DAY 18 - Vale, OR - 365 Miles from Home

Lightning keeps striking. Today the Vale Pool - the only active swimming facility in the 9930 square miles of Malheur County - was closed due to lightning. I nonetheless strolled by, checking out one of the city's many historical murals - this one detailing the history of the "Nat": the geothermally heated 'natatorium' that inspired the pool, built in 1908 on the site of a hot springs and serving the area as a bona fide sanatorium. (The Murals of Vale are a wondrous thing, by the way.)

Today's rain didn't deter Bob from his morning leg of our 20-miler... but it did deter me. I'm not (too) ashamed to admit it. When I went back to pick him up after his jaunt, I was in a crabby mood and already exhausted from driving an hour back and forth in the slosh. I spent a good chunk of the rest of the day in aforementioned funk. But if this pilgrimage is teaching me anything, it's teaching me to be an ever more patient witness of my moods. To watch the climate of the heart - clouds, rain, then sunshine. To eat some carbs. To take a nap. To find some puppies. To meet some people.

And to apologize to my ever-undaunted companion, Bob, for my being such a freakin' pain in the keister. - Which I did. With a little gift from Luzetta's Flowers on A Street. Sarah Rodriguez has worked in the store since high school, and has owned it for 18 years. We talked a bit about ranch culture, about grazing fights and scorched BLM land (once fire burns through, federal land can't be ranched for several years. Accusations of arson are not uncommon)... And then Sarah returned to a group of women in the the back of the shop, while I browsed the gifts and cards and vintage items. Suddenly I realized that they were talking about Tibetan singing bowls and sound baths and yoga nidra and parasympathetic nervous systems. I scooted back toward them. "Yoga nidra?" One of the women is a yoga teacher, and she was beaming as she described it. "Have you ever done it?" she asked. A little embarrassed, I shook my head. "Oh you've got to try," she said. "It's magic."

By that time I had already vanquished my RV woes, more or less - thanks to the Shelbys at Rocking R Campers in Ontario. Amanda, Jacob and their two kids - all working this business that's been around for more than 50 years. A family business for half a century. They took it over from Amanda's parents. Rocking R is the only real RV service shop in the area - and they had a two-week wait for repairs when I called. But Jacob fit me in, checked out our propane (I had been worried about a potential leak) - declared the rig sound. Meanwhile, Amanda helped me sort through my potential "pyramid" woes. (If your black water gauge always reads full, you probably need a good long flush, my friends. A garden hose through the window and, as they say - although few folks probably say this about black water tanks - VOILA.)

And then, at long last, there were, indeed, puppies. At evening's end I got a chance to meet our neighbors in the Vale Trails RV Resort: Laken, her daughter Millie, Laken's mom Marla, and the two pooches (sisters) Molly and Roxanne.

Joy.

And now as Bob and I get ready for bed, the sun has fully come out. Birds are singing. The town has that wonderful petrichor smell of a good washing. It's 8 p.m., which is "hiker's midnight." Goodnight, Sun.

Laken, Millie, Marla, Molly and Roxanne.

Amanda Shelby at Rocking R Campers - vanquisher of black water.

A family affair: the Shelbys at Rocking R.

Sarah at Luzetta's Flowers.

A Liberty Walkin' memento for Bob.

Vale Natatorium, circa 1910.

Vale Pool today, with mural of the Nat.

Another fabulous mural - this one entitled "Journaling." I can relate to the figure seated on the left, book in hand.