When I lived in the Bay Area with all the bridges everywhere I learned to drive going through the Caldecott tunnel being rewarded with a usually beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay when you come out of it. Lake Temesacal is off to the left where I spent many afternoons my senior year cutting my last two classes and with my friends Sue, Karen, Christine or a few others we would feel so adult like being on our own. But we would drive around the Berkeley hills getting lost and then finding our way home again in time not to get caught.
I used to try to find back ways to places that I would go so that I would know where other streets went so I wouldn't have to come back the same way I came. I always loved the different scenery of an alternate route if I had time. Of course there is never time you say on your way to work. Or in my case right now, when everything is on Highway 101.
But a couple of days ago I had to go to Corvallis. It is about a hour and a half to two hour drive from me. There are two ways to go to get there. And the first time I went, I took the same route both ways as I was pushed for time. This time, well now that I am unemployed, I have all my days open, so, I decided to take the other way home.
It was another wooded beautiful drive as are most of them here in Oregon. There are all these beautiful green pines and steams and deep green wooded areas that invite you to stop and make you want to take a walk in them. They are dotted with rustic houses and yards filled with flowers as if they just can't help themselves from growing bigger than life. The Rhodedendrons are blooming everywhere so there are huge bushes of color around every turn.
It had started out cloudy but had turned into a beautiful sunny day and I had the sunroof open as I was cruising down the highway with Little Big Town playing full force, singing away. As I came upon some road work, there was a construction worker standining with his stop/slow sign. He was a round man probably in his late fifties, with a huge full salt and pepper beard and mustache and his hard hat. I was first to be stopped while they allowed the other side to come through. The tune Little White Church came on and to my surprise, he started singing the song and stomping his foot to the beat. It lasted for the whole song while the cars went by. Just as it ended he stopped, and turned the sign then did a very gentlemanly bow stretching out his hand in the direction for me to go. I saluted my partner in song laughing as I looked in the rear view mirror to see the person in the pickup behind me clapping for our host. It was a little three minute interlude on a highway I normally wouldn't have taken. But it will stick in my mind as a great ending to the day.
He could have stood there as so many do, and done nothing. It would have been another part of the day to the rest of us. But he had a good time, from an otherwise annoying situation to most people who had to stop. He made at least two of us enjoy the stop and have a good memory of that road and that trip.
Some people just have a knack for doing that.
I know as a woman it is scary to be out there and reach out to people we don't know. There are so many bad things that can happen, but I have always found that if you trust your instincts, you know that reaching out in small ways and talking to people and showing small gestures when you are out traveling that it is so much more satisfying than not to you in the long run. It is no telling who you might meet and what you might learn.
My friend Nancy used to say Hi to everyone we would pass when we were hiking in Yosemite or Tahoe, or on the Beach. She taught me that it is a good thing to do and I drive Cal crazy by doing it when we go on trips. I ask locals questions without thought of what they might think of me. Call me crazy but who else would know about the area I am visiting than the locals? And they tell you some extraordinary things at times!
So next time you get the chance, take a different way home and see what you find. Who knows you may meet my singing construction guy? You may find that perfect photo, but it is always good to stretch those wings and see something new.
Travel on.
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