Getting away from all the down stream bulls#it was jus the lil fix I needed. as soon as left Salem I could see the crests of the the Cascades on the horizon ahead of me. I began to feel like a load was being lifted off my shoulders, like I was going to Val Halle. everything just changed..the colors were getting more brilliant, the smells were becoming more noticeable. big tall Lodgepoles and Ponderosa, Nobles and White Pines. the alpine lakes were emerald green and some blue as turquoise, and deep as some where,..so clear you could see the bottom. native Brookies, Cutthroat and Rainbows jumping everywhere ! my secret camp site on the side of Mt. Jefferson was as pristine as I had left it. not like most which are littered with cigarette butts, beer cans, and lines of fire pits full of disguarded trash nobody wanted to take back home. while looking for an arrow I misshot plunking stumps, I came across two huge Mountain Grouse (as big as chickens), the hen had little ones following. then I kept smelling blueberries...bushes of'em everywhere. I found two different kinds, the larger bushes had the usual ones ya see, then there where these smaller ones. the smaller ones really had that blueberry smell, I made sure to pick as many as I could for Mom. but ya know the only time I was reminded of the bulls#it I left behind, was when I'd be driving and comming across new fishing holes and soaking up the beauty when outta the blue I'd have some dips#it riding my a$$ all of a sudden. flatlanders in their pimpin black escalade or some hazelnut latte sippin yuppie couple in an outback wanting to do 70. probally all freaked out from not seeing a starbucks or a walmart, and needing to get back to their hudge flat screen to catch the latest on lindsy lohan or some silly s#it. it really broke my heart to have to leave all that behind,..(I left my meds at home). I couldn't help but to keep glancing in my rear view to catch a last glimpse and embed in my mind....all the beauty of real life, and the freedom of the hills.