The Adventures Of Bette Porter And Sissee Gardner After Yale (Part 3, Chapter 2)

PART THREE: MENDOCINO, CALIFORNIA

Chapter 2

Bette did not let me drive her new Corvette for very long. She got back in the driver’s seat near Santa Nella.

We continued on Interstate 5, then branched off onto the 580, by-passing San Francisco, up into the wine country of Napa Valley on Highway 101.

And all along, I was aware of Bette’s heavy foot. She had the cruise control at 75 but on straight stretches with less traffic she opened it up to over 90 mph. She was fearless and even glanced at me with a grin of triumph each time she exceeded her own top speed.

I must admit, I was damn glad when we got into the wine country because it was hilly and there were a lot of curves , forcing her to slow down.

There was absolutely no doubt about it – Bette Porter was one helluva high-spirited woman. She was in those days and twenty years later – she still is.

We stopped at the Buckhorn Saloon in Boonesville for a casual dinner. We also picked up a few choice bottles of domestic wine for the weekend. When we finally got to Mendocino, it was dark.

Bette’s traveling budget was more lavish than mine. Her gallery had rented her a New England-style sea captain’s home on the Shoreline Highway headlands. I would have stayed at the Beachcomber Motel in Fort Bragg where it was less pricey. In fact, that was where my photographer was booked. She and her girlfriend.

I had asked for whom I thought was a guy named Alli Stormo, to do my shoot, picking out a name I knew nothing about to ensure my privacy with Bette. As it happened, however, at a lunch meeting we had a few days ago, Alli turned out to be Allison. She was a real cute gal who wore a baseball cap. I admired her spunkiness, particularly when she came right out and told me she was gay and asked if she could bring her girlfriend, April with her. With a wink and a smile, I encouraged her to do so.

Our rental was easy to find. It was “quaint” – a word that epitomizes the entire Mendocino County.