Day 2

This morning I knew that I didn't need to drive all day to arrive at my next destination, so it was difficult to get up early. I put on some shorts and took a short run down a country road to try to shake the stir crazy feeling I get when I sit still too long without exercise. Upon returning to the motel room, I stepped in the shower-after removing the dead grasshopper in the bottom, of course. The water pressure was great! However, the drainage was not so good, and the small standup shower stall quickly filled to the rim. I finished my brief shower and dried off, carefully avoiding the lipstick stains on the towel. After waiting for the rust color to clear from the faucet water, I brushed my teeth and proceeded on my way to Oregon.

It was a little too late for breakfast, but a little too early for lunch, so I stopped along a side road to fish a blueberry "Torque" bar from the food box in the back. I have stuffed about 30 athletic energy bars of various brands and flavors in that box because they keep well and have a high protein/fat ratio-my basic rule of thumb for foods that I like.

The fruit bar didn't last long, though, and I stopped into the Red Bluff Cafe for lunch. I ordered the least heart-clogging looking item on the menu, which was a turkey melt with potato salad. In the meantime, I swiveled my chair away from the the countertop to become a sort of silent participant in a conversation between two men nearby-something about trying to find a XXXXL t-shirt so that the shirttail wouldn't keep coming out of his pants. Next the conversation turned to how I looked like Cato Calain (sp?) from the O.J. Simpson trial, which I had already heard enough at my last family reunion. Eventually, we started talking about the '52 Chevy truck, which has repeatedly proven to be a excellent icebreaker for many people that I have met on this trip. They came out to look at the engine, and I learned several things and received some good advice:

I have a 235 full-pressure engine, not a 216 with oil dippers as the previous owner had thought
I am missing the front left wheel bearing cap, which I plan to replace when I arrive in Portland
The generator has been put on with an extra washer, which causes the belt to connect at a slightly less than perpendicular angle-a situation that I will remedy as soon as I get a little spare time to work on it.

The turkey melt was greasy, and would continue to torment my bowels for the rest of the day. Tasted good, though.

I saw Mt. Shasta from the highway. It had lots of snow on it, which I didn't expect since the summer has been so swelteringly hot. The features of the landscape sharpen oddly at times from rolling hills to sharp crags, probably due to volcanic influences.

I called Patti Halprin last night to ask if I could crash at her place. I know Patti from work, and Patti, her husband Lyle, and daughter Danielle live in Talent, Oregon, near Ashland. Patti designs educational software for children. Early this evening I called her from Yreka and arranged to meet her family at a ballet that was taking place in a park in Ashland, Oregon. I enjoyed the ballet, and relaxing in the grass of the park was a nice, cool end to a hot day of sun pouring on a metal truck cab. I followed the Halprins home from the park, and Lyle was very good about not going too fast and leaving my old truck in the dust.

They moved into their house in the woods about three weeks ago, and there is still a little unpacking to do. I decided to wash the sweat and sunscreen off with a cool shower, and improvised a little bit with a dinosaur sponge, elephant sponge, and rubber ducky to wedge up the unhung shower curtain. It's a mystery to Patti as well, but we don't know why the previous owners put carpeting in the bathroom and kitchen. It's a nice place, though, and with Patti's knack for conceptual planning, I bet it will turn out beautiful.

Tomorrow I drive to Portland, Oregon to visit Sheila. She is a friend of Janet Madeiras Amaro, who is an artist at The Learning Company with a strange affinity for bats and the Three Stooges (her license plate reads "NYUK X 3"). Janet also has an excellent CD collection, which I have come to enjoy.