Okay guys!  I’m still alive.  I haven’t yet gone on the zip line so that is one cause.  That is now planned for tomorrow morning before I leave Larry and Charlene’s.  That is a must for me.

I had another strawberry picking morning.  It is so awesome to be able to get out in the warm sun, this time with cooler clothes on than a fuzzy house robe and do something useful.  The strawberries desperately needed picking.  I picked two large containers almost full.  See pictures below this blog.  When I take pictures during the day I have no way to post them at the house.  When we get into a service area I just load the photos so they will be there when I am ready to post the blog.  So the photos are in order as to time sequence as to when they were taken.

Back to the strawberries.  “There is just something  special about eating what you have planted and tended and cared for”, as quoted by Charlene.  Well, for me there is something special about just being given the opportunity to pick something right out of her garden or anyone’s garden and eating it so fresh.  Totally organic, so I could just spray it off in the garden and take that first big juicy bite and then the second and third and so on…Oh my they are so delicious warmed by the son, firm and bright red.  And, I get to eat them on my yogurt and bran in the mornings.  it has been so wonderful to taste the freshness of the berries and other produce from here and from other places.  I had avocados from Lisa and Bill’s place, oranges from Betts’ daughter’s backyard tree, lemons from Paulette’s tree, blueberries from Daneece’s bushes, and now strawberries and sweet peas from Charlene’s bounty.  I hope I am not forgetting any other homegrown treats.  Remember, I have been on the road for several months now and it is getting more difficult to recall all that has happened in so many days.  Oh, how I have loved these days.

After strawberry picking I readied myself for the day ahead.  While I was outside Charlene was inside preparing a feast for a king’s lunch.  We three were the kings.  Now this lunch would probably not be considered a feast for all you hamburger beef eaters out there.  Here is what she packed.  Delectable bits of cheeses, two kinds of olives, walnuts, almonds, three kinds of crackers, honey crisp apples, fresh cherries picked the day before, hummus, broccoli, carrots, baby cucumbers, and turkey slices.  I had some of everything except the turkey slices.  Yum…yum…  I know my husband would just LOVE THIS!!!  NOT!  Well, maybe the turkey slices.  (I miss you Dave)!  We sat out under the tall trees, listening to waterfalls in the distance.  We were at some sort of picnic turnout in a national forest.  It is necessary to have a permit for any stop you make in the public areas.  You either pay by the year and show you tags hanging in your car or you go to the nearest self serve box and deposit your $5.00 daily user fee in the box.  Well, Charlene and Larry never know which tag to display so they just put them all out.  The day we climbed Beacon Rock was FREE DAY and I didn’t have to pay.

Before we had lunch we drove a ways and stopped at a lookout to see Mt. St. Helen.  The side we could see was not the side that blew out in 1980.  It is so sad to see the mountain so deplete of snow this early in the year.  These snow capped mountains are a huge part of the water source that feeds the Columbia River.  I mentioned the dry riverbed that I saw the day before that was fed from Mt. Hood.  All those dried up water ways will eventually deplete the waterways on further down in the state of Oregon and Washington.  There are a few trees I noticed that are dried up and dead due to lack of water.  Usually those are on slopes facing the afternoon’s hot sun.  It is nothing like it was in Yosemite where there were full mountainsides of brown dried up dead trees.  Please check out the photos of Mt. St. Helen if you can find where they are with my mistakes in posting.  Sorry about making you hunt and peck for them.  That’s what I get for being in a hurry.  I am trying so hard to practice retirement to not live in the fast lane but it is a difficult lesson to learn.  I hope I was able to get some nice ones on my camera because I took my life in my hands and climbed over the lookout wall and went down the hill a bit (a pretty safe grade) and took the photos with flowers in the foreground.  I think it made for a more interesting photo.  So that’s another reason why I am still alive, I lived to climb back over the wall, didn’t get caught, arrested, or fined.

While at the lookout site I almost had the opportunity to get a ride on a motorcycle.  A beautiful RED motorcycle!  But…alas the driver did not have his rear seat attached.  Three bikers drove up beside us and of course conversation ensued.  When I asked if he would take me for a ride he said sure.  That was Steve #1 (the big guy).  He was with Nancy and Steve #2.  We had a delightful conversation and I asked for their wisdom.  Steve #1 said:  “Live your life to the fullest.”  Steve #2 said:  “You only go around once so do what you want to do.”  I think I am paraphrasing that a bit. Nancy said something that I really liked when she said it and now I can’t remember what she said.  I forgot to take notes on my phone.  I sometimes forget that I have that feature.  I’m still getting used to this technology stuff. Well, at lease I had a picture taken on the RED HARLEY! (I think it was a Harley).  It was big and beautiful.  Oh how I would have loved to take a spin on it.  Nancy was going to loan me her helmet.  Okay Dave, you can quit shaking your head now.  I didn’t go! But I might of!

After the Mt. St. Helen interlude we then drove to the location I described above and then ate lunch.  After lunch we hiked down to see the lower falls in an area that has three falls, lower, middle and upper. We were above the falls so did not have great opportunity for photographic views.  I took more videos than photos but I don’t know how to upload a video on my blog.  We hiked back up to the road (everything here is either up or down when you are walking) and took off for the middle falls.  We parked in a little turnoff and hiked down to the middle falls.  We almost didn’t get to go because about half way down it was cordoned off with bright pink ribbon tape that said it was closed and we had to turn around.  Well, Charlene’s husband is fearless, (and when I say that I am a believer that it is LITERAL) he stepped over the boundary checked it out and in a little while returned and said we could make it.  Hmm…  It was definite that Charlene should not go down the hiking trail due to the fact that she needs a new hip replacement.  Well, guess who went?  You got it!  I stepped over the tape, looked around in the eerie solitude of the vast shadowy  forest to make certain we weren’t on surveillance camera.   Not only were not on surveillance camera, there wasn’t another soul around anywhere.  I felt better that Charlene was staying where the tape was so if we didn’t come back maybe she could Med Flight us out.  Larry and I went down, down, down and when I looked up he was nowhere in sight.  He was gone!  Then I hear this plaintive yell above the din of the waterfall noise.  He was calling my name “Wanda”, (oh yeah, that’s me I thought in this Kathleen persona).  I could barely hear him but I could not see him.  Then, through the trees I could see movement and low and behold he was walking IN the water.  It looked like he was walking ON the water because he was on a ledge of rock that  protruded out from where the waterfall fell from above us.  Oh my it was so beautiful!  So…So…BEAUTIFUL!  It was worth breaking the law.  (Don’t tell my son the Policeman I said that).  I did figure out why it was taped off as I traversed down the 2 to maybe 3 foot wide path with drop offs literally one step away.  The mountain was seeping snow melt runoff due to the hot weather and the 45 degree decline was slick with mud.  I found my purchase and traversed those areas without falling.  Oh man, not only did I have to go down, I had to get back up.  Would I do it again?  MAYBE!  Well if I answer truthfully it would be a definite YES!  It was worth it.  Now that is another reason I am still alive.  I didn’t have to be Med Flighted out.  I think maybe Larry is being a bad influence on me.

We decided we would not hike the next 3/4 of a mile to the upper falls.   We’re not talking about a little walk in the park here.  These slopes are SLOPES!  Up and down.  I absolutely loved it.  I think all my stair climbing exercise between classes in Redding readied my calf muscles for these hikes as well as climbing to the top of Beacon Rock.  If I lived here I would become a hiker.  It is so amazing to be in such pristine nature, isolated, quiet (between waterfalls that is), without much to carry, just enjoying nature at its fullest.  I never knew hiking could be so exhilarating.  The best part of the day was that I didn’t get killed on a motor bike, I didn’t die on a zip line, I didn’t get arrested for climbing the wall and I didn’t tumble down the mountain side, and I didn’t get arrested for stepping over the pink barrier, nor slide down the muddy pathway.  Thank you God that I survived the day!

This blog has been written in its entirety at the Kia Dealership in Oregon as I waited for four new tires, an alignment and an oil change.  I am in the waiting room while customers come and go, each watching a bit of TV and me here just typing away.  My elbow neighbor Charlie sitting beside me took a picture of me sitting here typing so I could put it on the blog.  He has been been here longer than I have.  I asked him for his world wisdom for the moment.  Here is his reply: “Why are we as a nation getting involved with a war in the middle east that has been going on for thousands of years.  They are going to continue fighting and fighting until there is no one left to fight.  We should get out of there and let them do what they are going to do.  All they are going to do is kill our troops while we are there.”   Charlie was watching the news on CNN as he waited here these few hours.  I have been here since 9:00 a.m. and it is now 12:12 p.m.  Charlie is gone now, another person in this world that I will probably never see again but delightful to talk with.  I have been so fortunate to have come across so many interesting and “real” people.  I have enjoyed every encounter.  Kim  who works here also gave me one piece of advice:  “Enjoy the moment.”  I like that!

Well my yesterday tale is almost over.  After we escaped the perils of being arrested for crossing the barrier we hiked up to the highway and walked down the middle of the winding road.  See picture somewhere in this blog. And we headed “home”.  Oops, I mean we headed out to Pizza Time at the Backwoods.  Literally, the Backwoods.  We entered from the back of a building, the tables were outside in the cool of the evening and we looked at blank Angus bulls peering over the fence at us as we ate.  The mountains surrounded us sort of like a mother hen, drawing us close with a feeling of being safe.  And the pizza was interesting and delicious.  It was sweet with a real kick.  We had Thai Shrimp Pizza.  Hey, if I am going to try octopus, Thai Shrimp doesn’t scare me.  It was really hot thought!  And for me to say that you know it was HOT.  As I ate it I realized it was really the hottest when I had a big bite of jalapeno pepper  in the bite.  It was a good hot.

Went home and went to bed and up this morning at 5:43 a.m.   I arrived here at the dealership at 9:00 a.m. Charlene and Larry are a bit off the beaten path.  When I was with my cousin Joyce she encouraged (demanded) me to get my GPS out and learn how to use it.  Up to that point I had been using either map quest printouts or my new Iphone.  Well, I followed her suggestion, mainly because she got it charged and working for me, and it is a good thing.  In some of these places I’ve been (on the very day I left her place) I have been out of service areas.  My phone would not even pick up any kind of signal.  It was my GPS that delivered me safely to all my destinations.  I have thanked Joyce over and over in my heart since then.  NowI say it in print for the world to see.  Thank you cousin Joyce.  You saved my lost self.  I have been able to get to each destination, clearly and safely due to your lessons.  By the way Joyce, I miss you a lot!  Tell Daneece hello for me!  Joyce, I finally found the perfect cherry!

Love to all of you…