Slow Crawl Towards Home

You guys remember the Paul Simon lyric...'the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' away'?
Well, he brings up a valid point.

We are now in central Oregon and I believe I could stretch this trip into another few months of travel and sightseeing but the closer we get to home the more anxious we are to get there. Not sure if this makes any sense to you kind followers but we have been on the road for a LONG time and we miss our loved ones.

Paul's slip slidin' part of the song relates to our desire to keep this great trip going but there is always the nearer your destination part that really tugs at the heart. You guys will never know the enormous help from many folks out there (loyal followers indeed) that have supported us and we will never be able to thank you enough - you know who you are...THANKS!
But none the less, the nearer the destination the more anxious we become.

You may say, hey Howard it's not the destination but the journey...and I would highly subscribe to that observation my friend. Our trip since May 1st has been remarkable - many times Debbie would ask "so where we off to today?" and my answer would be "where are we right now?". I always thought it to be very rude to answer a question with a question but so be it.
But as I sit here today and reflect upon it, not knowing where you are nor where you're going is quite liberating.

We are not planning to rush right home as there are a few things we want to see along the way but suffice it to say we're thinking another two weeks or so and our destination, home, will be nearer.
We left Oroville, WA on the Canadian border Sunday 8/14 and boogeyed our way on down to the Grand Coulee Dam. Waltzed thru the very well done visitor center and marvelled at the foresight our earlier generations had in making the Colombia River Basin the productive and economic region it is today.


The US gov't paid Woody Guthrie $266 to write a song within 30 days about the Grand Coulee Dam project...he wrote 26.
Roll on you mighty Colombia, roll on!

We posted up Monday 8/15 at the most peaceful Nottingham US Forest Service campground at the foot of Mt. Hood just a hundred clicks or so east of Portland. We spent a magnificent day alongside our campsite dipping our toes into the East Fork of the Hood River, soaking up the rays and happy to be together in such a beautiful spot.

So nice we decided to sit tight/loose for another day. I went biking down from the timberline on Mount Hood and mangaed to bite off more than I could chew. I mean these trails followed the ski runs and were mega steep, strewn with boulders, tree roots and downed trees...not my scene at all kind followers. Actually I have only myself to blame for the predicament I found myself in ...apparently I missed a very important directional sign along the way...crap, felt like I was on the trail for at least 2 hours when I prearranged to have Debbie meet me in one hour at the Summit Chevron in muy sympatico Government Camp, OR. Well shit, I missed Govie Camp by a good four miles! All right boy, get truckin' uphill on that yonder highway. I'll end the suspense for you...got to Chevron Summit at the planned and appointed time. How this happened I'll never know.


So earler as I'm up at the Ski Lodge inquiring about biking opportunites on the mountain, here's what I hear. Well sir, we have chair lifts operating but they are mostly for skiers and boarders, not bikers. Get right the hell out of Oregon, you guys are still boarding/skiing in the middle of August? Yes sir that's affirmative, only pace in the US of God Blessed A where you can ski/board in mid August.


I'm there, glacier skiing in August tomorrow morning...done and settled.
The skiing was, well, it was skiing in August and I'll leave it at that. The novelty of skiing on a glacier on August 17th wore off after my first 3 runs as I'm not much into slushing thru wet, heavy and sticky snow - I'm just not in shape to be moving lots of this heavy stuff around for more than about 90 minutes or so. It was quite fun while it lasted but became a bit of a chore rather than a delight after about an hour.

This is the only spot in the lower 48 states where you can ski year round so it is a popular spot for ski racers to practice off season. Most of the racers here are middle to lower echelon guys on a limited budget as the top racers who are well funded by the US Ski Team head to the Andes in South America where it is wintertime right now.

Got to talking to an up and coming racer on the lift who just finished his bachelors degree at Dartmouth - it took him 6 years because he had winter quarters off to ski. His Mom is Estonian, Dad is American so he holds dual US and Estonian citizenship and is trying to make the Estonian team for the 2018 Winter Olympics. He said his chances in making the US team are nil but he has a good shot with the Estonian team because he has trained with them and likes his chances. As he said, and it is so true, you get a spot on ANY Olympic qualifying team and all it takes is one spectacular run and you've got gold. Like I've always said, 90% of success in your life comes from simply showing up and taking a shot. Best of luck - believe his first name was Scott - and take a good shot at it my man.

OK, so then old tired ass legs hobbled back to the RV and we headed off on a 2 hour drive to really cool Sisters, OR to check out the town and explore the nearby 3 Sisters glaciers/volcanoes. Got a nice site at the City owned campground right in town and with my recently earned senior citizen status got the senior rate for $10 per nite...god, am I ever feeling like an old coot. Next thing you know I'll be hitting up the 4 PM senior dinner specials at Denny's with all the other old farts...just shoot me right now. I told Debbie if I get to that point, take me to the top of Sable Pass in Denali, lovingly place a bullet in my forehead and then kick my carcass over the slope down into the specially protected area and let the grizzlies finish me off.

Spent last evening sitting at an excellent viewing spot for the Sisters and made it an early night.

Here's Debbie hanging with her Sisters from another Mother.


Talk about a deer in the headlights...check out those eyes. Taken at twilight on top of McKenzie Pass, OR - almost ran the poor gal over, it was very close.


Off yesterday Thursday 8/18 to Bend, OR for a few days of restaurants, breweries and general merriment. We'll be attending the annual Bend Brewfest which is, from what we hear, a really big deal. I'm skeptical because I've seen the events listing for summertime Bend and it seems they have some sort of "annual" beer festival every weekend - sort of like Carlsbad, CA has an "annual" triathalon/bike race/10K run/marathon every weekend. I will of course lend a discerning eye to this whole affair just for you loyal followers...full report to follow.

On to Crater Lake NP this coming Sunday/Monday.

Later good folks, thanks for checking in and take care.