1. Completely out of the blue this morning, Jerry's son Jared popped into Sam's to join us for breakfast. Toward the end of our meal, it registered with Jerry that Jared was not in the Silver Valley for a business meeting or on some other business outing for Interstate Concrete and Asphalt -- where he is a general manager --, but he drove over from the Coeur d'Alene area just to join us for breakfast. When this sunk in to Jerry, he smiled as happily as I've ever seen him. Over the years, I'd heard some about Jared from Ed, but I had never met him and it was fun to make his acquaintance and listen to him and Buff, who is a City Councilor for Kellogg, discuss the paving and other projects that have been going on in Kellogg. I learned a lot about local sewage and paving problems around here.
By the way, since moving to Kellogg, I've learned more about pickup trucks, dump trucks, large pieces of equipment (excavators, tractors, low boys, skid steers, etc.), local infrastructure problems, snow plowing, and other such things than I've known in my whole life. I learn more and more every Friday at Sam's and from listening to others talk about these things at the Inland Lounge. I don't contribute much to these conversations, but I sure take a lot in and enjoy it immensely.
2. I started to get anxious this morning as the skies opened up and the snow fell. The Deke would be flying into Spokane shortly after 12 noon and all this snow meant that the road going over the 4th of July Pass could be more challenging than I really wanted to face. So, I turned my low grade anxiety into action and vacuumed, swept and mopped the kitchen and living floors, got some dishes done, and, before long, loaded some additional winter clothing gear into the Sube, filled it with gas, and struck out on I-90.
To my great relief, the roads were mostly wet. There was some slush over the 4th of July Pass and I was behind a truck from South Carolina pulling a big boat, going very slowly, but that was fine with me. I'd left Kellogg plenty early and had mentally steadied myself for the possibility that it might be a slow trip.
Once over the pass, coming into both CdA and Spokane, the snow stopped and the roads were easy to traverse. I had volunteered to run an errand for Christy and drove out to Medicine Man Pharmacy near Prairie Rd and Highway 95 with no problem, stopped at coffee stand on the outskirts of Post Falls for an Americano and steamed milk, and arrived at the Spokane Airport's cell phone parking lot in plenty of time.
The Deke and I arrived back to Kellogg just as another snow storm was getting underway and had no problems driving from Spokane to Kellogg.
I was profoundly relieved.
3. Once we arrived home, first things first. I warmed up the chicken stew and dumplings I made a couple of days ago and the Deke loved it. Soon she lay down for a nap and slept for three hours or so. We had thought we might go up to the Inland Lounge, but soon it seemed a better idea to sit in the quiet of our living room, listening to jazz guitar from Pandora. We had a long conversation about the Deke's trip, about the gathering to celebrate the life of Brian West, how generous her friends were about letting her stay with them, how many excellent visits she had with different people, especially, but hardly limited to, teachers and principals and others from Charlemagne, where she taught. The Deke made new friends at 16 Tons while also having fun at the every Wednesday evening wine tasting with old friends, Jay and Sherri.
I didn't wish I'd been with the Deke. While I would have loved to have seen friends in Eugene and revisit old haunts, I know how fun it is to make a trip like this alone, not to have to discuss with another person what to do at any time, and to have maximum flexibility. I've had many such days in New York City and Washington D. C. and made two such trips, albeit short ones, to Eugene after we moved to Maryland. The Deke and I love to go places together, but sometimes it just works out better to go solo and I'm very happy this was one of those times.
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