Same Ol', Same Ol'

Somehow, when I hit the road, lean back and stretch out the miles, I have a problem with stopping. I hate, for some reason, stopping for anything. Food, sightseeing, anything but gas.

Last week, I set out for Manteca, California. My daughter had been in a serious accident that she was very lucky to survive. Only her seat belt saved her, and then barely. It was touch and go for a while, but then she rallied. Rolling her car, then having it flip end over end, could have, should have killed her. Somehow it didn't She had a few broken bones and some head trauma, which is what is taking the longest to heal. I spoke to her doctor just before I left. He announced that she should completely recover, but it will take two or three months.

The above referral to same ol', same ol' is in reference to my return trip. When I drove down, I didn't want to arrive in the middle of the night, so I took a motel rppm in Redding. Coming back was back to my usual habits. I hugged my daughter and ,left the hospital in Lodi that she is recovering in. 9:00 am and I'm on the road again, was Willie would sing. Plans were to stop at Lake Siskyou to visit Jim & Jean Campbell. I did that, arriving around 1:30 pm. We had a short but nice visit, in which I was treated to Jean hand feeding some of the tame deer that hang out at the campground. Darn it all, I had a camera in the car and didn't take a picture of that. Jean, if you have a digital camera. please send me a photo of that.

After about 20 minutes or so, I was on the road again. Thinking about where I would stop for the night was briefly mused over, then forgotten. I would stop when I got tired of driving. I pulled into a very quiet Bayview at 3:30 am the next morning, having driven non-stop. You would think that at my age, I would have better sense. Obviously that isn't the case. At any rate, I got back, my little girl will be alright and everything is OK with the world. I did have my tail light knocked out in a parking lot, but there to admit to it was a very embarrassed, but honest lady. She gave me her insurance information and I hopped back on the highway.

Both going down and coming back, I chose to peel off at Weed and take Hwy 97 via Bend and Biggs Junction, thence the gorge to Ti-cities and up 395. I thought about staying in Bend, then again at the Tri-cities, but by then I smelled the barn and headed back out. Jim & Jean said to say Hi to everyone, so there you have it. I'm up, about and taking nourishment as the saying goes. I'll catch up on the local news and get that information out.

In the, "It's a small world" category, when I gassed up, late at night at a truck stop in Pasco, I asked a trucker for directions to get back on 395. He complied, then said, "I know you from somewhere." Well it turned out that sometime in the past he had discussed mutual friend here in Bayview, Gary Hart & son. apparently sometime back, since I didn't remember him or the discussion. He did, and as soon as I told him I live in Bayview, he recalled everything. I sure didn't. I guess I've just murdered too many brain cells over the years. It turns out that he had left Stockton, California about the same time I left Lodi, which is just down the street from each other. We probably passed each other several times on the way north.

The picture was taken at a view point near the John Day Dam in the Columbia Gorge. It turned out rather well and DFO published it in "Huckleberries on line," while I was gone.