Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Fire!

Oct 10 - Day 47

Ft. Canby State Park. Still in Washington. However, Oregon is right over the Columbia River. Once again, the weather is spectacular. Tonight I sit at Ft. Canby with a blazing fire! I'll go into that later. The Milky Way is high above and the ocean waves are crashing behind us. Yes, this is a spectacular day.

John and I are in high spirits. Both of us have decided to take the train home from Eugene, OR. We will be back in MPLS on October 26th at 6:50AM. Once there, we are headed straight for Al's Breakfast for a short stack of Blacks! Yumm! Also, can't wait to see the gang. Once back in MPLS, I'm off to Moab with the guys. I think I am anyway. Money may tell me otherwise. Then I'm back in MPLS for good. Oh boy, that's going to be fun looking for a job.

Lot's of interesting stuff has happened in the last 3 days. 2 out of 3 nights, we have camped by the ocean. The last of the 3 was spent near/on the highway near a gun club. I felt like we were back in Alaska! While on the beach, I was intrigued once again by the patterns in the sand that are formed when the water rolls across the shore, back into the ocean. While browsing at the patterns along the beach, John & I came across one image that amazed us. It looked like a head, more like a Native American face with feathers in his hair. I can only remember a vague shape so here goes (I sketched it in my book). I also took a few pictures of it. Maybe they will turn out.

Today, we stopped at the Nemah Cafe for biscuits and gravy. While there, we signed & wrote in their cyclist guest book. It was really interesting to read about other cyclist's adventures. I didn't feel so lonely after seeing that many other cyclists partake in similar activities. We have only seen ONE other cycle tourist on our Washington leg of our journey. Also, after reading the guest book, I didn't feel so bad about our trials and tribulations. As mot of the cyclists wrote about their bad experiences. Many complained of numerous bike repairs. Once again, I'm thankful that I am a very good bike mechanic and that John & I are over prepared. I could not believe the number of cyclists that ride from either Vancouver, BC or Seattle to San Francisco or San Diego. It really made me think about what I want to do with my life. I really hope I can get a job leading bicycle tours. I know I'd be good at it.

Now to the fire. Tonight for the first time on this trip, I made a fire. We had one fire in Alaska, but we built it together. This gave me much delight since never before have I been responsible nor very good at it. It made me feel masculine. Also, I could not help but think & realize why our ancestors and early beings found fire so intriguing and powerful. The power of a fire's heat is overwhelming. Being able to build & control a fire has made me feel successful. I set out to do something I had never done and I accomplished it. I know it sounds funny and quite humorous if you think about it, but hey I did it.

As I sit here enjoying this blazing fire, I listen to the ocean waves crashing down on the shore. They are very loud and close. It seems that ocean is mad at this particular place because the waves pound the shores with much greater ferocity than at the other shore campsites. I'm sure there is a story behind this place. Maybe I can find it tomorrow during our rest day. ( I must send postcard to Dad and Grandma.)


1 comment:

MG said...

Man, you'd be awesome at leading bicycle tours... but isn't it funny the turns life takes? Being able to work on your bike, and being fastidious about its preparation pays off though, doesn't it? Oh yeah it does.

Fire is beautiful, especially when you don't have matches or other artificial means with which to make it. When it's you, nature and your own two hands, it's a whole different deal.

I've only built fire "from scratch" once in my entire life, and it took us the better part of a day to accomplish. Man, incredible... That was the summer of 1993, when I was a counselor in Estes at Cheley, now that I think about it... the summer I met my wife. That was a good summer. Hard to believe we're going on 15 years this May. Time flies...

Great post Jason. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Cheers,
MG