I did not want to join the crowds at crowded Lake Tahoe. Mike Moore had passed on a place recommendation, The Sierra Valley Preserve, from a photographer friend, Deborah O’Grady, who seems to have a similar esthetic to my photography. We decided to give it a try. This is the headwaters of the Feather River and, while it was great to be alone in a beautiful landscape, The Preserve promises to be much better in the Spring when there will be more water and wildlife. Still, the quiet was very welcome and the area came with the timely bonus of having been “discovered” by a black explorer, Jim Beckwourth, in 1850.

Two days before our walk, Rashida Tlaib won her primary by a landslide. According to the New York Times, she was the most vulnerable of The Squad so it was nice to see her win by 30 points. The same day, Justice Democrats backed Cory Bush, an activist from Ferguson Missouri, beat long time office holder, William Clay in her primary, and Marie Newman beat an old time anti-abortion Democrat. Newman ran on Medicare-for-all, a $15 minimum wage, and the Green New Deal as well as getting rid of ICE. Here, walking in a wilderness preserve in what is undoubtable Trump Territory, the sun is shinning and it seems very much like the Progressives are on the rise.

We saw a few Trump signs but the one that tickled us the most was the No More Bullshit on the sign above. It seems like the most unlikely slogan imaginable for a guy who is, after all, a professional bullshitter and it didn’t detract from our joy over the Progressive wavelet.