I was three miles from town and I awoke beneath a tree that held a falcon in its branches way up high. I packed up with a smile and moseyed on in. New Plymouth, as I read coming in, was a town developed in the late 1800’s as an experimental town for new methods of irrigations. An interesting little tid bit. I saw it as a source for library updating or a spot of coffee. When I got close to a gas station a guy pulled up next to me and asked if I was looking for work. When I said no and told him what I was up to he wanted to interview me.
Figuring the interview would be a little bit I gave up the gas station coffee for some café coffee and breakfast. Unfortunately by the time I discovered all the places were closed I’d wandered too much and decided to skip it, do the interview, and just go on to the next town. We sat at a bench on the main street and he fired off questions and I elaborated when I could. I was hungry, so when it ended I promptly headed off thinking the town five miles away.
On my way out of town another guy pulled up in a pickup and asked what I was up to. When I told him he offered me breakfast at his house so I jumped on it and took the ride over. Josh and Monica were great hosts to me. They cooked me up a plate of eggs, toast, and sausage, then followed that with coffee and these fantastic sour cream and raisin bars. It sounds awful but it’s like apple crisp with sweet fudge in place of the apples. We chatted for about an hour or so about their travels all over the northwest and life there in New Plymouth. Josh goes around and is trying to get pictures of all 800 towns in Idaho and they generally go everywhere hiking and outdoorsy fun. I received many a helpful tip from them as I ate.
By 11 Josh dropped me back at the corner he got me at and I set off for Fruitland. When I got there, two hours later, Oregon was taunting me two miles away so I completely blew through the town. I regretfully even blew past the market selling cherries for $.99, but oh well. I crossed over the river and took my pictures by the welcome sign to my 11th state of the walk.
Immediately I sought out the library, wading through the initial interstate-side stripmall extravaganza that lay before me. I got to the library in half an hour or so only to discover it was closed Mondays. Poop. I back tracked a bit to a laundromat instead and did my wash as I ate across the street and reviewed my friend Dave’s script some more.
Five o’clock approached as I hauled my freshly washed clothes over to the diner and repacked paying my bill along the way somewhere. Refreshed and ready to cover some more miles I remembered needing my Oregon map and now bee-lined it to the Chamber of Commerce for a free one. I got there exactly at five as they were closing but still was able to slip in and grab a decent map before they fully locked up. Retreating to a nearby gas mecca I brushed my teeth, donned my sunscreen, and set down the roads of my new Pacific coast state. I was exhilarated about it for about five minutes, then the heat kicked in again.
As I was washing and eating the morning air hit noon, then afternoon and the 100 degrees of open humidity was back again. My deserts were disappearing, which was fine by me, but it was back to the leaky forehead and wiping sunscreen out of my eyes.
About an hour out of town I was stopped by some Mormon missionaries who’d just gotten home and were looking to chat with me about Jesus. I figured why not, I’m out here to hear everyone’s beliefs so I went to their backyard and listened about Joseph Smith over a glass of juice in the shade. It was interesting, but after about ten minutes I was getting concerned about the setting sun more than the dawn of Judgment Day. I thanked them for the juice and their time and shuffled off.
Two hours later the sun was in the ground and I was six miles from the next town where I wanted to be. I pitched my tent by a field of crops and set my sights on finishing up my critiques on Dave’s script. About two hours later I was exhausted and drifted to sleep.