The Great Prairie Safari -- Day One

1 May 2013; Farewell Bend State Park, OR --

This first day found the mixture of young and old, left-handed and right-handed, German and Swedish
embarking on what promised to be a never-ending contest of wills and determination.

We departed Fort Bale promptly at 0500, (as edicted by the Great Grumpy) -- (plus about four hours as over-ruled by the Lemon Pie Baker). Our first scheduled sight was old highway 30 along the cliffs of the Mighty Columbia. Grumpy had forgotten (one of many, many things that will be revealed in this and future BLOG entries.)

We turned off on the invitation of a sign which directed us to “Old Historic Highway 30”. Grumpy took the bait and we drove half a dozen miles (including several miles past sings announcing, “Road Closed Ahead”), finally arriving at a truly blocked highway, with a flagging crew announcing the reason for the blockage: The road ahead was undergoing extensive repairs and would be closed until 25 May.

Backtracking to the freeway, we continued on our way for a few more miles when another sign announced “Scenic, Historic Old Highway 30”. Well, this was the one that Grumpy had intended for us to take in the first place. After winding up a 5% grade to the top, we found “Rowena  Crest View Point”, the exact spot on which Grumpy had taken Great Grandma’s photo just a couple of years ago.

Great Grandson II (GGsonII) inquired about the road down below. Grumpy assured him that “we will soon see”. And we did, as we progressed on East on this truly scenic, historic section of “Historic Old Highway 30” in Oregon.

Good-natured teasing (about left-handedness vs right-handedness, Swedishness vs Germanisch, and Shortness vs Tall-Enoughness, etc) continued unabatedly as we neared our day’s objective: Farewell Bend State Park, where we hoped to camp for the night. Sure enough, camping was allowed. And what luxurious campsites! Running water at the site! and electricity, if only the Swede had thought to bring the electric coffee maker.

With the “Woman Tent” properly adorned with a pink and black sign announcing “Queen, AKA H.R.H.”, it was time to bring out the sign for the Man tent, which stated: “MAN TENT, God’s original design; Then HE said, ‘It is good!’ “. There followed a lively discussion concerning God’s subsequent forming of Woman [“ … because He said He could do better!”

Grumpy got his second "come-uppance" the next morning when he saw the new sign on Woman Tent: "Do Not Disturb; Beauty Sleep in Progress"

In the interest of informing these two Great Grandson’s of a bit of trivia as to why God called her “Wo-Man”, Grumpy was upstaged by GGson I with this little gem that had Great Grumpy doubled over in laughter:

     When God formed Woman from Man’s rib, He took one look and said, “Wo-oo!! Man!!”

Unbelievably, GGson I went swimming in the icy cold Snake River in the cool evening (the Sun was very low in the western sky).

Keep tuned for tomorrow’s adventure!