Taking a stand against taking a stand

We live in an age of being overly PC. It seems that we must always be extremely careful about how we express ourselves. If I say something that offends another person, then what I said is automatically wrong and probably bullying. In some cases, if you’re not labeled a bully, you’re just not respecting diversity.

Let me be clear on this, I know bullying exists and I know it can be very damaging and at times have deadly consequences. I stand firmly against this in any form. I do not support bullies in any way and I have no problem calling people out for what I perceive to be bullying. It’s just that on the flip side of that argument is what I see as the over application of the term to a degree that seems to moderate the free exchange of ideas and opinions. This moderation seems to slant in favor of the person(s) that are the most offended by a particular idea or opinion. Sometimes thoughts and ideas have to be suppressed for fear of being considered a bully. For this reason, it seems to me that the pendulum has swung so far to one side that the concept of anti-bullying has in and of itself, become bullying.

I see the exact same counterproductive measures being applied to the whole idea of diversity. I see the diversity movement as an attempt to divide people into different groups, point out all their differences and then ask us to ignore them while celebrating them. Yep, this concept thoroughly confuses me. I have seen some people carry this to such an extreme that they seem to seek out a gay person or a black person to be friends with so they can pull them out of their pocket and show them off to try and prove how diverse they are when the need arises. You know who I’m talking about, in a discussion they like to declare that they have LOTS of gay friends. In reality, they probably have 2 gay acquaintances on facebook and have only met them a couple of times. I think this kind of patronization is discrimination in its ugliest form.

So I’m taking a stand against the Anti-Bullying Movement with what I will call the Respect Movement. I don’t care what the color of your skin is, where you were born, who you vote for, who you pray to, who you spend your personal time with or anything else that makes you different from me. You have every right to be who are your first obligation is to yourself. Even if I disagree with you, I will fight to my dying breath for your right to be whoever you are. I believe this is what freedom really is. Freedom for anybody means freedom for all. However, I still reserve the right to disagree with you. You also reserve the right to disagree with me, I’m not new to that idea. But disagreeing must not cross the line into harassment.

I would also like to take a stand against the Diversity Movement with what I call the Unity Movement. I think all people can come together and learn to get along based on what we have in common. We all bring our own value to any group. We are all different and through those differences we seem to cover each other’s gaps and become a better and stronger whole. In order to accomplish this, we need to learn to first come together and stop dividing people into groups.

With that, I’m trading the idea of the Anti-bullying and Diversity campaigns for Respect and Unity campaigns. 

A Tree-mendous idea chap-tree 1

My wife and I were discussing some ideas for a getaway a couple of months ago. Of course, the ole' stand by came up, let's go spend some time at the coast. As much as I love the beautiful Oregon Coast, I was starting to feel like I was completely out of fresh ideas. I started to question...Have I really seen EVERYTHING this wonderful State has to offer??? So I made it my mission to find something we haven't done before. Something that was very different and lots of fun. After toying with several ideas, some that were out of our price range, we ended up booking a stay at Out 'N' About.

As much as I would love spend hours on end filling up space with boring text in order to lead to the big hook at the end, I will just jump past all that today and get right to the heart of the story.

Out 'N' About is Bed and Breakfast that is built in the trees. Yes, this is a place for adults and kids alike who want to stay the night in a tree house. 

This is what we saw as drove into the place

The place is set about 10 miles outside of Cave Junction in Southern Oregon. 

Swiss Family Robinson tree house

As you come into the place, you immediately know you came across something very different. The place is very relaxed and almost feels like a hippy commune. Please, don't let the hippy idea scare you off just yet. You just might find that you have an inner hippy that is needing to be set free, if only for a weekend.

The door to our room

I have to admit, we kinda cheated. We went to the tree houses and stayed in a room over the lodge. It was the only room in the complex with a king bed and it also had a bathroom and a shower. Some of the tree houses that were closer to the ground lacked certain facilities. There are communal (and clean) bathrooms close by. However, some people (me) enjoy having their own space. To their credit, all the communal bathrooms are single occupancy, so you don't have to take care of business while looking at somebody else's toes under the stall walls.

Out the door to our tree-zebo

Looking out of the door to our room. We had our little private tree-zebo. There are some chairs out there on the deck so you can relax. There is also a small loft over the deck, but probably only suitable for children or petite adults.

There are four rooms like this that are up higher and built around a single tree. 

If you look just past the basket ball hoop, you can see the Cabin. The Cabin is the only ground floor accommodations.

All four of the higher rooms are accessible only by a brave trek across two suspension bridges.   

one of the suspension bridges

The Majestree. This one has it's own deck below the room. Look closely at the left side of the deck. There are stairs that lead up to the neighboring tree and then to a spiral stair case that goes around the tree and into the cabin.

This one is 47 feet off the ground and you can feel it sway when you're in the cabin. Kinda freaky, kinda cool.

I took about 150 photo's and I want to share many more photo's and stories with you. Due to personal time limitations, I will probably do this in several installments. There is just WAY TOO MUCH to say all in one post. Keep your eye's peeled, more coming real soon!!!

-Red-

Or, since my anonymity has been blown.....

-John-

1600 miles behind us

My Dad and I have started our trip to Georgia to pick up a antique glider that was donated to WAAAM.

I did say that I would write every night and had the best of intentions to do so. My best excuse for the lack of updates is the unexpectedly long days.

The first night started on Friday as soon as I got off work. We pulled out of Gresham OR at about 4:30 in the evening and made it to La Grande. The La Grande Inn, our host for the night, needs to do a little mattress shopping. Turns out, beds as stiff as boards do not make for the most refreshing sleep.

The amazing red rock that we found all through Utah

We were on the road at about 6:30 the next (Saturday) morning. The well priced continental breakfast providing some minor nourishment and we put our faces toward the sun and Rock Springs Wyoming. Once in Rock Springs, we decided to taste something local and landed at some place called White Mountain Steak House. I got to tell you, those Wyoming cattle ranchers can raise some good beef. I enjoyed the best steak I've ever had in my life, bar none!

 Sunday morning greeted us with another continental breakfast and an early start toward the East. The first 100 miles of Wyoming was very scenic, the reminding 300 miles was quite boring.

After 400 miles through corn town Nebraska, we made it to Lincoln. In the morning, we head for Cadiz Kentucky.

While I'm out running about the country, I missed a memorial service for my aunt that passed away last weekend. I wrote something that my Mom read at her service. As a last tribute to my Aunt, I will post what I wrote.

For each and every one of us, we’ve all taken our first breath of life. With certain assurance, someday we will also take our last. These are separate events in our lives that create many emotions and very lasting impressions on those around us. It is at these two moments that many people will have the strongest memories of us.  

From the time we take that first breath, life becomes a nonstop learning process. We start out completely innocent and blameless. We are a work of art in which the brush has not yet touched the canvas. We have yet to be molded and developed. In those first few hours, our only job is to be cute. Although, some accomplish that task better than others.

As life progresses, we grow and learn. We develop personalities, traits, characteristics. By our late teens, we are usually set on path that we will follow for the rest of our lives.

When it’s all said and done, at that moment that we pass through that door, those around us will often reflect on the legacy that we left behind. This moment shall be no different.

As I consider what legacy my Aunt Sharon left for me, I always seem to come back to one thing; learning. In the almost 43 years that I’ve known my Aunt, I’ve watched her go through many learning experiences. I’ve witnessed times when her character and her strength were tested for integrity. Through it all, I’ve seen her learn and progress through life. She has taken from the past and applied it to the future and made that future better for her and the people around her. This is the inheritance that I shall so graciously accept from you, that I can always learn in life and I can always apply that to my future.

Aunt Sharon, I thank you so much for all the wonderful comments you left for me. The compliments that you left for Bekah on facebook lifted my soul and were such a blessing to me.  I will always cherish the wonderful things you had to say. As my way of saying thank you, I will learn to do a better job at passing on compliments to those around me.

Be at rest, dear Lady, you have finished well.

Need to relax a little, hope to write more soon.
-John-

Highs and Lows

The Highs.....

My Dad (Steve version) and I have been actively volunteering at a museum in Hood River Oregon. I have previously written about about WAAAM and what an amazing museum it is. My Dad and I have become more and more involved and have our collective hands in several pots now. We had a Ford Model A donated to the museum that was about 98% present yet completely disassembled. My Dad has taken on the project putting the car together and plans to have it on the road by our Cruise in October.

  

For the last 3 months on our 2nd Saturdays, I've been driving the 1916 Dodge Brother Roadster giving customers rides.

Recently, the museum received a rather generous gift of some areoplanes and gliders. The donor wanted his planes in the air so he also donated the funds to keep them maintained and fueled for the next 10 years. He also donated the funds to help us retrieve these artifacts from their remote locations. 

All 4 gliders are in a garage just north of Atlanta Georgia. Our Director, Judy Newman put out the word that they were looking for 4 teams of volunteers to drive to the Peach State to drag home our newest prizes. This was a lot like waving a face sized lollipop in front of a 5 year old and asking the silly question...who wants it? My Dad and I both went into the "Pick me, Pick me" stage. I immediately secured a week off from work and was waiting to get the green light.

 We were later told that there were several volunteers and since we were the new kids on the block that the other people would get first crack at the opportunity. Since my week off was closing in fast and we still haven't received final word, I was just about ready to cancel the vacation and give up on the idea. Then, fate would have it... We were at the volunteer potluck on Friday night and Judy approached us let us know that we were next in line and if we wanted the trip, it was ours to take. Needless to say, we were like 5 year old's that had just been handed a lollipop. My Dad was smiling ear to ear and I started belting out my best rendition of Midnight Train to Georgia. 

We are planning on leaving June 22nd as soon as I get home from work and will be back no later than July 1st, so I can be back at work on the 2nd. I will plan on blogging the whole trip.

The Lows....

Within 12 hours of receiving the news that we were headed to Georgia, I received a call from my Dad (Russ version) that my Mom's Sister, Sharon had passed away that morning. 

I didn't see My Aunt Sharon a lot but being friends on facebook we interacted often. She would often leave very sweet comments about My daughter and her singing/musical abilities. She often told my Mom how much she enjoyed getting to know me on facebook and what a wonderful nephew I was. I don't know, maybe she was a bad judge of character.

Rest in Peace Aunt Sharon. My daughter will keep singing, I'll keep telling the stupid jokes you laughed at and I'll continue to make the pumpkin butter that you so graciously complimented. 

Pass through the gates dear one, you have finished well.  

Renegotiating the lease

Quite often when people gain a new perspective on life you hear them use the phrase "I got a new lease on life". Myself, I'm not really looking for a new lease, but I'm trying to renegotiate the terms of the current one.

When I started this blog a little over a year ago, I was going through an economic shift in my life. I was recently laid off from a great job at the Federal Reserve Bank, I realized the dream of opening my own photography studio and quickly realized the nightmare of not being able to make it financially stable. I  was then preparing to start a new career as a long haul truck driver. After learning that my personality was not very accommodating to living in the cab of a truck, that career soon followed the rest of my doomed choices. By that time, I was starting to deal with a wide range of emotions. I was scared, worried, sad, angry and several other things all meshed into one unpleasant emotion that I'll just call Funk.

By the end of May of 2011, I was lucky to land a job at Wells Fargo through a staffing agency. As of this post, I'm still working at Wells Fargo as a temp. Being a temp adds to the stress level being as it is very quick and easy to let you go should they no longer want your services. having seen several of my temp co-workers use the exit for the last time, I just figured that my time to follow them was close at hand. As it stands now, it appears that I will be picked up by Wells Fargo and get to stay as a regular, full time employee. Although, I am still waiting for that to be set in stone.

During that time, I have completely depleted my life savings and I'm currently earning 70% of what I was making at the Fed. Yet through it all, we've never missed or even been late on a single financial obligation. In fact, we were even faced with replacing a car during this time and have found a way to make that work.

By now, I'm sure you're asking..."what does all this have to do with renegotiating the lease"? The answer is this; I've grown tired of all the stress and worry. I've come to the point in my life where I will accept that I cannot control everything and sometimes you have to go with the flow. I will still put great effort into trying to improve my career but I will also accept that I cannot have a guarantied outcome. For now, the ill fated career pursuit is no longer taking the top spot on my "To Do" list.

The terms that I will be demanding in my new lease, life just has to be fun!!! I realized that in the last year I have developed 8 unique recipes and I love experimenting in the kitchen.

Making blackberry rolls

I also love riding my motorcycle and road trips

My wife and I with my Step Mom in the back

Taking scenic photo's

Columbia River Gorge at Sunrise

There are also several other things that I could put on this list. But, you get the point, life needs to have more fun.

My new focus in a single sentence....Smile more and make others smile.

Peace and Cheers!!!
-Red-

The joy of relics

In recent months I have shied away from keeping my blog current. It seems I have resigned myself to the idea that a daily exposition of my memoirs would only serve as a benefit to those suffering from insomnia. With little refute to this accusation, I decided that I would need to do something about it. Yes, I am willing to take full responsibility for my boring life and accept that only I can remedy the problem. One such antidote and the one I will write about today; volunteering to help preserve history.

***Click here for Museum Website***

It all started when my Dad (Steve version. Yes, I have two) found a museum in Hood River, OR. This Museum, WAAAM (Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum) impressed him so much on his first visit that he immediately decided he needed to become a volunteer. He also felt it would be much more fun to share his new found joy with somebody he knew so he convinced me to volunteer with him. Myself, I was pretty much born a fan of anything that has a motor. From as far back as I can remember, if it has a motor and goes, I love it and want to ride or drive it. I love the smell of exhaust fumes in the morning. It's that smell, that gasoline smell. Smells like...victory! 

My Dad and I front of a Model T Depot Hack

This museum is known as a "living museum". All the artifacts are still operable and occasionally operated. On the second Saturday of every month they pull out some of the displays and fly & drive them. My first chance to volunteer came on the 2nd Saturday of February. One of my duties for the day was to help promote rides on the Model T Depot Hack. Due to the chilly weather, not too many rides were given. Most of the men returned with big smiles and most of the women returned shivering. In all, it was great to see the Model T in action.After Model T duty, we were put on dusting duty. We were actually asked to go behind the ropes and touch each and every exhibit. That's right, I know you're jealous.

1928 Boeing 40C

  This Boeing is the oldest Boeing that still flies. It was completely rebuilt from just a few salvageable parts taken from a wreck that sat in the wilderness for 75 years. 

There are about 200 exhibits in 2 large hangers

1932 Locomobile

This car sold in 1923 for about $10,000. At the same time a new Ford Model T was selling for about $300.

Along with cars and planes, the exhibits also cover some military equipment, motorcycles and even a display of old cameras. 

If you ever find yourself in the Columbia River Gorge area, I would highly recommend stopping in Hood River and visiting WAAAM. If you can schedule your visit for the 2nd Saturday of the month, all the better.

Hope to see you there!!!

-Red- 

What is the true meaning of Christmas????

It's that time of the year again. Just when you finally got all the lights down off the house and the decorations from last year put away, it's time to start dragging them out again. Now is the time that all the fun begins....planning parties, mailing cards, drawing names, checking each and every bulb on 250 strands of lights, baking fruit cake that never gets ate, fighting a sea of violent shoppers for the best bargin......the list goes on and on. For all the effort that goes into the whole season, it seems to end in an almost anticlimactic event. The kids wake up Christmas morning and are soon lost in their new toys, the big dinner usually takes less than 20 minutes to consume. Before long, hordes of guests are leaving you to the largest kitchen mess of the year (besides Thanksgiving) that will take close to a week to clean up. When it's all over, you sit back in your easy chair and stare blindly off into space and ask yourself why anybody would want to go through all the hassle. 

Every year at this time I hear lots of comments about Christmas, some hate it while others love it. Amongst those that hate the holiday, it's not that they're Grinch's or Scrooge's, it's just that the previous paragraph perfectly describes their hectic and stressful holiday schedule. I hear comments from people that Christmas is overly commercialized, extremely stressful, depressing. For those of you that fit into that category, I offer this to you, the true meaning of Christmas is....whatever you want it to be.

Remember this, nobody can force you to do anything on Christmas. Nobody can force you to load your credit cards, spend hours in the kitchen, risk your life climbing on the roof. There are few things in life that are certain, but I can assure that the harder you try to make things perfect, the more you will be certainly disappointed at the outcome. You cannot put peace, joy and happiness on a schedule and you cannot create fond memories by trying too hard.

This year, I would encourage you to try something different. Question all of your holiday traditions. Is a tradition something you do because it brings joy to everybody (including yourself) or is it something you do because it's always been done that way? Time to throw out some of your old traditions and take a fresh look at how you approach the holiday season.

First off, ask yourself the simple question; What is the true meaning of Christmas?

I won't try to answer that for you, that is up to you to decide. Once you decide what the meaning of Christmas is, take a look at everything you do for the holidays and ask yourself if it really supports that idea. Do you really need the Fine China for Christmas dinner or will it work with paper plates and Dixie cups? Do you really need to stress over small details or can the idea of Christmas be supported by simply going with the flow and letting the season play out without your careful choreography?

Take this year and make things different. Throw out at least one long held tradition. Allow the Christmas season to one of enjoying family and friends and stop trying to create a memory making environment. Once you decide to kick back and relax and stop trying to control everything, only then will you discover the true meaning of Christmas.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all!!!
-Red-

My hand in the hornets nest........

I am generally a fairly affable guy, not much to argue, would rather tell a joke. I'm neither democrat or republican, religious or non religious. I was never part of the debate team in school and I don't have a law degree. However, there comes a time in every persons life when they feel the need to present a different point of view to a situation. For me, that time has  come.

Anybody that has been anywhere near a TV or radio in the past few weeks has probably been overloaded with information about the Casey Anthony trial. Once the verdict was read, there was an emotional outcry across the nation. To say the least, people were livid with a capital L! A young mother took her own daughters life and the whole world just watched a corrupt justice system allow her to walk free.

My sentiments on the situation..... Well, lets just say this is where I stick my hand in the hornets nest!

I know that we live in a country that is not immune to corruption. In any situation where you have a group of people with a common agenda, you are going to have corruption. On the flip side of that, I also feel that a verdict handed down by 12 of your peers is the purest and safest form of justice that you could possibly have. 12 people, picked at random from a pool of candidates that encompasses your entire community. Yes, jurors can be dismissed and replaced, but this option is given to both the prosecution and the defense and it is not an unlimited power of veto. When those 12 people are presented with the evidence, arguments and testimony, they are tasked with the responsibility to make a decision from a neutral starting point. That starting point, they bear no affiliations with either the prosecution or the defense, nor do they bear any bias's.

There are many countries around the world that hand down justice from a single person that is appointed to do so. All too often, these people are tainted and swayed by either political or religious agenda's. the authority to convict and condemn trusted with one person or a board of provincial leaders will always lead to wrong convictions for the wrong reasons. Those people have careers to protect and a constituency to please. This is why having 12 people chosen at random from the community in which you live is the safest, purest and most unadulterated decision you could have. If you are ever in unfortunate position of having to sit in the defendants chair, you'll be most thankful that your fate does not rest in the hands of someone trying to win votes or defend their religious beliefs.

I support our jury system 100%. In doing so, I support the decision they make. whether I agree or not is irrelevant, I was not sitting on that jury and the decision did not rest in my hands. I will say that I am horrified that a young girl lost her life and I do wish we could hold somebody accountable for it. At the same time, I am also thankful that I did not have to sit on the jury.

I would like to encourage people to set down your gavel and slowly back away from it. It's all too easy to become enraged and jump on the bandwagon with all the other enraged people. When people get enraged they feel like they're crying out for change and making a difference. There is a different bandwagon rolling by and it's population is pretty sparse, this is the bandwagon of compassion, grace & mercy. The ride is much smoother if you give up your gavel before hoping on board.

Gavel free and loving it!!!
-Red-

From little girl to young lady

There are few things in this life that will grip a person's heart like the birth of their child. To have the privilege of witnessing the miracle of life being welcomed into this world and knowing you're responsible for helping create this life, just amazing. Almost 12 years after that life changing event, I still drift back to that moment and remember the first time I met my daughter face to face. This powerful moment from the past still has the ability to command my emotions in a way that most men would deny possible.

And then....as life progresses...
Those of you that have kids all know that not every moment of their precious lives will evoke sweet emotions. There are times when being a parent made me very sad, angry, scared, apologetic, hurt, defensive...the list goes on. My daughter has somehow honed the fine art of bringing out the best and worst in me. Further, people that interact with my daughter will also cause these extreme peaks, depending on how they treat her. But, for every emotion that I feel from being a father, there is one that stands out above all other - LOVE!

I've always said that this photo makes me feel like a father

Bekah holdin her own

On Wednesday of this week Bekah attended her last day of Elementary School. It's hard to realize that time has gone by this quick and my little baby is now a Jr High Schooler. Long gone are the days when I would toss her up in the air and catch her while she's yelling "FLY DADDY FLY". The little girl that I once held in my arms has already started the natural gravitation towards friends. I'm alright with her growing up, it's my job as a parent to facilitate that. But, I can't help but think that those moments that you treasure go by just a little quicker than expected.

You mess with my girl, this is the least of your worries!

Bekah with her teacher on last day of Elementary School

A video that I made several years ago, it ends with her first day of Preschool

So, if you all were wondering what I might request for Fathers Day. The answer is simple; I already got it!

-Red-

Tales from the archives

In an effort to entertain, I decided to post an old story that I wrote back in the 90's. Yes, the whole thing is 100% true.

This story is completely true; I’m not even going to change the names to protect the innocent.

Back in the year of 1997 on the opening day of trout season some friends and I were headed up to the Cascade Lakes to try our hand at relieving the over population of farm fresh fish that had been recently been planted in many strategic locations through out the region. To assist us in our efforts I had secured the use of my Dad’s boat. The boat had not been on the water in over two years and Dad was just happy to see that it was getting some use.

As we neared our destination we decided to stop and eyeball some of the smaller lakes. It was then suggested by Eric, Greg and Eddie that maybe would should forgo launching the boat and just try to do some shore fishing. To this suggestion I offered a great protest. I had just hauled a boat over a 100 miles and come hell or high water (preferably high water) I’m going to get this machine afloat.

We soon arrived at or intended location and were quite surprised to find that every other boat owner the great State of Oregon was also there. We got the boat in the water and I had to drive the truck about a half mile up a skinny one lane dirt road to find a place to park. While driving up this road I got to thinkin’ “ I wonder if I’ll ever find a place to turn around or will I have to back up all the way to the boat ramp”? Well, no need to worry about matters that currently hold such little relevancy, right now I have fish to catch.

Back at the boat, I got it fired up and tooled out just a few hundred feet from our point of entry. We threw out the anchor and threw out our lines and assumed we were just minutes away from landing the big one.

A few short moments after we started fishing I noticed that the live bait well was starting to float up out of the bottom of the boat. I found this a little odd since I had never seen the bait well behave in such a manner before so I decided to investigate. I pulled open the lid and lifted the plastic tub out which revealed about 3 inches of water underneath. I figured now would be a good time to further my investigation so I calmly walked to the back of the boat and lifted the cover off the inboard engine. It was at this point that a little panic had set in. To offer a little lesson in boat construction, when you have an inboard motor you also have a large hole in the back of the boat to connect the motor to the outdrive. In between the outdrive and boat is a large rubber seal. This is the main element that protects you from an unintended swim and in our case that element had failed.

In an effort to protect my friends from great alarm I calmly told them to real in their lines because we have a small leak. I could see that they were completely unresponsive to my concerns about their personal safety so the second time I yelled “pull in your lines, WE ARE SINKING”.

I then fired up the boat and started heading toward the shore. With 305 cubic inches of Chevy small block working hard at the back of the boat I figured we could be at the boat ramp in less than half a minute. However, the boat was barley moving. I took a guess at what was impeding our travels and I had to assume that it was because the boat weighted too much from taking on so much water. As my mind started to race with the ways I could explain this to my Dad I slammed the throttle to full and hoped for the best. We were still unable to break 5 mph but luckily the boat ramp was not far away. As we arrived at the ramp one of my mates made the discovery that we had dragged the anchor the whole way. Hmm, good thing we didn’t hit any serious snags. But no time to reflect on that error right now, I need to go get the truck and the faster the better at this point.

I took off running up the road huffing and puffing hoping that the heart attack I was about to have could wait until the boat was safely on land. I then got to thinkin’ “ I wonder if I’ll ever find a place to turn around or will I have to back up all the way to the boat ramp”?  I did not have the benefit of time right now so in haste I made the decision to drive up the road and find a place to turn around. Luck was on my side a few times that day and this was one of those times. I got the truck turned around and made my way back to the ramp. As we tried to winch the boat up on the trailer it soon became apparent that the boat was much heavier now and we were not going to get it onto the trailer without an alternative plan. It was at this time that somebody suggested that I back the trailer much deeper into the water. I knew this was a bad idea because the ramp was soft gravel and the truck was only 2 wheel drive. Lacking any better options I decided to give it a try and well you guessed it, we got the boat on the trailer and then proceeded to get the truck stuck on the ramp There happened to be a guy at the ramp that had a winch on his truck and he was able to help me get the truck out but because of the lack of space he was only able to pull me up about five feet. With the boat still positioned directly behind the hole that I dug with truck it was suggested to me that I need to come up out of there pretty quick or the boat will get suck in the same hole. I agreed with the analysis of the situation and headed up the ramp like I was being shot out of a cannon. When the tire on the boat trailer hit the hole I felt and heard a jerk and at that point I felt we had surely traumatized some piece of already abused equipment. After stopping several feet away from the drink, I got out to do a damage assessment. It was at that time that I noticed that the axel on the trailer had slid back about three inches on the right side.

Lacking tools we had no way to fix the trailer so we decided on the next best course of action. I’ll haul the boat to my parent’s cabin since we are only 40 miles away. All the way there the boat was riding on the shoulder while I drove the truck down the center of the highway.

After we got rid of the boat we went back to one of the smaller lakes that we had looked at earlier. We all caught our limit fishing from the shore.

Goonies never say die

My new job will start on Tuesday right after Memorial Day weekend. I remain very hopeful that this job will signal the end of my bouncing around trying to find myself. I can't honestly say I'm not any closer to finding myself now than I was a year ago. What I do know, I need a job. I can always look for myself when I have a regular paycheck and can afford the search. In the last weekend before going back to work, it seemed only prudent to spend the last two dimes I was rubbing together on a little fun. So, in the spirit of frivolous spending, we packed up the steel steed and headed out to Astoria for the day on Saturday.

We enjoyed this day with my Dad and his Wife and my step sister. For those of you that read my parent's blog,  http://therapytravels.blogspot.com/ and are now trying to figure out my lineage, just sing to yourself the theme song from the Brady Bunch and will have the jest of the story. That said, the Dad portrayed in this post is not the same Dad you met in the Therapytravel blog. At any rate, we were also briefly joined on this adventure by my Sister, her Husband and my Niece.

For those of you that are not familiar with Pacific Northwest geography, Astoria is located far up in the Northwest point of Oregon where the Columbia river spills into the Pacific Ocean. It is area that is rich in history and wonderful sights. If you ever get the chance, it is a must visit destination where you can learn many things about Lewis and Clark, river transportation and military history. As for us, our fascination with the region always seems to lean a little more towards more recent movie history.

Kari re-enacting the jail break

 Back in 1984, Goonies was filmed in Astoria. in the 26 years since it was released, it has gained a cult following that keeps a steady stream of "Goonies" making a pilgrimage to all the filming locations in and around the city. The jail in the film was recently converted to a film museum that pays homage to the many films that used Oregon as a backdrop to their stories. We had to revisit some of our favorite sites and also make vain attempts at re-enacting some of the most memorable scenes.

We also had the pleasure of stumbling across a new restaurant, Cecil's Trolley Stop Grill that was on it's second day of being open. They were doing a soft opening and not yet doing any advertising. As you can imagine, We had most of the place and the staff to ourselves. They treated us like old friends and we were even paid a visit from the chef. Food was great at an affordable price with a view of the Columbia River that was just amazing. I look forward to visiting Cecil's again the next time I'm in town.

Bekah in front of the Goonie House. She refused to do the Truffle Shuffle!

The view from Cecil's Trolley Stop Grill

After visiting several other sights in Astoria, including a terrifying 144 step climb to the top of the Astoria Column, we decided to head south to Tillamook to visit the birth place of our favorite cheese. Yes, I'll admit, we are a strange crew. In an area that is so overly abundant with history and scenery, we seemed obsessed with our movies and our cheese.

Headin into the Cheese Factory

As luck would have it, Joni's Mom and Aunt were in Tillamook for the day from Eugene. We hooked up with them at the cheese factory and Joni got to spend some time visiting. We also loaded up on all our favorite cheeses and some ice cream.

Joni with her Mom and Aunt

Since my Dad, his Wife and my step Sister are all recent transplants from Southern California, we are hoping that we have many chances this summer to visit new places to show our recently inducted Oregonians all the beauty this place has to offer. In my opinion, you could spend a lifetime exploring the great Northwest and never take in all it has to offer. I am excited about starting my new job on Tuesday and hopefully having a little more money to spend on enjoying site seeing.

More soon
-Red-

Enjoying the ride

Last June when I was laid off from the Federal Reserve Bank, I had accepted the idea that my days of working in any bank were most likely over. Most of the experience that I had in banks all revolved around checks. With the onset of online bill pay and debit cards, checks have taken on the same status as typewriters and home phones. Just as kids these days would quizzically look at an IBM Selectric or wonder what that funny looking dial is on top of the old phone on great-grandma's desk, I figured that my career was also doomed to the archives of the way things used to be. No matter, I was OK with this, it was time for a change and now I had the power to choose the direction of my future. It was all in my hands and now I was going to have the chance to live life on my terms......yeah, right!

I started this blog with a quote from a favorite singer/song writer of mine. John Lennon in a song he wrote to his son said "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans". I don't think I could find a better quote to describe the past year of my life. The twists and turns, ups and downs that I've experienced in this past year would have most frequent flyers grabbing the little white bag conveniently provided in the seat pocket in front of them. Through it all, stayed on the ride mostly because I was curious about what may be around the next corner. Unpredictability in life isn't always fun but it certainly is entertaining. It's hard to lose interest when you're always saying "gosh, I wonder what will happen tomorrow".

So, I briefly owned a photo studio, went to truck driving school, briefly drove trucks, submitted hundreds of resumes to every company in town, crawled into pizza ovens, sent out a couple hundred more resumes, went fishing, rode my motorcycle, spent  time creating culinary masterpieces, decided to pursue being an electrician, studied math...you get the picture. I also spent a lot of time in between each step being stressed out and worried about how I will pay the mortgage next month. All this time I never  did settle into a comfort zone that I felt would provide the stability that I was seeking. In fact, I'm not entirely sure I knew what I was seeking. I thought I wanted change but I had no idea about the trials that path would lead me down.

On Wednesday of last week I posted a comment on facebook about applying for a job with Staples. Underneath that, a former co-worker of mine told me to contact her for info about a staffing company that got her and several other former co-workers jobs at Wells Fargo. On Thursday I made a call to the staffing company and was set up for an interview on Friday. By the end of the 10 minute interview, the gal was offering me a job. She told me that she just fired somebody and needed to fill a position ASAP! As of right now, I have started the process for the background check. As soon as the background check reveals that I don't even know what handcuffs look like, I will be heading off to work for Wells Fargo. Which I must say, this is also in the best interest of Wells Fargo since they are the ones that hold my mortgage. All this seem like I'm going right back to where I started from, heading right back to the pit that I was so desperate to escape from a year ago. Well, I'm OK with that, it's a familiar pit and hopefully a stable one.

What happens next....not sure I should make any plans. I'm just along for ride and will allow life to happen.

Enjoy the ride!
Red

Out of the frying pan and into the boiler

It's been almost a month since my last blog update, not that I have forgotten that my life bears slight interest to my adoring fans, I just felt there was nothing of any real interest happening in my life. I am happy to report that there have been some new developments that add great fodder to a blog writers repertoire.

As of the writing my last entry, I was attempting to teach myself algebra so I could qualify for an electrician apprenticeship. I made some great progress on the things I was able to learn but as things started to get more complicated, I came to some road blocks that I was not able to overcome. Since then, I have signed up with an online course offered through the National Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee. Completion of this course will satisfy all math requirements for the apprenticeship program. I am currently working through that course and still hope to one day become a "sparky".

Not all ingredients shown, that is top secret

Meanwhile, I also started applying for as many jobs as I could locate and also spent some spare time experimenting with some new recipes. As much as I love to cook, I have never in my life attempted a potato salad. After looking at several recipes, I was able to develop my own ideas of what I wanted my salad to taste like and what I was going to put in it. I am happy to report that the potato salad was a major success and tasted the way I hoped it would. I also made an attempt at a broccoli salad and a pasta salad. Again, the results were favorable and will be rolling out of my kitchen for years to come.

The pasta creation, very tasty!!

In the midst of all my cooking, studying, job hunting I was able to hook up with an old friend, Matt on facebook that I hadn't seen in about 13 years. We met for breakfast one day and after talking a little about my situation, he started telling me about one of his part time jobs with a friend of his. He climbs into boilers in mills and power plants to do inspections. He logs data about things that he finds so that the boilermakers know where to go to make repairs. Most of these mills and power plants shut down for a few weeks a year to do maintenance and they always shut down on the spring and fall. Matt told me that he would pass on my name to his friend and see if he needed any help. Well, I ended up getting a call from Brian on the afternoon of Sunday, May 1st telling me he needed me in Chehalis WA (about 90 miles north of me) at 7am the next morning. I told him that I would be happy to show. I quickly washed some clothes, packed my bags and headed out for Chehalis that night, not at all sure what I was getting myself in to.

I was faced with an opportunity but I hadn't the slightest idea what I would be doing. I set out with a small crew at the power plant and we went up to the 10th floor of the boiler. As we approached the boiler I noticed these small doors that were about 2' X 2' that looked like something you would stick a pizza in, not a person. Starting to feel a little anxious, I asked if I would be going through one of those doors. I was told that some of the ingresses are smaller than that. It suddenly brings to mind all the time I might have complained about working in a boring, air conditioned office thinking that I needed to do some outside work. Turns out, those complaints were born from lack of other knowledge. I was now in line to receive a quick lesson about why you should not complain about your job. After climbing in and out of pizza ovens for several days, I found that I was able to overcome or at least learn to deal with my fears of claustrophobia. Maybe, it was just more overcome with the greater fear of homelessness or worse yet, not being able to afford internet connection!!!!

Me in front of one of the pizza ovens. Yes, I do fit in there.

After learning a little more about the job, I found that this could be a good deal for some people. Because of the limited shut down season, the work weeks are usually 60 plus hours. The upside to that, you make great money in a short amount of time. Most of the guys I worked with only do this 6 or 7 months a year. The rest of the year, they don't have other jobs. Are you kidding me???? 6 months of vacation time every year???? All the sudden, cramming myself into pizza ovens doesn't seem all that bad. I'm still not 100% convinced that this will be a long term choice for me. For now, it is decent money and helping me preserve my indoor living conditions just a little longer. Should I choose to stick with this, I will be spending long stretches away from home but I will also get even longer stretches at home.

Life is all about learning. Myself, I'm learning a lot about what I can or cannot do, what I can overcome and what I am willing to do. No matter what happens, these are valuable lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
-Red-

Education Week

As of my last update, I had decided to self teach myself algebra. My goal; attempt to test at a level of math skills that would allow me to qualify for an apprenticeship without the need for taking any college courses. I'm happy to report that my self educational experiment has been going quite well and I have covered over 300 pages of reading material in the last week. I have been learning all kinds of new things about math and have discovered many practical skills that I know I will apply in real world situations many times in the future.

I'm not one to spend time lamenting the past, I'm more concerned about what I can do today and then tomorrow. Every day is a new start and yesterday is set in stone, tomorrow isn't. However, I do look to my past as valuable life experience that I hope will be useful to help me through my tomorrow's. One of those lessons, never give up on learning new things. I wish I had taken this lesson more seriously in my high schools days but, now is as good time as any start.



With a week of brain exercise weighing on my sanity, we decided to take the day on Saturday and check out the Antique Powerland Museum in Brooks Oregon. The group of 8 included Me and my Wife, my Daughter and 3 of her friends, my Dad and his Wife.

Laurie at the entrance

I found the Museum to fascinating and much bigger than I expected. The whole thing sits on over 60 acres and houses several individual museums. Not all museums were open, but we were still able to spend about 4 hours there and took in a smorgasbord of cool oldies that were neat to see. I know, that sounds a lot like a trip to Dad and Mom's house and I won't deny the similarities. But, seeing as my parents don't have 60 acres, this served as a good supplement to looking through their garage.

Karli, Heather, Bekah,Jasmine

Being a photographer, I am amazed with shapes, angles, texture, rust, dirt and many of the other visual candy that I came across at the museum. I only took my point and shoot camera but really wished I would have taken my DSLR. I could probably spend several hours in the place just taking pictures of "stuff". For people that like old things or for people that like to take pictures of interesting things, this is a gem of a playground for both.

Me, checking out my camera

One of the more fascinating things that we got to see was an actual working sawmill. They use the mill to make many things that are used around the museum grounds. Most of the guys that ran mill looked as though they may have been using some of that equipment when it was brand new. It was all powered by an old steam boiler (yes, just like your parents old heat system) and really felt like a step back in time as you watched all the old millers turn trees into 2X4's.

My Dad and Wife waiting for the mill to fire up

Click on the link below to watch the mill in action

video of old mill in operation

After several hours of browsing, I gained a somewhat clear picture that this place was much more fascinating to me than it was to a group of 11 year old girls. We decided to head back to the homestead and topped off the day with some grilled burgers.

Must get back to studying, I plan on taking the placement test on the 18th of this month.
-Red-

A shocking turn of events

I did it, I finally made it back to Oregon and handed over the keys to my truck with a smile on my face. I'm not prone to quitting a job on a whim, especially in light of the fact that I have a mortgage and other bills associated staying plump and warm. However, there were some things about life on the road that I was just not prepared to handle. I was so excited when I was assigned a trainer that was a local driver but I think I really missed an important factor of training, learning all about road life. First off, I must say that I have gained a whole new perspective on long haul trucking and a whole new respect for those that do it for most of their life. However, they also deal with a very unique lifestyle that is just not very easy for most people to adjust to. Living truck stop to truck stop with the only space that you can call your own amounts to about 60 square feet. If you need a shower, you pay for it. You need a restroom, use the public one. You want a meal, it's whatever you can scrounge up at the truck stop or store in the mini fridge in your truck. I've also heard other truckers tell me that they love the freedom of the open road and couldn't possibly sit in an office all day. I sat in that truck for longer hours than I ever sat in my cubicle in any office and also had more contact with my boss while in that truck than I've had at most any other job I've had.

However, all that said, I'm glad I gave it a shot and I have an experience that I can talk about for the rest of my life. I'm not bitter about the way things worked, just a little nervous about what to do next.

The shadow of my former and short lived career!

So, what to do next....?
Well, I got yet another idea. Since I lost my job in June of last year, I made it 3 months as a professional photographer and 12 days as a long haul trucker. So, what's one more bad idea to throw into the mix? So, here goes plan "C", an Electrician apprenticeship. I have a friend that is about my age that has been out of work for quite some time and just got into this program. He loves it and is very excited about the new opportunity. He also has a class B CDL and tells me that the company now uses him to drive their trucks around since many of the employees do not have a CDL. Since, I have a class A, maybe that will help my chances.

My tutor

This plan does have one small obstacle that I must overcome, my math skills. I need to have some knowledge of algebra, of which I currently posses none. Since the Spring term just started at the college and I don't want to wait 2 months for the next term, that is out of the question. So, I decided to go with a more unconventional route, I will teach myself. I went to Borders Books and invested in the material that I thought would bring my knowledge up to an acceptable level. I may be slightly crazy and maybe even delusional, but I'm figuring I will teach myself algebra in 2 weeks. After that, I will attempt to pass a placement test that puts me at the level necessary to to qualify without needing to take a college course in math. If I'm able to pull this off, you won't be the only one that's surprised.

If anybody out there is a qualified math tutor, I would love to hear from you.
-Red-

heading north to Oregon (Home)

I last left you on Wednesday morning as I was waiting for word on my truck at the shop. I know it's only been 2 days but I could probably write volumes about what transpired in that time frame. Since I'm not a doctor and not qualified to cure your insomnia, I'll try to condense the last two days to something shorter than a celebrity marriage.

I was able to pick up my truck from the service center on Wednesday and immediately received a dispatch to pick up a trailer in the Phoenix drop yard and take it to customer in the heart of the metro LA area. Now, bearing in mind that I already quit my job, I really wanted to tell my DM (driver manager) that there were only two things I didn't want to do; 1, drive in LA / 2, drive at night. I just want to get home and they are wanting their truck back, lets get both there in one piece is my thinking. Keeping in mind that LA is kinda on the way home and the delivery was at 1:00pm, I figured I could avoid some rush hour traffic and wanted to get moving in the homeward direction. So, I sent back a message confirming the dispatch.

After making a wrong turn and finally locating the drop yard, I found my trailer and was Westward bound by about 2 on Wednesday afternoon. I was wanting to make it as far west as possible so I could start later the next day and hopefully miss rush hour traffic in the LA area.

While on the way to Cali, I received another dispatch to pick a loaded trailer in Van Nuys at 7pm on Thursday and deliver in Modesto at 9am on Friday. I called my dispatcher and told her that first of all, I wasn't driving all night. For me, not safe. She told me that it was a 6 hour trip and I could drive half on Thursday and sleep most of the night and drive the other half Friday morning. Then she went on to tell me, and I quote "hun, in trucking we don't get to pick our hours." I wanted to say; Carol, are you aware that I already quit, you do want your truck back, don't you?" We also went some rounds about available hours, she said I had plenty, I said I didn't. I caved and agreed to the load because I wanted to head north but assured her, when my hours run out, I'm stopping, no questions asked.

As I got further east, I started to recall some of the stories that I heard about the Banning Scales. Apparently, they are notoriously tough and I was headed right for them. Having a prepass in my window, you can weigh in motion on the freeway and if you receive a green light, you just keep going. As luck would have it, my sensor gave me a red light. I'm already sweating bullets and hope that I just roll through and keep going. once you pass the scales, if you get a green light, you head for the freeway, if you get an arrow pointing to the right, well, that ain't as good. Again, as luck would have it, I got an arrow. After 17 minutes of sweating bullets, I was told that my truck checked out. In my opinion, I should have gotten a free t-shirt for that experience.

I made it to Ontario and stopped at a huge TA truck stop there. As truck stops go, the place was awesome! A little of everything there. In the interest of saving time on allowable drive hours, I started as late as I could and headed out to make my delivery. While on my way, I received a message from dispatch telling me that my next pickup was already loaded and I could pick up early if I wanted to. I arrived at my delivery right at 1pm and was hoping if all went well, I could hot foot it to Van Nuys before rush hour. Well, God does have a since of humor! As I was backing into the dock I heard a rather loud KABOOM!!! I immediatly ruled out a terrorist attack but knew something went horribly wrong. After inspecting the truck, I found that one of the suspension air bags had exploded. I sent a breakdown message and called my DM to tell her that I wouldn't be able to make that Van Nuys/Modesto trip. I was able to get my truck back to the loading dock and breakdown sent out some mobile mechanics to replace the air bag. The mechanics did get the air bag replaced but it was now almost 4pm, the rush hour that I hoped to avoid was now in full swing. Since I never heard back from my DM, I decided to go after my next load.

25 miles took me an hour and a half but I finally made it to Van Nuys. My personal inexperience and lack of knowledge made the process of picking up a preloaded trailer an ordeal worth an hour and a half.

noticing that I now only have 4 hours of available drive time, I decided to make it over the Grapevine and stop on the other side. Keeping in mind that you can only 70 hours of on duty time in 8 days, I thought I would wake up the next morning and would have another 4 hours since the 4 hours that I was on duty 8 days ago would drop off. Turns out, I figured wrong. The 8 day rule doesn't count the current day as I thought, it was the previous 8 days. The day that dropped off was the day before I started my trip, zero hours on duty that day, zero hours dropped off this morning. Again, I called my DM and told her that I only had an hour of drive left and wasn't going to make Modesto. She got to looking at my logs on her end and asked; What's this 3 hours you spent in the parking lot at your delivery yesterday? I told her I was waiting for my truck to get fixed. She then asked; why didn't you log that as off duty? I told her; Well, I was waiting in a parking lot, that certainly wasn't MY time! She told me that it was my time and she was going to change that to off duty. After nit-picking about a couple of entries, she was able to gain me 4 1/2 hours and told me to get my butt headed north. I questioned the legality of this but I didn't care since I wanted to get home and out of the truck, ASAP.

I made it to my delivery with 39 minutes of available drive time left. Having learned my lesson, I logged off and sat in the parking lot for 2 hours while off duty. Somehow, the trailer even backed itself into the dock while I was off duty. Just before I hit the gate, I changed the log to on duty and headed out to find a truck stop, a very close one. I pulled into the parking lot of a Flying J with 1 minute to spare. Now that's cuttin' just a little to close for me.

About the time I got to the Flying J, I received a dispatch to pick up a trailer in Woodland tomorrow (Saturday) and drop it in the Brooks yard (home base). I will only have 4 hours of drive time tomorrow so I should have just enough time to make Woodland and maybe get a little north on I5. Come Sunday, I will gain over 10 hours, should be plenty enough to get me home.

As of now, I should be home on Sunday evening. I can't wait!!!!
-Red-