The story so far: I had bought a new-to-me Jeep in Colorado and had an itch to take it into my Ole Stompin’ Grounds in Oregon. So I hitched it to the motorhome and went there, did that. After 3 months on the road, a bank outside of Portland offered me a job.
So I came out of the woods, got out my good clothes, and worked a few months as a Linux System Administrator - until they decided they didn’t like me. I had settled in the town of Vernonia, Oregon, on the east side of the Coast Range.
There is a funny story about Pookie to tell at this juncture in the story. To keep from interrupting the flow of photography here, I have placed it at the end of this post, below a page separator.
The Nehalem River
Vernonia is on the Nehalem River, which uniquely runs along both sides of a mountain range without ever crossing through it. One day, wondering “how can that be?” I drove downriver all the way to the other side of the mountains. Turns out the river goes around the end of the mountain range.
Here are a few shots from that drive.
There was a railroad that went up the Nehalem from Tillamook that carried finished lumber from the sawmills there out to points east. It was destroyed in a flood in 1996 by landslides near this spot that took out large sections of track.
Here is the old railroad bridge across the river. It was at this point where the tracks left the Nehalem River and turned up the Salmonberry River to go over the top of the mountains.
And here is a view up the Salmonberry:
A pretty little river.
The Tillamook State Forest OHV play area
In the Tillamook State Forest, on either side of State Highway 6, is a very large network of four wheel drive (4WD) and dirt bike trails. It is a major mecca for Jeepers and their ilk, containing trails at every level of difficulty. On my birthday weekend, my son and I headed up there in our Jeeps. We chose the Cedar Tree trail, so named because of a certain obstacle that you must pass under:
My Jeep, which is lifted with oversized tires, just barely fit. His passed underneath easily:
Note that this is a series of stills; not an actual video.
This post is about half of the shots that I took while living in Vernonia. You’ll see the rest of them in a few days.
The Pookie story:
Sorry, I have no photos of this.
When I first came out of the woods (see the last several posts here), I parked my motorhome in Dave Wise’s driveway until I found an actual RV / mobile home park to live in. Dave has the “Neoteric Wood Art” Substack, which I recommend. Follow the link in his name above.
There was usually someone home in his house most of the time, so I let Pookie be outside most days. Until Dave told me what she was doing while I was gone at work.
“She spends the whole day looking for you,” Dave reported. If he went somewhere, she would get in his car when he returned, sniffing and looking in every corner and even behind the back seat. He claimed she was saying, “Where is he? What did you do with him?”
What a cat. Only one other time have I seen a cat so attached to its human.
I had to keep her inside the motor home after that, which broke my heart. She really, really enjoyed the outdoors, but got herself into trouble every time I let her be outside when I wasn’t home.
Oh my I remember how I was afraid she would jump in the car unbeknownst to me and end up miles down the road somewhere!
I'm so glad to have had the pleasure of knowing her. At that time I didn't know what a special cat she was and how much you two meant to each other until I met her again when she allowed me to hang out with her favorite human.
Later on when you told me she had passed away, it came as a dreadful shock. When you asked that I make her a simple burial box, I knew that I had to do much more than that. She was the closest companion you had in your life at that time, so I had to make a casket worthy of such a marvelous friend. It was an honor to attend the services with your neighbors and friends to give testament and relate how she held such a special place in our hearts.
Be of good cheer this day, for she awaits her longtime friend, to come home again, and continue the adventure where the woods are sunny and light, and the rivers run warm and wide, next to a prairie, where the mouses play.