LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE ~Traveling Thursdays/2022

Today, I had the $$ to make the drive to Naselle to visit my friends, there.

We have missed each other. We love each other. Love doesn’t change overnight – it can be killed, or it can be nurtured; that’s up to the people involved. We, as community-building friends, choose to nurture the love that flows freely among us 😉

The hour-long drive is welcome … and I hope recent money-eating-expenses that have been eating up my carefully budgeted gas $$$ will taper off enough to allow me to make that drive every week, again. I enjoy the scenic drive: I enjoy the coffee hour convo 😊

Life in the Slow Lane was very welcome change of pace today – and I expected to be gone all day long; so I dressed in clothes and makeup that would take me from AM to PM with ease 😉

Queries incoming ...

Affirmative reply; YES!

Ready to rock & roll.

Naselle from Longview; 1 hr. 10 mins (1-way) via Ocean Beach Highway.

Anticipation of two catch-up chit-chats (AM & PM), and delicious tempting coffee aromas were not highjacked as I experienced a ‘Manic Monday’ start to my Traveling Thursday.

Right off, the day started out like a Monday.

Drivers need to be respectful of deer crossing the roadways.

Road work at Stella; patching potholes around the upper bend.

Despite the unexpected wild life snafu’s (2-legged humanoids, as well as 4-legged actual animals), and sporadic road work spread out along the route from Longview to Skamokawa, I managed to arrive at my destination on time without exceeding the speed limit.

Laughter and coffee flowed with carefree abandon. Serious convo was kept light with hope and encouragement liberally sprinkled throughout the train of thought. Ramona (not my sister – another Ramona, my friend) and I helped Becky (not my niece – another Becky, my friend) unwind and untangle her skein of yarn, so she could easily finish her latest WIP. And I came home with a gifted snippet of an Airplane Plant 😊

I love life in the Slow Lane: it really is the simple things in life that make life enjoyable.

A Spider Baby; gift coming home with me.

Pointing the Highlander’s nose homeward, I made a snap decision to deviate from the straight-n-narrow highway … and drive a few side roads.

I was out of Dodge, and foot-loose and fancy-free, today. It was a nice day, perfect for a country drive down several country roads 😊

Eden Valley Road, Rosburg.

The skies have been filled with helicopters lately - either campaigning politicians ... or war maneuvers being practiced.

2nd Cousins in a familial triangle formation; Russell & Wally (forefront) & Bob.

3 deer prancing down Altoona-Pillar Rock Road; I came to a jerky stop: unpredictable deer get the right of way ;-)

Altoona-Pillar Rock Road, Rosburg.

Barr Road, Graysriver.

Covered Bridge Road, Graysriver.

The Covered Bridge; Graysriver.

Once again on Ocean Beach Highway (the straight-n-narrow road from here to there), the old cement bridgework guardrails of the Graysriver bridge pulled my eye: so, I turned off the road and parked on the gravel near Fossil Creek Road to admire it. I like these old cement guardrails. I do not like the modern aluminum guardrails, at all.

Old bridgework ... I like it; Graysriver.

1938

Ugly, ugly, UGLY 'upgrade improvements'.

I remember walking across the old cement walkways, when I walked this highway, every weekend; in the early 1970’s. It was about 11½ miles one way from Ingalls Road (where I lived at that point in time) in Skamokawa, to where the old Appelo’s Store in Graysriver, used to be.

Appelo's Store in Graysriver - gone now, but it looked like this when I hiked to Graysriver.

Graysriver from Skamokawa; 13 mins. driving time (11.8 mi. distance) via WA-4 W

I enjoyed hiking those 23 miles every weekend. I’d take a short break at the top of KM Mountain, to catch my breath; and then I’d finish the first half of that hike at Appelo’s Store where I’d buy a can of coke, and a pack of Marlboro Reds, before hoofing it back over the KM, and home.

I’m pretty sure the log truck drivers did not enjoy seeing me walking that ditch-side white line 😉 As an adult now, I sympathize with their concerns – but as a teenager, then, I didn’t think of the dangers while selfishly enjoying my foot-loose, carefree, all-day-hike.

Thinking of that experience, I decided to drive Ingalls Road to the Duck Inn, for lunch (the backroad route).

I enjoy country road drives 😊

Country roads are generally slow lane travel: today was a Slow Lane Day.

As I was driving along, radio talking heads were discussing (and bitching about) escalating gas prices. It irks me too … but it’s going to happen, and bitching about it won’t halt it. Escalating gas prices is what the obamanite DC devotees want: it is what they intend to implement – the push, according to the obamanite doctrine, is EV’s for the filthy rich, bikes for the millennial urbanites, train travel/city bus travel for lower class city dwellers … and beat-feet-travel for country bumpkins. That is what the biden-harris cartel is aiming for, that is what they are preparing for.

Seattle is already primed to implement it: jay inslee is, after all, barak hussain obama’s west coast evangelist, feverishly doing his best to browbeat Washingtonians into slavishly embracing the obamanite cult doctrine.

Ingalls Road, Skamokawa.

Landslide cleanup on Ingalls Road, near Fernhill Cemetery.

Middle Valley Road, Skamokawa.

Sleepy Hallow, Skamokawa.

Inflation experts are predicting $10-gal. gas prices this year ... that won't stop people from driving.

barak hussain obama’s solution to the “fossil fuel issue”: https://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/opinions/editorials/article_936795e0-83f0-11e1-ac93-001a4bcf887a.html

WA State Gas prices expected to reach double-digit costs: https://nypost.com/2022/05/19/washington-state-preps-for-10-gas-stations-run-out-of-fuel/

And, on the tail-end of that radio discussion as I left Ocean Beach Highway for more country road driving, came a report of more leftist lunacy: canada has eliminated Laws that made fentanyl illegal: I am sure the biden-harris team administration from Hell will follow suit. Oh goodie (not!) … now we can expect those drug addled morons to be aiming cars down the highway, too, with pothead drivers/heroin fueled motorists/wobbly bicyclists that do not know how to pedal on the highways/and absent-minded mental cases walking down the center lines ☹

Canada decriminalizes hard drugs: https://www.cp24.com/news/canada-announces-decriminalization-plan-for-drug-users-in-b-c-to-fight-overdoses-1.5926923

What the Hell are politician’s thinking!?! Are politicians thinking at all, or are their brain cells totally misfiring 100% of the time?

Besides the slow lane scenery, and country road vibe; I stick to backroads for a logical reason, people … there is protection as well as comfort in the Slow Lane 😉

Beaver Creek Road - off Elochoman road, to Longview.

Columbia River shipping lane – birds-eye view of Stella-Willow Grove & Longview in the near distance ... ship headed downriver to Port of Longview anchor bay.

Back on Ocean Beach Highway, case and point was played out in a scary scenario that could have ended very badly for the car, the log truck, and me.

Thank God Bob was always nagging me about the “2-cars-length following distance”.

((((THANK YOU, BABE!))))

Thank the Lord, angels are dispatched every time I hit the open road.

That nagging – and an Angel on my shoulder – saved my life today.

Dumbass driver nearly caused a traumatic wreck ...

WTH! We need stiffer drug and driving Laws!

‘Life in the Fast Lane’ song:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po6QU0z1rSs)

Time to get rid of the demonrat lunacy laws.

Counting my blessings and thanking my lucky stars, I pulled into my carport and dropped off my Airplane Plant snippet; collected the mail, and took a couple minutes to run into town and deposit Bob’s TOC love gift … before backtracking to Spruce Creek where friends were waiting for my arrival for an evening coffee hour 😊

Spruce Creek Road, Longview.

Randy Travis – ‘It’s A Great Day to Be Alive’ song:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kwCc5uqJv4)

I was glad for this evening gathering of mixed company. It is good to see life from different angles. It is good to laugh. It is good to be touched emotionally, spiritually, and physically; on comfortable levels.

Even though there were two very obvious manic monday moments in this Thursday, I actually thoroughly enjoyed Life in the Slow Lane, today – all day 😊

Both coffee hours (AM & PM) will be weekly repeats; God willing, and budget providing 😉

 

*Traveling Thursday Links~2021: (https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2021/08/traveling-thursday-lael-moon-nursery.html)

HARBINGER DAY

 Last week, the owner of Mr. Bill’s, where I get my morning latte’s; saw the coffee cuff I designed and crafted on my thermos cup … and she liked it: she said if I’d make some more – especially the Holiday themed ones, she’d put them for sale. She said, “They’ll sell”. So, I made 9 of them and dropped them off yesterday (I was paid $15); and was commissioned to make more for the Christmas Season kickoff. She’ll sell them and make a $0.50 profit on each cuff she buys from me, but that’s okay. I like designing and crafting. I like knowing that other people see value I what I do 😉

I don’t think I’ll ever be doing the Bazaar Circuit again: I refuse to wear a mask – especially for 8 hours straight when there is no logically valid reason for doing so; and masks are going to be politically manipulated, and forever mandated until the end of time. I had fun, and made good money for my original designed items for many years doing the Bazaars, but I believe those days are now over.

This morning, I really didn’t want to get out of bed: it was Saturday, and I just felt like lazing in bed, reading, all day long – sometimes I do that, for no particular reason other than there is no real reason to get out of bed.

No job.

No husband.

No kids.

No grandkids.

No clock to set.

No obligations - Nada.

Just me, in my comfy warm bed cocoon – I could make a thermos of coffee, grab a book, and let morning morph into evening. Easily. With no guilt whatsoever.

But, with that thought kicking around in my head, I got up anyway; showered, remade the bed with fresh sheets, got dressed, planned to grab 2 pieces of fried bacon and 2 Jo’s at Baker’s Corner Store … and hop over to Castle Rock to play some Saturday Bingo.

I really didn’t want to be cooped up at home – I know I have months of being holed up when the rain and ice weather blows in; if I want to enjoy being out-of-house, I have to get out every chance I can before I’m stuck at home, without a choice.

As I left the carport, I had a feeling I should just drive around the block and repark.

I ignored the {impression}, and left Heron Pointe choking in the Highlander exhaust fumes.

The Deli at Baker’s Corner was closed. Again. This is becoming the norm.

Instead of a quick, light, ‘brunch’ … I’d have to buy a heavier lunch (also, becoming the norm ☹) and eat it in Castle Rock while I played Bingo: I’d have ‘just enough time to make it’ if cars weren’t backed up to the highway at Mr. Bill’s.

When I pulled into Mr. Bill’s this afternoon, I saw the coffee cuffs sitting in the window – and several had sold already 😊

MOD crochet Coffee Cuffs are selling at Mr. Bill's.

A Week of Mondays ...

I securely placed my boxed Chili Burger on the Highlander’s floormat, so it wouldn’t slide around and upend – then I took a teeny sip of my latte to sample the new flavor (specifially asking if it was cool enough to drink without burning my mouth) … and burned my tongue and the roof of my mouth: the girl lied; that thing was steaming h.o.t.

Driving over Delameter Road to Castle Rock, I was nearly run over by a pickup truck bearing down on me IN MY LANE!

I should have considered that a warning; turned around, and drove back home to laze around in bed all day, with a book and thermos of flavored coffee at hand … but I didn’t. I breathed out a sigh of relief that I had not been hit or run off the road by that crazed driver; and continued forward.

I finally made Castle Rock without any more snafu’s, found a parking spot – entered a Quilt Raffle; and settled in to spend 2 hours sliding Bingo markers across the boards I purchased.

There were only 15 of us playing (and 1 dog in attendance). Usually, the room is packed, but with the communist regime in DC continuing to preach their covid propaganda, people are opting to stay home until Spring 2022.

The biden cartel has issued orders for the Winter Holidays: “Get vaccinated! Wear a mask … even though you have been vaccinated/boosted several times with the booster shots! Stay 6 feet apart indoors – and open the windows and doors to allow fresh air to flow through the rooms (or buy an air fan)!”

Mind you: the upcoming holidays will be in the dead of winter.

So, basically the biden cartel is saying, “Go ahead and plan your family gatherings – and we will raise Hell to make sure you do not enjoy a single minute of it.” UNSAID THREAT: Go ahead: do it, but be prepared to end up in the hospital with pneumonia – there is no room in hospitals for covid cases … but we will make room for the holiday pneumonia cases; and blame the unvaxxed for the overflow. And be sure to buy granny one of those ear horn things, because you’ll be shouting at each other from cross the rooms, while icicles are hanging from your noses as you click-clack conversations in freezing teeth clicking SOS. The biden cartel is a bunch of lunatics trying to appear ‘scientifically intelligent’. They are demonrat cultists, totally out of touch with reality: tyrants drunk on egomania.

But, there are still some of us logical thinking people around; who will not comply with asinine mandates, and illogical threats that make no sense whatsoever. All the name calling, arm twisting, and blame games will not change our minds to roll over and accept the DC communist pogroms and arm jabs.

“Living On A Thin Line”: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsLhNxzwK1Y)

For 2 hours I was able to distance myself from unbidden thoughts, and anger triggers. I laughed. I cheered when someone won the round. I ate my chili burger, and kept checking carefully to see if my coffee was drinkable, yet (it stayed burning hot throughout Bingo).

I entered the Raffle for this Quilt.

And then, around 3:30 PM: I entered Home Turf.

All the emotional upheaval that centers around this time of year, in this particular region, came over me like an unexpected flood.

T.o.t.a.l.l.y.

Unexpectedly.

Almost hit by a careening car on Delameter Road, going to Castle Rock.

Unexpected crying jag ...

Memories came in like a flood.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GPHGqo_oQg)

The heart never forgets.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNSxJIT7h0)

Hopefully the rest of the day will be calmer, smoother.

I was able to top the tank off without crying uncontrollably at the gas terminal.

Gas down 6 cents a gallon.

And the drive home (5 minutes, thank God), was uneventful, too.

During the Spring/Summer months, things go easier for me: the days are lighter and brighter; my thoughts do not hold me captive. I can get away – and I do, every day – interesting places, new faces, new experiences … but when Fall/Winter rolls around, I’m pretty much stuck local. The KM gets saturated and starts shifting (often there is a landslide), and trees are blown down across the road, and rising-river-flooding happens in low-lying roads – so I stay away from that area until around March. Even locally, things can get tricky as the I-5 freeway, both ways, can flood during a tempestuous Winter; so that’s another reason to keep off the freeway. And I don’t want to be crossing the Lewis and Clack Bridge the crosses the Columbia River between Longview, WA, and Rainier, OR; when it’s wet and icy. Of course, working people have no choice, but I do. So, for about 5 months, I’m pretty much stuck local in Longview – with very little to do but watch the lowering gray skies and steady rain (sometimes snow), as natural lighting is blocked out by the PNW weather pattern this time of year.

I do try to focus on positive thoughts…

After awhile of being cooped up and hemmed in on all sides by grayness, my thoughts start going down rabbit trails best left alone. October thru February is going to be a hard time to get through. If the roads are clear, I can still get out to play pool and Bingo … but I need natural light and color in my life to lighten my steps and brighten my thoughts. I can start Daytripping, again in March; but until then, it’s going to be a daily battle to stay upbeat and positive.

I pray every day for a purpose and a new direction.

“Don’t Forget to Dance”: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLrGnWh1qD8)

I do not want to spend half a year crying, for the rest of my life.

There’s got to be something better than this for me.

I’m going to eat a salad now, and go read a book.

In bed – cocooned in comfort.

Where I should have stayed.