"They were just standing there with a sign (that said) they were going to Santa Cruz," he said. "But that's not what got me. It was the overcoats. And the old-fashioned shirts. And then there were the top hats."
Benjamin Karsunke and Andre Riedel adjusted their rectangular blue ties as they looked back at Vescia's slowing vehicle. At the top of the cravats lay golden insignia displaying crossed hammers and a compass.
 Benjamin Karsunke says he and his partner are headed to Mexico next before returning to their native Germany. Above is the 'chicken tractor' they built. |
No, they were - and are - Rolandschacht.
In a classic Coastside story that runs the length of Highway 1 from Devil's Slide to Pescadero, Vescia and many more locals have gotten a taste of an obscure, German traveling society - the Rolandschacht journeymen. Vescia picked up the pair of travelers and offered them a ride down the coast.
A casual Google search yields 1,680 hits for the word. Only two are in English.
"They have signs on their bag announcing Rolandschacht Leipzig, the name of their workman's guild," begins one entry. "More and more come along and finally the restaurant is filled by all these workmen."
Karsunke offered a bit of clarification.
"I told Paolo that we are a carpenters' guild," he said. "That we learn how to build things in the world first by traveling through it."
Growing out of 19th-century Europe, Rolandschacht was formed when traditional German craftsmen wished to unionize after industrialization threatened to push skilled labor off the map. The guild now serves more than 600 German, Swiss and Dutch carpenters who continue to wear the society's traditional garb.
After apprenticing under masters in Germany, students must travel the world for three years before their 30th birthday.
Vescia, with his two German companions by his side, pulled his car into Dee Harley's Pescadero farm and the two carpenters immediately regaled Harley with tales of their travels. This was the last leg of their sojourn that had taken them across Europe, Asia and into the Pacific.
Intrigued, Harley asked them to stay.
"I needed their help, you see," she said on Friday.
For such an unusual duo, she had an equally curious project. Harley, a goat farmer and renowned goat-cheese producer, wanted no less than a chicken tractor.
"It's square and there are wheels on the bottom along with the chickens," she said. "You move it around a pasture slowly and the birds fertilize the ground."
They began work immediately, enlisting the help of a wood carver, known locally as "Three Finger Bill."
It took a week's hard work, but standing proud next to the poultry-filled product, Riedel said he couldn't imagine chickens being cared for any other way. Impromptu carpentry is what he loves most, he added.
"I like working with the wood," he said. "It's warm."
Riedel and Karsunke have since continued south to Santa Cruz and beyond - in pursuit, they say, of warmer temperatures.
When they arrive at their final destination, Puerto Escondido, Mexico, they will end the journey by presenting the mayor with their traveling book.
"The possessor of this travel book is a companion being on his traditional quest," it reads. "We kindly request everybody - particularly honorable masters, authorities and other institutions - who meet this companion to assist him and thus help him to realize the idea of his intentions."
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