Breezy - actually, quite gusty but that didn't start with a B and didn't fit into my theme. From Sacramento to Yreka, it was a constant battle against the winds that were hitting full force on the passenger side of the car. I found that it was unwise to be passing any vehicle while going under an overpass as the full force of winds awaited you on the other side and after watching a number of semi's and motorhomes take a swipe over the line in each situation I figured it out pretty quickly. There was no letting go of the wheel for even a moment, one handed operation of the wheel was not wise either. Three plus hours of this adventure was getting a little old.
Bare -- Yay!!! The Siskiyous were bare! The same road that nine days before had 3'-4' walls of snow on the side of the road and that I followed snow plows down were now bare with no indication of snow except on beautiful Mt. Shasta where it belonged.
Bob - I stopped in a small town in mid-Oregon which will remain unnamed, to get gas. Since of course you are not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon I had to wait for the attendant. The first attendant, bless his heart, walked like Tim Conway's "Old Man" character. Could be because he was a minimum of 30 years past retirement age. Very sweet and may have been the owner of the station for all I know. He was not Bob. Bob, looking very much like one of the boys on Deliverance, appeared after the gas was finished pumping. Bob offered to wash my window which had a fair share of bugs which had met their demise. My drivers side window was down and I commented to Bob that it would be very nice if he would wash the window. No further conversation was necessary, but much to my surprise Bob started telling me how he had been busy talking to his friend who was quite intoxicated, who apparently is always intoxicated, and he just wanted to make sure that he had made it home OK (driving, mind you). I was speechless. What the hell?
Brazen - Soon after I got back on the freeway still puzzling about Bob, there was a responsible looking, 50ish gentleman on a motorcycle that passed me and then got in front of me. All was well until I see him stretch both arms up over his head! Now, you see kids do this on a bicycle, I even did this on a bicycle when I was young, but a motorcycle going 65 mph! It was only for a few seconds but long enough for me to think that if he dumps it I am going to be eating him with my grill. Not cool.
Now the Bam! Dang. I drive 2,300 miles without a single incident. Then, in Albany, Oregon, I see a piece of either roofing material or more likely a piece of a tire go flipping up in the air after the car ahead and to the right of me runs over it. I tried to dodge it, but since it was flipping like a piece of paper in the wind going every which way and that it was impossible to miss. I actually did pull to the left in hopes of missing it but contact was made. The item was most likely a piece of tire because of it's thickness. It was black with one side of it kind of a gray/beige which made it resemble roofing material but it was too thick for that. It was about the size of a dinner plate. I pulled over at the next rest stop hoping that it had only hit the bumper and maybe miraculously had just bounced off. Not so lucky. It scratched and cracked the bumper and then hit the headlight. Don't know how much the headlight is but I'm guessing a few hundred dollars. Great. The bumper is probably a couple hundred too. Super great.
So, this should be the end of the story but the bad things always come in three's right? Erik didn't want to ruin my day so he saved the best for when I got home. I told him about the headlight as soon as I pulled in the garage and that I wasn't sure if it was going to become an insurance claim or not as I'm not positive what our deductible is. He says, well......I didn't tell you about our other insurance claim. What! On Friday he started the dishwasher and could hear water running where water shouldn't be running. He had to look and look before he found the connection for the dishwasher where the hose was split in exactly a perfect location to spray between the wall and the cabinets without hardly a drop showing anywhere. Of course, the water was going somewhere alright. It went under the cabinets and under the subfloor and our kitchen flooring is all buckled. On a Friday night - why not? Our entire kitchen floor at a minimum will have to be replaced. We do not know yet about the floor joists. We think the cupboards are fine but we will find out tomorrow after the insurance adjuster comes out. The third thing is our Shark floor steamer that we have only had for less than a year, blew up and sprayed water everywhere. At least it only holds a quart or so of water so no damage, we are just out a $100 steamer. Enough already! It's good to be home. = )
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