Oregon on My Mind

Rebecca had been to Las Vegas before, she worked a few shows at the MGM Grand years earlier, so she showed me the ropes. We bet/wasted about $4 betting in the casinos. I set us up at what I thought was to be the Four Seasons Hotel on the strip. However, what I had actually set us up with was a kind of crappy room at the 4 Queens. NOT THE SAME THING. We made the best of it, and believe we will never have a need to go to Vegas again.

Again we hit to the road; this time directly toward Los Angeles.

We arrived in L.A. about 9:30 on Saturday night on the 16th. We picked up Rebecca's best friend and maid of honor at our wedding, Joanna from LAX. Joanna is a remarkable young woman. She is a flaming conservative, believer, who is single. Dudes, look out for this one. Call Rebecca for any inquiries.

Joanna and her roommate Tiffany put us up for three nights in LA. During our time there we did pretty much everything you are supposed to do in LA. We saw a famous person up close - Phillis from 'The Office' sat four rows behind us at Bel Air Presbyterian, we drove through Beverly Hills, saw the "Hollywood" sign, and got a sneak peak (thanks to Joanna who is deep in "the industry") at a soon to be released film. On a side note, everyone who can handle it needs to watch "The Stoning of Soraya M." if at all possible. Beautifully troubling and due for release in October.

Since our time in LA, we have traveled North through California. This state is covered with much more farmland than I had ever anticipated. California, in general, is one of those places I have never had any urge to visit. I think most of my refrain from this land was due to a fear of earthquakes. Now, however, I have accepted that my death will come upon me entirely out of my control. So I will gladly drive the Pacific Fault Line with no fear but that my and Rebecca's tombstones will not bear mention of our exciting demise having fallen into the depths of the earth.

Speaking of amazing ways to perish. We went to the Sequoia National Park earlier today (Wednesday the 20th). Could there possibly be a more amazing way of meeting your demise than being hammering into the earth by one of the largest living things on the planet? Apparently sequoias can grow to become not just the largest plants on earth, but the most voluminous beings alive. We strolled through "The Land of Giants" discussing and pointing out which of the enormous trees we would prefer to fall upon us, should that be the way we go. General Sherman (the largest living thing on earth) was impressive to say the least, but the park cannot be experienced without walking through it in the early morning.

Tonight (Wednesday the 20th), we are spending our final night on a mattress for a long time. Rebecca and I are about 200 miles from the California/Oregon border, and plan to arrive at our final destination tomorrow morning about noon. So you know, our first organic farm is not truly an organic farm. It's a sanctuary. A wolf sanctuary, to be exact.

We will be staying and working at Howling Wolf Acres Sanctuary outside of Williams, Oregon. Yeah. We will be taking care of live wolves for a few weeks. Believe it. I fully intend to become the pack leader within 24 hours using techniques I have picked up from Cesar Milan the Dog Whisperer. More than this we do not yet know. So we will enter into the unknown tomorrow morning. Not that much unlike the rest of you. So we sleep, we get up, we go, and we trust that we succeed or fail all by the grace of God.

Oregon, here we come!