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August 17th Up at at em early again, drove over seven hundred miles, need I say more?
I settled in at rest area north of Salt lake city around midnight, For some rest and very strange dreams...
August 18th Another day of hard driving, ended up in Glenns Ferry Idaho, settled in at a local campsite then headed for the local bar for a couple of drinks and some pool. There were only four people in the bar counting the bar maid. I told her that I had hoped for a competitive game of pool. She introduced me to an old farm worker named Salsa Gonzalez. After I beat him in the very well played first game. He said "Iz jest play to past the time" and then kicked my butt three games straight. Salsa then said don't feel badly I past a lot of time. He then gave me a hug, bought me a drink and thanked me for being such a good competitor. I returned to the campsite for a well deserved rest.
August 19th Woke up early and despite a slight hangover I wrote this and some other things. I hit the road about 11am and drove straight to Boise Idaho where I checked into a room and worked on my web site and email for the day.
August 20th I headed out about noon, following the historic Oregon trail. posters in small buildings at the rest areas described the ordeals of the 100,000 or so emigrants who passed along the trail in the 1800's. Soon after I crossed into Oregon the desserts ended and the greener wetter world reemerged. I was rather pleased that there was an abundance of old cars and trucks moving along the highways,including Ramblers, old Dodge darts, and dozens of pickup trucks from the 60's 50's and even some from the 40's. These people obviously know what farmers have known for decades, if you take care of your machinery it will last forever. I was rather concerned because the number of cattle alongside the highways increased greatly. Will this beautiful area be sacrificed for the cattle industry as well? I did some hiking at Emigrant Springs State park while in Oregon. Another stop along the Oregon trail, there didn't seem to be much to do other than read the posters about the trail. I saw what appeared to be a walking trail and headed into the woods wearing shorts and moccasins. The first thing of note that I came across was a full size outdoor basketball court. I have no idea why it was there... I saw some thimble berries and enjoyed some of this treat from my childhood. I continued up a path, which while obviously broken in by motor vehicles, was posted as absolutely no motorized vehicles. A little further up the trail I heard some noise in the forest, sounded like some big game foraging. I crept up slowly and found five very large skittish black cows. After they lumbered off crashing through the bushes, I did get to see a couple mule deer. All in all I didn't see anything that would have told me I was anywhere but Upstate New York, same plants, same climate.
Later just down the road I hiked on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. I Took what should be some spectacular pictures. I continued onward toward Washington State, I stopped at Kentucky fried for dinner and was disturbed by a collection box stuffed full of money. The benefiters? The D.A.R.E. Program... Don't we spend enough tax monies for the police to teach our children how to do drugs? What do they need donations for? more drugs?
Just beyond Pendleton Oregon I came across miles and miles of burnt off grasslands, the air smelled like a wet campfire, the irrigated fields, natural forests and vineyards were the only things that had survived the fires. I continued onward until I was well into Washington State, where I saw plenty of more burned acres.
Friday August 21st Caravans of Army vehicles were on the move today. They like to move them around every time some big military operation goes on, show of strength and all that shit. Bottom line they don't want you to forget the Army is always near by...
Back in the green zone, I stopped in Cicily Alaska (AKA Roslyn Washington) former home of Northern Exposure, one of my favorite all time television shows.
Many of the store fronts have been left exactly as they were for the series, including the KBHR radio studio and Maurice Minnifields office. The place that was the doctor's office is now a gift shop. The walls still covered with the same peeling wall paper... quaint? Be glad it's not a restaurant. One store had an article cut out from the local newspaper, Uproar over nudity, when they filmed "the running of the bulls" episode. I heard a women say that this must of been a nice town before they ruined it by filming that show here. It looked to me like they could use some tourist dollars. Most every store had autographed pictures of the cast relaxing, or working about their town I took some pictures and hung around for a couple hours.I read the paper all the buzz about us bombing the hell out of a couple places. Wag the dog part two?
I then drove for a short while to Silver Ridge Ranch near Easton, Washington. I settled in to get some writing done. Private campground with horse ranch (or bring your own) $15 self serve... shade trees, electric and showers, good enough for today! Actually it looks as though they putting in a lot of improvements. I studied the mountain in the background and decided to go hiking as there was little for me to do at this particular campground. I made some new friends as I crossed a horse pasture. I'm sure they wanted some treats, but they settled for some affectionate petting. One particularly affectionate horse that looked half appaloosa half zebra followed along side me until I left the pasture. Beyond the pasture I found an automobile graveyard, mostly cars and trucks from the fifties and early sixties. I couldn't figure out why they were there and most of them were filled with tin cans. As I worked my way back further towards the mountain I noticed a lot of wild strawberries and what my dad had called indian hemp (short little plants about two feet tall with bright yellow flowers) The leaves looked like marijuana, they tasted and smelled like marijuana, but when smoked, a headache and sore throat were the only results. I then followed a dry creek bed to ATV trail which lead me to a dirt road. I wandered down the dirt road until I saw the graveyard again. along the way I saw some thimble berries (past their prime) and the biggest wild blueberries I have ever seen. yum yum. While walking across an open area past the dead cars I noticed that the area I was walking in was almost completely Indian hemp. Then when I crossed the fence into the horse's area, I noticed suddenly there was none. Perhaps horses like hemp too?
Saturday August 22nd I drove the rest of the way to Seattle, checked into a cheap smelly hotel and got down to business. Couple dozen emails, a few files to upload, before I knew it, it was past 10pm. I sat down and got to the business of writing the speech for the big day. Seattle hempfest 50,000 people, I fell asleep wondering was I ready?
August 23rd The most anticipated day of my trip. I was up and out
the door by 9am. On the way I comforted myself, by thinking at 10 am there won't
be that many people, I can do this! 9:30am I arrived at the 7th annual
Seattle
Hempfest!!!
I took a couple trips to the van for munchies and clothing changes
during and after the event, I took in some of the local flavor. Seattle itself seems
rather like San Francisco. Streets of very steep grade, cable cars and plenty of
people. There was a benefit for the new Seattle Aquarium called the Bugaboo Caribbean
Festival taking place on the pier not two blocks away from the Hempfest. There were
various homeless people sitting around with the usual signs and some not so usual.
One man had a sign which professed the virtues of hugging. I considered giving him
some money but frankly I was afraid he might hug me. There were several youths with
signs stating the man took my weed, can you spare a bud? A girl was doing face painting
for donations. I even saw a bicycle powered taxi cab! I wondered how this poor guy
dealt with the hills! I considered hanging around Seattle for a few days. There were
protests against our recent bombings, military aid to Mexico, another hemp related
event. I found even out there was a hempfest the following weekend at the campgrounds,
where I had just spent the night. I decided if I hung out I might never go back,
so I headed east right after the show and drove a couple hours into the mountains
and went to sleep. The night was clear, stars abundant and the temperature dropped.
I don't know how cold it got but I got up at 4am and hit the highway again for a
couple hours..
