A Living Magazine - Day 36 - Muskrat Love, Myron and Rain

I woke up in the field at 5:30 am and had to do a quick pack up, because I was exposed if I sat up or stood up. When I went to lift the backpack up, I suddenly thought of a name for it: Saggy. I immediately began walking again north on Route 99W, toward Junction City...

CV boot.

I got to a very small pond and saw this lovely couple of muskrats (I think that's what they were, but their little ears looked different--anyone?)...

Their own private pond.

Looks like the front of my dad's old International Harvester boom truck. 

Sunrise on Route 99W.

I decided to get coffee at the first place I saw. And, right on cue, a Chevron station appeared...

Awww... all of Life's necessities!

I walked through the large parking lot and met the gas attendant, Myron, there (Oregon does not have self-serve pumps). I continued up to the door.

Inside, the place was empty, except for the cashier and a local customer. They were involved in a pretty intense conversation about some kind of town gossip. I didn't care to listen, and the female cashier thought of me as more of distraction to their talk than a customer. I got my coffee and waited for a break in their conversation to ask if they had a map. The guy she was talking to was the one to help me out.

We looked right in front of the counter. At the center were several maps. I decided to get the full Oregon map. And, I'm glad I did. On the way back out by the gas pumps, Myron asked about what I was doing, so I told him about the project and gave him a card. He was a great guy. He told me about friends of his that did a big journey as a couple with their kid. We also discussed traveling by train and bus; the advantages and disadvantages. A car showed up for gas, and we said goodbye. Hopefully he will get online and read this blog...

Myron - Gas Attendant.

About 2 more miles down the road I passed a place with used sailboats for sale. I thought maybe Joe Omundson (mentioned a few posts back), who is interested in doing some ocean travel, might be inspired. Interesting name for the first boat...

I liked this ground cover. The grass in the foreground is not the barbed-seed grass I'd dealt with in California. This stuff was much softer and could be used as a pad under the tarp at some point...

The early morning light made the gravel shadows look like nails on the payment...

I needed to pee, and was approaching a bridge, so I took the opportunity to go under it and do my thing...

Maybe I really am a "troll"?

Left my mark.

Back on the straight and narrow, I couldn't even see where the road led, it was so long...

Infinity, from a road shoulder.

There were many of these tree farms along the way.

And, this was strange to see. Somebody done somebody wrong. I'm not sure why this isn't considered defamation or legal slander, but anyway...

Finally made it into Junction City at about 10:00 am. My estimate perfectly matched the kilometers that the watch displayed. Seventeen miles had been covered with some amount of efficiency. Walking at night, then sleeping, then walking in the morning was a good strategy so far.

Cute little RV.

This is price of the behemoth behind it. 

I stopped to talk to a pudgy kitty cat by the side of the road. He smiled at me with his eyes and we had a nice little moment until the sound of a big truck moved him on his way, back toward the neighborhood beyond...

Walking into town, I got some interesting shots...

Cool name for a band.

A beautifully done wall mural.

And, some really talented window painting.

At McDonald's I got the post up for the day and examined my map. What is showing are many of the towns I planned to visit, eventually making my way to Portland. This is more like the ideal walking/camping situation I mentioned a couple posts back, with towns every 10-20 miles...

I was running out of power on the laptop and needed a charge. Junction City only has a tiny library. It was Sunday and they were closed. In fact, they had the incredibly demanding hours of being open only on Wednesdays, from 8:00 am to 11:00 am! So, I went to the Safeway store to borrow one of their outlets...

Parking lot memorial honoring some child's life and early death. I did not find out more about it.

Saggy, holding the laptop as it charged.

It began to sprinkle, and I needed to move on. I went back up the road toward McDonald's and dipped under the bridge to take a look. I guess it was Troll Day for me...

Back at McDonald's I looked up the weather on Intellicast and saw that the rain would last off and on until about 7:00 pm in this region. But it was so light and intermittent that I decided to walk on to Monroe, come hell or high water.

There were many beautiful sites along the way...

Rainbows.

A G-Cleff in fan belt style.

I believe these are macadamia nuts. I will look them up later. There were many groves of them.

Algae pond.

A little guy joins the family.

The sky was getting dark and I saw a down pour sweeping toward me. The road had virtually no shoulder. It was very dangerous walking for about five miles. When I saw this rest stop, it was like I discovered and oasis. Right then and there I knew where I would spend the night...

Once I'd found my spot under the tree cover, and put a bag over my backpack, the rain hit...

Sap running down a very large pine tree.

Rain all around me. But I had shelter under the trees.

My sleeping spot was quite nice. The ground was even. Of course I waited to put down the tarp until the rain stopped. The leaves above channeled the drops off to the side of the small clearing I'd found. After letting the ground soak up as much water as it could, and seeing that its surface was now drying, I was able to get all my stuff laid out.

Throughout the evening and even late at night, cars would pull in and people would get out and pee, or adjust their roof racks, or just sit and have a smoke. I slept very well, probably because I'd only had about three hours of sleep the night before. 

Monroe Sleeping Spot