Tumbling stories

My mom complained that we do not write enough about the stories and adventures we encounter as we go. That we are too thoughtful in our blogs, and this is a resource for those of you (which is almost all of you) who do not hear from us very often. So I apologize for that, and I will try to tell you some stories, although the one I wanted to tell was the one that Matt told about Madelyn and Samantha and their parents. I think Jonathan or Lauren told the other story I wanted to.

Tonight we are probably staying in the back yard of a Fire House in Prineville, OR. We stopped by to have an EMT check out of various ailments, Jonathan's feet, my blisters, etc. The guys were nice and we'll be camping there tonight once I get off the computer at the library.

I can't think of a story I want to tell... so here's some things I learned about Oregon and things I've learned in Oregon.

If you go into a kitchen that prepares food for a number of people (not a family home) you will see a sign about how to wash your dishes. I want to get the label for my family.
The toilet paper comes individually wrapped in public restrooms and is wrapped in blue paper.
When they say sparse, they mean sparse.
Not all cities on maps exist. Sometimes, if you are lucky, they are a road. Other times they have fallen off the face of the earth into oblivion and your hope for a restroom withit.
There are a lot of logging trucks that go down the roadways.
Walking west to east was smart, except in the afternoon when the drivers are blinded by the sunlight and therefore can't see you on the shoulder.
Yelling out "SEMI!" in a loud voice means get off the road or prepare to be blown over by the after-wind of the truck.
Life does exist without computers.

Ah hah! I have a story, about Matt, because he's sitting here, and I know that he'll appreciate everyone knowing it. We were walking from...we were walking to Redmond. And the wind kept pushing us from behind. Dirt was flying, we saw our first tumbleweed. Matt was walking in front, and I was directly behind him. As tumbleweed ket going past, I kept laughing, imagining it being so monstrous as to take a person out. Matt asked what I was laughing at, and I told him. He said he wouldn't be knocked down by tumbleweed. Not too long after that, tumbleweed started flying again. Right before my eyes, before I could even warn him, it snagged the back of his leg making him stumble. Not enough to hurt him, I wouldn't laugh at that...but it did make him stumble and I did laugh.

Maybe you had to be there. Just imagine it though. Take a second to stop reading, and close your eyes....ahh..now you are laughing (unless you are Matt's mom or sister, in which you probably don't think it's all that funny...but he's okay and I swear if he had been hurt I wouldn't have laughed, and if it hadn't happened so quickly I would have warned him).

Well, my stomach is calling me to move on. I'm starving. I'll start storing up stories to tell, and not keeping them all to myself.