Throughout our lives, we tend to pick up a few set rituals, often symbolic of longheld friendships.
I feared for a moment last night that my friend Marilyn was going to make me squirm in front of another large crowd.
As mentioned yesterday, we attended her annual neighborhood picnic for the first time ever. Seems that every year something stood in the way, but this year's schedule left the door open.
We both had a great time visiting with a few of the many Selkirk Road/Selle folks who showed up. One couple had just lived in the neighborhood for four weeks, so everyone tried to make them feel welcome.
That task was not hard for Bill or for me cuz we learned right away of "connections." Both were retired educators, most recently from Idaho City.
Bill and Bob also quickly discovered that they knew a Dept. of Lands employee, so that got the ball rolling.
Anyway, the visiting was going full speed ahead when Marilyn stood on her deck, rang a bell and said she had "awards" to give out.
That's when I got nervous.
"Hope she doesn't have that candle," I said to Bill. Our magic friendship candle, exchanged off and on over the past 35 years, has served as a crowd pleaser at many events---book launches, weddings, etc.
Fortunate for me, Marilyn bypassed the candle presentation and simply handed out a couple of small trophies.
As I ponder the candle, I don't even know which of us received it last, so it's possible the candle may never light up a party again.
In the meantime, today signals another friendship ritual---the drive. Later this morning, my longtime friend Chris Moon will show up, and we'll point the car toward Priest Lake.
I'm glad we're not repeating all the rituals of so many years ago when our trip to Priest Lake for a monthly Forest Service traffic survey involved getting up at 4 a.m. and being set-up alongside the road north of Nordman by 6 a.m.
There we sat for 12 hours on a Sunday and Monday, stopping all traffic entering the forest and interviewing the drivers on their plans for entering the area---how long, destination, purpose, etc.
For the most part, people enjoyed the interview, and the more cars we stopped, the faster the day went. In a couple of cases near Clark Fork, twelve hours sitting beside the road netted only five cars. Long days!
When we weren't conducting those major traffic surveys, we were driving main roads and back roads throughout what was then the Kaniksu National Forest. On Mondays we put out traffic counters and recorded starting numbers for each.
On Fridays, we simply returned to the half dozen or so counters and recorded them. Each Monday they moved to a different road.
We also did office work, but the major part of our time as "the girls" was spent driving those Forest Service rigs and perfecting our "truck-driver" waves.
So, "the drive" has remained our ritual whenever we get a chance to visit. A full day is required, and several hours behind the wheel. We get almost caught up each year, and we always have more than enough updates and reminiscing to share.
Chris, who lives in Tacoma and teaches at Pacific Lutheran University, has already been to Priest Lake on this summer's visit.
She told me last night she'd had a piece of huckleberry pie at Hill's Resort and had been shocked when visiting the Priest Lake Ranger Station to see Wayne Kopiske still working there.
Now, Wayne goes back a ways. In fact, I think he may have been working up there back when we drove through and performed our surveying duties in the late 1960s. I'd say Wayne's dedicated.
I told Chris last night that I'd never been to Hill's Resort, so we agreed to put it on the docket for today. Whatever else we do during our gabbing/driving tour remains a mystery as yet.
I'm sure, however, we'll have fun cuz we always did as Forest Service employees and always have on all our subsequent visits, which have sometimes strayed into Canada, just like we did once when we were supposed to be working in the United States.
To say that Chris and I strayed occasionally in our "rigs" would be an understatement.
Anyway, today marks another in the long line of ritualistic trips on back roads through forest lands, and I'm hoping we can keep up the tradition for years to come.
Happy Monday.
P.S. Annie's headed to Munich, Germany, today where she'll meet a friend she knew while going to school in New Zealand. Her fun continues.
Meanwhile, Willie re-enters the world of work after his and Debbie's vacation to Canada. They've got a high school newspaper to produce for the first day of school.
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