Reunion time

I got up Thursday morning, August 6, and knew I had to get to Mount Hood Village where the Hunt family reunion was taking place.  In looking at the weather for the day, I was glad I hadn’t stayed at Baker City.  The temperature this morning was 39 degrees versus 46 degrees in Ontario.  I’d told Verlie I’d be there today, so there wouldn’t be much leisure time.  We’d be in contact throughout the day so she’d know where I was and how close I was getting. 

As I made my way along I-84, I could see smoke in the distance, then smoke all over the road.  Then I came up on flames on the hillside in the distance.  I stopped to take a photo.  The previous evening I’d talked to someone who said it shouldn’t take long to burn out as there was nothing but dry grass in the area.  I believe he was mostly right, but there was sure a lot of blackened area, and I guess, not much anyone could really do about it although I saw fire-fighting equipment and fighters in various roadside areas.  I rode on, just happy to continue on my journey.

Open flames near the road made me want to go, and go fast to get away from it so I didn't get caught by more road closures.

Interstate-84 is a rather nice ride, even if it is a big road.  It runs along the picturesque Columbia River, with lots of birds to view and tugs pushing barges.  It has some nice sweeping turns, and a few places where I needed to stop to take a photo, or two.  But enough dallying at The Dalles.

This is beautiful, even tugs and barges, and wind generators.

I would be leaving 84, and heading up Highways 35 and 26, both of which are listed as scenic.  They’re my favorites, and while I try to follow that type of road mostly, sometimes ya just gotta make some time and take the big Interstates.  But running the Interstates uses a lot of gas if you’re riding the posted speeds.  I try to stay under, but on some of the really big ones you have to run hard with the big dogs in order to not get run over.  This one wasn’t too bad, and so I enjoyed the ride before hitting the smaller roads.

Mt. Hood in the distance, and where I was headed.

I was coming up on 50,000 miles on the bike, and knew I needed a service.  I’d called a shop near Mount Hood but was told they didn’t have a 4-hour increment available until the following week when I’d be back in Phoenix.  They offered to do an oil change and look over the bike to make sure there was nothing obviously out-of-whack.  I figured that was better than nothing, and I’ll do the big one on the next trip.

Verlie and I made contact.  She and Joe were headed into Portland to do grocery shopping for the reunion meals.  I later found out there were five carts, fully loaded and over the top -- loaves of bread and rolls, dozens of eggs, cartons of milk and cream (think home-made ice cream), 40 pounds of potatoes, tri-tip beef for smoking, chicken and buttermilk for soaking, onions, jalapenos, asparagus, dill pickle slices, soda and the list goes on.  What a shopping trip … and a thousand bucks or so spent to keep everyone more than well-fed.  I was also told that many of the check-out lines shut down to avoid checking them out … haha!!!

I went from Highway 35 on down Highway 26 looking for Mount Hood Village so I’d know where it was.  The phone GPS kept saying to turn, but there was nowhere to turn, and in making a couple of roundabouts in the middle of the road, going the wrong way on a one-way, and then nearly dumping the bike turning around, I decided to hell with it, and headed to the shop, thinking I’d worry about my final destination later, when Joe and Verlie could guide me in to wherever I needed to be.

As I rode toward the shop, I ended up passing Mount Hood Village, where I needed to be for the reunion.  I made a note of the milepost number so I’d hopefully find it again later.    Down the road I went, following the GPS directions and easily finding Latus Harley-Davidson.  Sometimes the GPS works miraculously, usually in towns and cities.  The shop took the bike in immediately for its oil change and once-over.  I hardy had time to try on a couple of shirts.  Good grief, how am I supposed to shop when you’re so efficient, guys? 

Yep, I found them.

 Joe and Verlie were already back at camp when I arrived.  I was glad to finally be there, happy to be off the road and being a part of the reunion.  While I’m not blood, Joe is one of my brothers, and Verlie is a sister to me.  She and I have known each other well since 1987, and Joe has been a part of my inner circle since the early-90s.  Biker Bill and I introduced them, and they ended up married. 

Camp cooks ...

 They introduced me to a variety of family members.  It was going to be hectic with more and more people arriving Friday and Saturday.  I tried really hard to remember names and hoped to meet people a few at a time.  I’m not so good at names anymore, so it would be a challenge.

Yes, dogs are family members, too.

I drug out my camera, and decided I could contribute not only by helping with whatever chores they could find for me, but with photography.  Many times there are not enough photos taken, and the memories only live on in the brain or the photos are on many cameras and phones but not organized in one place for folks.  The plan would be that I would give my memory card to Brad, Joe’s son, and he would make CDs for people at the end.  That was the perfect plan.  And worked well.  Plus I love to take photos, and there would be loads of opportunities.

Verlie and their baby, Jazzy.

 Finally, it was time to pack it in for the night.  It had been a full day, and the next couple of days would be even more-so. 

Someone was so tired they forgot their shoes.

Friday, August 7, was the first full day of the Hunt reunion.  There was breakfast to be made … and lots of taters to be peeled as each meal includes taters.  Fried taters, tater soup, cheesy taters.  OMG!!!  I’m in tater heaven.

Now them there's some taters.

My day somehow ended up, not only taking pictures, but hanging out with kids.  What’s that, you say?  Kids?  These two were older, Kaylie and Peyton.  They wanted to go down to the river, and I wanted to walk.  So, I was a designated “responsible adult.”  Ha!  If they only knew.  It was probably a half-mile walk to the river, and I was glad to stretch my legs.  The river was great, and the girls wanted to go in.  I was wearing long pants, so that was not an option for me except for getting my feet, shoes and socks wet.  But I was happy to take photos of them having fun. 

Peyton and Kaylie.

Kaylie and I were picking blackberries along the trail.  Many more were eaten.

 After a bit it was time to head back to camp.  Lunch time was looming, and I was hungry for a snack.  Later the girls wanted to go back to the river, so I put on shorts, deciding to be a part of the river, too.  This time I took the little camera just in case disaster struck and I slipped and fell into the water. 

The river was really a pleasant place to come.

 I met some awesome dogs at the river.  A min-pin that was a rescue from a non-responsible breeder who kept it in a kennel so it didn’t learn how to walk on all-four until it was rescued (I HATE irresponsible breeders), an all-white Malemute-shepherd mix and some little white fluff ball named Daisy.  I made friends with all of the dogs, did some wading, some photographing.  It was a perfect day for me, and then it was time to go back.  The girls were not interested in returning to camp, but I had to be firm.  Besides, we were going to the indoor pool later after dinner.  I even swam a bit then, and hit the hot tub.  It would be a great way to end the day, and I knew I’d sleep well.



The Malemute-shepherd mix was a beautiful boy.

But this American bulldog, Jack, took my heart for the weekend.  He's a rescue and deaf.  His personality is wonderful, and I spent a lot of time with him.  In fact, his owner knew he'd better keep an eye on him when I left to be sure he wasn't a motorcycle passenger.

 

What a face.

 

My bike became a clothes hanger for the weekend.

But first, we had to peel more taters.  Tonight’s dinner included deep-fried asparagus, jalapenos, onion rings and dill pickle slices.  I tried the dill pickles (not my favorite), the asparagus which were great, and the onion rings that were the BEST EVER!!!  Hilary was a deep-fried lover’s delight, mixing batter and coating and dropping coated veggies into the big fryer.  She kept it up as long as folks were eating, and even after, so there were plenty of left overs for late arrivals. Plus, there were 70 dozen home-made cookies … snickerdoodles, peanut butter, ranger, chocolate chip and more.  It was one of those nights where you eat til you puke. 

The Bistro menu.

On Saturday, August 8, Verlie and I waitressed for Papa Joe’s Bistro, his breakfast cafe.  Joe, his daughter, Hilary, his brother, Scott, and Brad cooked.  It was short order, with eggs, bacon, taters, burritos, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, toast.  It was loads of fun, especially when you know it’s only for a few short hours.  Hilary had made aprons for us to wear.  Verlie chose purple; I chose blue because it had the cutest ruffle at the bottom.  What a great idea it was, and we were just hostessing with the best of them, serving up chatter and some lip along with the pancakes and bacon.  We could be starring with Flo at Mel’s Diner on TV, ‘cept this was better as it was short-term.  But the pay certainly wasn’t as good.

Some of the breakfast cooks and servers.

There were games for the kids, more river time, more pool time.  Mount Hood Village has something for everyone, and the Hunt reunion folks were enjoying every bit of it.  There’s a golf course, an amusement park close by, the river, the pool, trails for walking.  And the huge trees make everything beautiful.  We had picked and eaten blackberries as we walked, so this whole stay was so very pleasant and I really loved being a part of the reunion. 

You want tri-tip?  I got tri-tip!!

The final meal would be smoked tri-tip, cheesy taters, blackberry, peach and apple cobblers made in Dutch ovens over coals, and homemade ice cream made with an ice cream maker Joe constructed using a washing machine engine.  It was quite the contraption. 

These are the Dutch ovens that would be used for making the cobblers.

How long before they're done?

 

Cobbler chefs.

 

Old-fashioned vanilla ice cream coming up.

This weekend was not a dieter’s weekend.  It was a food-lover’s weekend, so what could I do?  To not eat or partake of the wonderful food made specifically for the folks coming to the reunion would be rude.  I did not want to be rude.  And there’s always tomorrow to get back to my good eating habits.

 

Thank you, Joe and Verlie, for inviting me.  I had a blast.