Three States

We traveled through three states yesterday. Until I downloaded my pictures, I hadn't really noticed that it was a cloudy day for most of the day. We had forgotten we would travel through the southeastern corner of Oregon. We've traveled that road before, but not for a long time. It all looked fresh and new, although it was monotonous. This was our view for most of the day...until we reached the Boise metropolitan area, really.

We were about halfway to our next destination when we left the state of Nevada for the last time this trip.

And we crossed into Oregon...home, sweet home...but we aren't home yet. Also, that isn't our RV park. Not yet. We still had many more miles to travel.

Looking to the west, we could see why we decided to go home this way. We have to get over those mountains, and snow is in the forecast for the next several days when we'd be in those areas. We'll just stay over here, thank you.

We were traveling US Hwy 95, and let me just tell you, there is nothing out here. There weren't even any barns. I captured this one abandoned structure...

Oh...and this one pseudo-barn off in the distance.

And on, and on, and on we went. There goes the road.

We were nearly to our final destination when we left Oregon...

And crossed into Idaho.

All day long...nothing but barren plains and this single tree.

We were nearly to our final destination when we passed through the little town of Marsing, Idaho. When I saw this landmark, Lizard Rock, I got so excited! I'd completely forgotten about Lizard Rock, but when I saw it, memories of a journey I took with my mom came flooding back. She was the one who pointed this out to me the only other time I've seen it.

I was 11 years old. It was 1965, and my brother had graduated from Kailua High School in Kailua, Hawaii, just days earlier. We'd been there 3-1/2 years and were on an extension to stay in Hawaii for my brother's graduation. We left the ceremony to board a ship that would sail across the Pacific Ocean back to mainland Los Angeles. When we arrived in Los Angeles, my mom and I boarded a Greyhound bus to travel to Fruitland, Idaho, where my grandmother's farm was located. We'd left our little travel trailer and one of our cars at my grandmother's farm when we left for Hawaii. 

So it was quite a journey getting to our new home. My dad's new duty station was to be in Camp Pendleton, in Southern California, but that would be weeks away. In the meantime, we were pulling ourselves together, collecting large items we'd left behind. My mom and I made this 18-hour journey alone (I forget where my dad and brother were), riding Greyhound, eating in roadside cafes, and all the other miscellaneous stuff that accompanies such an adventure. We must have been traveling this same road because I have a vivid memory of catching sight of this landmark, and my mom telling me its name. Well. As you might guess, I got all nostalgic, and started missing my mom all over again. This is how our loved ones live on...in our memories. I brought her to life again and just for a moment, she was sitting beside me, pointing out the window at Lizard Rock.

It wasn't long then before we crossed the Snake River. 

It was late afternoon, but there was a quilt shop just down the road. Once we were set up, and Mike had his afternoon nap, we went to see it. I'll tell you about it in a separate post.

All you need to know right now is that I picked up an emergency stitching project. Phew! That was a close call. The kit has everything I need, including a needle...which I don't need. I've already hooped it up for stitching, and I'll get started on it right after breakfast.

Oh yes, and I had just one more jar of home-made food with me...some cherry pie filling I made last summer. Well. You don't want to go home with things left unopened and not used up, and so I was forced to bake this pie. I'm using refrigerated pie crust. They come two to a box, and I can do both the bottom crust and the lattice top with just one crust. It isn't beautiful, but behold my Lattice-top Cherry Pie for Two.

It was pretty darned yummy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream at its side. You might have noticed that my diet kind of fell by the wayside this past couple of weeks. I've gone a little bit hog wild (emphasis on the "hog"). I'll get back to it starting tomorrow. Tonight, we'll be staying in Pendleton, Oregon, and there's a nice restaurant we like there. We'll have one more dinner out, and then I'll be back to cracking the whip over my food choices and continuing to try to lose a little more weight. I'm approaching my goal, but I still have about 15 pounds to go.

Okay, so it's time for breakfast. Now I owe you two quilt shop posts. I'll combine them into one and write as soon as I can. I know you're waiting on tenterhooks to see all that quilt fabric eye candy. For now, I'm off to have breakfast and spend a little time on my emergency stitching project. We'll be back in Oregon tonight and then home by tomorrow afternoon.