ON THE ROAD AGAIN…..

Yesterday I awoke at 3 a.m. Granted, I am normally an early riser; anywhere from 4:30 to 5:30 a.m., but this was uncalled for. I just wanted to roll over and sleep a while longer. But once my brain started going, any hope of more sleep was futile. Instead of resisting any further, I decided to hit the road.

Since I had packed the car with my remaining possessions the day before, all I needed to do was dress, grab my purse and climb in the car. I left at 3:30 a.m., missing the early morning traffic in Salt Lake.

The down side? It was dark.

I always enjoy seeing the transition in topography as I move from one location to another, but since I crossed the Idaho state line in the dark there was only the observation of increased elevation and winding roads.

When dawn finally broke, it was behind me and flat open fields of green and dirt crisscrossed patterns lay before me. This part of Idaho is largely agriculture and dairy. Even if you don’t see the cows-- and I don’t know how one could miss them-- you would be able to detect the aroma on the wind. The window went up quickly.

I drove straight through to Boise, approximately 5.5 hours, where I stopped briefly to make a pit stop and more importantly get COFFEE.

Now I am not proud of it, but I am a coffee snob. If I am paying for it, I want a latte, and unfortunately there wasn’t a Starbucks, Java Joe’s or Tully’s to be found—or open. What is wrong with those people? If it were me I would have a spot on every major highway open at 4:00 a.m. Properly drained and fueled, I hit the road.

Next stop? Bend, Oregon.

As I crossed the Oregon state line I felt joyous and had a strong sense of coming home.
The area I came into was agricultural, which is true of much of Oregon. The state is a cornucopia, and the smell of onion was on the air. At first I thought, that can’t be me, I showered for Pete sakes. However, I began to notice that what looked like dirt fields were actually acres and acres of yellow onions.

One of the little areas I passed through was Butte Oregon. Butte stands out in my mind because of a sign I noticed--RoadKill Ranch. It’s true! The sign was attached to a small property of about half an acre. One can only assume that it is their unfortunate task on a regular basis to remove victims of drive bys. Shortly after RoadKill I crossed over Stinkingwater River. Both gave me a huge smile and set off a tangent of giggles.

From that point forward, as I was headed west on 20, the scenery became more beautiful. The winding road made its way up through sage covered hills alongside a beautiful river.

It had been about 4 hours since I left Boise and I stopped briefly at a Shell. When I climbed back in my car a beautiful pink/red dragonfly hovered by my open window, then decided to hover over the windshield and lead me out to the open road. Amazing! Those that know me know the significance the dragonfly has in my life. What made this even more powerful is that I had been contemplating signs from Spirit and how nice it would be to get one today. Somebody was definitely listening.

When Bend came into view I was taken with the high plains desert look. Very much like Utah, but greener, with snow-covered mountains looming on the horizon--breathtaking to say the least. I will be staying for a day in Bend, checking it out before heading to Ashland, which is 3 hours away. Stay tuned….you never know what will happen next…..