Celebrating 25 years
The delivery bike
movement thing — he loves moving on
anything powered by human means.”
These days, Hotchkiss is drawn more
to the water than the roads. He dreams of
closing up shop, buying a houseboat and
paddling down the Mississippi River.
“I’ve been chasing pavement for so long,”
he says. “I think it’s time for some water
adventures. It’s scary to think that there
might be a time when I don’t do this. But
I’m not sure how healthy it is to keep
doing just one thing.”
He pauses, as though pondering the
day when the Sunrise Sourdough Bakery
will no longer be the focal point of his life,
then looks up, his blue eyes sparkling and
grins. “I definitely have to row a boat
down the Mississippi.”
■
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local bakery to shops in New York City.
When a position as a baker opened up, he
took it and learned to make bread.
As the delivery guy, he says he liked
having the hustle and bustle of the city,
but then returning home to the quiet calm
of his house in Massachusetts. That’s how
Sunrise is for him too. When the bakery is
open, he’s on. The rest of the time, he en-
joys his solitude and describes himself as
a recluse.
“How was your camping trip?” asks
Sarah Doggett, one of the many regulars.
The bakery is only open on Thursdays and
Sundays from 11 am to 7 pm. On
Tuesdays, Hotchkiss frequently heads up
into the hills around Philomath and
Corvallis, spreads his sleeping pad and
bag out under the stars and spends the
night. Doggett pulls out a county map and
the two of them huddle over it, tracing the
lines that mark obscure logging roads and
out-of-the-way, wild places with their fin-
gers.
Many people know Hotchkiss as the
guy who commutes 5 miles from his
house in Corvallis to the bakery on a uni-
cycle, umbrella in one hand on rainy days,
bouncing a basketball with the other. At
one time you could buy his bread in most
of the natural food stores in Eugene. For
Hotchkiss, that meant working 50-60
hours a week. “I paid off my mortgage
and said, ‘I’m just not going to keep doing
this anymore’,” he explained. “I’d rather
chase time than money. Because that’s the
only true freedom there really is.” Now he
delivers his bread by bike on Fridays and
Mondays to both First Alternative Co-op
locations in Corvallis.
“He loves movement and balance,”
says Tom Sorenson, 28, an old friend who
now lives in Bend but recently stopped in
to visit Hotchkiss. “People talk about liv-
ing a sustainable lifestyle, but it’s people
like Bill who are actually doing it.”
Hotchkiss takes summers off and uses
the time to travel around on his bike. On
the door of the bathroom in the back room
of the bakery he has a map of the U.S.,
black lines crisscrossing the country,
marking the routes of his trips. “Biking
just gets in your bones,” Hotchkiss says.
“Kind of how movement gives you that
glowy feeling, the endorphins. Once you
have a few relationships with those …
well, it’s a great way to feel alive.”
“Bill also loves to kayak,” adds Tom’s
twin brother, Eric. “It goes back to the
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WHAT’S HAPPENING Corvallis • 7