The sound of the rain was my music today as I Drove down the coast and across to Portland. No radio chattering at me. I like the thinking time.
The sign from Seaside said Tillamook to Portland….. but I found so much in there;
- All those little places came alive again as I drove through them. Rockaway where we spent so much time in the bumper cars, Twin Rocks, Garibaldi.
- Saw a sign in one of the little communities. A shared street sign for the cemetery and the recycle centre with arrows pointing the same direction. Uh huh.
- The street sign “Minnehaha Street” we used to pass that and I can hear us in the back seat of the car “you’re a Minnehaha”, hahaha. “No YOU’RE a Minnehaha”, hahaha. And finally “that’s enough girls”…. from Mom.
- Drove by a jetty where they were fishing and had a flashback to running on the jetty as Dad fished on a jetty. Haven’t thought of a jetty in years. Don’t know where we fished.
- Remembered a story about the treasure in Manzanita, the Spanish gold that was buried there. We were visiting some friends there and they told us all the clues led to the treasure being buried beneath the big tree in their backyard. I couldn’t imagine why they hadn’t dug it up. I was quivering with impulse to run in and grab the tablespoons from the cutlery drawer and start excavating. But as with all treasures, there was some omen if we dug it up. Those kids really had me going.
- Drove through the Tillamook forest in a blinding rainstorm, wipers going steady. Followed a big truck and when he hit a puddle with a splash like a humpback breaching I knew to grip the wheel of my little Kia Soul to keep from hydroplaning off the road.
- I settled in with coffee and munchies for a nice long drive and popped out in Banks before I knew it, kind of disappointed that the journey was now headed for freeway driving.
It was a good day of finding places I’d forgotten.
