Road trip

Dave

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Jul 12, 2004
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Baker County, Oregon
We closed on our place in south central WA. So on Saturday we made the trip for the last stuff we still had there. An old irrigation pump, some long panels (16-18 foot ones), a few odds and ends of Powder River alley, and a good big shop air compressor. The air compressor made the trip worth while. If it were just the rest of the stuff the 470 mile round trip wouldn't have been worthwhile. The good thing is the place closed for a good price and I wont have to make that trip again. Left the house at 7:45AM and was back home at 7:15PM. I am sure not the road warrior I once was.
 
The one thing I remember about that trip was when we were camped by a lake in Banff. I had walked down to the lake shore. I turned around and there was a black bear about 30 or 40 feet behind me. There was a group of about 20 kids following the bear. I joined the group. We followed the bear through the camp ground as he opened ice chests and sampled picnic baskets. We didn't bother the bear and he pretty much ignored us. After a while some man yelled at us to get away from the bear. Back in the very early 60's some adult yelled at a bunch of kids they all did as told. We all went back to our respective camps and the bear went about his business of sampling picnic baskets.
 
One time I went camping with my sister Lesley, her husband and her little baby. We stayed at group of little wood cabins built in a canyon on a forested mountain. It was night and everybody was out cooking or sitting on the porches. It was very peaceful. Suddenly someone shouted Bear! And here came a big black bear running down the hill being chased by an obese man with no shirt on, his arms in the air yelling Heeyaa! The crowd ran for their cabins. Kelly and I did too but Lesley grabbed the baby, got to the door first, slammed it and locked it.
 
One time when I was a teenager we camped on the west side to Jackson Lake right the base of the Tetons. It was beautiful there, had a little stream right next to where we had the tent. We only stayed there one night, as the next day we were talking with some people out on the lake that said they seen a bear chewing on a deer carcass not far from where we were camped. Dad was worried that the fish smell inside the boat would attract that bear. I don't know if it was a black bear, brown bear or grizzly, but we packed up and when back across the lake to the campground.
 
It is amazing that we can travel these distances today, a couple of generations ago it would have been unthinkable.
the interstate highways and the improvements of vehicles make today's trips unbelievable compared to the past, when I was 8 years old my dad had to go to Pocatello Idaho and we were in Norfolk VA, this was before much of an interstate system and if I remember correct that trip took us as a family about 5 or 6 days, that however was a big improvement from when my grandmother moved from Edgerton KS to Overland Park Kansas in 1901 where my Great Grandfather had secured a job as a blacksmith for the stage coach company, in a wagon pulling family furnishings and clothes. It's about 30 miles or so, took a little over 2 days
 
In Skinner Kirby's book he describes his family taking a trip to the Pendleton Roundup in 1915. 2 days each way and that was by car. Now it is about 2 hours. They stayed in a tent as there was no hotels either on the trip or in Pendleton. They also packed their own food because there was no restaurants.
 
One time when I was a teenager we camped on the west side to Jackson Lake right the base of the Tetons. It was beautiful there, had a little stream right next to where we had the tent. We only stayed there one night, as the next day we were talking with some people out on the lake that said they seen a bear chewing on a deer carcass not far from where we were camped. Dad was worried that the fish smell inside the boat would attract that bear. I don't know if it was a black bear, brown bear or grizzly, but we packed up and when back across the lake to the campground.
I was just there May 28th. We drove to seattle, took a cruise to alaska, and drove back through Yellowstone and the Tetons. Spent a day in Jackson.

We went through Moab on the way up and spent time there.
 
In Skinner Kirby's book he describes his family taking a trip to the Pendleton Roundup in 1915. 2 days each way and that was by car. Now it is about 2 hours. They stayed in a tent as there was no hotels either on the trip or in Pendleton. They also packed their own food because there was no restaurants.
Old habits are hard to break, I still take snacks along, and often carry them back. If I get hungry, I'm inclined to stop somewhere. Might have to revert back though, I stopped at a milkshake stand earlier today, what they called a large milkshake, seems to have shrunk from what I remember, $5.35. A dollar doesn't go very far today.
 
Old habits are hard to break, I still take snacks along, and often carry them back. If I get hungry, I'm inclined to stop somewhere. Might have to revert back though, I stopped at a milkshake stand earlier today, what they called a large milkshake, seems to have shrunk from what I remember, $5.35. A dollar doesn't go very far today.

Back when I was chasing rodeos I made lots of all night drives. Give me a couple bottles of Mountain Dew and pack of Red Vine licorice and I would cover the miles. But with this sugar free diet they put me on those are out the window. Also my 73 year old bladder makes me stop a lot more often than it did at 25.
 
One time my fiancé and I were camping in the woods in a large cabin tent. My little whippet dog woke me up whining so I thought she had to pee and took her out. She did not sniff around but clung to my side. We went back in. Lying back down in the sleeping bag I heard sticks breaking coming closer and closer. Then, a shadow on the tent wall of a bear walking one side of the tent then down the other. My fiance jumped up (in the buff) and grabbed a long sharp tent pole. The bear went away. I asked what he was going to do if the bear came in. He said throw it the dog and rip out the back side of the tent so we could run away. You can't un-see that.
 

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