I awoke a bit chilly in the shadow of my mountain on my eastern flank. This kept me in the toasty bag of sleeping a little longer, but once I was out I was soon packed and heading for the Route 7 junction I had figured was another three or four miles ahead. Within fifteen minutes I rounded a bend and was on it only six miles from Baker City rather than ten. My trusty map was once again showing me made up mileage counts.
The walk was quite nice heading in. There was a little stream that wandered along with me for a while and trees speckled shade across the road so it didn’t get too hot or cold in the morning air. Then there was a flat out straight away for three miles which gave me two slopes to focus on and project the town behind them. I was excited because not only was Baker City supposed to be quite quaint and large compared to my 300 population towns I’d been getting used to, but it also held my contacts from Emily back in Emmett who were holding me new cards specially imported. I called my contact, Linda, and arranged a 1pm library meeting to retrieve the cards hoping they’d arrived and perhaps a luncheon.
When I got to my two slopes a man pulled up alongside me in an SUV plated JEN RIG and asked if I wanted a ride. I gave him my usual spiel, tossed him a car, and was on my way dreaming more of food. Rounding my last slope about a mile or so later, with the town beginning to swallow me up. JEN RIG pulled up again but this time a young blonde girl hopped out around Emily’s age addressing me by name. What a coincidence? I told her I believed I’d just met her dad on his way in and she told me to swing by the office in town to hang out, citing my no-ride rule, and that everyone was excited to meet me.
On my way in I couldn’t wait and stopped in at the first convenience store for some bathrooming and picked up a Little Debbie and cookies for $.50. My sugar craving was at an all time high having had no coffee throughout my desert and mountain travels. Soon after I was in the heart of Baker entering the historic former post office building which housed their quite fancy law office. As I entered the doors the receptionist immediately knew who I was and told me Dave was expecting me. Checks and I took a seat in the lobby and gazed over the black and white remembrances of the town in earlier years.
Apparently once Dave got back in from fetching his glasses at home and finding me on the road side he got into his office and set to work on reading the website and organizing a homecoming for me. I was a bit touched. All the ladies of the office were gathered in for me to listen to my tale and ask questions as they fed me miniature candy bars and sodas of my choice. There was coffee there as well, but at this point I was so overwhelmed with my treatment that I couldn’t bare sitting there asking for more and more sugar, as is required for my addiction, and soda was pleasing me fine.
After fifteen to twenty minutes all were still bubbling about with curiosities over my sojourn when another lady showed up representing the town paper which Dave had called. Everyone was then ushered back to work and we were given use of the conference room for an hour long interview, maybe longer, that was, to my pleasant surprise, a very in depth and interesting interview to do. Occasionally Dave or Jen would pop in to clarify an arrangement or say hello, as was the case of Jen’s mom Lisa, as well as to give us more soda, water, or candy bars each. Actually I was the only one accepting the sugar products en masse.
A little past noon the hubbub had died down, the interview came to a close, and the office emptied for lunch. Dave had called ahead to the gym in town, which he owned, to expect me so I could use the showers there and clean up without having to head all the way back to their house. The town was also alive that weekend as the celebration of their mining heritage in the Miner’s Jubilee started up with fairs and sidewalk vendors. Jen was the only one left inside and she was heading to the gym as well for some afternoon yoga so she gave me a lift. Checks had had enough of travel that day and stayed in the office.
They were indeed expecting me there, and with Jen as my escort my status was solidly confirmed. Donated to me were a towel and some fancy shampoo so that soon enough I was fragrant and clean once again, refreshed for a waltz through town. On my way out I got directions to the library.
Through the streets I felt like a made man. The town was a preserved cutesy little western town with its stone buildings and old fashioned architecture. Envisioning Brando walking down the carted streets of New York I passed by the sidewalk vendors in the sweltering heat everyone seeming to be expecting me and know my name. At one point a bunch of kids scurried by me and I had an uncontrollable urge to give one of them a quarter, pat him on the cheek, and tell him he was a good boy. I managed to suppress that urge thankfully, but as I entered the library in this mood there was a woman reading magazines at a side table and greeted my by name as if expecting me. Confusion wracked my brain.
What I had thought was that Jen was Emily’s friend, and Lisa the Linda that I’d spoken to that morning nullifying our 1pm meeting when we met in the conference room. Jen had known my name and knew my no-ride strictness even for in town jaunts. I’d even spoken of Emily in the car on the way to the gym. Now I found out that I’d made a second connection in this little villa and planned to stay the night with a host who hadn’t expected me in anyway that morning. Over the next half hour of me apologizing for being late I sorted this confusion over with my true connection.
Linda was entirely gracious about the whole affair. The cards had come and as I asked how much they were she told me not to worry about it at all. We then moved outside to get her daughter and friends for sandwiches and ice cream at a local parlor. We spent a good hour or so chatting over lunch, which she treated as well, laughing about my confusion and had an interesting religious talk. By 3:30 we parted ways and I got into the library again to update the ole site.
Five started nearing as I was finishing my last post so I wrapped it up and headed back to the office. Dave had invited me not only to stay the night but to snacks at the house before a rodeo then a huge meal afterward. The snacks were a great display, quesadillas, and some other bread wrapped tasty treat, along with some Mountain Dew.
The rodeo was my first, outside of one back in Massachusetts when I was maybe 11 but I didn’t really think that counted, and I fully took in the American pride exhibition complete with a full speech on how John Wayne loved America so. The bucking broncos were quite amusing to me as I figured out the point system with Dave and began making predictions between the ride and the score board lighting up, usually within a point or two. Afterward we hit up the beer garden where, despite my waning interest in alcohol, I figured you can’t go to a rodeo and not have a beer. Whoa, Nelly, it was a standard, watered down light beer, and I only had one cup, but it definitely hit me a bit with my lowered food intake and hiatus from the good drink.
Dinner was at the local bar/restaurant which reminded me somehow of my old Irish bar in New York even though it was completely fitting with the western historic style of the town. A gaggle of us filled the table as folks spotted my hosts and came to chat. Two of them were friends of Lisa’s who were looking to scout out the beer garden scene we’d just come from, the other was a 79 year old Okinawa veteran who still does triathlon training as a hobby. It was an interesting crowd and the conversation and food absolutely satiated my wishes and wants.
Retiring home at the end of the night we went over a morning plan and I dug out the laundry I’d put in before leaving. I was given my own room with a huge comfy bed so I plopped on top of it and gave my sister a call. In the course of our talk she convinced me my route through Wenatchee was foolhardy and that I’d be better off going through Mt. Rainier. When I got off the phone around midnight I repacked my things and tucked in for a comfy nights sleep.