from ketchum idaho

hi all. well, 3 weeks of sunshine and going topless has come to an end. it's pretty cool here, drizzle on and off, and i'm afraid the week's forecast isn't very good, but what can you do? may be better for wildlife sightings if it's cloudy. so we crossed oregon over the last 2 days, a lot of high desert, it's really beautiful in a stark kind of no-frills way. a lot of sagebrush, some trees, not many. a lot of flat spaces in between the rolling hills. not really mountains. so which came first, the color "sage" on someone's pallette, or the plant?

i saw a ton of roadside crosses and flowers today and yesterday, all along the way, had to be 2 dozen easily over the 500 miles. these things are in the middle of nowhere. and it kind of made me sad that someone just expired out there on the road and no one (maybe) was around... and now someone else cares enough to drive out to the middle of nowhere and put flowers out there. true love, very sad.

on a funnier note. we went to the cemetery here in ketchum this afternoon to see mr hemingway's final resting place. we found it easily enough, small cemetery, big stone. right there, in the middle of the stone (it lays flat on the ground) right there above his name, some kind soul has left a pint of jack daniels. some things are more important in the after-life than others. whiskey surely must be one of them. we got a chuckle and documented it photographically. sorry, no way to post photos on this computer, you'll have to wait. afterwards, i was wondering if the intent was for visitors to have a shot with ernie, or not. surely that must be the intent. but we didn't go back and do it...


Hemingway Grave video

passed 4000 miles today, with a lot still to go. saw some more antelopes today near the road. local celebrities in this town include bruce willis, tom hanks, clint eastwood, demi and her young b/friend. it's really dead here, very very early spring, the town seems empty, we're totally out of season which is just fine.

the redwoods in humboldt were amazing, what large trees!! spectacular and awe-inspiring, make you feel small compared to nature sort of feeling. we also saw millions (no exaggeration) of wild flowers all the way up the northern california coast and into southern oregon, amazingly beautiful. besides the redwoods, there are beautiful eucalyptus and ponderosa pines.

i miss home badly, but like i said before, the sights are truly amazing. will try to get some more pix up as soon as i can.

mary hoagland, sorry i wasn't there. RIP.

see ya. miss you maria.