Go east, young man. That’s the way I remember it. We left Portland and headed east on I-84. This is one of the few interstates that I can recommend as scenic. It follows the Columbia for at least a hundred miles, and is a very nice drive.
At Boardman, the road veers away from the river and takes a southeast bent. The terrain is still interesting, although dry. We did see a first for us, tree farms. We had no idea that they were so tightly bunched. I guess that they crowd them in order to encourage upward growth instead of lateral branches. These things went on for miles. It’ll be a while before they reach harvest size.
The vistas back here were immense, mostly brown hills stretching off forever. The towns we encountered were all set in hollows, with green trees marking their spots.
Our goal was Pendleton, home of the original mill for Pendleton cloth and garments. Home of the plaid.
There wasn’t much to Pendleton. A few old buildings built with the local lava stone, like this chapel. The front markers are monuments to the local war dead.
About the only thing of note was their Seth Thomas clock, dating from the 1880’s.
You see all those plaques on the bases of the legs? They all attest to the generosity of this group or that individual for contributing to the restoration of the clock. But there wasn’t a single thing telling about the clock itself! The “works” were at the bottom:
The only clues to the history of the thing were on the brass manufacturer’s plaque, but there wasn’t much info. That wooden vertical bar is the pendulum.
So much for the town’s main attraction. It was late on Friday afternoon, and the sidewalks were already rolled up and nothing to do but head back to the rig at the local rv park that had morphed into a (gasp) KOA since the last postings in our books. It was just fine, but at the usual KOA overcharge. The guy next to us had an 1100cc touring BMW all tricked out. The scoot looked like a kid next to it. (Sorry, bad pic; the BMW is hidden by the scoot.)
I thought I’d do a little (precious little) maintenance by greasing the sliding step. Cue the portentous music.
This requires getting on my back, under the rig, so I can direct the spray from the lithium grease can. I took off my glasses so as not to get oil splash on them, and placed them on the pavement outside the rig where I was lying. Then proceeded to lube away. I crawled out and got under to lube the other side. Then got out and walked back to put the can away. Cue shriek shriek shriek music from “Psycho.” Crunch. Scrape. Snap.
Although I disliked these glasses in the first place (hated the wiggly arms), this was not good. It’s after five on a Friday. We’re in nowheresville. I don’t have a spare pair. Yikes. There was no place in Pendleton that did same-day glasses, and nobody kept weekend hours anyway. I went online to see about getting a pair on the internet and having them overnighted. Found what looked to be a reputable spot, typed in my info (I DO carry my prescription), took comfort from their “overnight delivery” promise, but then read the fine print. 1. They don’t work on weekends. 2. It takes 2-3 days to make the glasses. 3. They “overnight” it at that point. So, if they start on Monday, finish on Wednesday, and ship them to nowheresville, I might see them next Thursday. Nope. Not spending a week here, thank you. OK, Google Lenscrafters, type in the local zip code and find the nearest. Well, looky there, there’s one in Kennewick, and it’s only 69 miles away, and they’re open on Saturday.
Luckily, Saturday dawned sunny, so I could wear my prescription sunglasses to ride the scoot to Kennewick. 69 miles isn’t too far, but try it on a scoot doing 6-7,000 rpm on a chilly morning in “where are we” land. I dunno, Toto, this could be . . .
Eventually, after cursing the backwash of passing trucks for the next hour or so, civilization!
And salvation.
I’m not going to reveal how much this stupidity cost me, but don’t believe those eternal 30%-off promos that Lenscrafters always has on. They still charge an arm and a leg.
Never put your glasses on the pavement.
Never put your glasses on the pavement.
Never put your glasses on the pavement.
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