The CAR wheels went round and round!

            We have all done them, trips where there were just too many things crammed into one trip. Lynn and I left last Tuesday (Feb 25^th) and drove to Salem Oregon where I needed to be to attend training with ODOT on Thursday.

            Because my sister Elaine has been in the hospital lately we drove from Salem to Roseburg to visit with her and Don on Wednesday. We were only able to visit for a few hours since she was feeling pretty tired but it was a nice visit and one that we could not pass up since we had to be only a couple hours away for my training.

            Thursday I sit through an all day lecture type class with ODOT on what it would take to work with them as an archaeological consultant. I won’t know until later this week if I passed the test or not, but am pretty sure I did. Now all I need is a company to work For in OR and I’m all set!

            Friday we left the motel early and headed for NE Oregon. We were to visit with my sister Pat, see Lynn’s dad in the hospital, meet with our accountant for our taxes in Baker City, and have dinner with our good friends Jerry and Lynn Clark.

            Since we were on I-5 by 7 AM I figured we would be headed out of Portland by 8:30 at the latest. Wrong! Traffic on 205 from West Linn to Oregon City was slow and we were nearly stopped at several of the major onramps to the freeway as more traffic came on to 405.

            Because we wanted to see the Vista House and get some photographic studies for Lynn’s art work we took the Corbett exit off I-84 and enjoyed the view of the waterfall, etc. along the scenic highway. There were Many trees along there with burls, but since it is a part of the Scenic Gorge system I think they might have issues with us cutting trees down? And besides, we were in the car and didn’t have a saw, Dang!

            The drive from there to La Grande should have been uneventful and faster, since the traffic along the gorge is seldom held up for any reason this time of year. And it was no exception this time… it was Cabbage Hill that caused us more delay. Thick fog cut the visibility down to about 500 feet. What should have been an hour long trip from Pendleton to La Grande turned into an hour and a half.

            Being so far behind schedule we were only able to visit with Pat, Joe and Chris for about 30 min before we had to head on to Baker City. Arriving at the hospital in Baker City to visit with Lynn’s dad we were informed he had been discharged in the AM and was home. Well that was disappointing but did give us a bit more time to see Baker City before we had to be at our accountant. Seems that not a lot has changed in Baker City, but there were signs of little changes, like widened streets, some businesses that were gone or new business were where others were when we were there. We had talked to him about purchasing a new, existing business, and he confirmed what we already knew, it was a decent, if not great deal. All we need to do now is find a way to raise the money!

            From his office we met with our friends Jerry and Lynn for dinner at a local brew pub. The meal was very good and the conversation was even better! All too soon though we were out of time and headed back down the road to Hermiston where we were to spend the night with John and Kim… Again, the fog was an issue on Cabbage, putting us a good hour behind schedule and I soon found myself leading a string of about 20 cars off the mountain. Not sure why they decided to follow me, but it was better than having someone in front of me!

            The visit with John and Kim was made better when we found that Casey was there for the weekend as well. They were headed to the Tri Cities on Saturday morning to get Casey as new tattoo (a baseball coming out of his calf with his team number 7). We all left about 11 so they could head that way and we headed to Kayte’s to visit. No one home! Oh well, we took the long way to Pendleton up the Umatilla River were we saw a lot of dear and even more geese and other birds.

            In Pendleton we were able to visit with the girls until Robert got off work. Again the visiting lasted into the night and all too soon it was time for us to get up and head for home. Oh, did I forget to mention that there was a half inch of new snow on the ground and it was being covered with freezing rain? Yea, Slow trip to Walla Walla, but from there on the road were not bad until we reached Spokane. A slight detour there to get some tools from Harbor Freight and we were back on the now, snow covered roads. While the roads were not terrible, it was still enough to require we drive slower than the speed limit. What should have been an eight hour drive soon turned into a ten hour drive. Add in the stops in Spokane and for food, it became a LONG day!

            Overall it was a fun and educational trip, but in six days we did 1997 miles! Not how I like to do things, but it couldn't be helped, limited time and numerous places we needed to be required it to be so. Now to get back to our daily routine and rest up before we have to do it again…. It’s a Bad thing when going to work is easier than the week you just had! J