I am writing this on Tuesday June 2 for yesterday, June 1st.  So much has happened since yesterday I just hope I can remember all I wanted to write.  It will be brief as it is midnight and I must get up at 6:30 a.m. for another long day tomorrow.

My time at Arky’s airbnb was absolutely the best!  After driving through the trailer park and arriving at paradise it was so refreshing to be welcomed by two lovely people, Annie and Richard.  Annie and Richard purchased this home with the intention of opening it up to travelers at a remarkable price for the accommodations received.  First of all after I arrived they had a parking place in their garage for my car.  Then they helped carry my luggage into the house  They showed me around and ask if they could serve tea.  This is a couple have been in the U.S. for one year, who are learning English and sharing a bit of their culture with their guests.  It was Awesome.  Please be certain and view the tea tray presented to me with Chrysanthemum Tea (no caffeine).  There were dehydrated grapes reconstituted with wine, peanuts and sesame seeds, and slices of kiwi included with the tea.  It was beautiful and delicious and it was delightful to be waited on after a long day of driving and sightseeing, especially when I was not expecting anything to be presented.

I went to bed and awakened awhile later with a migraine headache and I knew immediately that there was MSG in the Chinese food I had eaten for dinner.  I specifically asked that none be put in and they assured me they would not use any.  WRONG!  It is the one thing that always gives me a screaming headache.  I did not want to take a pill for it because the side effects of the pill often caused me to have several cluster headaches in a row following getting rid of the first headache.  If I can ride out the first headache without medicine I usually do not get headaches over and over again for several nights.  So I rode it out.  Lost a little sleep.  The headache went away after I got up in the morning and so far has not been back.  I am claiming it GONE!

Morning with Annie and Richard was wonderful.  No other way to describe it.  They prepared  an official Chinese breakfast which I have have included in picture form.  Unbelievable.  The presentation was beautiful.  The surroundings  were so peaceful and calm, and the view was amazing.  I shared a table with the other guest there, Tammy, Tommy, and their daughter Kayla.  A beautiful God loving family from the south.  I had a little trouble understanding their accent as I have been out of the south too long but finally understood everything that was being said.  Loved the company and conversation.

After the other family left I spent some time with Richard and Annie.  I read them a poem so they would understand the cadence of how I wrote it.  We had some deep discussions about things and when I was ready to leave said to me that she thought our meeting was a “divine meeting”.  She felt it was meant to be.  I felt the same way.  I don’t think this is the last I will hear from Annie and Richard and I know it will not be the last I reach out to them.  They again helped me pack up and I was on my way out to meet a wet, rainy, overcast, foggy day of driving along the coast of Oregon’s most notorious beaches and I couldn’t even see them as I passed.  A few weren’t quite as glazed over so I did see a couple.  I hadn’t had enough sleep the night before and I was fighting sleep.  The roads are curvy and with them so wet I decided the best thing for me to do when I felt the drowsiness come over me was to pull off and take a nap.  Trouble was there was not place to pull over or turn off.  I kept going with God’s help and finally there was a trinket shop with a few parking spaces in front.  I pulled over, pulled my coat over me, set my time for 30 minutes and immediately fell asleep, woke with the timer and was wide awake the rest of the way.  I thanked God for that.  I drove through some the most beautiful forests with trees so high that they touched in the sky and darkened the highway.  These trees were the sequoias and redwoods and grow so strait and thick and tall.  Again, this beautiful creation reminded me that if nature praises the Lord, then these trees were doing just that with arms lifted high.

Arrived at my destination on time.  I met Daralyn for the first time and became reacquainted with her husband, Don, who I went to church with until my family moved away when I was twelve.  My next stop will be at his sister’s home in Washington.  Charlene and I have kept in touch over the years.

Don made a delicious dinner, we talked too late and then all retired for the evening.

And that was my day.  Most of it.

Don’s advice: “As I look back I would have taken time to nurture friendships more intimately and to a deeper level.”

Wife’s advice:  “Take advantage of your youth and do more while you can.”