Day 201

Damp morning and I’m feeling kind of gray myself. Had a long sleep and still feel tired. Is this another age related state? I’ll start the day with exercises and plan a walk. Later, church. I do want to go. It’s September 11 and the news is full of the disaster 15 years ago. I don’t want to relive it. Hallmark channel is my friend lately as I don’t want political news either. I have an isolationist attitude for emotional comfort. 

POH

My father was a insurance claims adjuster whose territory was from Garberville to Crescent city to Weaverville. It was probably more than that but those places are in my story. The summer I was 16, he had me drive all his business trips so I could get a lot of highway experience. He was a silent man and didn’t offer conversation or advice about my driving. Often when he had business, he would get me a candy bar and a magazine and I would wait, or we would stop for coffee and pie. Most of the trips were local like Arcata or Fortuna. On one trip to Garberville, we went into a restaurant for lunch. My father asked for a hot pork sandwich. The waitress said, “You will have to have beef.” My father replied. “I don’t have to have anything.” And we left and found another restaurant. On a trip to Crescent City, he had business in an auto dealership owned by Roy Deo. They decided to have lunch together at the Blue Roof restaurant. When the meal was over, the two men challenged each other over the check. What happened was neither of them had any money and I ended up paying the bill. On a trip to Weaverville, Father learned that the person he needed to interview was working in a cinnabar mine called King Solomon’s mine. It was in the Klamath primitive area and we turned off at Forks of the Salmon. The driving was scaring the pants off me but he sat and didn’t offer help or advice. One lane, dirt, straight down on one side and no place to go on the other. I did it. Found the mine, found the man and then had to make the return trip. A truck came toward us and I had to back down the road as he had the right of way. I was sweating a storm and my father sat like Buddha. He did instill confidence and I learned to depend on myself.