The trip to Bend

For 67 horsepower the 28 year old van certainly holds its own and has surprised me at every turn with its durability, space and overall shape. Driving it over the pass towards Bend I was impressed with how well it kept up with traffic, especially considering the amount of added weight currently stuffed into its numerous storage nooks. I will admit that a couple of times the uphill portions and the engine's lugging raised an ounce of concern but downshifting and letting the engine run high seems to solve any slowing and Johnny Cash at level 20 easily drowns out both my horrific voice as well as the engine's whine.

Though I have driven over the pass many times I realize that I have not taken enough time to actually notice how beautiful Oregon actually is. Instead, on my previous trips, I have fallen prey to the constraints of time and the job of driving and have missed out on the wonderment of nature's beauty. It is nice that during this trip I am able to view the world as we all did while children, the lack of all responsibility allowing a present based focus. It is my hope that upon return to life's responsibilities I do not forget this realization that slowing down to enjoy the view adds only a nominal amount of time that is easily offset by the incalculable amount of memories.

What makes Oregon so beautiful goes beyond just all of the trees. The late winter's snow melt rolling its way down the hillsides created numerous waterfalls, the white and blue liquid crashing over rocks and tumbling down along the side of the road. A few early flowers were trying to blossom and, even though their early attempts at birth would be nipped short by the late winter predicted by Puxatony Phil, the splashes of color bursting alongside the roads brought a vibrancy to the drive.

The drive itself over the pass was uneventful, a bit of typical early spring drizzle forcing me to use my windshield wipers periodically. At the summit I encountered an inch or so of snow but the van handled it well, the added weight helping to keep it glued to the road. Off the mountain was a little different as the drive into Tumalo provided a couple of scenes for ponderment.

Right before town I passed a dead steer on the side of the road, its legs outstretched in a comical scene of rigor mortis; I half expected to see a tongue hanging in a cartoonish mockery of death. As I was contemplating this cycle of life and lost income for some poor rancher I gazed to my right just in time to witness an '06 Subaru Outback that had run itself up the front porch of a local cafe. I couldn't tell if the driver had been influenced or distracted by an unfortunate steer or if they just couldn't turn the wheel sharply enough to make the parking lot. Either way seeing a dead steer and a car halfway through a building in the course of a minute made me wonder what may be in store for me the rest of the journey.

A couple of minutes later I arrived at the local Albertsons, my buddy AJ waiting for me in his over-sized Nissan Tundra. His truck is big enough to make one wonder if he is compensating for something, the large white body jacked up on 33" mudders, but the choice of vehicles seems to be more a mark of his country boy values than anything else as his relationships are lengendary.

AJ is a great guy, genuine and down to earth and generous with his time and possessions. It is interesting because he and I are struggling with the same questions of life's purpose, though the crux of his angst is is driven more from a pervasive doubt about his self worth, his trust fund childhood and lack of necessary work causing his questions of value.

We played "Gears of War 2" late into the night with my roommate Brian and our friend from Missouri, Jive Turkey, my abilities in the field of killing surprised us all as I actually did quite well, taking top scores many a round. The irony of me choosing to play now but never join in at home was not lost on me and I actually had quite a bit of fun playing. I guess the month and a half of self-imposed exile around Christmas while grieving the failure of yet another relationship in which I finished seven video games actually had some purpose other than numbing of the mind.

I spent that night sleeping on a bean bag type bed - I say type because the stuffing was actually two chunks of foam that started off as foot by foot blocks that, properly kneaded, could be spread out to a ten by six foot bed. The foam's consistency reminded me of a childhood pool toy that you tried to hold on to but would slip out of your hands with each grasp. I feel asleep knowing that tomorrow night I would
actually be sleeping in my van.

The next morning we left AJ's house, his gigantic bumper never far from view. AJ had to travel to Creswell to clean the hard drives of two of his computers so he could sell them on eBay and I was anticipating the short trip out to Crater Lake. Taking a right AJ headed off to Pita Pit for breakfast and I continued straight to the next stop light in order to take a right turn south for my trip away from the expansive population of Bend.

As I was sitting waiting on the light my car stalled. Thinking nothing of it initially I tried to turn the engine over. Nothing. I tried again and the engine tried, coughed and sputtered but wouldn't catch.

Cursing the mechanics at Independent Auto Werks I got out to push, thankfully being assisted by a nice guy working the corner with a sandwich board, his nice guy demeanor assisted by the reprieve doing something other than yelling at traffic offered. I called my guru, John and we decided that the fuel pump (the simple little part the accursed guys at Independent were supposed to switch out) was the culprit. I tapped on it a few times and got the engine to turn over again.

Thankfully Katie is as much help away as she is near and found me the numbers of some local VW mechanics. Driving around town I found that all were closed on Sunday. Typical. As fate would have it my other buddy Shilo, the guy I initially was headed to Bend to see but who had decided last minute to catch the baseball Civil War, was just pulling into his driveway.

I headed over to his house and we spent the afternoon hanging out and chatting about life. Being that Shilo is a self-professed geek, we bee-lined it to Best Buy to catch me up on a world of technology that is slowly passing me by. I am beginning to understand the geriatric population fears the cell phone, the unknown causing a panic felt only in times of extreme ignorance.

Age and a 5:30 wake up call shuffled Shilo off to bed at 9:30 and me back over to AJ's, his computer task finished. I fell asleep at 5 am, thoughts of fuel pumps and lost days of travel swirling in my mind but thankful for the assistance and enjoyment friends present. Hopefully the morning will bring with it a fixed car and a southerly direction.