We were up bright and early, drove the car around a bit to get the gears lubricated before hooking up and heading out on the I-5, heading north to Canada.
I have a good friend (Tim) who lives in Bend, Oregon whom I hadn't seen for a couple of years and while we were driving north, and as soon as it was acceptable to call, I called to see if he was free today and would he be able to drive over the mountain range to meet us in Springfield as we passed thru about noon. We talked for a bit on the phone and then agreed to meet "somewhere in Springfield"
There was a Walmart in Springfield, but while en route I decided to fuel up at a Pilot that was just north of Medford, Oregon. It was close to the freeway so I thought it prudent to fill up at this time.....
Yes, there is a story here.... Well, for whatever reason, I pulled in to where the cars and pickups pull up instead of the truck area. (Mistake #1, because the truck fuel nozzles are big and pump quite fast). Next, I pulled up behind a Mercedes car, thinking he would be fast (Mistake #2, because the guys who were pumping fuel (in Oregon there is no self serve) had to page him twice because I waited 15 minutes for him to come out of the store...."I had to go to the bathroom" he said in reply to my comment that he should have some consideration for others wanting to fuel up. I was upset, and let him know that I thought that if he had to go to the bathroom, perhaps he could do it on his own time and maybe park somewhere else than the fuel pumps..... Jeez!!!!
I had to call my friend to tell him we would be late, but turns out he was taking longer than anticipated also. The Walmart we went to had a VERY sharp turn into it as well as only 1 lane... Had to get Darlene out to ensure we could get in, as the rear tires went up on the curb this time, while the front was rubbing the curb! We made it OK, had a wonderful lunch with Tim and got caught up on some happenings on our lives. It was about 2 1/2 hours for lunch, but most definitely worth it. It took Tim 1 1/2 hours to drive there, but I would do the same for him, if he was in the area. Good friends are few, and we treasure those we have!
After we left Tim, the landscape became more and more familiar in that it was what we were used to with trees and mountains. lol.
Oregon and Washington both have wonderful rest areas on the major freeways, and tonight we stopped at one just north of Portland, in Washington state. They allow you to stay for 8 hours, and we did that, after I had cleaned the front end of bugs, which were plastered all over it!
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