Heading out to places South/Stella & Mama Meltdown Madness/Salvation in John Day

4am baby cat wakes me up to nurse & after that I can’t really get back to sleep. The birds start chirping (the chirds start burping) around 5 am after I’m finished nursing & the light in the morning sky is illuminating our tent perched on the precipice of a yawning canyon. Inigo looks at me like he’s bored too, so we venture out for some dawn patrol photography. I think some of the area fires were hazing the sky a little much for the really clear shot I was looking for, but it was gorgeous nonetheless.



We didn’t really have much of a plan about where to go that day other than try to put some miles on to the south & maybe try to make it to Burns , babe willing. Technically we are supposed to be in Southern Oregon to visit my folks on Thursday, but at the rate we are going, that isn’t gonna happen if we don’t get some road under our wheels.




We backtracked down the Grizzly Ridge & mailed a package in Imnaha.



Then we followed the Imnaha river along the canyon with the Grizzly Ridge to our left & the Sheep Creek divide to our right. Really pretty. We wound down past the Hells Canyon border & then followed Pine Creek to Halfway & Richland. In Richland Stella was waking up so we stopped & hoped to swim/snack/nurse at the reservoir there.

We got all the beach gear out, but took one look at the warm, green lake & thought twice. Good thing Topher inquired. A seasoned fishing looking guy informed us that there were blood flukes in the lake this time of year. He had them twice & when they burrow in your skin they don’t really do much, but if you scratch at them they burn like @#*$&()! Good thing we didn’t take Stella for her first fresh water swim!




We had some good naked & tummy time instead.

Back on the road & trying to make it to Burns just wasn’t in the cards.

From that point on the day is sort of a blur of soothing, nursing, stopping, screaming, fussing, changing diapers, stopping, (swam in powder river reservoir finally at 6pm), until it all culminated in mama & babe crying together in the backseat pulled over on the side of the road 1 mile outside of John Day at 9pm.

Papa sprung for the last room at the Best Western & went & got AMAZING steak dinners from the last restaurant that was open just as it was closing. AHHHHH.. Funny, once we were in the hotel room, Stella was wide awake & calm. I think she just wanted out of that carseat! I don’t blame her…I was feeling it too. We convinced the hotel staff to leave the pool/hot tub open for us for an extra half an hour, so we got to soak a little to ease our nerves.





That kid was awake until 11pm!!!! I don’t know what was up, maybe too much sleep the night before? Maybe she had a ball of toxic gas in her duodenum or her Iliosecal valve? Maybe she just likes to stay up late in hotel rooms like her mama….ever since I was a kid traveling with my dad on trips to deliver cars in California, to my touring days with M4, I have loved to stay up late in hotel rooms. Who can blame her. That was a long day for me & I've been doing this kinda stuff for way longer....she's only been on this planet for 2 months, so let's cut her some slack.


We’re in for it.