The end of a long road trip

OUR LAGUNA

The authors of “Roadtrip Nation” are traveling the country this

month, making personal appearances from San Francisco to New York and

then back to California in May for book signings.

Mike Marriner and Nathan Gebhard of Laguna Beach wrote the “Guide

to Discovering Your Path in Life” in response to their own dilemmas

about life after college. Joanne Gordon of New York collaborated.

Marriner, whose grandfather opened a stationery store on Forest

Avenue in 1927 that continued in business until the 1980s. Gebhard

grew up in Laguna, too. Both are avid surfers. Friends since middle

school, they attended Pepperdine University and graduated in 2000.

Marriner played on the NCAA Division I Water Polo National

Championship Team in 1997 and graduated with a degree in biology.

Gebhard earned his degree in business, after almost being tossed out

of class for poor penmanship and spelling.

Neither was happy with his prospective career.

“How can you know what you want to do for the rest of your life,

if you don’t even know what’s out there,” they asked themselves.

So they hit the road, traveling the country in an old neon green

RV. The stories they collected from business leaders such as Michael

Dell, founder and chief of operating officer of Dell Computer Corp.,

and Howard Schultz, Starbucks Coffee chairman, are included in

“Roadtrip Nation,” a Ballentine Books Trade Paperback published April

1.

“Our goal is to decrease the fear that can keep people from

striving for their dreams,” Marriner said. “Our hope is that the

stories of our leaders will open the minds of young people

everywhere.”

The stories were road-tested at college campuses across the

country. Marriner and Gebhard challenged their generation to seek a

path to individual fulfillment, rather than blind conformation to

careers or jobs stamped acceptable by society.

“You get out there and broaden your understanding of what the

world holds,” Marriner said.

The book is more than a philosophy. It is also a how-to for

interviewing those who have taken the trip.

Questions to ask? Where were you at our age and how did you get

from there to where you are today? If you had one piece of advice to

young people getting ready to jump into the real world, what would it

be?

Then let the conversation take its own direction.

Just as Marriner and Gebhard have. The road trip has led to the

book, a film and a Web site. They plan to pass the torch to a new

team of students each year -- not that they will abandon the Roadtrip

Nation Movement.

“We are totally committed to making Roadtrip Nation a

self-sustaining movement that, year after year, helps young people

find their roads in life,” Marriner said. “But if we weren’t doing

this, we would probably be truck drivers. We have learned to love the

open road.”

“Roadtrip Nation” is a 248 page paperback, including short

authors’ biographies. It sells for $13.95 at Barnes and Noble and

other bookstores, including Latitude 33, 311 Ocean Ave., where a book

signing is being scheduled, the date to be announced.

For more information, visit www.roadtripnation.com.

A PUBLIC SHELL GAME

Mia Tavonatti’s first Art in Public Places piece will be installed

at 290 Brooks St., a former parking lot being redeveloped as offices

on the corner of Glenneyre Street.

“Nautilus Shell” is a 2-by-4-foot mural of hand-cut glass tiles,

bordered in copper. Each square foot takes about 18 hours to

complete, said Tavonatti, a faculty member of the Laguna Beach

College of Art and Design.

The piece is valued at $4,500 and satisfies the city’s

art-in-public-places requirement for the construction project. A

plaque will identify the artists and the artwork.

Tavonatti also is supervising the installation by college students

of a mural on the side of Laguna Auto Body in Laguna Canyon. She

previously supervised the mural painted by college students at Forest

Lane and South Coast Highway.

EARTH MONTH, WITH STYLE

April is Aveda Earth Month. Salon de Nour at Landmark Plaza, where

Aveda products are sold and used by all the stylists, will hold a

cut-a-thon from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 4.

Proceeds will be donated to non-governmental organizations that

promote green energy. Call 497-8345 for appointments for haircuts,

hand treatments, stress-relieving neck and should massages or makeup

touch-ups.

Maria Demolas and Reza Nour opened the salon 10 years ago in the

Landmark Plaza in the space back near the parking. They moved next

door to what was then Jack Shrimp about three years ago, remodeling

the space at 361 Forest Ave. to suit their purpose.

“I fell in love with Laguna Beach the first time I saw it,” said

Demolas, the petite style maven at the salon.

A brochure with names and contacts for groups working to stop

global warming is available at the salon. It also contains

suggestions for personal actions that can benefit the earth, such as

replacing two most-used light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs,

planting a native tree or reducing carbon dioxide by using public

transportation where available -- which it is in Laguna Beach.

Local stores have donated silent auction items for the fund- and

awareness-raiser. Come into the salon from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday

through Saturday to make a bid.

Donations include hand-carved flower arrangements from Xanadu, a

$100 gift certificate from Black Market/White House, a turquoise

necklace from Shea’s Design, one pound of freshly-roasted coffee

beans a week for four months from South Coast Coffee and a floral

beach bag from George Nelson at Fawn Memories.

Also: a 2003 Trek mountain bicycle from Cycle Werks, a book on

Richard Macdonald’s sculpture, a $75 gift certificate for watch

repairs and maintenance from Step Back in Time and a $150 gift

certificate for dinner for four at Sundried Tomato, the salon’s

neighbor.

* OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, 92652, hand-deliver to 384 Forest Ave., Suite 22;

call 494-4321 or fax 494-8979.