with or without : fog

Last night both the person at the hotel front desk and the person at the grocery store checkout warned me about continuing up "highway one" due to its tight turns and terrain. After what we all experienced on the "128", I started to question our route and or sanity. Thankfully the person in line behind me butted in and said it is beautiful and I should not miss the chance. She also said I should take her advice, since she was the only one in the express line with more then 15 items, and could care less what others think.

This morning the sun rose, but to no avail through the thick fog which felt like rain suspended in the air. Just standing made us wet, let alone moving. As we drove and everyone's gravel kicked in it was just me and the road that revealed itself 30 feet at a time. I had the pleasant surprise of pulling over next to a eucalyptus forest, with wild calla lilies as well as many new ferns and hanging mosses. Rolling through the redwoods was a humbling experience as they formed a towering gateway northeast and eventually we made it back to the highway and then interstate. Oregon welcomed us with directional highlights on small flocks of sheep, and rolling slate blue and grey rivers. Its exciting to drive over some of the rivers that have I've only read about in fly fishing magazines....like the Rouge, Smith, and Umpaqua. I think I used most of my pull over quota today, but it helped me cope and finish well through the eleven hours that were supposed to be only eight.

For all of us in the van, there is Light at the end of the tunnel. Roads will straighten and be made smooth. Appetites will come back. Those who are sleeping, will at some point wake up and either realize what they have missed or decide to take up where we currently are. I'm on holidays, and until now did not want to admit it. Now I'm choosing to keep enjoying each step of this journey with or without scenic views. 

Our days have usually started and ended with some sort of LED light in our hotel room, sometimes its Katrina adding to her "travel" version of a gratitude journal she's kept for over two years now, or its me sorting images for the blog...

It was quite an experience, to open a car door and have the most unmistakably thick smell of fresh eucaliptus greet me, this was truly my morning anti-nausient that I needed to face the next two hours of switchbacks and u-turns galore

 

Today was the longest day yet. Lots of mountains, twists, turns, all that jazz. Thankfully we all took gravel in the morning, which saved six upset tummy’s. Phewww! We did have lovely scenery though. We saw lovely bright turquoise blue water, the misty pacific ocean, large mountains, and redwoods. They were huge and were surrounded by moss and ferns. Very pretty. We pulled over once though because we all wanted to keep on going (even Ellie, but ,I managed to get her to pose on a log) so we got out took a few pictures then got back in to resume Ben Hurr. ( the audio book we were listening to.) after a few more hours we arrived at the hotel, got supper, and watched Monsters Inc. Personally today was long but interesting. Thinking back I remember what mom told me once, “There are always little joys God sends us each day.Look for those joys.” Even on long days I can still find many.

-Abigail-

 

we had one final chance to see the ocean before heading east on the "191" and thankfully I was able to watch perhaps the last waves i'll see this trip... a  "glassy /stalling/ hollow/ spitting/ left" break on cold black sand, as everyone else stayed in the van...they understood the homage, and as silly as it may sound  let me have a chance to say goodbye