An 8 on 10

Who would have thought that at the end of the trip, our respective ratings would be 7.5 , 8 , 9 and 17. (respective being Milind, me, Vidya and Srini) ..... where we had probably started from 4, 5 ,6 or close. As to what changed our minds.... thats a longer story :).

We started out with a breakfast on the house from Best Western (or our beloved B-Dub as we now call it (....synonymous to U-W(Dub) or University of Washington.) ....... and B-Dub is going to be our yardstick for measuring all possible future Motel-6s or better abodes :) ). I enjoyed the breakfast, and took the liberty of forgetting my diet for one meal.
Around 10:30- 11:00, we set off for our wildlife safari. The wildlife safari at Roseburg, has a good variety of animals ranging from cheetahs to llamas, to tigers, lions and bears. Best of all, as you drive around the park, they are all around you .... without a cage. But the animals seemed so bored of us and our cameras ....... with their lack of enthu to entertain us, the trip really seemed a bit tame. We kept talking about Kazhiranga and how maybe we should do that some day ......
After the safari and a whole lot of pics , and a little satisfaction and a lot of ooh-aah at the freely roaming camels and bears, we headed off ....... on what was a last minute change of plans..... to catch the 101 highway which ran along the entire stretch of the West coast. Believe me, when I say that we had not in the least expected what was coming.

We took the Scenic byway along the Umpqua river which was pretty picturesque. This joined the Oregon Sand dunes national park. As an on the spot decision, (adding hours to our estimated time of travel back to Seattle) we decided to take the sand dunes tour.
So, there was this truck with huge wheels and about a group of 20....... the truck rolled through a forest into an opening which , for as far as you could see was yellow sand. Hills and hills of them , ........ sand dunes. In the far distance the light blue of the cloudless horizon, merged into a darker blue...... the Pacific. But ... whoa ! was it fun. The driver took us on the peaks of those dunes and rolled us down like a tora-tora ride. Its been a long time since I have heard grown-ups shout with glee. :)

From there, with already having ratings climb higher, :) we left for 101. The route is indeed beautiful with the Pacific ocean, calm in the distance ....... but near the shores shows these white laces or furls moving towards the beaches.


We stopped at the South Beach..... the water was freezing cold, the sun happened to be playing hide and seek all the time ........and the waves kept tossing up a wind-surfer in the distance.... and we kept racing with the waves and leaving footprints in the sand.
When we finally headed back, we were tired ....I am sure, but I guess satisfied too. When you go on a trip ...any trip, there is always a bit of the trip that becomes a part of you forever. Its like a book that you read or the movie that you laughed at ...... it becomes an inseparable part of you and goes into making you what you are. Well , thats what happened on those two and a half days of our trip.

But its usually not the experience of a road-trip alone. There are also the characters of the play or the people whom you share this with. And in some small way, I guess you always rub off a little bit of you on each other.

At the end of the day, when we had to travel along boring I-5, Srini's idea was to come up with the best and worst qualities of each other .... as had come across in the trip. None of us really knew anyone else more than as an acquaintance, (I was probably the best common thread among all of them, having known everyone in the group)...... and the things we came up with were frank and honest opinions. Opinions maybe a relationship of 50 years would not have revealed ....but nevertheless, in themselves each opinion was a discovery :).... of yourself...... as you come across to others.

I don't know if we were/are the proverbial ships passing in the night..... but apart from a word game that kept us busy all through and landed up with me arguing that bashful means arrogant .... (:) I can not be more ashamed.) , we threw all kinds of questions across the floor and the answers that kept flying across made the 12 hours (with delays) of a journey back seem non-existent. The questions ??? :) what was the luckiest moment in your life ? What would you have loved spending your life doing .... or if you were given a choice to choose what you love to do as your career what would it be ?

I recommend all this for the next road-trip that you take. As I said, you will be amazed at what unfurls. :)
God did not leave me with much to crib about :) .... the state of Oregon which I kept thinking of never going back to warrants another visit. .... maybe exploring the Hood river and the Columbian gorge...... or following the 101 further up till Astoria. Next time ....