This will be just a little intro message with something to follow this evening. I'll be leaving Moscow this morning after going out to a favorite haunt of Sarah's this morning with Sarah, her husband, Dan, JP and Yael. Then the Larochettes will play tennis with someone they met at yesterday's book presentation and I will start my journey back toward Portland.
Moscow is a charming university town of about 20,000 people. Quite an oasis after the arid country you go through to get here. I talked with a woman yesterday who moved away, tried the outer world and now has happily moved back. So it's one of those kinds of places.
I'll try to buy a new flash card reader so I can progress with getting the pics off of my cameras. Then, hopefully, some photos for this blog. Finally!
I'm off to take Bobby for a short walk before our breakfast, then on the road. Have a good day all. Talk later.
Wow! I just turned off my personal hot spot after sending a message to Larkin and now returned to the open blog with no wifi. I'm learning something new every day. A friend of Sarah's helped me a bit with the iphone yesterday at JP and Yael's presentation. Really appreciated that. I'm discovering many ways to save battery and still get something done.
The Larochettes are on their way to Banff and Lake Louise and I'm less than two hours from Portland. I had such a good time seeing Sarah and meeting Dan. Hated to leave Moscow. I felt totally comfortable there and wouldn't mind returning some day.
The drive from Moscow to Lewiston was surprisingly beautiful. The hills coming out of Moscow are voluptuous. The turning of the soil by huge ag machines creates gorgeous patterns along with the striking color changes between different sections of tilled land. I could hardly take my eyes off of some of the rolling and turning lines. Every color of golden beige and brown to almost black and then suddenly an emerald green section, sometimes dotted with perfectly groomed black faced sheep. Too delicious!
So I had a great ride to the mighty rivers. where the Snake and the Columbia create an inland harbor. I stopped at a grand vista spot overlooking the river and Lewiston and Clarkston. Didn't dare take that scenic way down because of all the warnings. So I drove back up to the newer main highway and made the descent mostly in second gear. Quite a drop. No less than five "out of control" truck turnoffs. I was happy to reach the bottom safely and loved seeing the whole scene at the bottom.
I ate a late lunch in Clarkston at a wonderfully old fashioned drug store with a cafe and soda fountain at the back. I had a cup of delicious tortilla soup (mostly beans) and a very nice spinach salad with bacon and water chestnuts and a sliced boiled egg on top. My waitress asked where I was headed. ( I'm obviously not one of her many known regulars). By the time I was leaving I had received at least three fond farewells and learned where the staplers, restroom and cashier were located. All that from my new friend, Janet. And, I was treated to the overhearing of at least three separate conversations among the locals. I relish that. Somehow it gives me a huge dose of what a place is really all about. When I returned to the Rialta I walked Bobby and ate a couple of Sarah's yummy little plums and was on my way.
Now we'll see if I can quickly rev up that phone hot spot one more time and connect this post to the server. Hope it works. Love to all.
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