Hi, my name is Wallie and I am an...

Every journey begins with a single step and this one has many and started long ago.

First, Alice and David had to sell their house.  Second, they had to pack it up and put it on a truck...make that two trucks.  Thirdly, we had to make it 1800+ miles from the heartland to a state that wants to be their own country.  And finally we had to make it there and today WE DID!  This could have easily been broken down into a 12 step program, but it all came together, otherwise I would have started this posting with, "Hi, my name is Wallie and I am an enabler."  But tomorrow they begin to re-establish themselves, where they left a little piece of themselves 30 years ago...which technically could have been called the first step.

Here are a few more sights from the final miles into Mt. Shasta.

A view from the last major elevation change towards home.

The desert-like vegetation from the previous days gave way to towering
conifers and the last remnants of winter in scattered piles of snow on the
forest floor.

Much of the drive was just us, alone on our two-lane private road,
but the rest of the world woke up and eventually joined us.
It was good while it lasted.

This was nearly impossible to capture (due to the rain and busy wipers),
but...you might be able to make out a bit of a rainbow, just left of center.
The rainbow was literally small enough, that it formed right over the road.
We could see each end right before we drove right under it...so cool!

I won't go into detail about almost running my truck right up onto the car trailer David was hauling, because the semi in front of him stopped to let a deer cross the road.  Which begs the question, "Why did the deer cross the road?"  Answer:  To kill Wallie!  But all's well that ends well.  But a few more miles down the road, it happened again, but a dog was to blame this time.  Of course I would have had photos of these events, but I'm not that adept at emergency photography with a cell phone...yet.

With high levels of adrenaline, now coursing through my veins, we crept towards the town of  Mt. Shasta, as my eyes darted back and forth, like squirrels crossing a street in front of an oncoming car.  But I didn't come this far to scatter my sisters belongings across a remote forest floor, No sir!  So, with unwavering vigilance, we drove into our destination unscathed.

First things first...Alice felt the need to rinse off 3 days of road grime from her
16 year old Honda Civic.  You could tell the pedestrians appreciated her efforts
as we paraded through town.  Not!

Downtown Shasta

A view back towards Mt. Shasta in the background, with it's
peak draped in cloud cover...all...damn...day!

We were greeted by a good friend of theirs, Maria, who fed us lunch, caught A and D up on some local affairs, and went on a walk with us to help rehabilitate our legs.  

Get to Mt. Shasta...CHECK!

My Zen from the Road:  I am in the land of cedars, firs, and pines that are easily over 100 feet tall, some 150'.  I am from the land of, not that.  So when I find myself just staring out and up and around at these giants, I have to remind myself, that like in so many situations, its all relative.  A relatively short distance away, you can find redwoods that would dwarf these old growth giants.  So the next time you are out of your norm, just remember your relatives!  Wait...what?

So cool!