1. After breakfast at Sam's, I returned home, tried to get the house looking good so I'd return to a clean kitchen and a tidy living room, got cleaned up, finished packing, and vaulted into the Sube and blasted to Kingson to pick up Ed and begin our drive to Pendleton and our weekend with Terry and Mike at the Wildhorse Casino. The drive was easy. The overcast skies were easy on my eyes, traffic was light and sane, and our trip went smoothly.
Just north of Pasco, we stopped in at Farmer's Mercantile, a dizzying store stocked with a wide variety of nuts, candies, gorgeous produce, jars of pickled items, salsas, jams, jellies, preserves, breads, sauces, dips, and many other items. The Mercantile serves tasty looking sandwiches and other food and has a full espresso bar. I wasn't in the mood to do any buying beyond a cup of coffee. Ed picked up some gifts for friends while I wandered around and thought a little bit about trips I used to take to Lone Pine Farm and Thistledown Farm north of Eugene and I suddenly realized I miss those places near Eugene and that I'd like to return to them on a future visit down there.
2. Ed and I checked into our room and I fiddled around on the casino floor a little bit -- even won a few bucks -- and then I drove into Pendleton to have dinner with Colette Marie at the Prodigal Son Brewpub. I've mentioned before that while Colette and I have been in contact for about the last oh, let's say nearly ten years, but we hadn't seen each other in person for nearly thirty-five years.
We took our seats at a window table looking our on Court Street and immediately launched into conversation that was so occupied us that we kept neglecting the menu. Our superb server kept coming back to our table, not wanting us to think she'd forgotten us, and finally, about the tenth time she returned, we ordered.
It went like this for nearly six hours as Colette and I talked about our spouses, our sons and daughters, the good old days at Whitworth, some bad old days at Whitworth, our health, mutual friends, Colette's new job at Whitman College, our ways of seeing the world, and the many ways we've been enriched over the years by places we've lived, people we've known, work we've done; by the members of our families, the ways we've sought fulfillment, by the difficulties we've suffered, and the losses we've experienced. We've both lived full lives since we last talked in person in January of 1984 and, after nearly six hours of conversation, we had covered a lot of ground. We said said good bye, both trusting that it won't be years, but we hope it will be more like months, when we can pick up some of this conversation again and add to it with some yakkin' about books and movies and music, among other things.
3. Back at the casino, Terry arrived from Gladstone about 12:30 a.m. Mike, Ed, and I greeted him near the Lobby Bar and we all enjoyed a single shot of whiskey together, chewed some excellent fat together, and all wandered off to gamble a little bit. I hit the hay about 2 a.m., tired, but wound up with excitement after a full day of travel, time spent with friends I've known nearly my whole life, and time with Colette, whom I've known for much of my life.
What a full day.
What a marvelous day.
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