Trail of Tears

We left Mom's house with booty. The bed of the truck and a small U-Haul trailer bed full of rocks. The truck had large melon sized lava rocks with a dusty pink hue. The trailer had red flat basalt pieces with lichen clinging to them, creating an ancient patina.

As we hit the pass going northwest towards Baker, the truck's transmission burned out. It was dangerous where it stopped ~ a guard rail prevented us from having a safe margin.

Tears streaming, Craig and I threw my hand picked melon babies into the ditch to lighten our load. He pushed the truck and trailer as I steered, until the guard rail ended. We had safe room to wait for the tow truck. Thankfully, Craig's cell worked in that spot.

We dropped the truck and trailer in a transmission garage parking lot. There was a nursery next door. I asked the owner if he wanted some landscaping rocks. We helped him load his trailer, emptying ours.

The only thing he said as he left was, "I'm glad I could help you". He had no clue what a precious cargo we had given him ~ free. Maybe he didn't know to be grateful? My affection, addiction, obsession, and lust for rocks was not his concern.

Craig's brother drove three hours to pick us up and pulled the trailer to his house. We spent the night. Brita drove five hours to bring us home this morning. Glenn generously returned the U-Haul to the vendor this afternoon.

The Oregon Trail crosses the highway a few times. There are places on the Snake River where there are interpretive centers for the Louis and Clark Expedition. Our wild west is full of history of pioneers and adventurers leaving everything familiar and striking out for new land. They suffered catastrophic losses. They endured hardship unfamiliar to us.

I only had to leave some some tear covered rocks beside the trail. We were rescued. I had a hot bath and pulled some frozen leftovers from the freezer to heat for dinner. It was inconvenient for everyone. That's all.

Gratefulness is able to grin in the face of trouble like this ~ it seemed like an opportunity, a reminder.

Traveling light is good.