Meandering on the Way — May 22 to June 8, 2023

Monday, May 22

Warm dry weather these days. The ground has dried out and we’ve had to start watering some things. Our new lilac is in the ground and we have high hopes, as one always does at first. To make room for it, M removed a very large cut-leaf blackberry (Rubus lacianatos) that came with us from our previous house by stowing away in one of E’s outdoor pots. It was just a six inch sprig when it got here and M found it kind of cute, so he planted it. It grew into a monster, with super abundant berries and lots of thorns. Sadly, the berries were hugely seedy and did not make good pie. The Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) is also common here. Both were originally brought here by early European-American settlers. The first wave of settlers brought the cut-leaf blackberry and later on came the Himalayan, which was considered to be a great improvement. By now, of course, breeders have created varieties that are superior to either. The old species linger on, though, because they’re tough and they like it here. We fear that we will have annoying seedlings in our yard pretty much forever.

Tuesday, May 23

Wednesday, May 24

We made a trip up to the big city today–Portlandia. We got there around 2:00 and went first to the Oregon Historical Society Museum. Here we got to see a pair of Fort Rock Sandals. The sandals are about 9,000 years old and were made from sage brush bark. Dozens of such sandals were found inside a cave in 1938 by Luther Cressman, a University of Oregon anthropologist.

We also saw a traveling exhibition about comedian Bob Hope that focused on his work with the USO in the Second World War. There was a short film and a host of photos and artifacts, including a suitcase that Hope used during the war. Hope performed about 150 USO shows during the war, working in both the European and Pacific theaters. Among the documents was a letter from a 19-year-old soldier in the Pacific whose unit was stationed on a remote island in the Pacific while in training for a secret mission. He wrote to his mother about much he hated it there and how much seeing Hope’s show had meant to him. A short time later the soldiers embarked on their mission, in the course of which 45% of the unit died, including the letter writer. On display is a letter written by the soldier’s mother thanking Hope for giving the boy a few hours of happiness before his life came to an end.

Before dinner we checked into the Heathman Hotel. Since May 25th is our anniversary we went next to a celebratory dinner. A&A had told us about a restaurant called Elements in Vancouver (WA). They said it was wonderful, as indeed it was. We ordered a crab and artichoke ‘fondue’ as an appetizer. It was delicious but awfully heavy. Will we ever learn not to do that? E followed that with a dish called watermelon steak, which was made from pickled watermelon served with farro, corn, shimeji mushrooms, tamarind barbecue sauce, and micro greens. It looked like this. E loved it.

Thursday, May 25

After a nice Heathman breakfast, we checked out and headed south toward Corvallis. But we didn’t go straight home…oh no. Because just south of Portland there is a shopping center and in that shopping center is E’s favorite shoe store. We stopped and E went in to see if she could find anything. She could.

Friday, May 26

Lots of yard work, errands and appointments today followed by another great meal, this time with J and R at Sybaris in Albany.

Monday, May 29

Our minds are on our respective travel plans. E is going to Buffalo to help celebrate her grand nephew’s high school graduation. She has already started to pack. M is going camping somewhere in the ‘three corners’ area, where the borders of Idaho, Nevada and Oregon meet at a nearly inaccessible spot in the Owyhee Desert. He’s still working on planning his route. Both of us are leaving on Thursday.

Tuesday, May 30

Needing exercise, we decided to take a longer walk than usual. We went to the OSU Forest and hiked the old Section 36 Loop. It was a good day to hike, cloudy and a little cool. There were still flowers to be seen…and also a lovely giant moth motionless on the ground in the middle of the trail.

Thursday, June 1

Finally it was travel day. M loaded up the truck with his camping stuff, but left enough space for E’s luggage as well. We left Corvallis at 7:30, heading for the Portland Airport. By 9:30 we were at the departure area saying our goodbyes. M then pointed himself toward Ontario, Oregon, about 375 miles away. Before she could get started, E had an appointment to meet A in the departures hall. This was so that she could take charge of a certain special item that needed to be delivered to someone in the east. Once that was done, she found her way to the plane that would start her trip to Buffalo, New York.

Friday, June 2

E attended grandnephew Henry’s graduation ceremony and the ensueing party. Congratulations Henry! Almost 100 years ago his great uncle, also named Henry Chambers, graduated from his high school in Cohoes, NY. In honor of the two Henrys, E had brought along a few old pictures of the first Henry and a copy of the program from that long ago graduation ceremony.

Back in Oregon, M left Ontario heading south, looking for the road to Succor Creek Recreation Area. But at Nyssa, Oregon he missed a turn–as he realized later–and soon found himself in Idaho amidst vast fields of sugar beets and onions. Once he realized this, he plotted a zigzag course over to where he thought he needed to be. During one of these zigs, he came upon a very large, concrete lined holding pond surrounded by chain link fence. A sign on the fence said “Dixie Drain Phosphorous Recovery Project.” With a name like that, you just know we’re going to have look it up and figure out what it was.

So the Dixie Drain is a canal. It was made over a hundred years ago to collect water run-off from a large area of farmland south of Boise, Idaho. The canal collects excess irrigation water and storm run-off. The canal eventually dumps the excess water back into the Boise River. The problem is that the run-off contains large amounts of sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants. The chief problem is phosphorous, which boosts algae production and leads to super blooms and damaged river ecosystems. Perhaps our farmers should consider reducing the amount of chemical fertilizer used on our fields. Ha-ha, just kidding. So how about a project to remove phosphorous from run-off just before it feeds into a river? That’s the idea here. When running at full capacity, the Dixie Drain facility can treat up to 130 million gallons of run-off per day, removing more than 140 pounds of phosphorus in the process. You never know what you’re going to find if you make a wrong turn…

But of course a wrong turn also needs to be righted. Five or ten miles from the Drain, M crossed back into Oregon found the turnoff for Succor Creek. Naturally, it was a gravel road and it seemed to lead off into an entirely different sort of landscape. Not much food growing out there, but not much extra phosphorous lying around either.

A few hours later he had found Succor Creek Canyon and picked out a camping spot.

Night of Friday/Saturday, June 2/3

Saturday, June 3

About the time that M was waking up on Succor Creek, E was seeing the sights of Niagara Falls, where her nephews took her for a visit. She hadn’t been to the Falls for a while, not since she and M visited some twenty years ago. She reports that the American side of the falls, which used to be rundown and depressing, has been transformed and is now quite lovely. And you can still take a cruise on the Maid of the Mist and they still give you a free raincoat to keep you dry. The difference is that the Maid is now an electrically powered vessel piloted by a female captain.

Later in the day E was treated to a ride with the graduate in his immaculate 1983 Cadillac, a gas guzzling but powerful and smooth running ride.

A couple thousand miles to the west, M made a breakfast of bacon and pancakes and then immediately packed up for departure. He had big plans for the day’s driving adventure. But he also needed exercise, so right before leaving, he hiked up a nearby slope to take in the view.

M’s plan for the day was to travel from travel south for a bit and then head east and cross the Owyhee Mountains into Idaho. These mountain roads were primitive and–as the map notation put it–they were “not maintained in winter.” But winter was quite a ways back, technically at least, so the plan had a certain plausibility. Once on the other side of the mountains he could expect to find ranching and farming country with actual paved roads that would take him to Mountain Home, Idaho, where he planned to spend the night in a motel.

The first step was to follow Succor Creek Road as it climbed up the west slope of the canyon to reach the open country above. Once up out of the canyon, things looked very different.

M continued south for some miles and eventually the sagebrush gave way (at least partially) to pastureland. The ranches were few and far between, but there were enough folks around to have an active school.

M was still headed south when he passed the school, but half an hour later he had turned east onto Cow Creek Road heading toward the mountains. In the first ten miles he passed through three ranches and had to ford Cow Creek two different times. Fortunately the people who made the ford knew what they were doing and there was a firm layer of relatively smooth gravel on the bottom. Also the water wasn’t (quite) as deep as it first seemed.

Past the three ranches the road led higher into the mountains. In that area M passed some evidence of old mining activity…

Later on he passed through the town on Silver City, which is even higher up in the Owyhees. It was a very lively place on this first Saturday in June, but a little weird and M did not linger. (For more details and photos about M’s crossing of the Owyhees, please see our upcoming post “Finding Jarbidge.”)

Sunday, June 4

For E, today’s adventure was to take the train from Buffalo, NY to Amsterdam, NY, a scenic and pleasant trip of about five hours.

Here’s a photo of a train station somewhere in New York. Can we guess what town?

M’s daily adventure was to spend four hours driving from Mountain Home, Idaho to Jarbidge, Nevada, where he had planned to camp, but then getting rained out. Details in “Finding Jarbidge”

Monday, June 5

E spent the day in Glen’s Falls, NY. She is staying at her usual B&B there, which is operated by a certain Mrs. H–when she is not busy running the food pantry or making cookies and cakes and things. E and Mrs. H were also joined by S, another long time friend whose arrival made the party complete.

Meanwhile, it was time for M to turn toward home. Corvallis was 556 miles away and he had no need to make it all in one go. Instead he drove just 315 miles and found himself a place to camp in Oregon near Ochoco Summit.

In the depths of the night M listened to the near continuous call of a common poorwill. A western relative of the eastern whip-poor-will, the common poorwill is the only bird known to enter into a state of torpor (a.k.a. hibernation). Meriwether Lewis observed a hibernating poorwill in 1804 and recorded the event in his journal, but no one paid much attention. John James Audubon rediscovered the poorwill in 1844 and give it a name. For the Hopi people, of course, it already had a name. They live within the southernmost part of the poorwill’s range, and their name for it is hölchko, which means “The Sleeping One.”

Tuesday, June 6

Parked on the side of a mountain called ‘Dixie Dome,’ M woke early with a red sun shining in his eyes. He took this as a sign that he should go back to sleep. That didn’t last long though, and pretty soon he was up having breakfast before driving the last 200 miles back home.

E, Mrs. H and S spent most of the day laughing, only stopping long enough to take a lovely stroll along the banks of the Hudson River, where they spotted an albino robin.

Wednesday, June 7

E and Mrs. H went to Hulets’ Landing on Lake George to visit E’s brother J in his lovely hermitage. He treated them to a tour of the cabin and environs followed by a delicious luncheon, not to mention a lakeside recitation of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.”

Thursday, June 8

E’s flight from Detroit was a little early. M faced long construction delays getting to Portland, and when he got to the airport the traffic was horrendous. Around 10:00 PM the pair were at last reunited. Importantly, M had stocked the vehicle with refreshments in the form of cool clear water and little capsules of Dove chocolate.