Shelly McKnight and her husband, Matthew Haynes, seemed to have a good life in the Los Feliz Hills. They owned a home in a chic area, had jobs in the film industry and traveled the world on vacations.
But both felt something was missing. When a motorcycle trip in 2002 to look at property took them north into Tulare County, they discovered Springville, population 1,109, a former sawmill town built on the Tule River, and knew they had found what they were looking for: a simpler, more rural life.