Date: Thru, 5 June1997 Subject: The Saga of a Steel Magnolia in Silicon Valley

Hi All,

Wow... I started this saga on April 27! I have a lot to tell, but I'll try to not get carried away with it all.

Set the way back machine to April 27 and hang on! Sunday. Katherine and I drove up to the top of Mt. Hamilton and had a look at Lick Observatory. There are a number of domes up there and something for every one. It was 23+ miles of switchbacks and hairpin curves and a 4000+ foot gain in elevation. A neat ride. Katherine drove and I white knuckled it from the right side. Most of the way up the mountain was extremely narrow with a crumbling rock wall on one side of the road and a drop-off on the other. This was Katherine's first time on mountain roads as a driver, she did very well. I, however, did not do as well. It will be a while before we go back up there.

We have also been watching the comet as often as possible. When Haley's came by it was a major disappointment. We didn't see it all. Hale Bopp has at least been visible. Even with all of the light here, we have gotten a fairly good view of it. Unfortunately, we have yet to see the spaceship that is traveling behind it. If any one gets a good look at it, be sure and tell me all about it.

I am working on several essays and articles at the moment and not doing much else. Hopefully we are going to Oregon next month for our first camping trip. I miss the quiet of camping out. It is always noisy here.

May 12. The sheep may be safe tonight, but the roads are definitely questionable now. Katherine passed her driving test today. We went to breakfast afterwards and had a power bonding session with the biggest hot fudge Sunday that the restaurant could put together. So much for dieting today. These rites of passage must be celebrated as best we can.

May 17. Just another working day for me. Did I take it laying down? Hail No! I finished up around 11AM and ran home, mentally plotting and planning all the way. Katherine was just getting up when I opened the apartment door. I looked her in the eye and said, "Answer the question with a yes or no. Do you want to go camping?"

The kids not dumb, even when she's just waking up. She said yes. Well, I told her to get dressed and get her gear together because we were leaving right now. It took about a hour to get all the stuff in the truck and leave. A quick raid at the Chinese take-out, and we were throwing ourselves onto the highway.

The problem with throwing yourself onto the highways around here is that 50,000 of your closest friends are always there to go with you. Getting off of the peninsula is a nightmare. Around 100 miles away, the traffic moderates and it's not too terrible. Katherine was awake by now and asking about a destination, and oh by the way could she drive too. Well, I let her drive and got the map out. Like I hadn't already picked a spot... Lassen Volcanic National Park was the target for the day. About 250+ miles or so north of Sunnyvale.

The ride north took us through the agricultural areas, groves of trees and fields stretching as far as we could see. Then we went by the rice paddies, interesting indeed. We got to see a neat little bi-plane dusting crops. A fun sight. Then we got up into rolling hills and eventually mountains. North California has interesting mountains and is definitely volcanic. You can still see snow on the Sierra Nevada's to the east and in front of us are more snow capped mountains. Big ones. We got off of I-5 at Red Bluff and went east towards the park. The country is rolling high desert interspersed with mountainous areas as we gain altitude towards Mt. Lassen. You can see Mt. Shasta, very impressive. Inspiring actually. The snow is a gleaming white and the rugged mountains thrusting up into a deep blue sky are made for just stopping and staring at it. Then we went around the hill and passed through fields covered with lava bombs followed by the actual lava beds. The cliffs are giant lava flows that have eroded over time. Must have been an interesting sight to see to behold.

We are gaining altitude rapidly and passed the 5000 ft. sign a while ago. It is also twilight and the terrain increasingly rough. Well, we made it most of the way. No problemo. We stopped at a state run camp ground and got our site up and ready for the night. The air is so clear and clean up here. And the flowers are everywhere, scenting the air without a hint of smog. It's an illusion really, but I'll take what I can get.

We slept well. The air was crisp and the moon was blindingly bright. A cup of hot tea in the morning was heaven. I hadn't planned on doing any serious cooking on this trip. This was only a little run-a-way, not a full blown trek. Well, I re-heated the Chinese bar-b-que and we enjoyed the morning. A tiny mule deer came right up to our camp site and munched grass and moss as he watched us watch him. He made not a sound as he walked through the camp ground, magic I think. In an instant, he vanished. Oh well. We broke camp and went on towards the park.

The drive up the mountain was really fun. We pulled over and got out to play in the snow. It's every where up here now. Well, a good girl from Georgia has to have fun somehow, doesn't she?

Okay. We got to the park. It was closed. I knew this before hand anyway. We stood in the parking lot and just listened. The wind was blowing through the trees and the sound of running water was every where. The snow was melting, even if the road through the park was closed because of it. Wow, again. I also liked the big sign on the ranger station as you enter the park. 'YOU ARE ENTERING BEAR HABITAT.' Well golly, what did ya expect? We were getting chilled by now. Having read the geologic and area info, it was time to go down the hill one more time.

Katherine did most of the driving and I got to look around as we went by. I liked the 'Spit A Pit' advertisement. They seem to grow olives up here and it reminds me of the peanut signs in south Georgia.

Okay, it was only a little get-a-way, but it was what I needed.

Onward. I have been using Windows 3.11 for a while and have resisted upgrading to Win95 strongly. Well, I finally drove Win 3.11 into the ground at warp 9 and the smoking crater was visible from three counties away. Well, we were off line big time now.

Ted arrived on the May 21st. My hero! I just looked at him, batted my eyelashes and said sweetly, 'But Honey, I knew you would want to fix it." (yeah right, he hasn't been fooled by that one for over 20 years) Now the fun begins. We started by doing a re-partition and then installing LINUX. It was a snap, slick actually. The ensuing chaos continues. Win95 refused to load.

We did the only thing possible. We left after saying 'BAD COMPUTER. BAD, BAD, BAD COMPUTER!' One more time, we loaded the truck and ran north on I-5.

This time there were three drivers and we made good time. Oregon was new territory for all of us. Our destination was Ashwood, Oregon for 'RockStock 97.' A twice yearly gathering of rockhounds. The trip north was pleasant and seeing the Cascades was worth the time. As far as we could see into the distance, the jagged peaks went on and on. Really impressive. The weather was great, too. But, before we liked, it was getting late.

We stopped at an Oregon state campground for the night. Ted was a sweetheart about the whole affair. This is a guy who likes to camp out at Ramada Inn, and now for the second time in 20+ years, I got him to go camping. Wow, a pattern is emerging, I can see it now. Miss Katherine fixed a steak dinner (with glazed carrots and mixed veges) with spice/apple cake for him and all was well for the evening. After a cup of Expresso, he was even feeling mello. This is a high class camp, Expresso is merely part of the service here. J

Much to Miss Katherine's dismay, Ted joined me in an evening chorus of 'Oh Tom The Toad.' (evil grin)

The morning came quickly and was crisp and clear. Perfect. We got on our way after breakfast and headed north on U.S. 97.

Central Oregon in a rolling landscape that is heavily forested and sparsely populated. When the trees break, you get an unbelievable view of the mountains. We stopped several times just to look and admire the view.

You can only absorb so much magic and by the time we got to Madras, we were just about viewed out. Sounds crazy, but overload is overload. Now the fun began. Remember that computer melt-down? Well, the directions to 'RockStock 97' were inside it's twisted, smoke stained innards. No problemo. I just stopped at the local station of the Oregon State Patrol. They were closed. No problemo. We located the DMV, by their sign, and went over there. They were closed. No problemo again. Well, we drove around Madras, it's not very big, until we located the town hall and civic complex. It took 2 minutes to find. Then we stopped at the police station. It was closed, too. But, there was a ray of hope. On the very bottom of the 'CLOSED' sign was one line saying to go to the basement of the courthouse if you really had to. Well, across the parking lot I marched. On across the street to the courthouse and around the building, looking for an open door. When I found one, and only one, I was suitably pleased. Into the bowels of the courthouse I went, looking for a live soul. When I found the dispatchers office and asked for directions, they said that you couldn't from here to there. Was there really a town out there? Couldn't be, no way, no one lived out there. No, I said, it's out there and you should have directions. Right? Well, they dug maps out and poured over them for a while before the radio squeaked and they asked the officer if he knew where Ashwood was. Sure, he knew where it was. The maps were all wrong, just go this way and turn there he said. Okay, fine, still not a problem. I thanked them kindly and went back to the truck. We followed the directions and sure enough, got to Ashwood. It's pretty country, high desert. We liked it. Well, we set up our camp and walked around. The event coordinators were super people. Ted found some nice agates and a piece of jasper that had been worked on at some point in time. I enjoyed looking at him. Oh well.

Our time in Ashwood could probably be classed as a drive by. We had to leave so that Ted could catch his plane back to Georgia, and work on the stubbbbborn computer.

Now we get to the really fun part. Here we are driving south on I-5 in northern California. I'm in the rear seat, Mr. Noble is in the front passenger seat, and Miss Katherine is driving along at a sedate 70MPH along with 100,000 of her closest friends. I was looking at the map when the truck started swerving wildly. There was another car in the median, also swerving wildly. It was a California Highway Patrol car. I looked at Ted. He looked at me. We are both trying to mentally estimate the bail money necessary to get out of this scenario. The CHP car pulled over as soon as it was under control. Miss Katherine pulled off the road in front of him. No use in having him chase ya down. Oh well. The patrolman came up to the drivers side and proceeded to give Miss Katherine a friendly lesson on how to use her mirrors more effectively. He admitted to driving in her blind spot and sympathized with us about the situation because he has a teenage son learning to drive too, and..... Well, we sat in stunned silence for a minute. He didn't ask to see her license or anything. No paddy wagon appeared and the swat team was conspicuously absent. Every one went on their way. We changed drivers at the next exit.

Ted worked on the computer when we got back to Sunnyvale. It was a stubborn beast. He did make his flight though. I had to deal with the monster any way. Oh well, Katherine and I worked up a list of ten ways to deal with an uncooperative computer. Look at my home page soon for that one. As soon as I get all the WIN95 stuff loaded, my next project is LINUX. Any one want to form a users group?

Life couldn't be more interesting. Maybe. I'm posting a current picture on the home page of Tbear and I that was taken in Oregon. Remember, fantasy is the game here!

Take care and write when you can.

Jan Noble

The Steel Magnolia

steel_magnolia@mindspring.com

inthewind@mindspring.com

:-)))

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