Appaloosa Radio presents

An original musical story

Surprise Valley

The hippie resort of perpetual happiness

 “In 1966, when he turned 18, Winfield Germaine Carlisle the third inherited 29 million dollars from his grandfather’s estate. His grandfather had been one of the west’s principal lumber barons, logging and milling many thousands of acres of prime redwood.

Win (as I always called him) was not of the lumber baron type. He was a dreamer who loved both poetry and music. He studied business at Stanford only because that was what his family expected, but his soul was not into financial wizardry. After his sophomore year, he quit and formed a band. I met him when his band played a gig in Claremont where I was going to college.

 The lawyer who handled Win’s inheritance insisted that Win use some of his money to buy investment opportunities (as he called them).

One morning when he perused  the sports pages of the San Francisco Chronicle, Win stumbled onto a small ad for a mobil home park that was being offered for sale. Win told his attorney to buy it.

 The attorney asked, “Wouldn’t you like to visit the property before you buy it?” Win was never one for long deliberations or for planning (for that matter). He told the attorney, “No.” Why asked the attorney. Win answered simply, “Because it is a surprise.”

 That was one of Win’s recurring  jokes. You see, the name of the mobile home park was “Surprise Valley,” and Win had no idea where it was at or what it was like.

 It was a surprise.”