samadhisoft.com

Astoria to La Push wasn’t terribly notable. We crossed the big bridge after saying good bye to the Sea Lions who had serenaded us so well and we were in Washington State again heading north.

Along the way, we stopped into Aberdeen. It’s a sad and rundown town that’s seen better days. We walked up and down in the main section of town and many stores were closed and things had, to me, a bad feeling. I was glad to depart.

I believe we’re all doing the right thing by controlling lumbering to hold it within renewables limits but it is sad to see the severe effect the cutbacks in productivity have had on many communities in this area.

We drove on and reached La Push by mid-afternoon.

They said that the room rate for then upstairs room I wanted would be $89 a night and I tried to negotiate $80 since, I said, we’d be there three days. Result? They said they were having a special and I could have it for three nights for the price of two! Damn – lucky boy again.

We checked in and then went back to Forks for supplies and then settled in for the evening with the constant sound of the waves outside.

Dennis

We got up early this morning and we were out by 830AM.   Alan was up with us and we ate cereal and yogurt and talked with him.

The new plan, just concocted last night, is to drive to Astoria, Oregon today.   The original plan was to go back to Portland for a second night but we’ve seen Portland and it wasn’t particularly nice to us whereas Astoria is a new adventure.   I’ve only been to Astoria once, years ago, but my memories of it are positive.   It sits in Oregon on the south side of the Colombia as it pours into the Pacific Ocean after draining a land area the size of France.   I remember an amazing looking bridge and an observation tower.

Alan tells us that many wealthy people from Portland would go out to the coast to a town just north of Seaside where the highway we’ll be on will intersect with the coastal highway 101 route.  Sounds interesting.

Soon, with hugs and good wishes dispensed, we’re off with some quiche from Sasha’s coffee shop along for a lunch snack.

My iPad maps the route out of Eugene and onto the 5 north and that makes things easy for us.   Eugene is more complex this way than one might suspect.

Driving was smooth if, perhaps, a bit boring as interstate highways are wont to be.   When we got to Beaverton, Oregon (suburb of Portland to the west)  and were ready to turn west towards the coast, we were considerably further along that I’d thought we would be so a lunch stop was postponed until we might see something of interest. 

It arrived, eventually, in the form of a rest stop called ‘Sunset’.   For those of you remembering that I wrote about Sunset yesterday, please forgive me.   I’m writing this three days after the events and things are beginning to get mixed a bit after so much constant travel and stimulus.   I don’t want to hear any whispering out there in the peanut galleries about   “alzheimer’s”.

So, we pull into the rest stop for a brief walk and a rest and discover that it is adjacent to a walk in the forest behind the stop.   Cool!   We put on suitable shoes and grab the quiche to nibble on and wade in.   40 minutes later, we’re out again having seen  lots of great Pacific Northwest flora.   The trail was well maintained but it’s winter and several trees were down over the trail which we had to clamber around.   It was a great walk and a lot of nice photos were taken.

Then we took off again heading west towards the coast.   The road dead ended into highway 101 at Seaside which is a nice touristy beach town.   We drove around soaking it up for 30 minutes or so and looking for a Starbucks but we never found one and, eventually, we headed down the road towards Astoria.

We found a coffee shop in Warrenton, which is just before Astoria and we did our now standard thing.   We grabbed a coffee in the local Starbucks and scoped out the motels in Astoria via booking.com.   Soon, we had one and I called and talked him down $10 for the night.  It was $80 which was more that we’ve been paying but, hey, it was just by the river, had a view of the Astoria Bridge and it had sea lions singing everyone a concert all night.

We checked in and then went for a look about town.   First call was the Astoria Column.   It’s on top of a big hill overlooking the town and you can walk up in it (164 steps worth) and then you come out onto a little platform behind a railing that goes all the way around.

This was the first time I’d realized that Colette has a sometimes thing about heights.   She said she began stressing out half way up the column and there was no way she was coming out onto the platform once we’d ascended all the way.  So, I left her inside the door peeking out and took both our cameras and took a bunch of shots.   Then she and I walked back down slowly and she was fine.

When we got down to the ground, we were still on the top of a high hill with excellent views and it was just coming up on sunset so we stayed and watched the show.   I watched for the ‘green flash’ but I didn’t see it.

After the column, we drove into town and had a good look around.  Astoria’s an odd town.  A bit run down like it is struggling economically and it certainly looks as if there’s been no new money put into the downtown in many years.   It also has an isolated feel like one can’t quite figure out why it is there where it is.   Like, what sustains it?   And, it has a counter-culture vibe like, say, Port Townsend.

Colette and I walked up and down the main street and stepped into a combination coffee bar and book store that looked fun.   While we browsed, we couldn’t help but hear the loud banter at the coffee bar between three or four people.   They were going on in a humorous way about drugs and vibrators and all sorts of bizarre things.   It made for interesting shopping; I’ll give them that.   Both Colette and I found a book we liked and bought it.   I got a copy of Jack Kerouc’s, “On The Road” for $8.00 that I was quite happy with.

A bit more walking and then it was back to our hotel room on the third floor up above the Colombia River and the Sea Lion concerts.  Have to say, I loved the view out the window where that were several ships anchored sitting very high because they were empty.   I assume they were waiting to go upriver to take on loads of ore for Japan or some such.

dennis

The day at Alan and Rita’s began quietly with coffee and talk.

They’ve rented this house in Eugene.   They sold the one they had in Woodinville, Washington and now they are content to just rent here for the time being.   This is a beautiful 2200 square foot two-story house with a two-car garage.   The layout is really nice and you easily like the place.   Two of the bedrooms are truly huge and the other two, quite reasonable.  Amazingly, they only pay $1795 a month for it which I thought was a really low price compared to what I heard places go for in, say, Irvine, California, or the San Francisco area.   The rental price includes whatever yard work is necessary as well.

Alan had a list of places he wanted to take us round to see so about 10 AM we went outside to take off in his van and discovered that someone had backed into our rental car.  That was a surprise and a problem as it necessitated that we restart our plans and put resolving this issue to the top of our list.

Colette and I sat a few minutes and mentally reconstructed our insurance arrangements.  We’d sorted all of it out throughly before we’d flown to the US but now several weeks had passed since we’d had occasion to think about it.  

We finally worked out that (1) the insurance that protects other folks if we’re in an accident with them is the non-owner liability insurance we took out with Geico.  And that (2) the insurance that protects our health if we’re in an accident is the Southern Cross Travel Insurance we took out.   So, by process of elimination, the (3) insurance that protects us against damage to the rental car is the insurance that comes to us for free when we put the entire cost of a rental car onto my Platinum Master Card.   Bingo.

So, I called them and told them I’d been in a fender-bender and that I’d like to file a claim because for sure when we turned the rental car in, Budget Rent-a-Car was going to WANT the money to repair their car from the damage that had been done.

I talked to a nice lady at the credit card’s customer service number named Michelle who told me that it would take us 10 to 20 minutes to complete the claim application over the phone and thus we started in.

After 10 minutes or so of questions, she told me that for sure the claim would be disallowed and I asked why.   She said that the fine print in the credit card insurance agreement stipulates that the car rental agreement contract cannot exceed 45 days and, since I’d rented the car for 60 days, we were ineligible to claim under this insurance.

Whoosh, that took the wind out of me.   We’d been so careful to make sure that we had all of our little insurance ducks in a row before we’d come the the US and now here we were discovering that we’d never been covered for “Loss Damage” insurance in spite of the fact that the entire rental had been put onto the credit card.

I asked her if there were any appeals or other avenues open to me and she said that she was very sorry but that there were not.   I was, indeed, toast.

While we considered that, we also realized that there were other issues before us.   Like (1) now that we knew that we did not have “Loss Damage” insurance, we were going to need some to cover us for the remainder of the trip in case there were other incidents.  And (2) the question of should we turn the damaged car in and get another or was that going to cause us problems? 

One line of reasoning was that if we turned the damaged car in and terminated the current contract, then we’d get a new car and a new contract and that new contract would be for less that 45 days so we’d pick up the “Loss Damage” insurance for free on the second contract.   But, the problem with this idea was that this would mean we’d have two cars; each of which had been picked up at point A and then dropped off at point B.   And the car rental places like Budget charge dearly for such remote drop offs.

On the other hand, if we kept the damaged car, then for sure we’d need to get the “Loss Damage” insurance and we’d have to buy it over the counter from Budget for about $15 a day for the remaining 42 or so days of our rental period.   That was going to be an unplanned expense.

And, finally, there was the issue that if we went into Budget to ask them about these options and had the car with us, they might see it and tell us we HAD to turn it in.

We took the car and tested it and determined that its drivability was undamaged; it was going to be fine if we kept it – other than the fact that the driver’s door wouldn’t open all the way.

So, we left the car at Alan’s and went in his van down to the Eugene Budget Rent-a-Car place and had a chat with the fellow there who was very helpful and understanding.

The trip was well worth making because he told us right off, after we’d explained our several quandaries, that Budget never rents cars for more than 31 days per contract.   He further said that if we’d rented the car for 60 days, then surely we’d have two sequential 30 day contracts in their system.

Hew asked to see our contract which I produced and he noted right off that it was handwritten.   I agreed it was and told him that the computers had been messing up the day we picked the car up at LAX and that the lady had created a handwritten contract for us so we could get going.   He then went into the system and caused it to print off a physical copy of our contract as it existed in their system.   And it was a 31 day contract covering the period of 8 November to 9 December.   Nice.  

He gave us a copy of it as this was exactly what we’d need to get the credit card folks to honor their insurance obligations to us since the operative contract was, indeed, for less that 45 days.   This also, neatly, removed the need for us to buy new “Loss Damage” insurance as well.

I asked then if he could print us off the 2nd contract that covered the period of 10 December through 5 January.   He could not and after he had a chat with the folks at LAX, we were advised that we’d need to call them ourselves on about December 8th, explain the situation and get them to E-Mail us a copy so we’d have proof that we had their car legally. He wasn’t sure exactly why they wanted to do it this way.

So, we left Budget much heartened by all of this news.   Once back at Alan’s, I called the credit card claim folks again and they instructed me how to write an E-Mail requesting that the previous denial be reopened and the claim approved.   And I did this.

So, finally, some hours after we set off for the day’s adventures, the mess with the car was as sorted out as we could make it so we set off for a second time.

Alan took us for a drive around town and up onto Skinner’s Butte which sits near downtown Eugene and which offers wonderful views over the city.  Some where in all of this, we also went into a Super Burrito place Alan knew and we all had a fine Mexican lunch for $8.00 which was a spectacular price.  I think Colette is becoming quite a fan of Mexican food.

Then Alan took us to a huge antique store which we all browsed about in for a hour.   There were numerous things there that Colette or I might have wanted to take home but given that home is in New Zealand, they weren’t practical so, in the end, we left them all there.

After that, Alan took us by an art supply store that Colette had seen at Pearl and 11th.   That place was fun as well.  We put 20 minutes worth of coins into the meter at the curb and when that time was up, Colette emptied her purse of coins with the request that we pump them all into the meter so she could stay longer (smile).   She found a special kind of Japanese painting paper she’d wanted and I found a great sharp artist’s pen.

We all then went to the market and Alan shopped according to a list made up by Rita for the materials for tonight’s dinner.   And, after all of that, we returned to Alan and Rita’s place.

Rita made a beautiful meal for us with Salmon and the other ingredients.   Justin and Sasha both joined us for the meal and a good time was had by all.   

We discussed US policies and how such things looked from the offshore and New Zealand POV’s.  

Colette was also asked about things in New Zealand which she she answered. 

I broached the subject of Jewishness.   Rita is Jewish and Alan isn’t.  And given the fact that Jewishness transmits in the maternal side, this means that both Sasha and Justin are both, technically, Jewish.   So I asked how all of this worked in their family.  I.E., was Rita of a secular or of a religious persuasion and what did all of this mean for how Justin and Sasha had been raised.   In all the years I’ve been friends with them, I’ve never known about these things nor had ever thought to ask about them. So, tonight was the night.

What a beautiful family they are.   Each freely spoke their POV about all of this.   Freely, relaxedly and with apparent enjoyment.   If only things were so sane and open in all families.  Religion can create such tension sometimes.  It was a great and free ranging discussion with everyone chipping in and I enjoyed it immensely.  As a family, they are quite wonderful.   They speak openly, lovingly and with relaxation to each other.   Everyone respects the others and neither Alan nor Rita plays ‘the parent card’ in so far as I could see.   Bravo, my friends.

My cold was still hammering me so I begged off for the night and went to snooze and thus ended and eventful and surprising day in many ways.

Tomorrow, we get up early and head out for Astoria where we’ll overnight on our way to La Push on the Washington coast.

dennis
J

Currently writing this a few days after the events. I’ve had a cold so my energy levels have been a little low. At the moment, as I type, we are sitting in the Comfort Suites in Astoria, Oregon listening to the sound of Sea Lions outside barking and honking which they seem to love to do all night. More about Astoria later.

So, back to the story in sequence… Bend to Engene today. Interesting country to pass through. Large parts of it are the Willamette National Forest.

We were curious to see if our impressions of Bend held up in a morning reviewing so we drove about in the residential districts east of downtown. And the impressions were still very favorable. Bend is, indeed, a nice town. It feels to me like in in Colorado someplace. I’m not sure what the twon does that makes it affluent. Skiing and the Annual Rodeo must be a part of it. There’s more I’m sure. It seems to have all the amenities that one loves in the Pacific Northwest and yet it’s considerably drier which can be nice.

From Bend, we drove northwest to Sisters. A town that calims 2000+ people but it looks a lot bigger than that. It has a nice western theme downtown and obviously has a lot to do with skiing in the area.

From there, we continued west into the Willamette National Forest and drove through miles and miles of forests and mountains. A lot of it was along the McKenzie Highway.

We continued along the road and into Eugene and arrived at Alan and Rita’s place in the south side of town.

I’ve known Alan and Rita since the late 80’s. They are good lifetime friends. The have a daughter, Sasha, who is a recent univeristy graduate and a son, Justin, who is in his last year of high school. Both wonderful young people.

After some visiting, we all went out for a look at the town and a meal. I’ve always like Eugene. It is a university town with a nice counter-culture feel to it as well as being a beautiful place. We put Colette up front in the car with Alan and Rita and I rode in the rear.

After some sight seeing, Alan took us to a beer place, The Steelhead, that also had a nice menu. It had a good atmosphere but not too noisy so we could talk easily. I had fish-n-chips which were great and a speciality beer that Alan recommended. After that, we went to a dessert speciality place (my, we are eating a lot!) and Colette and I shared a big piece of Blueberry Cheescake. Yum. Then we popped into the place were Sasha is working as a Barista. A beautiful place so more photos were taken.

Then home for a bit more chat and then we turned in for the night after a wonderfful day. Sasha was nice enough to give up her room for us for which we were very thankful.

dennis

Nice trip to Bend, Oregon today. Not too pushed for time, we were able to drive leisurely and to stop and have a look around when we liked. Our route took us south from the Tri-Cities on Oregon State Highway 207 which goes through some pretty remote areas.

My predomionate recollections are of low rolling hills slowly giving rise to Pine Forests as the land rose and then to Confiferous Forests. Underlying it all was lava in the hiilsides and the road cuts.

We drove sometimes for 15 minutes without seeing another vehicle.

Notable was the town of Hardman. All clapboard buildings, many in ruins, there was also evidence of occupation by some folks living in trailers. We later regretted not stopping for a second look as it was so remarkable. In the evening, Colette Googled it and we found out that it is a partial Ghost town. The last business there closed in 1968.

Another town we encountered was Spray. We stopped at a general store to see if we might find coffee and/or lunch. The store and the restaurant were all one thing and a number of local folks were having lunch. We took a look around and opted for two bags of mixed nuts. To me, it felt like one of those places where things were either going to feel really awkward or the folks were going to be really friendly and fully engage us in a ‘who are you and where are you from’ chat. I think we just wanted a quiet sitdown sort of a lunch so neither appealed at the moment.

After that, we began to get back into civilization as we got closer to Bend and the towns in that area.

I liked the remote areas we went through today. I told Colette that except for the Olympic Peninsula, this might be the most remote we’ll get on this trip as most of our travels are planned to be near the Pacific Coast.

It’s hard to remember sometimes when you rip through an area like this enroute from one place to another, that folks spend their entire lives in these places save for the odd vacation. These little remote towns are the center of their lives and their last names can probably be seen on many of the grave stones in the little cemetaries we pass.

Bend is 80,000 people and obviously a nice place. I’ve heard about it for years. We found a nice room for only $52/night and then went out and supped on Vietnamese food.

The only wrinkle is that I’ve been fighting a light cold for several days and in the evening, it got stronger. Not fun being sick when you are travelling. This morning, as we’re preparing to take a look around town before we depart for Eugene, it’s much better. Let’s hope it stays that way. Colette had a slight cough for a few days be seems to have shaken it.

The sun’s out, the skys are mostly cleared, we have new country never seen before to travese getting to Eugene from Bend and we’re feeling good. Time to go. Bye!

dennis

Saturday. Yesterday was rest up day after the big feed. Today, we can all play together before we depart tomorrow morning.

We decided to do something physical to offset some of the massive eating we’ve all been into so we took off for a climb up Badger Mountain. It’s 1579 ft tall. It was a good hike with stunning views all around and over the Tri-City area including the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the distance.

It’s a popular destination for folks of all ages and you could see them strewn all up and down on the path like tiny ants aboove you or below you; depending on where you were. By a stroke of good luck, we met Rose’s girlfriend, Rita, and her partner on the trail and passed a few interesting minutes talking with them before they continued on down and us on up.

Lots of radio towers and such at the top. We stayed for maybe 20 minutes taking pictures and gawking and then headed back down.

Alice was waiting for Colette, Rose and I down in Rose’s car. Due to medical issues, she couldn’t do the climb with us but, rather, waited for us with a book to keep her company.

Now, Rose took us back into Kennewick and showed us the old section of downtown which we’d been unable to find.

She began by taking us to a True Value hardware store there that also doubles as a furniture store on the 2nd and 3rd levels. Nice place with good quality furniture. I bought an indoor/outdoor wireless thermometer there (on the 1st floor) for $10.00 USD which I thought was a pure steal.

Then we walked over to a cafe with a lot of good local color that Rose knew about. Good place but, as usual, the portions were enormous. Water quality in terms of taste is an issue in this area. At Rose’s, we all drink water that’s passed through her filtering system. At the restaurant, however, we got the straight stuff and Colette took one swig and I saw from her expression that it wasn’t very tasty. She said it was the most highly treated water she’d ever had and she ordered a diet coke in a can. I had brewed coffee so I couldn’t tell. The meal was good though as was the small town atmosphere.

From there, Rose took us over to the Colombia River and showed us a ‘Bridges’ walk she and some of her girlfriends do. Basically, there are two bridges that cross the Colombia in Kennewick. One’s the 395 and the other’s the 397. Rose and her friends will, with enough time, walk over one, then walk over to the other and then walk back in a loop. It reminded me of a long walk Alan T. and I took some years back in Eugene along the river there.

After all of this, it was getting dark so we headed back to the house. One of Rose’s girlfriends had asked it Rose could watch her daughter for a four hour shift that evening and she was due to drop AJ off at 5 pm.

What a cute kid AJ was. I spent a fair bit of time with her and she is really bright. It was fun to show her various tricks and ideas. At one point, I showed her how to convert letters into numbers and then back out again as a way to write secret messages and she got it instantly. I don’t think I was that sharp in 3rd grade.

Finally, it was time to turn in for our last night at Rose’s place. It’s been fun but tomorrow, we’re off for Bend, Oregon as we work our way to Eugene and my friends Alan and Rita. I’m looking forward very much to seeing them.

dennis

The day after Thanksgiving proves to be a quiet one. We sleep in until almost 830 am. Then we’re up for coffee and chat with everyone. Rose is still working at Kohls. Her shift was from midnight to 10 AM so we’re expecting her shortly and she’s probably going to be quite tired.

She arrives tired but perky and claiming she’ll stay up all day. Looks are passed among several of us and silent doubts expressed among them.

Her girlfriend who’d also worked all night showed up and more visiting ensured. It was suggested that all the employees who’d worked the all-night shift should gett tee shirts made to that effect.

Chris, Nikki and Sammy took off as they needed to be back in Seattle for work this evening. Pass conditions over Snoqualamie Pass were checked and it looked like they’d be OK. Colette and I will see them again in another week or so.

Colette and I decided to take off on some adventures of our own. The thought was that Rose would be more likely to sleep if there were no house guests about to entertain or take care of. It turned out, according to Alice, to be true. Rose was sleeping not long after we took off. It was at least noon before all this happened as we’d all been talking a lot.

Colette and I drove around Kennewick. First, we went over and had a coffee at Starbucks (and bought two small Starbucks cups) and then looked into the adjacent Wal-Mart. That was a bit of true Americana we both wanted to experience. A big walk around the colossal store followed and a few items were purchased (We didn’t want to be responsible for the economic failure of the Chinese nation).

Then we tried to drive up the hill south of Rose’s place to get the ‘big view’ of the area. That was only partially successful as the road part way up was blocked with construction. But it was enough to let us see our next goal which was the big Colombia Park just to the west of where teh 395 crossed the Colombia River.

The park was beautiful and we found a pond where people were feeding big geese and ducks and pigeons. That was a fun scene.

Twilight was coming on so we came back to the house. Alice made us a nice supper from the Thanksgiving meal leftovers. Then she woke Rose up on the theory that if she kept sleeping, she’s wake up at 2 AM and then lay awake all night wondering what to do.

After that, we had a quiet evening together and turned in. Another fine day.

dennis

Thanksgiving day in Kennewick, Washington at my first wife, Rose’s, place. My son, Chris, and his girlfriend, Nikki, are here now along with myself, Colette, Rose and Alice, Rose’s sister.

The day starts slowly with Colette and I going out for a walk. Then Tina and her family showed up along with a number of other folks and soon the house was brimming with a large extended family. 18 people, by one count, of all ages from a newborn baby to older folks like myself.

I like kids and the ones there were great. My iPad was passed from hand to hand all day as various games were played on it. Indeed, the battery was run down to zero twice before I had to retire it for the day.

Early in the day, several of us went to a public park and played basketball, frisbee and football. I use the word, ‘played’, loosely because the only sport I had any skill at was Frisbee. Dan, Tina’s son, is terrific at basketball and Nikki’s no slouch either.

As the afternoon wore on, everyone seemed, at one point or another, to talk and visit with everyone else. Adults and kids were everywhere. Political discussions were held, TV was watched, candy was eaten (including some which was consumed by Chris and Nikki’s dog, Sammy, who was a bit worse for the experience but he soon recovered) and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Rose setup a long table with as many spaces as possible but, even so, several folks ended up sitting on the couch when the meal was served at 4 PM.

It was a classic American Thanksgiving dinner, which was a new experience for our Kiwi, Colette. Turkey, dressing, cranberries, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, ham, and assorted other goodies in large quantities. A classic big-table event with bowls of one thing and another being passed up and down the table from hand to hand.

Finally, we were all stuffed. So, we sat down and talked some more why we digested. And then, after an hour or more, the pies came out; pecan and pumpkin. Oh, yum. I pigged out with a piece of each.

After another hour or so, the Tina and Pat (Tina’s husband) clan packed up for their return drive to Moses Lake (about an hour and half away). The house seemed so big after all of the clan left but I missed them.

The night was not over, however. Tomorrow’s Black Friday and Rose works at Kohls Department Store and they are opening up for a Black Friday sale at midnight tonight when Thursday turns to Friday. And we’ve all decided to go down and join the shopping insanity!

So, we all sit around chatting until Rose goes into work just after 11 pm. She calls at 1130 to tell us to follow her on down NOW as the place is already insane with folks waiting to get into the store. Whoops – off we go.

At 1155 we pull in and the crowd is right around the store lined up waiting for midnight to strike. We get out and organize ourselves and start walking and when we’re halfway there, they open the doors. Wow. Everyone is surging to get in. Shopping madness. And, apparently, this is going on all over town with stores opening for Black Friday. Good fun!

So, we surge in with the crowd and exchange cell phone numbers with Alice in case we get seperated.

Shopping’s fun. We didn’t think we’d want to buy anything but it’s all a bit infectious. We buy a high quality kitchen knife and two caps for me to replace the one I lost in the high winds at Bandon Beach in Oregon.

Then (yes THEN) the rub becomes apparent. It’s the queues we have to line up to buy this stuff. Yow, they are stretched all around the inside of the store before you get to the checkout stations so you can pay.

We think about putting our stuff away but Chris and Nikki volunteer to take it through for us. They realize we’re older folks and need to get our rest (smile!) so we hand our goodies to them and by 1:15 am we’re home and heading for sleep while all the crazy shoppers shop on.

And so ends Thanksgiving in Kennewick.

dennis

The drive from Portland to Kennewick today took us right up the Colombia River which is a very pretty drive. We planned our route before we left this time (smile). So, it was easy to get out of town.

Onto 5, across the river into Washington (Colette’s first entry), then east on the 14 a bit, then south across the river again on 205 where we picked up the 84 going east and we were off. And it all went like clockwork – unlike last night’s adventures coming into Portland.

We began the drive in rain and low visibility; classic Pacific Northwest weather. But, as we drove east, the rain eased off as the landscpe changed from evergreen forests and waterfalls, just beside the road, to open lava filled ridges with few trees rising high about the wide Colombia. We passed two hydroelectric large damsand I told Colette about the dams and the decline of the once great Salmon stocks.

Mile after mile of the Colombia Valley rolled by.

Then I remembered the story of “Kennewick Man” and shared it with Colette.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man

We jumped off the 84 in The Dalles and had a look around the town. I told her about the salad bar poisoning committed in the town by the Rajneeshees in about 1984 that led to the final breakup of the Ranjneesh Commune, Rajnesshpuram, near Antelope, Oregon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack

I was a follower of Bhagwan Shree Rejneesh during the early eighties so I had followed all of this quite closely at the time. Indeed, I had attened the summer festivals at Rajneeshpuran from 1981 through 1984. And an amazing experience it was.

We drove on and arrived in Kennewick at Rose’s place without incident around 3 pm in the afternoon.

For those who may not know, Rose was my first wife. She and I were married from 1968 to 1979 and had two sons; Dan and Chris. Some folks ight think it oodd, but after all these years, she and I are still close friends. Indeed, Colette and I are here at her invitation to spend Thanksgiving with her and her sister, Alice, and a large extended family of people; many of who I’ve known since I was 21 so many years ago.

We arrived and hugs were passed out and introductions made.

Alice just moved down from Alaska about six months ago after being there for many years and this was the first time I’d seen her since the late sixties.

Chris, my younger son, and his girlfriend, Nikki, were due in a few hours. They were driving over from the Seattle area, so we sat and visited while awaiting their arrival which they did an hour or so later.

First night’s reunion’s done, we all turned in to rest up for the ‘big feed’ of an American Thanksgiving meal.

dennis

Whew, still recovering from Portland. It was a nice drive up the coast from Bandon but it began to ‘turn to custard’ as the Kiwis say when we got to highway 18 which we were going to take into Portland.

It was blocked with trees down so we continued north up towards Tillamock and, after a look at the map, I thought we could turn east in a bit, cut cross country and then reconnect to 18 past the blockage.

Nice plan, but it didn’t work out that way. After miles of small, pretty, twisty roads and little one way bridges, we ended up on a road that took us back to 101 north of where we had exited it and, at that point, we found ourselves half way between the original blocked 18 cutoff and Tillamock so we just continued north to Tillamock then after having wasted an hour hog snorting through the little forest road looking for the highway 18 truffle. Snort!

The day was a bit of a replay of the previous day in that we now found ourselves entering the Portland (PL) metropolitan area at late dusk, in rush hour and in the pouring rain. And, as we entered PL, it became painfuly obvious that the freeways were badly jammed up and barely moving.

And, to add to the situation, I had chosen to enter the city like this thinking that we’d simply work out where our hotel was on the fly. Yow! Bad decision, Batman!

Finally, after a long, slow crawl into the city center on highway 26, Colette called the hotel on our cell and established that the hotel was on the north side of the city just by the river and that we needed to get onto Interstate 5 going north.

That was a lucky break as we were now in the city center and I could see the green Interstate 5 signs coming up. But, bummer, bummer, bummer, the option offered was only to take the 5 south and we wanted north!

I knew if I let the 5 get away, we might wander for a long time before I found it again so I grabbed the opportunity to get on it going south, hoping to hit an intersection where I could get off, cross the bridge and then jump back on again heading north.

We drove a loooong way before an exit presented itself. Then getting back on going north proved to be a trial. I got off, crossed the inevitable bridge and immediately missed the turn to get back on going north (my claim is that it was bad signage (yeah right)). So, off we went, heading east on a road that had no turns for a long time. Grrr.

Then a turn presented itself. Remember, it is dark and raining and the traffic is very heavy. I position us in the center of the road for a turn left as soon as an opening presents itself. It does and I go…. Bang. Right front wheel hits and jumps a curb I hadn’t seen. I go on and drive up the small road on the far side.

Bummer. Some cussing. Some serious anxiety about the car and insurance and will the wheel and the car’s alignment be OK. Or have I just really put a serious dent in our vacation and finances. After a jump out of the car and a quick look at the car and tire (I see nothing obvious), I have a quick pee on someone’s front lawn in the rain because I’m afraid to get back into the car and get locked into the traffic jam again and to then to discover that I have to go.

Back on the road, we get on 5 going north and we are good. Except that it take another hour, perhaps, to get to exit 307 where the hotel is.

We’re giddy and silly by the time we arrive. We are so happy to be there.

Once in, we have a small meal and turn in and another day closes.

We haven’t seen anything of PL but rain and traffic and we’re thinking that in the morning, we’re just going to get up and head east towards Kennewick and take a big pass on having a better look. Maybe later or maybe not at all. Portland has not been a good experience.

dennis