The day before yesterday found us parked in spot A4 at Emigrant Springs State Park. For some reason the folks who built the park, and a good one it is, were obsessed with the history about the migration west via the Oregon Trail. Everywhere you look in this part of the country there are reminders of the trials and tribulations of those who carved their way across this great country, seeking a better life. Seems to be the story of humanity in general, always looking for greener grass.

Reading the stories posted along the trail make me feel blessed that the only discomfort we suffered getting to this spot was the fleeting fear of the engine in our RV seizing up due to excessive heat. Kind of petty, huh? The original travelers in this area, I’ve learned, had to cope with cattle and oxen that wandered off in the night seeking greener grass. Sometimes they found them and continued on, but some got away for good. Consequently, those strays eventually found each other and formed one of the largest herds of cattle and oxen that freely roamed the Blues. That’s what locals call the Blue Mountains on which we are currently parked. Stories abound about the hardships suffered during the arduous crossing of the Blues. Up here the time of years means nothing because it’s always cold at night and hot during the day. When laying safely in our bed, however, one can only wonder why they didn’t anticipate the construction of I-84 and either put the park further away,nor convinced those guy with the bulldozers to carve the road out a little farther north. The traffic on 84 lessens at night, but it never stops. So many people travel it still seeking greener grass.

Yesterday afternoon, the other two members of our wagon train arrived after successfully scaling the treacherous twists and turns of Cabbage Hill from Pendleton to Meacham. That’s the hill that gave us a bit of concern two days ago. It’s also called Emigrant Hill.

I’ve got photos to share but cannot add them yet because I’m forced to use my iPad instead of my laptop. Sadly, the power cord has gone missing and it’s pretty dead at the moment. Adding photos require that photos reside on my iPad and not all of them do. I’ve got over 80,000 photos on my phone but they seem to be really slow getting to the iPad. Photos will come later.

Diane served a classic Labor Day Picnic yesterday … hotdogs, beans, potato salad, and watermelon … it was really good. Then we lit the portable fire pit and sat around talking until we’ll after dark. It’s a fun routine.

Today we are headed to the Elks Lodge in Caldwell, Idaho where we plan to spend a couple of days visiting with family. My brother, Jim, and his wife, Donna, live around there somewhere. Since our last visit they sold their house and bought a condo. We know where the old house is, but not a clue where the condo is. I figured they heard we were dropping by and kinda went off the grid to avoid us. Fortunately, their daughter, Steffani, and her husband, Bob, live in a location we know and will help guide us to the proper place.

We’re interested to see how Bob and Steff’s dog, Birk, and our little Max, get along. They are about the same size so we’re hoping they’ll have fun together.

The plan was to depart Meacham at 10:00 am. That didn’t happen. It was more like 11, but that’s OK. We’re on Retirement Time. We arrived at the Elks Lodge in Caldwell, Idaho around 4 or 7pm. I’m not really sure. I do know that we were all dinner hungry so we stopped by a place close by. Shortly after we got our menus Steffani called Diane to find out where we were. We had left Max in the RV where Steff terrified him by banging on the door to see if we were home, then she called Diane. We weren’t far away so they motored over to join us for supper. It was kinda funny that half of us ordered breakfast.

Today, Wednesday, Diane and I took Max to Bob and Steff’s so he could get acquainted with Birk while we visited with big brother Jim and his bride, Donna. We had a great visit and decided to call it quits when our discussion devolved into two old guys trying to help each other remember words and places related to our conversation.

Then we had to find a place to get bread and dessert for dinner at B&S’s. S cooked dinner for the entire bunch of travelers which was pretty nice, I’d say.

It was a great dinner. The dogs got along famously and are now fast friends (BDFF). It’s my understanding that they plan to write each other, to keep in touch. right now, Max is resting up for tomorrows trip to Jerome, Idaho.