Our Christmas was adjusted this year by a bit by Mother Nature. Another ice dam found on the opposite side of the garage had us working hard on Christmas Eve taking turns clinging to the ladder in the snow while using gallons (the whole water heater !) of hot water to clear the solid ice from the gutter. It was kind of exhilarating to be able to deal with it but we were pretty beat when we finished.
We were not able to leave Tramp's Camp until Christmas Day and later than we had hoped. Tramp 1 had some work issues he had to clear up before we headed out to drive to Washington to be with family. There wasn't much auto traffic on Christmas Day but there were a lot of truckers trying to get moving after all the heavy snow we had been having. Driving in the snow, on packed snow and ice behind a tractor trailer rig can create near white out conditions and traveling was slow. When we dropped down into the Columbia River Gorge, the roads were just a chunked up rutted mess - a really rough ride. We stopped at the Pilot station so Tramp 1 could break the ice off the wipers on the truck. Even with full heat on defrost, ice still formed. I went inside to get coffee. There were very few folks there and one elderly gentleman walked by and we greeted each other with Merry Christmas. He told me he and his wife were stranded because they didn't have chains and couldn't make it to be with family for Christmas dinner. The weather has been so bad that many places are all sold out of chains. But we talked for a minute about how fortunate they were to have a motel room and that all their family was healthy. They would just be arriving a few days late. He said his wife was still crying.... I felt pretty fortunate to be able to go out, climb into our big diesel truck with studded snow tires and continue on our journey. Due to cooking issues, we were able to arrive at our destination and still have Christmas Dinner with our family.
Last night we arrived in Hermiston Oregon where Tramp 1 has to work this morning observing a year end inventory. On our way here in the dark, some very large bird was in our lane of the freeway and flew up as we were headed right for it. It slammed into our grill, bounced up and hit the hood, then hit the window and roof edge on the drivers side. We were just sick about it. When we got to our motel, we checked the grill and it appears to be a bit damaged - will check it better in daylight. We were able to pull feathers off the radiator and hope that we can identify the poor bird by them. We were thinking it was an owl but maybe it was a hawk.
By this afternoon we will be headed back across the snowy high desert of Oregon to our home. We are anxious to get to the kennel and pick up the old dog. It feels like a new start for some reason. I woke up at 1:30 last night still on the sofa in our suite where I fell asleep while Tramp 1 was working on his computer. When I went to crawl into bed, I thought it was New Year's Eve and was silently welcoming in 2009! Guess I was really tired!! And I still am.... For some reason they have the heat in the hallway of the motel set really high. We had to sleep with our window open and the fan on all night and we were still too hot. The weather is moderating but not that much!!
To all who read Tramp's Camp - we hope you had a meaningful Christmas filled with love and joy!!
1 comment:
Much Joy in the New Year to you as well!
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