DAY 14 - Bates, OR - 283 Miles from home

There's something lonely about a forest road... especially if you're literally walking it alone.... I found myself melancholy today, high on a hill hiking through the Malheur National Forest - home of some of the oldest trees in Oregon: ponderosa, douglas fir, white fir, lodgepole pine, larch... And then the road dipped down, and suddenly there was meadow. Why does the valley do that to my heart? The land spread open - and something opened inside. My soul sighed, and the cows watched - slow-eyed and vaguely curious.

Bob and I are settling into our rhythm of splitting the walking and the driving. Today we each hiked 11 miles . ultimately arriving about 15 miles west of Unity, OR (our destination tomorrow). Then we backtracked to our campsite for the night: in the back field of Mark and Mindi Shelton's Austin House Cafe in Austin Junction. Mark and Mindi were hustling it when we arrived - serving a lunch crowd that included two young cyclists from the Netherlands, days away from finishing their Trans America - some Department of Natural Resources folk perhaps (official-looking shorts and polos) - and a group of local folks: kiddos, grandparents, an elderly couple. "It's busy for a Thursday," Mark shared.

Meanwhile: Mindi can COOK. At 5 p.m. promptly we were in the dining room, two frosty IPAs at our side. The special was an astoundingly good smoked chicken, cheese and pesto sandwich with kettle chips. Dessert options included bread pudding and four types of pie. Huge meal. Small bucks. I am, by the way, a pudding & pie gal. Some people are cake & ice cream folks - but they're just heretics. Puddings. Pies. That's what we're talking about.

My heart still aches a bit. This is maybe homesickness. Each step is a step further and farther. That walking away is at the heart of every pilgrimage. You have to leave home. In order to connect more deeply, you have to feel the tenuousness of all connection itself. We've been out of cell range since we hit the forest - and I'm realizing how tethered I am to The Signal. I'm feeling some 'range anxiety.' Absurdly so, since our Garmin inReach's allow us to text loved ones, to stay safe and locatable as long as satellites are whizzing overhead. And meanwhile here at Mark and Mindi's we've got a decent wifi signal even out in Libby, our rig. I'm hardly disconnected! - even here amid the ponderosa and pine.

And... then... there's Thor. The Shelton's puppy. He's climbing all over me in the dust, his puppy breath in my face. A little silver Mjolnir - Thor's hammer - on his collar. His paws are so huge that I know he's going to live up to his name.

Sacred communion of the slobber.

Our accommodations in Bates: Mark and Mindi's charming Austin House Cafe - part general store, part restaurant, part campground.

A Malheur National Forest valley.

The cows are watching.

In Thor we trust.

It's very hard to get an "Ussie" with a wriggly 3-month old puppy.