Tag Archives: travel

August 1, 2026

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It’s been about 10 days since my last post so I’m really falling behind on sharing the new. If I was smart, I’d keep my wheel book handy and jot down things of interest you might enjoy but I’ve never been accused of being smart. That means you’ll just have to put up with whatever I can remember. There’s nothing on my calendar during those days which means either I didn’t do anything, or I just forgot to add them to the calendar. Odds are it’s the latter.

Yesterday Carolann and Terry paid me a visit yesterday. It was a very nice way to end July. They were beckoned to the Columbia Funeral Home so Carolann could deliver a eulogy for a friend. It was very thoughtful of them to think of me during this trying time. That’s just the kind of people they are. We sat in the back yard and talked a while until they had to leave. Max was on his own with us and stayed right with us the entire time. I took him to McCormick Park and let him loose in the “No Leashes” area before the visit.

At the park he ran off a lot of energy and spent only a little time in the creek which surprised me. He loves the water but he seemed to be just happy running circles around the big dogs in the park.

I’m thinking I need to eat something with lots of protein for lunch. I’m cooking 4 ears of corn while I ponder about that and think I’ve settled upon some fried chicken from the Safeway deli. Maybe I’ll buy Max a beef bone to gnaw on. He seemed to like the ones I bought him a few weeks ago.

Later … I went to the store and got some things I that weren’t on a list, anywhere, and forgot to get Max a bone. Now I’ll have to go back. Maybe I’ll take him with me on the next trip.

Today is Saturday. Jennifer has been invited to attend a surprise birthday party for our good friend Noydena. She and Jennie have been friends forever and Noydena is essentially a family member. The party is at Big Eddy County Park near Vernonia. I’m sure Noydena has no idea what’s coming so it should be a lot of fun. Max gets to go with us which I know will please him to pieces.

This morning when I took Max for his first walk, it was raining. I haven’t been paying any attention to the weather, or news, so that was a surprise. Max didn’t care, nor did I. I just put our raincoats on and went to the river. It was really nice because the rain deterred most folks from walking our way.

When we got home, Max focused his puppy-dog eyes on me and gave me a friendly growl letting me know he wanted a treat for being such a good dog. So, I got one of his current favorites and headed for the back door so he could go outside and bury it for later. I stood in the doorway watching him and he just stood there watching me. He was in th e middle of the yard during this standoff and wouldn’t move until I turned my back so I couldn’t see where he dug the hole. He must like the taste of dirt with his treats. I’ve talked with him about this, but he won’t tell me what the appeal is of eating a treat that’s been buried for a week.

I may have mentioned that our friend Gretchen blessed me with her presence last week, but couldn’t find a photo to share. I just now found this one from our trip to the Happy Garden Chinese eatery here in town. We had plenty left over for the trip home. I pulled the trailer out into the driveway so she could have a private place to spend her nights and she stuck around for a few days. Gretchen was one of my co-workers at PGE for many years and we became good friends with me and Diane. So, having her visit was very nice. We spent a lot of time just sitting in the living room talking about everything.

Since I didn’t get permission to use this photo I may be in trouble but that’s OK. Maybe she might determine that another trip to St. Helens is necessary so she can read me the riot act. Or, maybe she’s OK with this and will visit again just for fun. If she does, I’ll get a better photo to share.

Here’s the better photo. I know this is true because Gretchen called me about the one above. I’m thinking she might have to take over as editor so I can have someone with common sense give me guidance.

Here’s me at the same location at the same time.

Now I must eat. I bought a bunch of stuff a few days ago and probably should look it over to see if it’s still appealing.

Stay safe.

July 12, 2026 – On My Own

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I’ve been released into the wilds, on my own, without supervision of any kind. The road ahead for the next few days looks a bit rocky.

Daniel and Jennifer deserted St. Helens to board a cruise ship for a week of frivolity sailing around in the Caribbean Sea. They’ve been working up to this for a long time that began at the first inkling of the COVID outbreak. They were scheduled to be on the cruise at that time, but it was cancelled at the last minute. What a bummer that was for them. This time everything worked just fine and they are now on their 3rd or 4th day of their cruise. This photo is from a stop at the Dominican Republic.

Lydia is in charge of the Littles while Mom and Dad are on vacation which means she won’t be staying with me. Hence, I’m alone. I will, however, rise to the challenge of not falling down, or hurting myself by other methods as I traverse this challenging period of my life. There’s no doubt I will weather this storm and maintain my dignity till the end.

Eating properly is the big challenge, as it always has been since Diane left us. I do OK, but I’m sure many would disagree with some of the choices I’m making. For instance, I had ice cream drenched with the remains of a small half full jar of freezer jam from 6/23/20 that I found in the freezer. It looked to be in good shape and it was only 6 years old. I figured it was good as new, and I was right. It was very good. That was my dessert yesterday evening after a nutritious meal of buttered popcorn. I think there was a ham & swiss cheese sandwich in there somewhere, but I’m not sure.

I went shopping yesterday and did my best to get the things that were on a list that I left at home. I do that once in a while. The solution, for me, is to go up and down every isle in the store and get anything that gets my attention. Normally, this method results in me obtaining most of the things I think I need, plus a few extra things that are questionable.

Oh! Another treat I made myself yesterday was fajitas, with a pound of sliced up beef. It was pretty good, as I recall. I think I had those earlier in the day, before the ham sandwich. I had to cook the meat before it got rancid and I bought it to ensure I got a decent amount of protein to help manage my blood sugar issues. I’m working on a plan where I must eat steak frequently to ensure my protein intake is adequate. I actually don’t know what adequate means so the success of this process hangs loosely on my ability to make good guesses. What could go wrong?

July 9, 2026 – Jerrie’s a Hero, Kinda

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This happened a few days ago, but I keep forgetting to mention it.

Max and I were driving home from a walk on the river, going down 1st Street to a mandatory left turn that puts you on Columbia Blvd. It’s a sweeping curve and doesn’t require either direction to stop. It’s just common sense that causes those who have it to slow down. Just as we approached the turn, we encountered a guy on a dirt bike coming around the corner way too fast. When he saw my big black truck aimed directly at him, his front tire began to wobble as he tried to get back into his lane.

As he lost control I managed to stop the truck and waited to see what was going to happen. The bike solved the problem by dumping itself, and the rider on the asphalt as a speed slow enough the it slid a little closer to me, but stopped about 5 feet short. He didn’t hit us but I’m sure he was convinced he was going to die right there.

He jumped up after extracting himself from the tangled mess he’d made, laying in the middle of the street with his legs still wrapped around the bike. After getting the bike upright, he shoved it to the side of the road. He was limping as he moved so I presumed he suffered injuries, but I couldn’t be sure that was his natural way of getting around since it was my first time seeing him walk. Limping might be his normal way of getting around and after his close encounter with death, it seemed feasible, so I just let it be.

While he was busy, he kept saying, “I’m sorry” not knowing I was more concerned about him than he was about me. He assured me that he was going to be OK and I believed him because he wasn’t leaving a trail of blood or body parts, and his clothes were not all ripped up, so I stayed in the truck to keep other drivers from running over him. He had to make another trip to gather up some things that fell off the bike when he crashed. As he was doing that we had a brief conversation about how it would probably be a good idea in the future to take this corner a little bit slower the next time he happens to come this way. He agreed.

Once the road was clear I asked him again if he was good to go and he assured me he was. I think he was more embarrassed than hurt at this point and so I went on down the road.

That would have been an excellent time to have a dash cam so I could share all that ecxcitement with you.

In the end, I’m just happy that he was able to stop his slide before winding up under my truck. I probably should have insisted that I call 911 and have him checked out but by not doing so I probably saved him a bunch of money he couldn’t afford to spend, but would have been covered by all of us who have car insurance and pay extra for uninsured motorists.

I should have taken a photo, right? I take pictures of everything else, but not this knucklehead.

Letters to Diane – 32 – January 1, 2026

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Dear Diane,

First, Happy New Year. I have to admit this hasn’t been one of my favorite years of the many I’ve been fortunate enough to have ushered in over my lifetime. Most of 2025 was really great, but the ending not fun. I know you were in a lot of pain toward the end and don’t blame you for not wanting to go on. Because of that, the ending was more tolerable for me, but I still didn’t like it, much. I think that’s true for everyone who loves you.

Now, about football. You had the Oregon game set to record so, of course, I had to watch it. So did Jennie. She came over and spent most of the day with me watching football. Oregon was the first game this morning, beginning at 0900 and it was a good one. Most of the came made us all nervous but the Ducks persevered beating Texas A&M 23-0. Yes, they. What made that even sweeter is that Texas was ranked at #4 and the Ducks are #5. It was a fun game and made the day even better. I just wish you were in your chair watching it with me, but Jennie did a good job covering for you. She brought Siah with her and Jasper came later. We had hotdogs for lunch. I ate a can of chili and ate the whole thing because no one else wanted any. That worked for me because I can eat a whole can of chili no problem. You’ve seen me do that lots of times.

During half time of the Oregon game I took Max for his morning walk. I actually got up at 0500 for some reason, but didn’t want to take him out in the dark. We walked all over the back yard, though, and that seemed to please him enough for the time being.

I’m working on one of the puzzles I got for Christmas. It’s a 1000 piece one and looks pretty difficult. So far I have the edge done but had a problem with that. One piece was missing for a couple of days until I got on my hands and knees and searched all over under the table. It was hiding behind a chair leg. I was very happy to find it. The rest is going to be difficult.

Now that it’s 2026 I need to take the tree down. Maybe I’ll work on that tomorrow. Maybe not. It’s kind of nice to look at.

It’s 1800 now and I just got back from walking Max his second time. He earned it, and walking is a good thing for me, too. I’m getting pretty good at it because I haven’t done a face plant since my last one before our trip around Oregon.

That’s about it for today. You know I love you, but I’ll give you an ILY anyway. Just one more thing. When the Winnebago folks visited I gave Sophia the bag with all your Sketchers so she could see what fit her. I got a text from Carolann, who feet at much smaller than yours, thanking you for 3 pairs of sandals she found in the bag. Sophias feet are actually your size so she may wind up with a lot of the shoes. We’ll see.

Here’s just one more favorite photo I have.

ILYATT

Me

Letters to Diane – 23

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Happy Birthday, My Love.

Jeff was over earlier this morning and we sang Happy Birthday for you. Then we both grabbed each other and cried for a while. I don’t know about Jeff, but for me, I’m still living in a fantasy zone where I’m sure you are just around the corner from me and in one of these moments I’m going to run right into you. I miss you so much that I have a hard time coping once in a while. I know this probably upsets you a little but I can’t help it.

Yesterday, Friday, was lost to me. I remember a moment where Jennie took me shopping for some stuff and Jeff borrowed the truck to transport a fridge for Gilligan. Or, maybe, the fridge was today.

The Oregon game was on today and you had it set to record. Thank you for that. Jennie brought the Littles over to watch the game and to add a few ornaments to the tree. She stayed until half-time when the kids started getting restless then carted them home. So, Max and I finished the game on our own. It was a good game. Oregon beat JMU 51-34. It could have been a lot worse for JMU but Oregon dropped their guard a little the second half and JMU took advantage.

Apparently, the wind blew a bit last night because there were lots of tree pieces all over the yard. Jeff raked them all up and took them up the hill to burn. Maybe that was yesterday. Hmmm. I’m thinking I need to write something every day but sometimes it’s just hard to get motivated to do anything. Walking Max is still a priority so he’s not missing his walks.

It’s almost 2130 now so I’m going to wrap this up. Tomorrow afternoon is the monthly family gathering at Jen and Dan’s. I made two batches of fudge for the masses. I ate a piece during the Oregon game and it’s really good.

You can stop by any time you want. I’m here most days and I’d love to see you. My beard is getting longer every day that you are away. I’ve made a vow that I won’t shave it off until you look me in the eye and tell me how ratty I look. So, you should keep that in mind.

Now, I’m going to bed.

ILY, Always

Letters to Diane – 22

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Good afternoon, My Love.

It’s Thursday. I missed coffee with the guys this morning and it wasn’t an accident. I chose to take Max around the block before submitting myself to a physical effort involving loading up our trailer for a trip to Everette, Washington next Saturday. Chuck is the driver. He said he’d be leaving around 0400 so he could miss most of the traffic in Seattle. Makes sense to me.

When I got there at 1030, work was in progress by Larry, Lonnie, Chuck, and Kathry. Chris showed up with me. He’s a Scappoose policeman and I can only presume he’s the Chief because that’s what Larry and Lonnie called him. Nice guy. A short while later, Sheriff Pixely showed up. It was a quite a crew we had.

The trailer we loaded was about 20′ long and was hooked to Chuck’s pickup, ready for the trip north. It took us about an hour to load it which was pretty good. I don’t have any numbers about what we loaded, but Kathryn does. I’m not sure how the process works other than someone calls Kathryn and she rounds people up. You probably know more about it than I do.

It was a good way to finish the morning.

Then I went home and visited with Max for a while. I suspect he would like another walk so I’ll have to consider that. But first I must do some errands. Max can go so he will be happy. CRPUD is first to get our new water heater on the record so they can give us the rebate we earned. Then I might stop by Dairy Delish for a chocolate malt that Max has been whining about for a while.

Just kidding. Dogs aren’t allowed to eat chocolate. So, maybe I’ll get him a vanilla malt, instead.

I took a pickup load of Jennie’s clothes and donated them to the Iron Tribe Network facility located at the end of Shore Drive. The location name is deceptive because there’s no way to get to it from Shore Drive. That’s where the clothes you no long need went. They were very grateful. Jennie sent a couple bags of kids’ shoes.

I’ll leave this one here. I apparently lost my mind for a couple of days.

Love you

Letters to Diane – 15

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Hi,

Today was beautiful. Sunny and bright, not a cloud in the sky. It’s a huge change from the rain we’ve been having. The only evidence I could see that the rain happened is how hard the creek is running. It’s up at least 2 feet now.

I went to church because I thought it was time. I’ve missed weeing all those people. Thankfully, no one was sitting in our seats. It’s been a few Sundays since I’ve been, so I was concerned.

After service, I joined everyone in the basement for treats. They are doing it differently by just putting everything on the tables then going around with a coffee pot. I would have rather had water, but it didn’t appear to be an option, so I took coffee, black. It wasn’t bad, but I only had one cup. It was my first cup because I didn’t have time for anything at home before leaving for church. Max was a priority so I walked him around the block and he was appropriately happy about that.

After visiting with Chuck and Larry for a while I returned home and made myself a tuna sandwich using the mixture I’d made a few days ago. It passed the sniff test and it tasted ok so I figured it would be alright. It was.

About halfway through the sandwich, Daniel called Lydia and suggested we all go to El Tapatio for lunch. Sounded pretty good to me, so I gobbled down the sandwich, drank my milk, and we buzzed on over.

I had an authentic Mexican burrito with beans and rice, Jasper had quesadilla, Dan had a sampler plate, Siah got a pizza, Lydia had something I couldn’t identify, and Jennie had an enchilada. You’ll be happy know that I ate all of mine, like normal. It was filling enough that I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have to eat again today. Jared planned to visit later and offered to cook for us which I was all in for. But, Lyd and I ate so much lunch there wasn’t going to be any need for supper.

Since neither of us were hungry, he made a trip to Victorio’s for a burrito, Lydia had some stuff he had in his cooler, and I ate the popcorn Lydia brought home from the movie she went to last night.

Speaking of the movie, she didn’t get home until almost midnight. Max and I stayed up until she was safely home then we went to bed. I fell asleep without having to read my book. That doesn’t happen often but then, I don’t normally stay up until midnight. Maybe I should practice.

Oh ya. I took the steri strips off the new scar on my right cheek. It looks gnarly but nothing leaked out so I wasn’t too concerned that I’d stain my pillowcase. It didn’t and I didn’t so all is good. I won’t have to wash sheets and remake the bed.

Now I’m going to go get in it, right after I take Max outside one more time.

Love you

The Dalles

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Up early due to inability to sleep due to the fact that Diane was unable to sleep due to her damaged back. That sounds complicated, I know, but it really isn’t. Her back isn’t damaged in the normal way because she didn’t fall down. It seems to be related to the medicine she received in Fossil, Oregon that was supposed to help with a bacterial infection she sprung up with. For a while she thought it was just back pain from doing something strenuous. The meds helped for a bit but we were both fooled by her uncanny ability to tolerate pain at a level only professional atheletes can endure and still function quite normally.

She seemed to be getting better as we get closer to home, but her “tough guy” attitude failed causing her to pick a wiser solution that ended with us terminating our last night in The Dalles. Instead, we packed up all our doodads, bit our farewells to Cliff, Susie. Terry, and Carolann and hit the freeway.

You may recognize that his is the first mention of Terry, and Carolann because our traveling partners to this point were Cliff and Susie. Terry, and Carolann joined us in The Dalles to join us in our triumphant re-entry into the Gresham area before venturing on home to St. Helens.

Before leaving last Wednesday morning, I took a long walk with Max, around the parking lot we were using for an RV Park. He was a little confused because he was expecting us to spend one more day on road. I don’t know why he was upset because all he does when we’re driving is sleep.

Diane did ALL of the driving on this trip. She insisted and I wasn’t inclined to argue about it. My job was to get the trailer parked at every RV Park we visited. She did all the rest, and she did it in an excellent manner.

It was good to get home, even though we enjoyed the trip. We made more memories, and none of them were the result of me falling on my face again. The last time that happened was on August 30th. Since then all the wounds healed, the scabs all fell off, and I didn’t even get a small bruise from the trama I suffered. I found that lack of bruising to be unfair. Most people who take a blow to the nose usually get black eyes. Not me. I attribute that to the fact that I have O+ blood. I’m pretty sure I shared this photo already but it’s worth another look.

Once home, Diane got to talk with Dr. Ly, her favorite, and he started her on a path that ultimately led us to the emergency room at Good Sam Hospital. They poked and prodded her, took anothe Cat Scan and ordered more internal pictures for them to study.

There’s one more trip to the hospital next week for the additional internal photos before they can identify what’s going on. They sent us home with a script for Oxy (which she won’t take), and something else for something I can’t pronounce.

My job, until next week, is to keep her from going crazy with laundry, emptying the trailer, and getting everything off all the counters and tables – all the stuff I brought in from the trailer. I got it pretty much emptied yesterday. It wasn’t her choice for me to scatter the stuff all over the house, but I was resolute to keep her from interfering with my methods of dispursing all the bags I filled. There’s a bunch of stuff I left on the patio, and even more that I added to the overflowing garage.

I’ll provide more news when I get it.

Things Change

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By the time you read this we will be halfway home. As I sit here, thinking, I have absolutely no idea where halfway might be. But, we’ll be heading that way some time this morning.

The mornings here in Baker City have turned frigid and Max doesn’t like that much because he’s so short and his stomach hairs get wet in tall grass. He hasn’t complained openly about that, but it’s evident in he way he looks over his glasses at us that reveals the truth. He also misses all his squirrel friends in his back yard at home.

Yesterday we visited a museum in town that looked promising, and it was. The biggest draw was a gold nugget that weighs about 15 bs, seriously. It’s huge. They have it, and lots of other nuggets on display behind 1 inch glass vaults. The big nugget is valued at around 11-hundred-seventy-five-million $$, a worthy sum for something you could put in your pocket. Surely it would hasten your pants to fall to the floor should you attempt to carry it that way.

There are many more photos of this venture, but I need to get this thing into a current status. Working from behind wears me out, and Diane’s ill so we needed to make plans for heading west to home instead of north to Hell’s Canyon. Yes, we’re calling it quits for this trip.

Diane had an infection that I may have mentioned, and took a bunch of pills to kill bacteria. It cleared up the urinary tract issue, but apparently killed bacteria required to help digest stuff. That resulted in severe abdominal pain. Since she’s the driver on this trip we pooled our thought with the Daron’s and chose to depart this morning with a new destination.

While packing up, Max lounged between the trailer wheels to ensure he wouldn’t be left behind.

This is the dog run area that Max will miss when we’re gone. It’s nine acres of off leash freedom.

The original plan was to turn right on Highway 82 in La Grande and head for Elgin for the night, then move on toward Hell’s Canyon tomorrow morning. Instead, we turned left on Highway 82 in La Grande with a pause in Summerville (population 135) to find Cliff’s Grandpa’s Grave then continued on H-82 to Elgin for the night. Susie found the grave no problem.

The jaunt to Elgin from Summerville took about 15 minutes and it was fairly easy to find the Ha-Wa-Nu RV Park. It’s located on the banks of the Grand Ronde River. That seems odd to me because the Grand Ronde tribe owns the Spirit Mountain Casino. We pass it on our way to the beach once in a while. It’s odd because we’ve been traveling around in Oregon for many days now and all the cars have Oregon plates and we recognize names of places we’ve been before. Normally, when we travel, it involves many states instead of just one.

The end of this trip was the Umatilla RV Park on the Columbia River. It’s very pleasant here and ALL of the grass is green. Max loves it, as do we. After dinner with the Daron’s, we rested well in preparation for our next leg to The Dalles. Dusty is looking forward to that.

Prairie City

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We left John Day at the stroke of noonish and made the “grueling” drive to Paradise City where we will spend just one night. The drive was 13 miles, but it was on our list, so we stopped. It’s a really nice facility but right off hand I cannot remember much about it. My mind doesn’t seem to retain anything for a useful amount of time. It’s there, then it’s gone.

So, I’m just going to share what’s in my head right now.

First, we mad it to Farewell Bend State Recreation camp ground located a few miles from where Cliff’s Grandpa used to live. It’s a small town of 450 residents and has no gas stations. While he and Susie toured the town, Diane drove us to Nampa for a visit with Jim, Donna, Steffani, and Bob. Diane was excited about the drive because once you cross the border into Idaho, the speed limit rises to 80 MPH. It gave her an opportunity to burn out the carbon she’s been accumulating in the engine.

It was a nice visit. Short, but nice, and we got lunch!

Before leaving Nampa for our return trip “home”, we stopped at Costco to fuel up. The last time we didn’t do that and ran over 125 miles on an empty tank in the motor home. True story. We drove all the way to La Grande. The next morning was our checkout day so I had the pleasure of emptying our holding tanks on that way out of the park. It took a while and I’m happy to report that I didn’t spill even one little drop, then we went up the side road to Huntington to visit a museum.

There was a lot of interesting things inside, most interesting the curator who grew up in Huntington and knew where Cliff’s Grandpa lived (2 blocks from the museum). I think she remembered the color of the house, too. She knows the history of Huntington.

The railroad was something that touched everyone’s lives in some way, as did river traffic on the Snake River. There’s information about the time a steamboat captain sails his way through Hell’s Canyon.

The rest of the items are typical for a small town, except for this guy.

It’s not often that you run across a gun-toting preacher.

The next stop was at the “A Frame RV Park” in Baker City. It was a fairly easy drive. Actually, it was very easy for me because Diane is doing all of the driving. The only thing I do is park the truck and trailer on arrival, and hook it all back up when it’s time to leave. Easy peasy, right?

We checked in for a 2-day stay so relaxed after getting things connected then the next morning we took a trip to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center that resides on a hill just outside of Baker City. Actually, it was just 4-5 miles from our current residence.

This was an excellent stop. The displays and stories are awesome. We stayed long enough to be the last wagon remaining in the parking lot. If you’re ever in Baker City, this is a must to visit.

On the way back to the ‘ranch’, we were assaulted with a rock hitting the windshield thrown by a little car going the other way, The glass chipped and cracked and will require replacement. We decided to celebrate this assault by eating dinner out at the Latitude Forty Five restaurant. Great people, excellent food.

Bsck at the A Frame Park, I took Max for a walk in the 9-acre dog park they have. He really liked the freedom and he met many congenial dogs.

I got the TV working by searching local channels. It’s almost as good as Dish TV but there are only 66 channels. We did, however, get to watch AGT for the first time on this trip.

This day, our last one here in BC, we spent looking around town for thrift stores and cheap places to shop.

Tomorrow we leave for Elgin hoping they can accommodate the two of us for a couple of days. From there we’ll be going to Hell’s Canyon.