Road Trip Gallery

[dmac]

Hey-

I've published two sections of the gallery I'm building to show the photos taken during the recent trip Ache and I took through Plumas/Keddie/Quincy/Camp Eighteen. I've got a ton of work still to do, and by the time I'm done the galleries will look much different than now, but here's a batch of new photos to peruse.

Please keep in mind that I'm putting the galleries together according to where the photos were taken. These first two galleries are photos I took along Highway 70, from the Wye bridge down to the Keddie Resort Road turn-off; and the shots taken along the loop road that begins at the top of Keddie Resort Road, past 26, and around to where it meets up with the RR Station. As the Playhouse is right in the middle of the loop, I've named it the Playhouse Loop Road.

There is a neat feature about the photos: I've used GeoSetter (freeware) to add geodata to the photos, so they show exactly where I was standing when I took each shot, the elevation, and the direction the lens was pointing. By clicking the "map" link at the bottom of the gallery page, an interactive google map will show you where I was standing when I took the photo. The pinpoint in red indicates the current photo you are looking at in the gallery, and the blue points are other shots in the gallery. You can even click on the blue points to go directly to those images. To hide the map feature, simply click on the map icon a second time.

So, here's the link to about 100 of the 500+ photos taken in and around Keddie:

new link

.

[not sure]

Fantastic shots you've posted thus far! Even your "blind" photographer shots are telling. It shows this was a dense area with lots of cover for someone seeking privacy. Looking forward to more! Thanks again, Dmac (and Ache too!)

[dmac]

Yeah, it's a travelogue gallery, meant to show POV perspective that hopefully gives anybody viewing a chance to somewhat understand the design, implementation, and upkeep of Keddie over the years, as well as insight as to how the crime was conducted. When I went to Keddie, I knew the landscape and terrain were important to the case but, after the visit, I find the terrain all the more crucial when trying to comprehend how/why the killers took Tina. Of singular importance is that EVERYTHING is closer than it seems. Keddie is incredibly small- It's not a town so much as an over-adventurous motel built off a once-prosperous railroad link. The doorstep of the dorm is a few paces from the doorstep of the Lodge, which is a few paces from any of the main cabins built in a distorted circle around it. Keddie, almost from day one, has been a small. privately owned strip of land upon which the tenants rely upon the landlord more than any typical city infrastructure. That says one helluva lot in this murder case, as the landlord/tenant relationship is about as mangled as the Keddie/PCSO trust relationship. More on that later...

Back to the photos: When looking at them, it's important to note most of them were taken in wide-angle mode. Before going to Keddie, I'd reminded myself that scale is always deceptive and that few of the photos of Keddie ever seen are taken with a focal length, or angle of view, similar to the human eye. Despite my reminder that every shot needed to be taken twice- once in wide angle so you can see as much as possible, and once again so you see what the human eye can grasp (so you can see how close everything is in Keddie), it was physically impossible to adjust my lens for every shot. Hell, I was running through rechargeable batteries like gasoline.

One thing about how dense things were: It is my strong belief that there was little of the deadwood in 1981 seen in the shots I took 30 years on. While I find it incredibly odd that the really fake asshole landlord lived across the street in the foo-foo, prissily named Keddie Heights, being paid 1/3 of a million each year by his family to do jack shit in Keddie, the real landlords had leased Keddie (or bought outright, according to many published reports- time for MK to put on a disguise and visit the county building for a dive into the records!), and they, the Albins, were refurbishing the landscape, cabins, dorm, lodge, restaurant and bar, etc. No wonder Mrs Albin changed the music from country to rock- how else could you shift assholes like Day-glo Bo-Job and Marderer from a tiny dump like the Back Door?

Where are those witness statements from those at the Back Door?

Despite the diversion into mollusk Mollath territory, you get my point about the photos. And why it's important that I post them on my site so that I can spout off with my own opinions of the crime when discussing them, or anything else, about the crime.


EDIT>
I've said a bit more in my blurbs about the photos and how they relate to the crime. I've also uploaded a brand new gallery of photos, and ugly comments, made from the 70 cutoff to the Keddie bridge. http://c28.layerv.com/album/70%20to%20K ... index.html

EDIT> Sat May 21
I've updated the captions for the photos on the latest gallery, "70 to the Keddie Bridge". I initially did them after an all-niter, and few of the captions made sense. A new gallery, "Bridge to Lodge", to follow.

[cat357727]

Thank you so much for the photos.....they take me back to the 80's. I was 15 and I was one of those "kids" running around Keddie with my friends.....we had the time of our lives.....Wow the memories.........Thanks a bunch.

[BUTTERFLYVALLEY1]

Talk about a blast from the past! DMAC you outdid yourself with these photos. I wish I could have been your guide. Picture this, the kids from the "PROJECT" used to rollar skate on highway 70 between where the stairs led up from Keddie and the bottom of the road from said Project. Fun Fun Fun. There was hardly ever a car to go bye. Thanks for the memories!

[dmac]

Butterfly, I mentioned the "Project" as the origins of the Keddie Motel, across the 70 and west of the gas station in what was later claimed to be Keddie Heights. When you say the "PROJECT" kids played on the loop from the stairs, down the 70 and right back to the stairwell, what does "project" mean? The Keddie kids, or something else?

You must be familiar with the Keddie Motel from that time? Were there regular lodgers who lived there, rented monthly instead of nightly? As postmistress, you must have known a bit more than most could ever claim, simply by the frequency by which situations and people appeared.

Do you know anything about the locks on the back bridge, the suspension foot bridge?

The tenants on the property across the foot bridge? DId they use your USPS office, as it is open to any citizen?

Oddball thoughts like that are terribly important to the case.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Road Trip Gallery has been updated and expanded, with a new section- photos from Quincy and Oakland Camp- included.

http://c28.layerv.com/album/index.html

[Eastern]

The pics give a more thorough perspective of the area. Thanks!

Very interesting idea ache had about the boys walking the rails the short distance back to Keddie if they were at the Oakland Camp party.

Hate to say it, but Quincy is dismal looking. I guess I expected at least a more appealing Main. St. for the tourists in the area.

[Chichibcc]

Hate to say it, but Quincy is dismal looking. I guess I expected at least a more appealing Main. St. for the tourists in the area.

Actually, I found Quincy to be quite a quaint-looking little town-despite the fact that it was such a cloudy day.

[BUTTERFLYVALLEY1]

When I lived in the "PROJECTS" they were apartments. Yes, Keddie kids and project kids skated on the highway as it was the only smooth pavement on which to skate. The streets of Keddie and the project road had various cracks and crevices so was not practical. You also have to know that we did not have shoe skates back then; we wore a skate key around our necks and tightened the skates to fit our shoes. My sister was amazing on skates.

We would go to Keddie by walking down the project road and cross the highway and go down the stairs and cross the Keddie bridge to go up into the town proper. We went to see friends, or swim at the swimming hole, go to the store to pick up some item for our mom, run up the back road to the railroad station to see the Zephur come through, eat an order of fries at the hotel, go get the mail, etc. Back in those days, it was nothing to leave the house in the morning and be outside all day. We might come home for lunch or have lunch at a friends house or all take something and meet up on horse hill and eat lunch and play there too. Horse Hill as we called it (because horses kept on the flats there beyong the hill) was located on the road to the right of the gas station where you took all those pictures. So it was behind the gas station. We rarely crossed the field as I was afraid of horses. Then up behind the project was a footpath which led to Bridalveil Falls, it was very beautiful and always cooler in the summer. We did not have air conditioning there at that time. Keddie gets pretty warm sometimes during the day but by nighttime it is not unusual to need a light wrap, sweater, etc. Good sleeping weather.

My childhood was almost idyllic. My dad was an engineer on the Western Pacific Railroad, my mother stayed home so we always felt loved and cared for 24/7. We knew nothing of the horror that kids are living with today. We did not know murder, rape, kidnapping, hatred, war (even though being born in 1943 and dad serving in the army in WW II but we (my sister was 11 months younger than me) were too young to know this.) We did not have television and computers, etc. We did not have a phone until I was in high school. They actually had a man who would go by car to the home of the railroad man and tell him he had been called out (that meant he had to report to work) and he was known as the "call boy" until the late 50s. We entertained ourselves mostly outside unless it rained or snowed then out came the board games or cards, etc. I know I am a lot older than most of you on the board but this also gives an opportunity to know what Keddie was really like before this horrible tragedy happened. Like I have said before, Keddie changed when English bought it and tried to make it a perfect spot for rich people from Los Angeles and rough it. A lot of the old timers could not afford to live there with raises in rents, the hotel/restaurant now being a 'LODGE" with all the amenities if you could afford them, even Butterfly Valley was changed. His property included land at the end of Butterfly road before it forked, the right going up the hill and the left leading to his "ranch" where he turned the wonderful area into a tourist attraction with a stamp mill and old cabins etc. Like I say, it was a makeover which would have been much better had it not been done. Even the cute little bar downstairs was resurrected to a vision in loveliness and even turned unused area off the bar into a very popular smorgasbord/banquet area which became known as Keddie's Backdoor. This was probably the only part of the makeover which really accomplished what it was originally designed to do. The Sump, was a popular watering hole in the old days. The new bar and banquet brought in many many people and not just tourists. The food was plentiful, well prepared, the bar-b-que ribs were wonderful and the eating area was lovely. Now I may be a little predjudiced as Gloria Reynolds, who did every bit of this area, was my first mother-in-law. I married her son and had my only child with him. She and I are still friends to this day.

As to the holes you found all over the place while you toured the area, you must realize that the whole Keddie and Keddie Heights area is built on shale rocks. Yes, they sink and slide, etc. definitely not good rock to build above. There is a 90 foot mining hole up in Butterfly Valley (where we built our home on dad's 20 acres) across the little dirt road and up the hill you can hike over to come into the back of Keddie Heights. It is a lot shorter than the road route. A little anecdote along with my missive here - mom used to bake twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. On any summer day or any holiday during the school year that fell on one of these days, it was nothing to answer a knock on the back door and find several Keddietes standing there just about the time things started coming out of the oven. ha ha Lots of cinnamon rolls and fresh baked bread and butter and glasses of cold milk or buttermilk were served over our kitchen table. Yes, they had come over the hill.

Like I said life was good back then, we kids thought nothing of being corrected by someone elses parent, being taken home quickly if we had stayed too late because we were having such fun and lost track of time, the parent telling another parent what had gone wrong to bring on the scolding we got (a very good detterent to future shenanigans ) and a wonderful reminder of our boundaries with no beatings or bruising or spankings necessary. We were very fortunate kids to have grown up in such a place and time.

Oh, I did not mention that it was nothing unusual about me hiking across hiway 70 and crossing the bridge to "Oakland Camp" area as it is known today and hike up the hill to the Keddie tracks and get on the engine with dad as he was switching cars prior to going home from a job. I would then ride home with him from the depot in Keddie. Come to think of it, it is yet another way to leave or enter Keddie proper.

The swinging bridge down at "Ye Old Keddie Swimming Hole" was crossed regularly and we would go and visit our friends in the last house on the road down there. When I got my driver's license. I would go up 70 and turn down the dirt road that led to the houses. If there was a car behind me it was not unusual to get honked at even though I had my turn signal on to go right off the road and also gave a stop signal with my arm out the window as you had to enter that road carefully due to the drop-off. To us it was another way into Keddie or to get to the swimming hole if we did not want to leave our car by the swimming hole on the Keddie side. A lot of time if someone came down from the Keddie side and did not see any cars they would not bother swimming. I think you get the idea.

Sorry guys, I do get carried away. Hope this gives you an idea of how Keddie was before the world and evil moved into this area. Back then if there was a problem male neighbor, the fathers got together and went over and talked to him. The women had frequent coffee with their neighbors and got down to the nitty gritty with each other. If you want any other things I can help you with or perhaps make clearer about Keddie, I shall do my best. When I tell you DMAC that these photos are so special to me, I kid you not. I also thank you from the bottom of my heart as I have not been to that area for years. I do not drive anymore so there is no way I can. These photos will remain precious to me.

[BUTTERFLYVALLEY1]

Sorry, I shall now answer the last few questions.

The "swinging bridge" was exactly that. It swung back and forth as you went across and was not condusive to carrying packages, people, etc. and had no gates on either side as they were not necessary. Now it is a walking bridge and easily crossed with no vertigo, etc. I can see why people down there now have the locks. You do not run into the sort of people we were back then too readily in this day and age. I am an antique.

There was no Keddie Motel back then. I was not aware of a motel in "Keddie Heights" although I guess the sign said so. It was individual apartments linked together by fours. Four apartments to a unit. It was then full-time rentals and people lived in the small community "PROJECT" at that time.

Being a Postmaster was really quite interesting as I had a unique clientele and was never bored. Kids today drive me nuts when they say they are so "bored" and I tell them to go outside and find something to do. Walk or run around the block, take a couple of apples and a good book and find a sturdy tree with thick limbs and climb up and sit and read the day away, build a tree fort with Christmas trees which have been put out for the garbage trucks to pick up, take a set of jacks and go out and play on the sidewalk, take chalk and go make pictures on the sidewalk, take your coloring books and find some shade and sit and color. take a hike, walk to the store and get a popsicle, or go play with your dolls or cars, JUST FIND SOMETHING TO KEEP YOU OCCUPIED while you get some fresh air and just enjoy the day. The people who came into the post office were from Keddie proper, the people from the other side of the swinging bridge, the people in the cabins across the Keddie bridge and in back of the pond (there were 3 cabins back there), the people from Butterfly Valley, the people from what is known now as Oakland Camp, and any other people who were closer to Keddie than to Quincy, the ghandi dancers from the railroad who came into get money orders and send them to Mexico (I had two years of Spanish in high school but it really wasn't real adequate but I made do and they were not comdemning of my lack of language as I was doing my best although they occasionally brought one who could speak English with them after their first visit ), and occasonal visiters in Keddie, and also the hobo population came into the post office when they needed stamps. The lobby of the post office was always open for people to come in and get their mail from their boxes or mail letters when I was not there. I worked Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 and on Saturday from 8 to noon. I loved that job and i enjoyed the people. Eventually even Engish and his people used that post office.

It was so different then; would that I could turn back time to a more simple, loving, giving and helpful era.

[bliss]

I know its off topic somewhat, but thank you BUTTERFLY. I grew up in Chester, moved for a number of years, came home and got married.
Raising my family in Plumas county as I was raised is something I am proud of. Its not the same as when I grew up, but darn close.
I remember having 5 digit phone numbers too. I live in Lake Almanor now. which IS the tourist area of the county besides Greaeagle.

So as for Quincy looking dismal, it probably does in photos. its not a huge money tourist town, Chester/ Lake Almanor on the opposite side of the county and Greaeagle are the tourist spots.. Greaeagle is the place with all the "quaint cuteness for tourists. the reason I assume is the snow is really hard on roads and buildings. seems so many people repaint all the time, because winter weather destroys paint, buildings and roadways.many business owners cannot afford to constantly keep up with weather damage.

I know when I went to school in the 70's and 80's we we not allowed to go to Keddie as it had already become well known for the drugs. but Quincy had its fair share too.
But for those of you who have not been to Plumas county in the spiring or summer, esp. back in the days when the economy wasn't so bad, it is one of the most beautiful areas there is. the crime rate is still one of the lowest in the state. our local kids still think beer and pot are a big deal. we have very little of the drugs the city does, and not easy access to them.

Dmac, thanks for the picture gallery. it is hard to describe how small Keddie is unless you have been there. its more a subdivision of Quincy than a town. as I think I said before, I always thought it was part of Quincy until I was in my 20's.
oh, and for anyone wanting to see another beautiful spot. look up Drakesbad. outside of Chester in the natl forest. its a real guest ranch. Keddie could never be what Drakesbad is, although I hear the new owners are attemptimg to make it somewhat similar to Drakesbad, just a little more spa like.

[dmac]

A new gallery has been uploaded to the Keddie photos. This new section if from the bridge to the Lodge area. In total, there are now five galleries online, 150 photos, about 1/3 of the photos I have to put up.

http://c28.layerv.com/album/Quincy/index.html#

A CORRECTION has also been made to the caption in the QUINCY gallery, about the possible route home from Oakland Camp to Keddie via the tracks. Using Google Earth, I've mapped the walk from Exxon to Cabin 28 at 6.8 miles, which matches what the odometer read when we drove it. Likewise, I mapped the RR walk from Oakland Camp to Cabin 28, and it clocks in at 3.5 miles. Realistically, as Oakland Camp is over a mile in length, the walk could be from three to over four miles, depending on where one begins. Also, I found two small tunnels I hadn't noticed before- one being 1/10th of a mile in length, the next 1/4 of a mile. Still a much shorter walk than from Exxon, and it would account for more of the time during the "Lost Hours".

Thanks, Butterfly, for the recollections and keep them coming. I don't consider recollections about Keddie off-topic on this thread, as any memories they jog, or contradictions / errors found, are very welcome in discussing the galleries of the Keddie area.

[Eastern]

Butterfly, your posts are beautifully descriptive. Thank you! They are the perfect compliment to the pictures dmac and ache took of the area and give us a more complete feel for Keddie.

[BUTTERFLYVALLEY1]

In the midst of rereading a lot of the content of these forums under various subjects today, I am totally appalled in what seems to be an exercise in futility. In gathering up evidence and even cutting out sections of walls and carpeting, etc., it appeared that things were being done to aid in finding out who did the murders and then possibly bringing the perp or perps to justice. However, since everyone at the scene of Cabin 28 had type O blood, and the majority of the evidence was conveniently lost, stolen, not analysed or something else then it was a clever little ruse to let people become complacent and hopefully forget about it. We must really be driving them crazy to not just let it drop and lay dormant and perhaps even forget about this problem they created. Way to go!

I actually came on here tonite to give you a very warm and fuzzy and amazing story about Cabin 28. This is a memory I bring to the forefront of my mind when I get feeling so hopeless and helpless about what came about there. Now, you must all realize I am nearly 68 and a great-grandmother twice over so I have memories about many things in my youth. Sheila, you may not relate to this, honey, but that house was once the center of laughter and a gathering for the Keddie kids who were all of an age then. The lady who ran the bar had a son, a little older than my sister and I and he slept in the basement in the room off the area where you first walk into when entering. He loved it there. His sister was my age and my sis and I spent many nites there with her. Also...we had slumber parties in the front yard! Yes, we did, and it was boys and girls. You are all probably sitting there with your mouths open, thinking WHAT!!! Youing people in our very early teens congregating and listening to rock and roll and each showing up with their sleeping bag. Here is the punch line...the boys slept in the area on what would be the right side of the cabin about half way to the gate and the girls slept on the same side of the cabin but very close to where the front door was before that section was enlarged. And we had best be in our own sleeping bags when we were checked on during the night with a flashlight. There were tons of pancakes on french toast, etc. in the morning. This brings such joy to me when I think about these special times in the summer in that yard.

Also, in the PROJECT when we first moved up there there were dances every Friday or Saturday night. Parents would take turns as chaperones. It would be from 8 pm to midnight. That is where I learned to play spin-the-bottle. What fun we all had. As I have shared before and cannot stress too much, all these things we did involved good clean fun and much joy. I do not hear of things like this going on today. I am seriously glad I did not grow up too soon. This probably sounds stodgy way outmoded compared to today but I loved it. I was still climbing trees in the meadow and had a favorite one that I would sit it and read to day away when I was 18. This is what being brought up in the Plumas Playground of my youth was all about. My most favorite time was spent in and around Keddie. My sister and I used to come up to Keddie and spend the summers with our aunt before we ever moved up there at age 11. Yes, we were very young and this was like taking an awsome vacation in some resort where there was fishing, hiking, picking berries, riding in the back of a pick up all over the back roads. finding hidden treasures up in the hills, and just generally being a kid. Good times all of it. I wish kids today could know the feeling of being truly free, happy, and always having something to do. I assure you that a child brought up in such an environment with no tv or computers, or computer games are so much better off. I also know that kids today do not even realize what real freedom is all about. There are hiding places in the hills, nooks, and crannies all about Keddie and surrounding areas where no one would find me. The joy of finding such places still tickles me. It is probably a good thing that I do not live there now and see what an awful, deadly, lifeless, silent, and unbearable place it has become.

I am sorry if I went off the subject here but I just felt inclined to do so. Teach your children to play. Turn off the tv or pull them away from the computer and go take a walk. Put on an old record and sing and dance with them. Take a long walk at night under a full moon. Take a short ride and find an open area for a picnic. Laugh and be silly once in awhile. Have a picnic on the living room floor. Sit outside when they are young so they can run around and giggle and just have fun. They will thank you forever. If you are fortunate enough to live near mountains, hunt rocks with them, play hide-and-go-seek around the trees, just sit and tell stories. I taught my daughter to play (of course we lived in Quincy), I taught my first grandgirl to play (we would take her to see mom and dad in Quincy nearly every weekend from the time she could sit on her own), and I am praying for a way to go to Alabama to be with my great-grandbabies for a couple of months or so beginning in June and I shall teach them to play. Make your joy complete by getting up each day and properly greeting the new day, also, be thankful for your day at the end of it. I have learned, finally, to give thanks always no matter the provocations of the day. Am I a crazy lady who lived in the hills most of her life and never shed that ideal, perhaps, but I am also happy most of the time. You have all been great for letting me ramble. If this gets erased I will understand.

I also believe the VIDOCQ Society could solve this on one of their luncheons if only the PCSO would present the case to them. If wishes were horses beggars would ride.

[frida]

Butterfly-

I have to tell you how much I love your posts! Your stories and memories are really something special and show the area in such a wonderful way. You seem to have led a remarkable life and enjoyed it very much. I really like imagining you working in the post office--checking the manual, lowering the flag. You sound like such a neat person. I am so glad you joined us here on the forum. It is such a grim topic--it gets depressing and makes you angry. Your posts are a bright spot. I am really glad you are here!

Thanks!
Frida

[dmac]

A new gallery has been added to the road trip photo album. This time, it's cabin 26 being featured, where Marty and Bo and Marilyn and her boys lived. Inside and outside, upstairs and downstairs.

http://c28.layerv.com/album/

My computer took a dump on me a few hours ago, so I won't be around much until I get it fixed- if I can (I've borrowed a laptop to make this post, for instance). I have most of my Keddie work backed up to multiple places, but I still may have lost a bunch of data, particularly recent work. It's hard to say at this point but it's likely- with time- I'll make a near lossless recovery from this crash.

Either way, I won't be around much for a few days, so it's a vacation for all of you from the evil, filth-spewing monster that is me.

Enjoy the gallery and, furthermore, my vacation. The way things have been going, I may not be back.

[BUTTERFLYVALLEY1]

Great pictures, DMAC, you have to come back! Please...you make Keddie live in the mind of the viewers on this forum.

[MommylovesMax]

Enjoy the gallery and, furthermore, my vacation. The way things have been going, I may not be back.

Wait. What? What have I missed? What would precipitate you leaving the board?

[dmac]

I'm not here to make Keddie live as much as to make the killers responsible for their crimes. Every damned one of them. Please keep that in mind. While I do not at all belittle the importance of how great Keddie is / was, I'm really here to solve a crime perpetrated by law enforcement assholes.

But I do love the way BFV (butterflyvalley) talks about the real Keddie. Don't ever get me wrong about that. It is fantastic stuff, to hear why Keddie was so cool. It wasn't a drug-ravaged enclave in 81, and it wasn't the cause of this mass murder.

Somebody recently asked about motive, and I laughed to the point of vomiting. I think it was Chi, again, who responded, in my terms, "these assholes don't need motive like you think they should."

Raise your hands, those here that think as clearly and as precise as those that killed Dana, Johnny, Sue, and Tina. Please tell us, under 300 words, why it was done. Then piss off, because you are a damned moron.

[Eastern]

I agree with Chi. Most try to rationalize a coherent motive, when the truth is probably that like tons of psychos before and after Bo and Marde, they didn't need or have a good motive. They were violent sickos who got their kicks going after and terrorizing a single Mom to feed their own inadequacies. That was their motive most likely.