Reticent as I am to admit it, aging forces my sale of this 2022 Moto Guzzi V85tt Travel mode...
Sunday, May 3, 2026

THE AUTOMOBILE IGNITION KEY

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The Automobile ignition key , long a staple of purses, front pockets and key hooks in so many households, has been replaced by the ‘remote,’...
4 comments:
Tuesday, April 14, 2026

CHARLOTTE

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I’ve named her Charlotte . I can’t say why. She lives in the housing behind the mirror on the driver’s side of the Subaru Outback. I don’t t...
7 comments:
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Bumpa
Maps. Some of the best stories one encounters one encounters by reading a map. A map is the framework - the outline - upon which both history and fantasy are crafted. Just as two people can witness an event and come up with entirely different recollections - each completely true, verifiable and accurate - two people can travel the same mapped route and come up with entirely different stories. But without the map, perhaps they'd have no story to tell. Some of the best anthologies in my library are stuffed in my map case.
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