The trials and tribulations of the Oregon Trail (21st century style)

Like many of my relatives of the past, I'm making the trek from far off lands to get to the green, fertile grounds of Oregon. Now I'm not going to spend the last precious minutes of battery life expounding on why I'm going home, you all know why. Currently I am sitting in the San Jose airport in the last hour of an unexpected four hour layover that has kept me grounded and from reaching my goal. So I'm taking some time to reflect on this latest journey.

It all began yesterday morning on the island. Correction, on the RAIN SOAKED island. After a day and night of rain, Kirk, Jerry, and I set out for Avalon in the giant F-250 truck in hopes that we would be able to power through any mud that we encountered. Well, we powered, for the most part, and made it so far as to the first big hill on the airport road before we got stuck. But we just didn't get stuck, we got rooted down in the ruts of the ankle deep mud. Not to mention trying to power up the road going sideways throwing the guck everywhere. We were afraid that we would either run off the side of the road, kick up a rock into the under carriage of the car, or just sticking it to the road. As I mentioned to Kirk, I think we all found a little bit of God that morning.

To get out of the ditch, we had to push the back end of the truck back up onto the road and then Jerry stood on the backend while Kirk coasted us to a point where we could turn around and head along the middle ranch road. A bit more slipping and prayers and we finally made it into Avalon, three hours after initially leaving camp and with 10 minutes to spare before our boat left. Forget that Kirk and I were pretty much covered in mud and had to ransack the ticket office and run down the ramps of the dock. Yeah, a sight to see for sure.

We made it safely to the mainland and were met by Kirk's wife Lisa. Kirk and Lisa let me stay in the apartment overnight and Kirk took me to LAX early early this morning. LAX was of course a nut house and after some delays I finally made it out only to be stranded in San Jose because American Airlines messed up my reservation. Well, the time is drawing near for me to leave and I'm ready to get on that plane. It's going to be nice to breathe fresh air again. In only a matter of hours I'll be back where it all started. After months in self-imposed exile I'll be home. Really truly home.

You call this weather?

One thing I'm not used to in the winter, blue skies. And not just a day here and there of clarity up above, but really truly extended periods of time where the sun is shining all day. This weekend it was reported that a rain storm would descend on the region, however, it failed to appear. Or maybe they just have funny looking rain here in LA. But it's not the lack of substantial weather that's getting to me these days, it's more like the winds that pummel the island at night. My house has insulation, or so they tell me, which I think means that there's a thing layer of something between the walls. What the something is I don't know. But it's not really making a huge difference. I'm freezing. Which is not fun.

Well I'll be home in a little over a week. I don't know how obvious it is, but I'm very excited to go home. I've been living here for almost six months, which is a long time to be away. I miss my home state and family dearly. I don't need to say how much because I think you guys know by now. There's some things that have made me realize just how deeply ingrained in me being an Oregonian is. I come from some pretty provincial people so it's not that surprising when I stop and assess.

Eventually the feeling of homesickness will pass the longer I live here, but it's hard these days especially, I don't know why in particular, it just is.