SUNDAY~FUNDAY #21

This morning was the 1st Sunday~Funday of 2021 😊

No new adventure ... but a very necessary "DO!" 😉

On my way to Bundy's in Clatskanie, OR

I have itching feet that like to keep moving – I also like to eat at different places when I am able to get away from home base.

It doesn't bother me to drive an hour and a half for a cup of morning coffee ... or half an hour in another state for a hamburger 😉

As long as I know the route, I'm burning rubber and kicking up dust 😊

Taking the right side exit today ... last Monday, I went left; to St. Helen's OR

(https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2021/03/st-helens-daytrip.html)

Bundy's Cafe Drive-In from Heron Pointe, WA. Crossing from WA into OR, to get to Bundy's Cafe Drive-In from home only takes 24 minutes.

Longview seen from Rainer, OR viewpoint turnout.(https://portblakely.com/us-forestry/log-products-sales)

Litterbugs clearly rebelling against prohibited dumping.

Bob & I checked the Black Buggy Amish Furniture Store out, a few years back.

About 5 years ago, Bob and I were just out for a drive; just dinking around – saw the sign and decided to go see what they had. The road narrowed down to a narrow road, and the shop was behind a private home. The stuff was very nice … and very steeply priced.

Black Buggy Furniture Store; Rainier, OR. 13 minutes from home.(https://blackbuggyfurniture.com/)

Reaching Clatskanie, I didn’t remember seeing this building last time I was through here; so, I took a picture and researched it when I got home. Apparently, this building … across from the Safeway Store, has been here a while.

In my defense, I am going to state that we always had children with us for 44 years straight – and my mind and eyes were always on them when we were on the road; there was little time for sightseeing unless they were napping.And I as in a heart-break widow’s fog all of 2019, and most of 2020.

(https://www.thechiefnews.com/news/clatskanie-museum-reopens-at-grannis-square/article_2c44a1d0-60d6-11e4-b131-07f6c97f2387.html)

Now, I have all the time in the world to sightsee … and I’d rather have my husband, kids, and grandkids back to snag my attentions.

I am enjoying my new solo lobo life – seen through eyes that have been opened over the past 26 months, but, I do also miss my old life now and then.

Windy day in Clatskanie. Windy day in Clatskanie.

A few miles back – just past Alston Corner – I could see where there had been storm blown debris all over the highway – and tree limbs that had been cleared off and laid alongside the roadways; so, that is something else to note and file away for future road trips and Sunday~Funday forays. I need to know when it is safe to get back out on the highways and byways after Winter months fade away to Spring time. Bob would have known … but I don’t: and I have to learn it by trial and err.

The wind gusts along that stretch of the highway, were pretty strong. My upper arms still ache from doing my best to keep the car on my side of the highway; the car kept being "led" from one line to the other by wind gusts.

Hail in the rain! The morning had started out with a peek-a-boo blue sky, and a sunny outlook …

I figured I might have a wait for my ‘burger basket, so I grabbed the paperback novel I started reading last night before the Sandman paid me a visit … and it sure came in handy when the hail arrived 😉.

Sackett Novel I started reading.

I love reading about those highland Tennessee hillbilly Sackett boys.

And this recent adventure storyline kept me safely entertained until it was okay to head back home.

Stimson Mill memory.

(https://www.stimsonlumber.com/company/operations/ & https://www.wweek.com/news/2019/05/31/stimson-lumber-announces-its-pulling-timber-jobs-out-of-oregon-in-rebuke-to-new-taxes-and-carbon-caps/)

Stimson Mill Road; Clatskanie, OR. It's not a long road - but the memory is a long one: I just couldn't do that today.

It was just a passing road sign I had caught a glimpse of, in my peripheral vision … but some days, that is all it takes to take my thoughts backward in time, when Bob was alive-in the flesh.

That’s all it takes sometimes to choke me up.

Still.

I can't make the side trip today ... too emotional. Maybe later this year; but not today.

I have to distance myself from my thoughts, right now.

Reaching home base again, I could see bits of blue sky trying valiantly to push back the gray clouds …

Home, sweet home.

And I was glad I did not try to drive back home in that hail storm:

Car Wreck off Exit 48, in Castle Rock, WA - 3 hours ago. I did not want to roll my car, too, on the wet roads covered with ice balls.

But I never regretted, for a single moment, today’s Sunday~Funday excursion 😉

#20 – the **last of the 2020 Sunday~Funday’s – https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2020/09/sundayfunday-20-deep-river-eden-valley.html (plus 10^th thru 19^th SUNDAY~FUNDAY links)

#9 – https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2020_04_27_archive.html (plus 1st thru 8th 2019 SUNDAY~FUNDAY links)**