Lessons to learn . . .

Today we learned two important lessons, so we'll share them with you. We got on the road early today, around 8, and buzzed along smoothly . . . up to a point where we were about 80 miles from the California border. At that point the large overhead electronic board flashed at us
"I-5 closed 70 miles ahead due to
blizzard conditions in California."

Completely taken aback, we puzzled over how to proceed – stop at the closure point and wait it out, or find an alternate route, or . . .

When we got a few more miles on down the road, at Grants Pass, OR, we stopped and made inquiries of a) the tourist information folks, b) the attendant at the gas station, c) the on-line traffic advisories from ODOT which carried dire warnings of the requirements of chains on all four wheels, d) the 511 reports on highways.

We finally decided to try the apparent alternate route, down Hwy 199 to the coast at Crescent City, CA thence on down the coast. After just a short distance (13 miles) down this route we came to another sign – WRECK AHEAD – after which we came upon a long line of stopped vehicles. Two boys walking up the road told us that a semi had hit a van, leaving the van in the ditch and the semi stretched across the road. After about an hour, a deputy sheriff came by and said that it would be at least an hour before things were cleared.

We decided to head back and go on down the original route, which to our great surprise and frustration (but not disappointment) was open, clear and totally unmarked by further signs of closure or chains or anything else. Look at the first picture below to see the awful conditions we faced.


Lesson #1: Your life gets messed up when you get bad information, and it's darn near impossible to tell whether the information you get is good or bad.

We're now in Orland, CA at the Old Orchard RV Park, quietly enjoying a wine (Clara) and a Scotch (me). The trip was uneventful, actually over the whole day, except for the misdirection of the bad information.

We did get to pass by Mt. Shasta and got a beautiful view of it, together with a couple nice pictures.

Lesson #2: The output from Photoshop is heavily influenced by the character of the surroundings left after you've cropped off a part of a picture. Armchair philosophers can rephrase this and really go to town, starting from "What you see is heavily influenced by the circumstances in which you confront it . . . "




Here you can see three photos, the second one cropped from the first -- but note that its coloration and its character have changed without any action other than cropping -- and the third cropped from the second.