We drove into the Jantzen Beach Mall Complex, in Vancouver this morning, to purchase some items needed for our new kickoff venture as soon as we get Independence back from the repair shop … traffic has been backed up (as in slower than a snail's pace) from Kalama to La Center every morning until about 6 PM (the blacktop is being scraped off & hauled off from the outgoing southbound twin bridge).
WSDOT I-5 Construction April - October 2024 Expect Delays: https://www.ci.woodland.wa.us/community/page/wsdot-i-5-construction-april-october-2024-expect-delays
Last year Holland gave me an adventure of a lifetime: 3 years into widowhood, I had wanted to shake things up in my life and spread my wings … before I married Bob I had my thoughts set on traveling across America and experiencing every mainline State, but Bob snagged my attention in the Spring of 1974, and I happily let moss grow under my feet for 44 years; when that chapter if my life ended with Bob's last breath, I revisited and entertained that old dream of mine: I prayed that Elohim would give me a traveling companion. I never thought Elohim would answer my prayer in such an unexpected way - I was 66 years old when Holland's 35 year old vision/quest took root in both of our lives: he got the wife he was promised and held out for, and I got the Bucket List Adventuring my itchy gypsy feet were wanting.
I never thought I'd remarry; Holland never thought he'd be driving across America again: but here we are, rocking our world.
Together, since marrying, we have traveled through, and enjoyed 21 States last year: this year, we will be seeing America a new way: Holland's Bucket List Adventure is being set in place, this month.
Holland found what he was looking for - and I grabbed a pair of headphones to use while I'm surfing the internet: our tastes in music, movies, and news sources are very different; headphones are a staple in this Redmill relationship ;-)
When we got back to Woodland, Holland went online to track down a weight distribution hitch; and I went online with a hope and a prayer.
The internet connect here for me, is spotty at best - and nonexistent 99% of the time. Holland struggles too, but he is able to be online for a significant amount of time before the wave disappears, and he too, is kicked offline :-(
This afternoon he was able to connect and stay online long enough to track down the hitch he is needing … and off we went to Toutle, to collect it: it was listed as brand new (never used), for half the price.
I was happy to be getting out - and looking forward to a high land country drive :-)
The hitch was brand new, and the sunny drive was soothing: we were both feeling good.
As we were leaving Toutle, and crossing the overpass to enter freeway traffic … our ears heard, and our eyes beheld a strange sight: a bagpiper playing a Highland Scottish tune!
Don't know where he was headed to, or why he was piping - but we started laughing because we were listening to Steve Earle (whose song starts with a bagpipe intro); so Holland pulled over onto a wide spot alongside the freeway entrance and let me listen to the overpass bard because he knows I like the sound of bagpipes ;-)
Driving back to Woodland from our Toutle pickup appointment, we decided to take the Green Mountain Road back to our motel room: we quickly saw that the backroad route was just as congested as the freeway (we passed two offshoot spurs where state patrol was rerouting freeway traffic to merge with backroad travelers like us); but at least the high land traffic moves forward - freeway traffic pretty much stands still (southbound bumper-to-bumper standstill from Old Pacific Highway out of Longview, to La Center-WA).
I was happy to be in the high country backroad.
I am very familiar with this road, having traveled it most of my adult life.
Coming off the upper high land road … we decided to avoid downtown Woodland (where most of the traffic was headed); and continue backroad travel, which would be much easier to drive. We grabbed a hot fudge sundae, on our way back to the motel room.
Holland is happy with his purchases today - and I'm happy his newest Bucket List Venture is working for him, so far. We have one or two more things to check off; but when we leave WA State again, this year will be Holland's adventure and we are both excited to get it underway :-)
Tomorrow we will be taking care of more {business}; but tonight is for relaxation and unwinding …
No comments:
Post a Comment