123homefree


August 06, 2018

Trying to hitchhike to the Coast again with a sheep to escape wildfire smoke!

We left Ashland a week ago to hitch over to the 199hwy and then down it to the coast but once we got to the 199 i heard about a new forest fire along its path in Selma. The only other way to the coast around here is up the I5 and then west over to Coos Bay but its a tighter pass with skinnier easments between the road edge and the bordering private property fences so i was discouraged from wanting to go to the coast through there. I got several clear days and nights while in Grants Pass so it gave me recharge air to illogically rationalize going back into my potentially smoky valley(house on fire) for the farmstand map project i talked about in my previous post. We walked with clear skies the whole way until from Grants Pass almost reaching Rogue River when the smoke settled in again on us reminding me of that horrible claustrophobic feeling! I also got a call from a friend, Anne who i sold 3 of my dairy sheep to. She said it was still so smoky in Ashland that she was considering selling the sheeps outside the area cheap cause she felt bad for them. So Dottie and i upon seeing this smoke and news, we turned the fuck around and started walking back towards Grants Pass to head up the northern route to the coast. Along our walk back we wanted ti avoid Southeast Grants Pass cause its a tweeker haven and so we stuck our thumb out to catch a ride and caught my first actual little 4 door car ride with a sheep!? Dottie “loaded up” quite well by jumping up on the back seat, then i sat in closing the door and turned her around on the seat to sit her down resting her head comfortably in my lap. She rode better like this than in any truck or hatchback i think cause the seat had less vibration and the seat wasnt even stable enough to sit on. The cool young hippy couple didnt care about the backseat seatcover getting soiled so i didnt even lay down our small tarp and Dottie didnt have any dookies the whole trip from southeast Grants Pass up to Merlin!