Joseph Oregon June 27 2008

Hi from Joseph Oregon,

I recently finished a book by Kent Nerburn entitled Chief Joseph. It is book about the Nez Perce Indians under the leadership of young Chief Joseph. They lived in Eastern Oregon/Washington. Without telling the whole story they ended up running from the UG Govt for years before they were caught in Montana. Old Chief Joseph's (young Joseph's father) wish before he died was to be buried with his fathers in the land they lived in.

Well, he died in 1870 and a fitting memorial was finally established outside the town which bares his name. His bones were intered there in 1926. The pictures of Lake Wallawa were take above the lake on a glacial moraine owned by a timber company. My friend of thirty years ago Bruce Dunn works for R/Y Timber and they own property on both sided of this beautiful lake. It was fun visiting with Bruce and his wife Jane. Bruce was my boss at Rexburg Lumber Comapny in Eastern Idaho when I was a young industrial forester in 1974-76. Bruce and I both lost our jobs when the Teton Dam collapsed June 5, 1976 washing our lumber mill down the Snake River. Bruce remained in forestry and I as you know jumped over to aviation.

Today we head west again and the Warm Springs Indian Rez. GPS sez 6:40 time enroute. We will hook up with the rest of our team later today. Yesterday as we were driving on I-84 in Idaho, I called Bruce and Linda Farrant who according to their itinerary were supposed to be enroute from Twin Falls to Warm Springs. It turned out they were about two hours ahead of us on the interstate. THEN, as we were in Boise exiting the interstate looking for the Cabela's, Bruce called us to check on our progress. It just so happened that as we were wondering which way to turn Bruce and Linda just left there and told us to turn left then turn left and there it was. God did provide direction for us just when we needed it.

We woke thia morning to blue skies and cool temps. It's supposed to be 101 degrees tommorrow in Warm Springs. We will be tent camping on the front lawn of the church. Standby for pictures.

I'm hoping to have WI-FI on the rez but we'll have to see. So maybe I'll be able to post Monday or not.

Blessings

Rob and Deb

Blue Skies, Cool Temps and Mountains

As we drove across America I was struck by some thoughts about what we were seeing. Beside flooding in Iowa, which by the way Deb said I-80 was closed in sections due to flooding, so timing is everything when you go cross country.

Green: everything is so Green. Which isn't a big deal to you all back East but out West it is a rare sight which perishes very quickly. It will be brown in about 3-4 weeks but for now the desert is green and spectacular.

Goats: Slang for speed goats which is slang for Antelope or Pronghorn, whichever you're partial to. Now Marjie, you may have a post which has a more correct description. There were more Speed Goats along the highway then I can ever remember and I've been running I-80 since 1973. It was great to see the critters. Yes we're out west when you start seeing speed goats.

Snow: Yes fresh on the Snowy Mountains southwest of Laramie WY. I couldn't take my eyes off of the mountains. Story about the Snowy's. After Deb and I were married in Logan Utah in 1975 we drove her 1978 Jeep CJ5 soft top across America in December. We had to stop off in Saratoga WY to drop something off at our best man's place. Well we cut across the Snowy's on a road that is closed in winter (WY 130) but we're in a jeep right. It's dark on a mountain road and I'm driving. I wanted to demonstrate just how dark it was so I shut off the lights as we were driving.

Scared us both to death and we still talk about how dark it really is and gauge everything dark against that night on WY 130. We arrived in Logan on Tuesday night 6/10 and it snowed that night in Logan. The mountains surrounding Logan were beautiful all snow covered with the green bases.

Smell: It just smells different out west. Fresh air mixed with ag gas, anybody who's been around cows knows ag gas. The grasses smell different. And then there's the smell of pine that's been standing in the sun, mmm.

Wind: This isn't a sermon, I don't have to have all my thoughts begin with an "S". It's windy in Wyoming. And something I wouldn't have thought of in 1973. Wind generating wind mills, huge windmills and by the hundreds generating clean energy, As long as I don't have to look at them right? Actually, I stare at them with fascination. It's their size I think or maybe it's the airfoil.

Oil Wells: Energy business is booming. And with the price of crude at records they can't get it out of the ground fast enough to sell. Almost without exception, every pump was in operation sucking the dead speed goats or the stuff they ate that lived 20MM years ago from beneath the arid landscape. Petro business is big out here. I noticed also that they've actually tried to paint the pumps and storage tanks to blend into the landscapes, using browns and subdued shades of greens. They probably have a special color called With-In Sight of the Interstate : WISOTI for short.

Vermin: Prairie dogs, sub-terrainian rats but cute and we looked forward to another encounter with them this trip. This is the same rest area where we were chased back to our car by hungry organized packs of land locusts. Actually they're very cute and very bold as you can see from the picture. Probably not a good idea to feed them cheese crackers but these are the interstate variety and used to a mixed palette of snack and healthy foods.

We're settling into life in Logan again. Sun screen at all times and a sweat shirt handy for the cool weather. Sun glasses on and we're ready.

Thanks for reading

Rob

Big Wonderful Wyoming

We're back "out west" after a long day of driving. We're in Laramie WY. There's snow in the mountains and it's 58 degrees. So much for 94 degrees yesterday. As we passed through Iowa City we saw the results of severe weather that went through last night.
Tommorrow we head into Logan Utah. Everything is so green here right now. Last year we came out the end of June and things were turning brown. The weather was raining this morning and we drove into beautiful blue skies and cooler temperatures.
I am reading a book titles "On the Rez". It takes place on the Pine Rodge Indian Reservation not too far from where we are here in Laramie. It's a good read for preparing for our mission trip to Warm Springs in three weeks. We'll write when we get hooked up again in Logan.

Westward HO!

We're off for another adventure. We left Western Pa this morning after having breakfast with our girls.
Travel was good but very hot. High of 94 degrees. Deb got the driving leg through a severe line of thunderstorms southeast of Chicago. She did fine but she always manages to get the nasty driving legs.
We stopped for the night in Davenport IA. Hope to make Cheyenne or Laramie Wyoming Monday and Logan Tuesday.
This summer is different than last year. This year we're heading out for 5 years. We will be going on mission trips and hoping to find work in Logan.