Good Ole Ernie

It was 7:15. We sat at a gas station in Bend, Oregon, waiting for Ernie to finish pumping our gas. In Oregon, by law, you can't pump your own gas. It seems that no one in Bend, Oregon is in any kind of hurry. As the numbers rolled by on the gas pump, Ernie meandered over to the squeegie and water to clean our windshield. Slowly, he worked on the one big, yellow bug thats life ended hours earlier in a spot untouchable by our windshield wipers.

Squeak, squeak, squeak. The bug stubbornly stayed, Ernie gently but stubbornly scrubbed. Squeak, squeak, squeak.

We were in a hurry to get to Prospect before our bed and breakfast shut down for the evening.

Ernie conquered the bug, walked back to the pump which had switched off minutes ago, and came back with Tim's receipt. He stuck his head in the window, "Looks like yur lookin' at a map there."

"Yeah, we are."

"Where ya' headed?"

"We're going to Prospect; about how long do you think it might take us?"

"Well, I dun know...less see." There was dirt under his fingernail as he thumped his index finger down on the atlas Tim was holding, "It looks like it's 175 miles to Medford; then if ya' look," Ernie eyed the scale then measured with his index finger and thumb, "It's probly 'bout, oh, thirty miles from Prospect to Medford..."

"So about how long do you think it might take to get there--to Prospect--from here?"

"Well, if you look at the map, it's about, well, you can figure it out..."

"How are the roads? I mean, how long do you think it might take..."

"Well, the roads are kinda' crooked. You might want to slow down once you get off 97."

"So, if we need to get there by ten, do you think we can make it?"

"Oh, you'll be close. You don't want to drive too fast."

"But you think we can make it by ten?"

"You might can make it by ten."

"Okay, thanks."

"You be careful."

Despite Ernie, we pulled into the Prospect Hotel just before ten. We've had an eventful day. We woke up in Vancouver, Washington and headed to Portland. I wanted to visit a beautiful rose garden I remembered seeing when I was in Portland for my brother's wedding. From the motel in Vancouver, we found a brochure and made our way to Washington Park to view the International Rose Garden. It was even more beautiful than I had remembered. (See pictures.) From there we drove the Columbia River Gorge to Mt. Hood. We viewed the gorge under cloudy skies, sure that if we stalled long enough, we would have decent weather and would be able to see Mt. Hood. At Multnomah Falls, the "Friends of the Falls" were having a little festival complete with a folk band. (They were very good!) We wandered around there for a while and split a BBQ dinner. The falls were very cool--200 feet high with a bridge that split the upper from the lower falls.

The closer we got to Mt. Hood, the more the clouds cleared--once again, God provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the mountains. We drove to the top of the mountain above any clouds and enjoyed an unobstructed view of Mt. Hood. We also got a glimpse of Mt. Saint Helens.

We drove along the Cascade Range along a scenic highway and witnessed a spectacular sunset behind the mountains.

Which brings us to the Prospect Hotel, where tomorrow we will eat a full breakfast and head to Crater Lake.