WE'VE BEEN AWAY
There haven't been any postings lately because In The Hat has taken a long-planned company vacation to Humboldt County, or as the natives call it, behind the Redwood Curtain. We lived out of an 8x8 ft dome tent, cooked over oak logs and walked for miles and miles through the thousand-year-old redwoods and salt fogs. We observed deer and Roosevelt Elk at Frisbee-toss distance, had some food stolen by raccoons, observed the unmistakable tracks of a bear near several creeks and tried to sucker trout that were smarter than us to bite at caddis fly, blue parachutes and adams to no avail. This activity is about as far as you can get from gangsters and drive-bys. And it's a necessary corrective to In The Hat's usual pursuit of crime and criminals.

Before you assume that In The Hat is a collective of Mountain Men and Women, we also dined at two outstanding restaurants. The first was ABBRUZZI in Arcata, just north of Eureka. The salmon and mascarpone cheese ravioli were fall-on-your-face exquisite. The second was BIBA in Sacramento which we diverted to on our way home. We went for the gnochi for first with an outstanding grilled salmon for secondo.

By the way, we also found out what happened to all the hippies. And no, they're not all living communally at Tom Hayden's house in Santa Monica. They're all hanging around the main square in Arcata. We haven't seen such a collection of tie dye, blonde butt-length rasta hair and bare feet since the Viet Nam moratoriums. And of course, the place smelled like the parking lot at Grateful Dead concert.

While we were away, the state apparently booted the grey Davis and voted in Arnold. We learned this from the local paper another camper had given us. We also learned that Humboldt County voted 95% in favor of the recall. Clearly, hippie burn outs don't like Davis much either. Or maybe they thought they were voting on a pot-law recall.

We're glad to be back in LA and we're looking forward to the verdict on the three Avenues gangsters accused of murdering RANDY "MUPPET" MORALES. The jury was instructed on Tuesday and is still deliberating. Stay tuned.