Paradise Point … country roads

July-August, 2019

After my walk to the Lewis River in the last blog post, and then after lunch, I decided to use the afternoon in my truck to explore the countryside between the campground and the mighty Columbia River. I had a couple of specific destinations in mind, both right on the Columbia River, but I ended up not getting to either of them today because I saw too many other interesting things. I did get to those destinations later in the week and I will tell you about them, but this afternoon was all about a simple drive in the country. This area of Washington State has a lot of really peaceful, comfortable country in it.

Barn lovers, get ready!

Hey, a true scenic drive! Guess I’ll take that road and see where it leads.

Oh my, the road got a bit narrow here. In fact there was just enough pavement for my truck tires to stay on the pavement and not drop into the ditch, even though I took up the whole roadway, both lanes, from side to side.

But around the next bend or two, the roadway widened again and then it popped out into the bright open sunshine and into gorgeous farmland. (click to enlarge photos)

Notice all of the solar panels on the roof of the house above. These folks are certainly not what one might call backwoods farmers.

And look at this barn below!

The barn seemed large enough and nice enough to house two or three high end condominiums inside it, rather than farm animals and farm equipment.

Ah, but then around on the back side of the barn above, I found a good number of critters like the one below.

A happy horse for sure.

Mid-afternoon I pulled off the road into a gas station, to get gas. A few minutes after I pulled in, the truck/trailer above pulled up and simply stopped on the road. Wow, was that horse trailer long! I almost couldn’t get the whole rig in my camera’s view finder.

Not only was the trailer long, the truck was too. The truck’s cab was the same size as my truck’s cab, but the back bed of this black truck was 8-feet long (mine is 6), and the truck was a whole lot taller than mine because it had even larger tires and brakes than my truck has, a larger engine, probably larger fuel tanks, etc. As much as some folks think I have a big bad RAM 1500 truck, my truck would have looked like the baby sister next to this big bad black RAM 3500 Cummins Turbo Diesel Heavy Duty monster truck. My RAM will tow a very healthy 10,400 pounds (my trailer weighs about 3,800 pounds), but this big bad black RAM will tow a full 35,000 pounds and more!

Once the big black truck pulled up and stopped, out jumped the driver (no one else was in the cab). I figured he was going to check something in the trailer or come across the road to the convenience store or something like that. Well, SHE did … she checked the trailer all around and then jogged across the road to buy something at the little store. As she passed me and my truck at the gas pump, I gave her a smile and a nod, she waved and said “hey, nice truck there” with a big smile on her face. I said, “oh … but yours!” She said, “hey, they both get the job done, don’t they.” And then she was off into the store.

I thought the name of the ranch (on the side of the truck) was pretty cute … Equi-Librium … a take-off on the words equine (horse) and equilibrium (balance). Later that evening, I looked up the ranch’s website online. It’s an impressive ranch for a lot of reasons. But, to top that off, turns out it was the woman who was driving that big bad black truck who owns and runs the ranch. I should know better than to assume anyone’s gender! I bet she has some terrific stories to tell.

So I finished getting gas at that gas station and then hopped into my “somewhat big” white truck and continued on down a whole bunch more country roads.

There were acres and acres and miles and miles of hay fields. The sun was warm, the air was fresh, so I rolled down the windows and just cruised around … loving the smell of new-mown hay in some fields … enjoying the look and satisfaction of newly-baled hay in other fields.

 

 

 

 

 

One farmer had this old John Deere parked in front of the house. I’d bet that tractor had been used by prior generations, right on this farm.

 

Down another road, around the bend, up a hill …

The horse above was obviously old, a bit sway backed, a bit tired. I liked that this farmer was taking care of the horse, giving it a good home, being kind, appreciating work well done.

And … last but not least … one more barn …

When you look close, you can see this barn is old, but it has been taken care of too, with a fairly new roof, new paint, and even a little wooden rowboat by its side. 🙂 I liked that.