The morning started out rough. Pretty much our personal rendition of the second season of Lost except we aren’t Michael and the kid we’re looking for is Thomas, not Walt. So, maybe it’s still like Lost but we’re Walt looking for his dog, Vincent. Thomas, being the irrationally fearful cat that he is, found a hole in the gauze material that covers the bottom of a box spring and climbed in. There he felt comfortable and safe. Unfortunately, we needed to hit the road. With obviously no intention of heeding our calls and pleas I took a pen and stabbed the material and created a new hole next to the edge intending to pull him out. I got him part way out but his collar was somehow encompassing not only his neck, but a leg too and I let him go. Horribly frustrated we decided to turn the bed upside down and force him out. It worked and he tossed him in the kennel. “We don’t care if you don’t like it! You made us turn the bed upside down, you stinker. Cry all you want.” So with that taken care of we piled the rest of everything back into the car and took off. It was gray and rainy and not very inviting. A pit stop down the road to get coffee, another for gas, and we were out of Eugene. We made it to Ashland for lunch. I spent some time talking to Erica on the road and thought of her more when we hit town since this is where she spent several years attending SOU. After some difficulty parallel parking, we walked a block to Pangea that I found via Urban Spoon for some wraps and hummus. The guy behind the counter had recently been to Anchorage and we spent some time doing the usual chitchat. “How long have you lived there?” “What did you do while you visited?” “Oh, I went to this popular pizza place…” “Moose’s Tooth” yadda yadda except this guy claims that NY pizza is way better. Personally, I’ve never had NY pizza, but it seems that the only big to-do over it that the slices are HUGE. Okay, great. Who cares? Our pizza is amazing. You keep your big slices and we’ll keep our blackened halibut, pesto, bbq chicken, thai, backpacker spectacularness! Maybe I’m biased, maybe I’m right. Innocent until proven guilty. Right until proven wrong.
Back on the road and heading through the second pass- the one between Oregon and California. The only thing worth mentioning here are that the cats were displeased with the number of turns and that some idiot blew out a tire and pulled off on the left side of the road right after a turn and nearly caused us to wreck because he was taking up part of the lane. We both agreed it wouldn’t be long before someone did wreck. Forty-five seconds later police and ambulances we by. I hope they were okay. I forgot to mention that on the way back to the car in Ashland we passed a used book store. We had finished our two other books on CD and needed another. We really lucked out- Steven King’s Duma Key unabridged for only 10 bucks. No flipping way. This is normally $45. Good eye, Matt for seeing that one. Everything else was either lame or too expensive. We’ve been listening to this book and I recommend it. I recommend the book on CD more, because I REALLY enjoy the guy reading it. He’s 10 million times better than the guy who read the Michael Crichton’s State of Fear, and half a million better than the guy who read Clive Cussler. The later was at a disadvantage because, well, Clive Cussler’s writing leaves something to be desired. I wasn’t impressed and neither was Matt. Oh well. But Duma Key is a great story and although it’s not horror (thankfully actually), the writing and the story itself are very, very well done.
Hours later we arrive in Roseville just outside of Sacramento at Steve’s house. Steve and I worked at Terrasond together in the field. We were both in Nome and Teller in 2006 although on different vessels and we were in the Gulf of Mexico (same boat, same 12 hour night shift) for three months in 2007. So, we had gotten to be pretty good friends. It feels like much longer since I’ve seen him, but I guess it’s only been a year. Time flies. His house is big and spacious with a pool. Too much room for just one guy, but very comfortable. We put the cats in one of the empty bedrooms and spent the rest of the evening chatting, eating Chinese food, drinking port wine from 1985, and playing 3-way cribbage. Steve was the first person to teach me to play. I had a hard time learning the counting, so I never played after that summer. Matt and his brother, Dave, retaught me over Thanksgiving and now I’m addicted. We even have the iPhone apps. I just learned to play 3-way at his grandma’s, but it’s easy to pick up and I won the first round. Stomped them in fact. Just saying. Steve got the second and as I predicted Matt won the third. By that time, it was nearing 2AM and Matt and I were practically passing out in our chairs. Good night everyone!
Next Up: Lucy, the devil-cat
SKT
Back on the road and heading through the second pass- the one between Oregon and California. The only thing worth mentioning here are that the cats were displeased with the number of turns and that some idiot blew out a tire and pulled off on the left side of the road right after a turn and nearly caused us to wreck because he was taking up part of the lane. We both agreed it wouldn’t be long before someone did wreck. Forty-five seconds later police and ambulances we by. I hope they were okay. I forgot to mention that on the way back to the car in Ashland we passed a used book store. We had finished our two other books on CD and needed another. We really lucked out- Steven King’s Duma Key unabridged for only 10 bucks. No flipping way. This is normally $45. Good eye, Matt for seeing that one. Everything else was either lame or too expensive. We’ve been listening to this book and I recommend it. I recommend the book on CD more, because I REALLY enjoy the guy reading it. He’s 10 million times better than the guy who read the Michael Crichton’s State of Fear, and half a million better than the guy who read Clive Cussler. The later was at a disadvantage because, well, Clive Cussler’s writing leaves something to be desired. I wasn’t impressed and neither was Matt. Oh well. But Duma Key is a great story and although it’s not horror (thankfully actually), the writing and the story itself are very, very well done.
Hours later we arrive in Roseville just outside of Sacramento at Steve’s house. Steve and I worked at Terrasond together in the field. We were both in Nome and Teller in 2006 although on different vessels and we were in the Gulf of Mexico (same boat, same 12 hour night shift) for three months in 2007. So, we had gotten to be pretty good friends. It feels like much longer since I’ve seen him, but I guess it’s only been a year. Time flies. His house is big and spacious with a pool. Too much room for just one guy, but very comfortable. We put the cats in one of the empty bedrooms and spent the rest of the evening chatting, eating Chinese food, drinking port wine from 1985, and playing 3-way cribbage. Steve was the first person to teach me to play. I had a hard time learning the counting, so I never played after that summer. Matt and his brother, Dave, retaught me over Thanksgiving and now I’m addicted. We even have the iPhone apps. I just learned to play 3-way at his grandma’s, but it’s easy to pick up and I won the first round. Stomped them in fact. Just saying. Steve got the second and as I predicted Matt won the third. By that time, it was nearing 2AM and Matt and I were practically passing out in our chairs. Good night everyone!
Next Up: Lucy, the devil-cat
SKT
(The picture is of a fantastic painting on the wall behind the bar at the Working Girl Winery between Sequim and Port Angeles. I love how the girls are in the middle of a laughing fit. Isn't it an amazing capture of a human emotion?)
That painting is wicked cool! Oh Ashland... I can practically smell the spring air and hint of cut grass I always caught as I walked down main street. I'm glad that you got to take a short wander through town, did you drive past SOU on your way out of town?
ReplyDeleteI knew you would like the painting too :) It's by Kathy Womack (www.kwomack.com). There are a lot of really cool ones in the Women and Wine series. There's a poster of the whole collection for $15. The rest of it is ridiculously priced.
ReplyDeleteWe did drive past SOU! I even said it outloud lol. For some reason I thought of the picture of you with two other girls in a hammock in someones yard. Ashland is a cool town and, like you said, smelled great!
oh yeah, the phone call today was fantastic! What great memories of the good weather song.