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2.28.03 Day Five
You look very pretty today he said and he was right. I had the best night's sleep in that soft soft bed after an hour of swimming and a bit of hot tubbing. This was going to be a great day.
I took a picture of the hotel owner's charming heart-shaped herb garden, then Dee and I were of to the Launderette.
A chubby black man brought in ten huge bundles of dirty clothing, a tall nervous woman who spent most of her time chatting on her cell phone had two, and we have a surprising three.
I spoke with Ruth and Rose, the two attendants who did the drop-off laundry. Is it usually this green during this time of year? I asked
I had noticed the new green lawns and the tulips in bud. Even the flowering kale from last years garden was up and glowing a bright sassy purple and striking white.
No. This is early for us. The winter has been so mild. Yep, a month and a half early. It means we will have a burn summer. Not enough moisture. Very dry. There will be trouble with the crops too.
What do u grow up here?
Apples, peaches, pears…
Ruth, the older white-haired lady said. My son works at Diamond and he will lose his job this year. She looks at Rose, a 40-something black woman and repeats a refrain from some commercial running on their local teevee station. I do not understand it. She looks back at me. They buy all of the fruit from Chile now. People are losing their jobs. Won't be long before they don't grow anything up here.
They also told me about a man who was walking around with three homemade bombs. He wanted to be ready in case in ran into al Qaeda terrorists.
Rose is very interested in what Chicago is like. She said she has never been out of Oregon. I try to give her a description of a huge city on a sparkly Great Lake…. museums, art, music, food from every land, skyscrapers, and also the congestion, the homeless, the aggression. She is in her 40s and I can tell by her expression that she feels like she has missed something. I tell her that she lives in one of the prettiest places in the U.S. She is pleased. It is true.
Okay maybe I am not as rested as I thought. In fact, right after Morning Music Hour, I put on my sunglasses and went to sleep. Dee must have been off talking to himself in his head because he didn't even notice that I had stopped singing and was being very quiet. "I didn't even notice." He said. Aha! Now I can trick him. Just throw on my shades and as long as I don't curl up like a kitten, he will think I am present.
After pancakes at Mickey Ds, we are off. The Gorge ends and we are shooting inland, climbing into the Cascades…the Blue Mountain Range.
I picked up a copy of USA Today. Mr. Rogers died. Stomach cancer, age 74. Dan Rather had an interview with Saddam Heussain. I really would have liked to have seen that. And what's new on the dating scene? Love cruises where singles have 3-minute dates with 20 to 30 people. What a fast-paced screwball world we live in! I can't wait for the new marriage show where citizens pick a spouse for people. Let's do it.
When you pull up to a gas pump in Oregon, don't bother getting out. They have attendants that pump the gas for you. I think this is the only state that does that. I like it. Give me service any day! Dee thinks it's a welfare-to-work program. After seeing that guy in Washington splurt gas all over his SUV, himself, and the asphalt, I think it's for ecological reasons. I found THIS Online. Maybe it answers a few things.
Okay we are over 7,00 feet up. Semis are disappearing. There is snow. CHAIN UP signs are appearing. We are winding round and round and now we can't see. Fog, no. Make those clouds. When you look down into the valleys you see clouds. This is just like being on an airplane. Soon we can see only 10 feet or so in front of us. The roads are icy. We are on a mountain, one called Emily. My right leg is shaking like crazy. I am scared to death. One spin out and we will fly over the edge. Dee is amused by my anxiety. He is steady Eddy.
It took us many hours to cross that mountain. I am quiet for the rest of the day.
Crows pick at carrion flatten on the highway. Cattle roam the acres chewing on sagebrush. Occasionally one of the sage plants unearths and rolls across the highway…tumbleweeds. They get stuck in the fences. It is very windy here and if the wind were to change direction all of the tumbleweeds would drift back across the Interstate.
The landscape is rolling. This is ranch land. Spotted here and there are small windmills that pump water into troughs for the animals. I think cattle are allowed to roam and eat their entire lives. That is so different from dairy farming where the cows need to be brought in and milked twice a day. And cows are HUGE. Their butts are right by your face. I have heard that one kick and you are dead. So don't just wander into a barn.
The smallest type of cow is a breed called Dexter, which was bred a small size for household living.
Cows were domesticated about 5,000 years ago.
Cows can see color.
Cows can detect odors up to 5 miles away.
A 1,000-pound cow produces an average of 10 tons of manure a year.
Per day, a cow spends 6 hours eating and 8 hours chewing cud.
The average cow drinks about 30 gallons of water and eats about 95 pounds of feed per day.
A cow stands up and lies down about 14 times a day.
A cow's heart beats between 60 and 70 beats per minute.
Cows can hear lower and higher frequencies better than humans.
It rained all day in the west of the Cascades from Seattle to San Diego. We made it through just in time.
Dinner was wonderful. We went to a place Called Rock Creek where they serve high-quality aged beef. Give me prime rib please. I tried the Chateau Ste. Michelle...a robust cabernet, and Dee went with a Widmer Hefeweizen, that's a beer! The restaurant was very busy with a waiting line. Behind us was a family of five. The oldest boy, a charge-about around 8 years old talked very loudly using his outdoor voice. He plowed right through the waiting people, past the hostess and found a large, just-emptied table. Here Mom, he shouted, how's this? Too funny. The dad looked like a salesman that was away a lot. Mom looked tired. The other kids were loud too. I think they came down from the mountains and the oldest boy was accustomed to taking care of mom. Eventually they were seated at a table right behind us.
It was such a good dinner that I ordered a dessert for us...blackberry crisp a la mode....yummmmmm. I never had blackberries before.
Swimming!
Word for the Day: Mountainous
End Destination: Twin Falls, ID
Total Miles: 478
