The 4th of July comes every year at the same time. I know, I know, you are thinking that this guy must be a ROCKET SCIENTIST?????? He is so smart he can figure out that the 4th of July happens at the same time every year, AHHHH, but wait it does not!!!!!! The 4th is always the 4th, but last year it was a Monday!!!!!! and next year it is a Thursday!!!!! I feel so much better now that I have gotten that cleared up!!!!!
Well, now that I have blathered on for a few paragraphs it is time for the telling of the tale.... Let me do the set up... Wednesday morning, 9 am, the 4th of July, bustling downtown Merlin, Ore. (if you want to know more about Merlin, just GOOGLE it) at the LITTLE PANTRY store which is sort of like a 7-11 on steroids!!!!!! anyway, there are gathered in the parking lot a bunch of OLD PEOPLE and OLD VOLKSWAGENS and other Volkswagens.
The whole gathering looks like a mass escape from a Volkswagen assisted living facility!!!!!!! We are gathered here waiting for the one who will lead us on this trek across the mountain to the far reaches of Gold Beach!!!!!! where at a time to be announced we will fill the sky with much fire and noise!!!!! (Now ain't that some fancy writing???)
So at the appointed hour plus 30 minutes our leader arrives. At this point in time I must mention that even though it is the 4th of July I am wearing a SWEATSHIRT, a HOODED SWEATSHIRT AND A PAIR OF GLOVES to ward off the last remnants of winter!!!!! Of course every one else is in t shirts or at the very most a light jacket since going over Bear Mountain and going high up in the woods where the temperature drops to what I consider BELOW FREEZING is no big deal for the locals!!!!
Leader Larry spins his finger which means to start em up and get ready. Again there is something at this point that requires your attention. Leader Larry denotes exactly that. He is first out. I am the TAILGATOR!!!!! which means I bring up the drag or tail end. We both have C B radios so that if anybody breaks down, I mean their car, not them personally then I contact the leader and tell him so we all stop and wait as the rule is NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND!!!! Did you see the play on words with TAILGATOR. A little home town humor!!!!
So it is old people driving old Volkswagens in a line as we all leave Merlin, well not all were old as I was there too!!!!!!! heading down the Merlin-Galice Rd. we go and then make a sudden left turn and begin the climb up the mountain. When I wrote about this last year or at least I think I did??? as we got higher up the mountain we hit snow!!!!!! This year it was a better drive with no snow, but still cold, but not uncomfortable as you will see in the pictures.
Upon arriving at the rest area somewhere out in the woods we all took a break (I am trying to be polite here) and just sort of CHILLED OUT. I took some pictures (see attached). After a suitable time Leader Larry spun his finger a with a double blow of my OOGA HORN and the C B radio screaming it's usual static noise we went screaming down the other side of the mountain!!!!!!!
and with that I will conclude this chapter and start up again with the continuing story of the 4th of July!!!!!! But I leave you with this thought.
Just imagine if you will 8 cars full of old people driving down a tight 2 lane mountain road!!!!
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