Desert Messenger

16 www.DesertMessenger.com April 18, 2018 By Jackie Deal There's something wrong! The sun is shining! I'm in Sutherlin, Oregon and the sun is shining; it's supposed to be raining here. I had a wonderful trip from sunny Arizona to "sunny" Oregon (don't panic, it rained yesterday, it well probably rain tonight and tomorrow too.) The variety of terrain is amaz- ing: there's fl at, fl at desert up to Parker and then that beautiful stretch through the mountains and rugged rocks. The unex- pected emerald green of the golf courses and then Lake Havasu. A lake in the middle of the desert. A lake with the London Bridge across it too. Unbelievable. I remember about 30-40 years ago when a friend wanted us to go in on a marina he was going to build on Lake Havasu. "A marina in the desert? Ho, Ho, Ho, Ha, Ha, Ha!" My husband and I couldn't quit laughing. I've often thought if we'd only shut up and listened, we could be multi-millionaires by now! Just about as believable as a yacht club in Quartzsite, right? I started for Oregon without a map. No map, couldn't fi nd my atlas. No problem, I'll stop at Wal-Mart in Parker and get one. Sure! They claimed never to have had an atlas. How many years have I relied on a Wal-Mart atlas? Okay, off to a truck stop where I paid $15 for the most worthless, impossible to read atlas imaginable. Toss it in the back seat and just drive. After all who could get lost going from Parker to Bakersfi eld to Oregon? I did. Twice. Now, people have told me I need a GPS. Whatever for? Some of the most interesting areas I've seen have been when I'm lost. In my younger years, over 50 years ago, (way over 50), I drove from my home state of Minnesota to New Hampshire, alone. A friend took pity on me and installed a compass on my dash before I left. I drove hap- pily all the way to New Hampshire into the early morning sunrise, with my compass reading: WEST. Now what makes you think my friend in- stalled the compass backwards? There was one stretch on this trip where Joshua trees suddenly sprout- ed up. Joshua trees are the weird- est looking tree imaginable. How did they get their name? I looked it up and one theory is that early Mor- mon settlers were reminded of the story of Joshua lifting up his arms in prayer. He must have been ago- nizing in prayer. Those trees look like they've been tortured. Without a map I was a little con- cerned with Bakersfi eld but I sailed right through onto Highway 99 and turned north. I know the stretch from Cottonwood to Redding, Cali- fornia very well. We lived there for about ten years; you think you've got rattlesnakes? We had to do rattlesnake patrol every morning and yes, we found some. My hus- band had been working under the pickup truck one day (aren't men always under trucks and cars?) and he came in for lunch. When he went back out, there was a rattler curled up in his toolbox! But anyway, a good spot for lunch since I knew my way around. Huh! Times have changed. I didn't recog- nize anything and I ended up out in the country, pretty country, nice farm houses, and miles of white fences. A town called Palo Cedro, made me wonder if I'd strayed too far south. Eventually, all roads lead to Inter- state 5 and I was back on my way. I really wanted to make it to Yreka that third day but I was too sleepy so I pulled off in Weed. Ah, um, can one get lost in Weed, population 2,624? You betcha! 'Nuff said. I did fi nd a res- taurant I'd never tried before: a greasy breakfast but what do you expect from fried eggs, fried potatoes and toast Travelogue buttered with a paintbrush? Lake Shasta! Aw, Lake Shasta has more water in it then I've seen in years. How great. For a while the red shoreline almost engulfed the deep blue water. There's an island near one of the marinas and you could drive out to it when the lake was low. Then with more water it became a peninsula and now it's back to be- ing an island again. Oh joy! Lake Shasta was gorgeous; Mt. Shasta hid its head in clouds so I didn't get to admire it. But I know it's beautiful and there was snow crawling down its sides, again a good sign. The mountains of Oregon are so dif- ferent from those in Arizona. Here they are spotted with dark green ev- ergreens, then higher up completely covered in those beautiful green trees. And fi nally up above the tim- ber line, 11,000-12,000 feet, there is only sheer rock. The rains have made everything green, roadsides, hillsides, and mountains but soon as summer sets in things will turn golden. My husband and I used to argue, I'd say "Golden," and he'd say "Burnt." Yep, 1,181 miles without a mishap. And when I got home? I couldn't get my key to work! The door would not open. My neighbor couldn't get the key to work. The handyman I called couldn't get the key to work. (It's Sunday, too, remember.) Fi- nally he drilled out the lock and Monday morning he put in a new lock. It has a little red handle on it, I wonder if that makes it better than the old one? It should be better: the total cost for that mishap was $100. And nobody knows why that key wouldn't work. My little home here looked so good and yet for about 24 hours I felt "funny;" discombobulated. I felt like I wasn't either here or there but sus- pended in between. The reality of un- packing and putting everything away has made me realize: I am here. And in a day or so I'll get into the rhythm of life in Sutherlin. And then six months from now I'll be ready to head back to Quartzsite. In the meantime why don't you hang around and we'll see what we can do to make the next six months worthwhile. Call 7 days a week 8am - 11pm EST Se Habla Español in up to 6 rooms Where available. 1-855-820-5828 $ 14. /mo. 95 Add High Speed Internet Upgrade to the Hopper® 3 Smart HD DVR Subject to availability. Restrictions apply. 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