Well That Was an Interesting Drive

          I had gone to the pool on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Wednesday was colder than Tuesday had been – perhaps warmer with air but cooler with water.  I didn’t bother going yesterday and didn’t seem all that motivated.  I figured as the air felt cold (only 52 degrees) that the water would feel warm.  I never did find out.

          I did drive to the pool.  My phone went off just before I turned in to park.  I thought perhaps it was the instructor telling me that nobody showed and would ask if I was on my way.  I was all prepared to tell her to get an early start on her trip to Portland.  But the phone number was for the Young Women’s camp leader.  Oh –oh.

          She said Jenna had been throwing up and would I like to come and get her or have her weigh it out.  We have both made a commitment to help with the jubilee tomorrow afternoon.  If I went to get her and she was feeling better, I knew she would make it in time for the Jubilee whereas I wasn’t certain what time she would get home otherwise.

          I asked Roland if he wanted to go with me.  He is a better driver than I, but actually did not sleep all that well last night and was up early this morning.  My right leg has been bothering me and the drive did not help matters.  I stopped at every rest stop between my house and the camp.  I picked up some Ben Gay at a Dollar General in Criswell.  2.50 for a generous sized box – I thought.  I guess I was looking at the wrong price as the total was almost twice the amount. 

I asked if there was a public restroom in which I could apply the contents before I got back on the road.  As I said, the box was a generous size – the tube was not.  It was the smallest tube of Ben Gay that I have ever purchased!  It looked like a “trial-sized” tube.  I reapplied it to myself each time I stopped.  It’s a wonder there is anything left.

I looked at where the camp was on the map and thought I could figure it out and figured I would set the GPS as I got closer to my destination.   Unfortunately, I had missed my turn after I decided to set it.  No harm was done, but I probably did go about 40 miles or so out of my way, though the drive was pretty.  And had actually enjoyed it more than the actual route.

          I listened to two Contemporary Christian mix CDs on the way up and ended with Suessical.  On the way home Jenna and I listened to a couple of CDs that we had not listened to since her early childhood.  It was fun watching her sing along and act out the words.  I think she enjoyed them more today than she had when we had listened to them when we lived in Kearns.

          We hit all the rest stops on the way home and stopped in Sutherlin's Dairy Queen to get an expensive bite (mine was not so bad, but the item she selected was a bit pricy) She told me about camp and we made it back home in record time. 

The Drive To and Return

                As mentioned in this post,  I thought Highway 140 was quite beautiful at some parts and quite scary at others.  The idea of a 50 foot drop and no guard rails is rather creepy.  But that is the way Roland wanted to go - and he was driving.

                I thought 140 seemed scarier driving north than it did driving south - which is ironic, as the drop is on the south/west side.  The drive didn't seem quite as long, either.  But Denise and I had taken I5 through Medford because she wanted to see the temple.  I just  had Roland go by way of Highway 138 to Highway 97 where you can choose to go north up through Bend and over through Boise, or you can drive down south to Lake View and Winnemucca.  

                The Nevada route is only about 30 minutes faster than going through Idaho - provided there isn't any construction or other barriers that might interfere with the normal route, but going south requires a lot more traction and winding - which I somehow didn't believe our car could handle.  But it did.  There were many who'd been praying for our safety and we made good timing, I think.

                Jeanie passed away on the 6th and our plan was to leave on the 7th.  It was Jenna's final week of school and she'd been planning on dressing up for each day.  She'd been looking forward to her final week of school this year and to watch her 8th grade friends graduate.  She cried when Roland told her that she would not return to school.  

                I was appalled at Jenna's behavior - obviously thinking more about the inconvenience of her own plans than for thinking about her brother and the grief that he may be suffering.  Death is rarely convenient for any of us.  I did talk Roland into allowing her to go to school one last time.  We still needed to go to Roseburg to get a rental car and bring it back to the house in order to pack it up.  There is ALWAYS a delay when Roland plans things.  Wednesday was an early day, and we could check her out even earlier if we needed to.  There was no sense for ALL of us to go to Roseburg, and I didn't want to watch Jenna idling any time that she could have spent at school.

                We had made arrangements to pick the car up between 8:00 and 8:30.  We were contacted by the rental company just before we left the house.  We were told the car would not be available until later and that they would contact us.  We had planned to go to Roseburg on some other errands - the delay of the rental would make things easier - I thought.  Roland could do all the driving and we wouldn't have to worry about the second car. 

                The rental company never called back, and so we decided to just go there.  There had been five people waiting for rental cars.  All the cars that were supposed to be available were still out - all the cars that were on the lot that looked like they might be available had expired tags.  We had tried other options, but are actually limited in Roseburg and didn't want to gamble on driving another 90 miles to a larger city if we might encounter the same problem with another rental car company. We still didn't have a car when Jenna returned home from school and so said a major prayer and ended up taking our own.

                The GPS was taking us through Sutherlin, but I knew we could get through on 138 which was in the opposite direction.  We probably wasted a half hour driving back and forth before we finally got on route.  Our daughter-in-law, Carrie, commented that our disability of getting out of Oregon sounded like the makings for a sitcom.

                Roland said he would return through Boise and Bend. 

  
                We passed many orange barrells. 

No workers or slowdowns - probably due to the wind - except for after crossing the border from Idaho into Oregon.  Loose gravel caused us to slow down.   Tar was being poured ahead.  There was actually a utility truck  with its flashing lights that led the cars in either direction - I think it was at least a mile long.  I'm not exaggerating.  It wasn't bad.  It had been the only slow down of the entire trip. 

                Once we got to Hines, we stopped at a Dairy Queen to have lunch.