I looked kind of mean in the mirror. I took out an extra chunk when the clip fell off the razor. It took a minor tantrum to bring me around and the fact that without a job, nobody to really impress... and readying for a roadtrip in the Sierras, there'd be time for it to grow back. I made a couple tough faces at the glass and took a shower.
Puffy and i took a moment to remember what really matters and the people we wish to celebrate this ridiculous life with. A number of drinks in order, we sat down for a few cardgames, some smoking and star-gazing, followed by mid-morning reruns of
X-Files accompanied by lewd peanut gallery chatter. I of course scandalized Mulder in lecherous comments; Erin chimed in superbly, waxing sickness with Scully.
Our first day on the road, northward through different shades of gold and brown... white salts flats bordered in sage. We stopped in Alturas, a small town near the border of Nevada and California and tossed a football in the city park. Further on we found a diner and ordered some shakes and fries to go. We ate on a strip of lawn outside an ominous Latter-Day Saints church. Some rednecks looked on from a porch down the street, beers and smokes burning away their afternoon.
Surprise Valley dazzled us with ghost towns and farmland out into an enormous dry lake. All habitations snug up against the foothills of the Sierras and its angled evening light stretching livestock and fencepost shadows. Surprise Valley you are the sweetest fucking valley i have ever seen and i'd like to see you again.
Stopped in at a tavern late at night with a few gaspumps out front. Went inside to find someone to pump some Oregon gas into the car, gotta love that mandatory statewide full-service. The two tables inside were filled with ranchers drinking
regular and
light beer out of mason jars. The walls were filled with animal heads and horns; i listened to some hunting conversation while the bartender ran the adjacent grocery store further down the counter. "I can't wait to get a buck on my arrow," one offered, which reminded the rest of the table about latest buck whereabouts and more suitable weaponries.
A few hours later into the night we found our destination, Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge. Had a few beers on the hood under a new moon astral sky, the Milky Way brighter than we'd ever seen, then climbed into our tent until morning. Bright light found us in a kind of paradise, autumn colors in the aspen and willow, smell of sage blowing through. A crossword and morning hotspring, couldn't think of anything better.
That's Cathleen fighting the wind for her pants...
Driving across the plains of eastern Oregon, white-knuckling the wheel against sudden bursts of wind... finding little groups of antelope out in the sage. Dark clouds on the horizon and Cathleen excitedly pointing at the sitting livestock as redneck meteorology of impending rain. Up in the mountains we found the most beautiful trail along the Deschutes River and walked until my hypoglycemia nearly drove me to eating my hand. Found a hotel room, cracked a bottle of wine, ordered a pizza and took our troubled selves to the jacuzzi.
