Bob Nash's Last Ride

A pallbearer, for our friend all clothed in white linen

L to R: Back door to Bob's cabin, Toby and Bob. Bob was in hospice care and got to die at home, in his cabin, as he wished; Bob's cabin, which he built with Rosa, in the early 70s. He first bicycled to Big Sur in 1952, from the Bay Area. For love, of course; Bob "in state," in nature. Toby found some lupin and rosemary to wrap in his sheets; Susie wearing Bob's vest, in the cabin; Jay takes a look out at Partington Ridge with Bob; "Saint Bob." He would laugh at this one. He had little use for religion; Jon's drawing of Bob, in his bed, before we moved him outside. He wanted to be cremated, and since he lived so far from the road, we "wrapped" him in his bed linens, and carried him, like pallbearers without a coffin, up to the road where a fellow from the Mortuary met us; and Sula, Bob's executor, also drew Bob as he was in bed. This looks more like Bob when he was alive... he was a big, strong, guy!

(L to R) Susie and Bob when we took a break from carrying him, at the crest of the hill; We miss him so much; Toby made a toast; This is the red chair where I'd usually find Bob when I walked down for a visit to his cabin. He'd be here with his cat, Teddie, and we'd have a chat in the sun; I never saw my parent's bodies when they died. I'd never "touched" someone after death before. We thought Bob would be "light" to carry, but it took six of us, full strength! We used his bed linens to wrap him, like a carrying cradle; Bob's Last Ride; This is the fellow from the mortuary. I don't know if he'd ever been part of something like this. He was a little nervous at first, out in the country with the "beatniks," but he had tears in his eyes when he left; His hands were so soft; A botched photo of the carrying, but this is a bit of how it felt.