Kalama-tous First Day

---

Kalama-tous First Day

August 27th marked the beginning of a new phase in our lives. Two years earlier we'd reunited the family so our two sons, born 14 years apart, could get to know each other. We'd moved from Australia to Portland, Oregon, where our older son Sky, the muso, was living, and consequently our younger son Lucien did his last two years of high school at Grant High School, while we all shared a house at NE 28th and Skidmore.

Now the house was breaking up. Lucien chose to fly back to Australia and begin his adult life there, Sky found an apartment with another muso, and Phil and I were setting out on long-awaited trip through the Pacific Northwest, focused largely on the Canadian Rockies.

There were big questions ahead: How would our lives be, suddenly back as just us, after 32 years of childrearing? But the more immediate concerns elbowed in, as they do.

Having gotten Lucien, with his masses of gear, to the plane for Oz the night before, somehow I'd imagined we could pack our remaining stuff and be out of the chalet by about midday. If you know us, you're laughing. Especially Beryl is.

When we assess the volume of what remained and revised drastically the idea (yes, I admit it, MY idea) of what could fit into our miniscule (5 ft X 5 ft) storage unit, we loaded into the van the blue rocking chair with its hassock, the papasan chair, the last wooden chair, boxes of crockery and baking dishes , and headed out in search of a donation site. Happily the Women's Resource Center of St. Helen's took nearly everything and by midday, instead of heading off on our dream trip, we were just having a late morning tea in a coffee shop.

Suffice it to say that hours of Windex, scrubbing, vaccuuming, and the bagging of stacks of sewing, disks, books and videotapes later (Phil had already boxed and stored all his electronics a few days earlier), at about 5pm, Phil suggested that we forego camping that night and stay in a motel, in fact, a motel BEFORE we got to the storage unit. Good idea.

At last we locked the chalet and climbed in the van, which groaned its way down the long dirt driveway, a strange white loaf bulging with our clothes, necessities and camping supplies, with a stuffing of copious quantities bound for storage and a crumble topping of plastic bags of rubbish.

North to Ranier, Oregon, then across the Columbia River to Longview and south on I-5 to Kalama, WA. That's far enough!

We booked into a motel, decided that nothing we might want from the van was in any way accessible, and climbed empty-handed to our 2nd floor room where the “view of the river” was mainly the view of the railway embankment between us and the river, and we collapsed on the bed in the darkened room.

Then the earthquake struck! As the motel shuddered and the table lamp visibly wobbled, a low, repeptitive sound filled our consciousness. What should we do? Get out? Rushing to push the drapes aside, I saw a freight train roaring past. A trainquake. And so it went...again and again...

The next morning we went to the local espresso bar, which was a clutch of 3 tables behind the washing machines and driers of the laundromat. It was there that we read that Kalama was the home of not one but TWO winners of the “Miss White Trash” contest. The newspaper article on the bulletin board informed us that one of the winners actually worked at this laundromat, but we didn't get to meet her. However, we did find out what the contest winnings included: a lifetime supply of Spam, a year's supply of Camel cigarettes, a check for $29.99 and a 1973 pickup truck painted with “Miss White Trash”, which her landlord refused to let her park in front of her apartment, so she sold it for $100.

What was the winner's runway strategy? She put on a fake pregnant belly, some battered high heels, lit a cigarette and opened a can of beer.

Now in case you'd like to enter this contest, where is it based? Portland, Oregon!

---

Photos

Martha Van Mollison
Ready for anything--we thought.

Sky and Lucien
Lucien's celebration dinner for finishing high school.

Comments

[Michelle Cavanagh]

On the road again!
Keep it coming - I'm loving it!! Makes me wish we were back on the road again...well we will be soon - in Japan - but our 'road' vehicle will be the Shinkansen. Lots of love to you both. M xx

[Sara Hiebert Burch]

Happy Trails!
Think how boring your blog would be if you had packed up instantly, taken to the road without incident, slept in a four-star hotel in a quiet forest, and had your morning coffee at a Starbucks while reading the Wall Street Journal. We're counting on you to continue in the present vein so as to keep up our spirits as we muddle along in less interesting circumstances.