From Touchet to Hubbard, Oregon

We got a fairly early start this morning getting ourselves and Auntie Violet ready to leave the Farm and head for Oregon. Sister Sherry took puppy Keiko into the vet for his six-month check-up. He weighed 103 pounds! He's going to be one big dog. They got back just as we were ready to head out the gate, so we had a chance for one more good-bye.

I did take one more picture of my favorite dog, Deacon. He's the one who persuaded me that big dogs were okay after we had gone through the trauma of my friend Gail being so badly bitten by the husky when we were in Alaska. How could anyone not think this wrinkled guy is to love?

It was raining lightly when we left the Farm and we had rain almost until John Day. The drive through the Columbia Gorge was gorgeous even on a rather dark cloudy day --

The rivers are all incredibly full. The Columbia is as high below the dams as it is above them. This is a tugboat pushing a couple of barges of wheat downriver --

We pulled into Daughter Dawn's house just outside of Hubbard a little after six o'clock. Dawn had just returned from her work at the clinic and Son-in-law Todd had dinner waiting. It was so good to see everyone! Grand-daughter Kyra and Grandson Micah have both gotten quite a bit taller -- Micah is all legs! And Grand-daughter Havela now proudly has possession of her driving Learners Permit.