(The author hard at work on a tree house for the grandkids.)
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)
Just before retiring, Geoff, Burl, and I took an awesome road trip to LaGrande, Oregon where I met with a member or the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System and got signed up for my Oregon retirement. But, to get to LaGrande, we took a fun route.
We had decided to go to the Oregon Coast and see my mother and Geoff's grandmother. We decided to leave the main highway when we left Ontario and cut across country through the Owyhee and Steens Mountain area. It was scenic and wild and we were running out of daylight when we approached the National Antelope Refuge in south central Oregon. We pulled off on a side road and drove out through a sagebrush-covered landscape and decided to pitch our tent along the two-track road. Geoff and Burl took a walk down to a pond in the draw below and Burl had the time of his life harassing the Avocets who lived there. After dinner we walked down the road as the sun was just setting and seemed to be sitting right on top of the tall sage. It was an awesome and beautiful sight. Then things changed. The setting sun seemed to trigger the howling instincts of coyotes and they began howling from all directions. Burl wanted to be carried back to camp. When we bedded down in our small tent, we had a visitor for the night. Burl crowded in between the two of us and did not give up his spot until daylight.
The next day we traveled on than, shortly after getting back on the refuge road, we saw a sign which read, "No camping allowed on the refuge". We traveled on to the refuge headquarters and took a long soak in the hot spring pools. Then on to Grants Pass, Oregon and took a beautiful back road over the coast range, down the Rogue River, and on to Bandon to see mother.
After our visit there we were on to Eastern Oregon and LaGrande for my meeting. After the meeting, we traveled through Wallowa County and my old stomping grounds and over to Lewiston, Idaho, We camped on the Lochsa River that night. Then, on over Lolo Pass the next day and we made it to Butte, Montana for lunch. We toured the big copper mine and Geoff insisted on taking me to the famous Butte landmark, Pork Chop John's, to have their famous park chop sandwich!
(What a fun trip, Dad! Thanks for the reminder. It's about time we do it again. I love you, Geoff)
Church Stopping. Less Doing. More Being.
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