Monday morning I had a Hertz car reserved and they were supposed to come and pick Mom and me up from her house at 9:00, which is when they open. The Hertz place is within a fifteen minute drive from Mom’s house so I wasn’t concerned for the first fifteen minutes, but by 9:20 I was beginning to get antsy. We wanted to get on the road to visit my younger sister in Klamath Falls.
I finally called Hertz and they said there was no driver on the way because they didn’t have my mother’s address. I know that when I made the online reservation I had to enter the address and phone number on the form, and I remember in the comments box giving them directions to her house. Oh well, they eventually came and got us and we filled out the paperwork and got the car.
Mom in her garden
The trip from King City to Klamath Falls takes about five hours. For the first couple hours we were on I-5 down to Eugene. Then we turned east and headed through the Willamette Pass. The scenery is gorgeous; driving through the mountains along water ways. Mom and I had time to have conversations about spiritual things, which is a favorite topic in my family.
We had to stop in the Willamette Pass for road construction so this was the only chance I had to get a picture of our surroundings.
We finally arrived in Klamath Falls sometime around 4:30 in the afternoon. I had brought a gift for my nephew, Nate, who just graduated from high school and will be attending University of Oregon this fall. I had made him a quilt with as many of the things I knew he was interested in on it. He recognized right away that I had put flags in it.
Nate with the quilt I made for him
We had dinner (a very good dinner cooked by my brother-in-law) and then Nate showed me a story he’s writing. He has an impressive list of stories he’s been working on. The list takes a whole notebook page with double columns! He let me read a couple chapters of one of his stories and I gave him some editing suggestions and told him I would do that for him in the future if he can send me just a couple chapters at a time.
Mom had brought a gluten free cake for dessert, and after dessert Nate and I walked to a local coffee stand. They had a problem with their machine and weren’t able to give us heated drinks so they gave both of us cold drinks for free. Then we sat down and chatted for a while about life and Nate’s future. I love my nephew! He’s such a thoughtful young man.
Behind Nate is the mantel full of graduation cards he’s gotten and his graduation cap. The banner is from the college he’s going to be attending.
When we got back the whole family sat in the living room telling stories and laughing. It’s always fun to be with this part of the family. I’m glad I was able to come down here.
Rob Izzett and Lauryn McCroskey