Clare Harris read a history book about Israel and napped Tuesday inside the deserted beer and snack shack at the Guerneville beach that's been in his family since 1967.
Natalie Cole's rendition of the song "Unforgettable" played over a radio, the music interrupted by the occasional psst-psst of an air compressor. Outside the shack, an employee of Harris' inflated more than 100 inner tubes for the coming Memorial Day weekend.
"It's good to have a beach. We're a resort town," said Harris, 94.
Harris has a few more days to relax before Johnson's Beach and other Russian River hot spots fill up with beachgoers, boaters and swimmers. The good news: There appears to be enough water in the river for people to get their fun on.
"It's going to be perfect for canoeing and for the fish," said Brad Sherwood, a spokesman for the Sonoma County Water Agency.
The unofficial holiday kickoff to summer arrives, however, as government officials, growers and others scramble to deal with historic drought conditions.
Less supply in the Russian River system has regulators preparing to limit diversions by agricultural users above Healdsburg and into Mendocino County for the first time since 1977. The conditions already led to a fishing ban on the river earlier this year and curtailed some events, including the May 3 Great Russian River Race in Healdsburg.
Oregon resident Stephanie Kabella looked out at the river near Johnson's Beach on Tuesday and said it looked "sad" to her because the water appeared to be so shallow.
But Sherwood insisted that the lower river is flowing as much as it has in recent years.
"We're looking at the same conditions that we faced the last two summers, in terms of flow on the river," he said.
Granted, that period covers three consecutive years of drought. What Kabella and her partner, Noel Thomas, witnessed at Johnson's Beach on Tuesday may be the river's new normal, at least until drought conditions ease.
The Water Agency began inflating a seasonal dam Tuesday on the river near Forestville to help protect drinking water supplies for 600,000 customers in Sonoma and Marin counties. The dam creates a small pool of water, which the agency draws upon for four off-stream infiltration ponds that serve the water supply system.
Sherwood said the dam will not be inflated as high this year as in recent years to ensure that there is enough velocity to support downstream fish monitoring.
Boaters who approach the dam have to carry their vessels out of the water and around the man-made impediment.
Because of the shallow depth at Johnson's Beach, people who rent kayaks there will be limited to using the vessels roughly along the property's length, about 800 feet, Harris said. But he said that's not unusual for this time of year.
A removable dam that is to be installed in the river at Johnson's Beach on June 15 should deepen the water an additional 5 feet and give boaters more room to roam.
Harris said he expects upward of 2,400 daily visitors to the beach this weekend, which also would be normal for this time of year. The beach was closed Tuesday to give employees time to prepare for the onslaught.
Janet Slyter of Santa Rosa was virtually alone while sunbathing on the beach Tuesday, aside from an inquisitive duck that waddled over.
"It's my getaway," Slyter said of the river.
Elsewhere in Guerneville Tuesday, residents and business owners braced for the coming weekend with a mixture of anticipation and dread.
At the R3 Hotel, preparations included ordering an additional 10 cases of vodka and 78 cases of bottled water, said Ray Allen, the hotel's managing partner.
Only a few of the lounge chairs encircling the hotel's pool were occupied Tuesday. But Allen said all 23 of the hotel's rooms are booked for the weekend, at $105 to $285 per room.
Asked what he doesn't like about Memorial Day weekend, Allen said, "When it ends."
Jean Vaughan, however, is not looking forward to the coming masses. The Guerneville landscaper sat alone at the hotel's bar Tuesday, sipping a Bloody Maria -- like a Bloody Mary, but made with tequila instead of vodka.
"I'm not a fan of humanity acting badly," Vaughan said. She said she might go out of town this weekend.
Harris said visitors to Johnson's Beach are typically well-behaved. People are prohibited from bringing in their own alcohol.
They can, however, purchase beer at the snack shack, along with hamburgers, hot dogs and soft-serve ice cream dispensed from a machine that was used as a prop in a TV show. Harris said he purchased it several years ago from Universal Studios.
Harris, who has lived in Guerneville all his life, aside from the three years he served in the Navy, cherishes this summer ritual. Seated in a chair Tuesday, he sported deck shoes and no socks. A cool breeze wafted through the deserted shack.
He smiled and said, "It's gonna be a big weekend."
You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter@deadlinederek.
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