Today was one of those days that make road trips so enjoyable. After Finalizing our itinerary for the trip east, Gloria and I drove to Springfield to meet with Elizabeth Lyon, author of six bestselling books on writing, (I own all six), frequent lecturer on the topic of writing, and book doctor. The picture is of Elizabeth doing in real life what she has been doing with my writing for the past year, beating me up! In fairness, she is always respectful and dispenses suggestions with a touch of humor and great wisdom.
We were locked into a fairly long drive to Burns, a little town in central/eastern Oregon that is about 260 miles east of Springfield, so we had only a short visit with Elizabeth. However, before we left she set us up with another off the beaten path adventure that was too good to pass up.
Artist Jerrald James has a studio a mile down Johnson Creek Road, a dirt track off highway 126 in Leaburg that had potholes to rival the park road to Glass Butte mentioned in an earlier posting. Like that adventure, the trip was worth dodging mini replicas of the Grand Canyon. Jerry sculpts in metal and integrates them into collages. However the day we arrived he was making decorative ribbon candles. Thanks to a little advanced warning from Elizabeth and his own generous spirit we were treated to a fascinating demonstration of decorative candle making, and a sample of the product to take home.
If that weren’t enough, we were treated to a tour of the wonderful corner of Oregon that Jerry calls home. Lush fern groves, towering pines, rushing streams and waterfalls, and a bridge that looks like something out of Hook (the version featuring Robin Williams and Julia Roberts) gave way to beautiful views of forested hills. You might not get to visit Jerry soon, but check out his web page, www.etsy.com/shop/RibbonCandles
Central Oregon from Bend to Burns on highway 20 is flat high dessert. It is also about 300 miles from our next destination, Twin Falls, South Dakota. We met some nice folks at the hardware store on the way through a few weeks ago, and decided to stay there for the night. The Days Inn is inexpensive, has lots of the amenities of more expensive chains, Michael at the desk was great. I suspect that a smoker used my non smoking room in the recent past, but other than that we are comfortable .
For those of you keeping track, here is our fairly definite plan for the eastward trip:
Arrive
|
Destination
| |
20
|
06/19/11
|
Burns, Oregon
|
21
|
06/20/11
|
Twin Falls, Idaho
|
22
|
06/21/11
|
Bozeman, Mt
|
23
|
06/22/11
|
Sheridan, Wy
|
24
|
06/23/11
|
Deadwood
|
25
|
06/24/11
|
Wall, Sd
|
26
|
06/25/11
|
Sioux Falls, SD
|
27
|
06/26/11
|
La Crosse,WI
|
28
|
06/27/11
|
Peru, Ill
|
29
|
06/28/11
|
Fremont, In
|
30
|
06/29/11
|
Youngstown, OH
|
31
|
06/30/11
|
Scranton, PA
|
32
|
07/01/11
|
Colchester, CT
|
3 comments:
I'm glad you got a chance for a one-two punch from Elizabeth. I lost count of how many she landed on me before I published a book. That's how I got my thick skin
It was a joy to meet you and Gloria, Dave. I'm so glad you made the stop to see Jerry the Artisan, his studio, and his forest. By the way, those tall pines on your walk up to the tree farm are firs! Pines grow on the eastern side of the Cascades and most have been eviserated by the pine beetle.
What a great journey you're on. Any plots bubbling up?
It is a shame about the pines, but the firs were magnificant. So far we are letting the experience wash over us, collecting pictures, blog posts and memories. I suspect that the plots for some new stories are rattling around in my unconscious,but I'm not encouraging them to emerge until they are ripe.
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