Down the Columbia River Gorge

*Breakfast fire along the Grande Ronde River before we pulled out*

 The past two days have been a bit of a revelation... Something I've sensed in the past, but this time... sitting at the desk in the thick Washington forest this morning, it hit me... I LIKE TREES! Well DOH!

I mean I grew up down on the desert where a Saguaro Cactus was the tallest thing around... and they're scattered far and wide... but not much shelter... and I think that's what it may be... the idea just never come clear to me before...

Out on the plains... a body can be seen for miles... It's like... a soldier... out in that open country, feels kind of exposed... and then he takes fire, and what does he do?... he runs for his life... straining to reach the safety of that Tree Line!

Maybe that revelation come to me 'cause of the way we came down the Gorge of the Mighty Columbia River... Off to the east it's dry and open...

*wind mills and ranches in the dry country along the Columbia*

*all that water and it's still DRY along the Columbia*

Then as you travel along you stop to see what the "Stonehenge Memorial" is...

*Stonehenge War Memorial*

*Dedication on the Altar Stone*

... and you discover it's a Memorial to those lost in the area, to the ravages of WW I. , and alongside is the Memorial to those lost in the subsequent Wars...

*Memorial to WW II, Korea and Vietnam Veterans*

As you pull out of that Melancholy place, it colors your thoughts for a while... and as you roll west, gettin' ever closer to the Pacific Coast, the country gets lusher, and ever more beautiful...

*Motorcycle along the Columbia*

Some guys pass you that start makin' you jealous... and itching for that next camp that lets you put the Bikes on the ground! :o)

... and you see some guys that make you say; "Not a Freakin' Chance!"

*Wind Surfers on the Columbia River... in OCTOBER!"

But those motorcycles, the wind surfers and the increasingly gorgeous country start to bring that Revelation to light...

*Columbia River Sunset*

*Sunrise Spider web*

*Lily*

*Stormy Morning along the Columbia*

As you sit lat your desk, looking out the window, in your camp, deep in the Washington Forest, along the Great Columbia River... It hits you... In this heavy cover, in this gorgeous rain forest... I feel Safe. I feel, covered.

*Night Camp in Home Valley, along the Mighty Columbia*

 ... hmmmm... maybe I discovered the real reason I've moved right along the past few days? :o)

One thing I know... and I rediscover every time I come back here... I freakin' love Washington and Oregon from the Mountains to the Sea!

Hoping to see the Pacific this afternoon... not sure we'll get there... but soon enough... we'll hit the spot where Lewis and Clarke did...

Seeing and learning... and starting to figure it out... Maybe... :o)

Along the Mighty Columbia
Brian

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