Thursday, February 15 through Saturday, February 22, 2014
2013 in Review
NOTE:
On the last posting of my travel blog (2012), I posed the question
“is it too early to start planning for next year?”. As it turned
out, we traveled for one month in November of 2012, and took two
brief trips in February and March of 2013. Our nearly life-long
friend Christina Shriver was struggling in her fight against
Pancreatic cancer, and ultimately lost the fight in April last year.
Our winter travels last year consisted of support and farewell to
“Tina,” who is now singing and dancing before the Lord. The
balance of 2013 included many short trips:
- a trip to Chewelah, WA to visit good friends David and Kathy (April);
- a field trip to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and Field Station in SE Oregon with the Black Hills Audubon Society (Olympia area) with side trips on our return to see friends Carol and Woody in Terrebonne, OR and Deborah Heart in Goldendale, WA (May);
- a weekend trip to Staircase campground above Lake Cushman in the Olympic Mountains with Kurt, Heather and family (June) [for the sake of brevity referred to elsewhere in this year's blog as KHJM&A];
- a trip to Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho with KHJM&A via Chewelah, WA to visit Cyndi, Joe, Katie, & Jenny Kiefer, where I, Pam, broke my right foot, putting the kabash on my mobility and ability to drive through August (July right after the STP bike ride);
- our annual trip to Yakima Valley and Toppenish in central Washington with KHJM&A (August);
- a car trip sans trailer to see Duffy's sister Debbie and her daughters in Paradise, CA just days after her surgery for cancer (September);
- Pam's flight to San Diego for Hoover High School 50th Class Reunion (October).
Week One in Sunny Paradise, CA
Olympia,
Washington was cloudy with a chance of rain when we left home on
Saturday, February 15th.
By
the time we reached Portland, the proverbial Pineapple Express met us
full force and accompanied us all the way to Canyonville, OR where we
spent the first night. Miraculously, the sky cleared and the full
moon rose over the southern hills. Since that first day, we've had
sunny days aside from one night of rain while in Paradise.
Our
arrival at sister Debbie's, not originally intended to coincide with
her third chemo treatment, providentially did, and also with the day
her newish Subaru Outback Sport was sideswiped in the Chico Costco
lot while Deb was shopping. If life isn't already hard enough
enduring the cancer fight and the loss of energy it robs, the shock
of a dented rear driver-side door on a car purchased just four months
prior is nearly stressful enough to cause a person to throw in the
towel.
We
offered to spend our second day in Paradise getting estimates from
body shops on repairing the damage. As we imagined, it will not be
inexpensive – <> $2,000! Did I mention the driver who hit
Debbie's car did not stay or leave a note. On Tuesday, while Deb was
working in Chico, we drove to Costco to see if there are security
cameras in place that might have captured the accident. Of course
not. Video cameras only aim toward the warehouse entrance. We
followed up our hunt for the perfect body shop, by taking the Subaru
to Les Schwab to have the alignment checked. Our goal was to make
sure the car was safe for Debbie to drive and preclude any expensive
repairs in the future due to frame damage or misalignment. My
goodness, the front end was way out of alignment. The difference was
so very noticeable: before the smash (Australian lingo for
“accident”) and after adjustment the Subaru ran smooth and quiet;
before alignment was checked it ran, felt, and sounded like a bucket
of bolts. There is no way the perpetrator could not have known what
he/she had done. We can all breath easier knowing Debbie has a safe
car to drive, if not as pretty as it once was.
When
not chasing down repair estimates, I accompanied Debbie to her lab
test on Tuesday, doctor visit on Wednesday, and seven-hour chemo
treatment on Wednesday. Debbie's daughter Kristen arrived Wednesday
evening and stayed until this morning (Saturday). While Debbie
cruised through the aftermath of chemo and associated drugs and
steroids, she gave in to the fatigue and energy drain, the chills and
body aches, and the nausea. Thankfully, her medical team provided her
with medications to ward off the worst of the effects. Once we all
left this morning, Debbie was prepared to spend the day resting. She
is doing well considering the circumstances.
Kristen
was studying for an Associate Safety Professional exam while at Debs,
which she took today. Uncle Duffy helped her study for the finance
questions that were plaguing her. Hurray!
Kristen texted that she passed as soon as she completed the exam and
learned her score. She did well! Evidently, only a small percentage
of test takers pass the grueling five-hour mind bender. Yeah for
Kristen! Congratulations!
Duffy and I departed shortly
after Kristen left and headed for Gray Lodge Wildlife Area south of
Chico west of Hwy 99 near the town of Gridley. Driving the loop
pulling our trailer, we spotted 37 varieties of birds, none of them
new to us, but always a joy to see again. At 66 degrees in the
valley, it was a gorgeous blue-sky day to drive along with windows
down and to get out and walk on a few of the dikes. Three hours after
arriving, we headed down the road for Castro Valley in the Bay Area
and tonight's campground. If anybody asks, it is prudent to follow
the directions provided by the campground, rather than letting the
GPS guide us by calculating the shortest distance. After leaving Gray
Lodge at 4:00pm, we drove into our camp spot after 8:00pm, a two-hour
journey by all calculations (except the GPS's).
Now it's 10:00pm and time to
turn in for the night.
Until next time...Pam and Duffy
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