Ashley Karnes

I have always said that the best towns are those that you get stuck in, and Petaluma is the best of the crop (I have lived in 5 countries and been round the world two and half times, visiting over 15 countries).  I came for a month…four years ago.  My man and I found storage for our newly purchased school bus, Bertha, in the downtown area.  We were planning to just pack our things up and leave for Canada in four weeks, but engine trouble followed and then complications with elements of the rebuild.  So I got a job at Dempseys and started to refurbish her into a mobile home while we waited for the engine to be running.  My living situation has been alternative while in Petaluma, to say the least!

Pet is one of the few American towns I’ve been in that has such a quant character and such an obvious, rounded history – from the immigrant wars to the invention of the incubator, American Graffiti film and all the great Victorian architecture.  It’s also one of the few towns I have felt has a real sense of community, a diverse one at that.  Everything I need is within cycling distance and I bump into folk i know all the time….I love bumping into the street kids along the river, all the parents at the dog park and all the folk propping up my favourite dive bars near closing.   A friend is never far away.

I have had a bunch of visitors from England – who have all loved the place – I got married, found my fabulous little dog Pippi, learned alot about wood, patience and hustling for work.

I’m going to miss everything very very much.