Evident Life

It is possible to drive from Lake Tahoe
to Oregon without traveling in the fast lane:
we did it, slowly, lovely, almost lost.

Traveling north and leaning left
we sidled up to the Sierras,
Kings Canyon and Yellowstone Park west of us,
while the land rose toward the places
where magma sometimes insists its way up and out
and where the floating land masses collide
and bend up to compensate for all the shoving down.

Water and wind wear down the peaks,

leveling the valleys, leaving them rich

with everything earth can offer, and we

kept saying to each other how lovely it was.

We do not remember

how we happened upon Susanville

in California, but we did.

A fine, old bar and restaurant,

in a building enduring since

the California Gold Rush

boasted the longest bar in them parts,

parading examples of ranch brands

from the area all along the wall.

Bing Crosby was there once,

and he had a ranch, too,

although not in the area,

but storied tradition is that 

a very generous tip--perhaps it was--

stretched the house rules

somehow to include his brand, too.

Now everyone looks for it.

(I found it, and photographed it, 

but modesty and incompetence will not allow me to show it here; 

maybe because the rules had been bent once too often.)

We ended the day in Klamath Falls,

but there is not a falls there anymore,

and no one could remember where it went.

We really do not know 

whether there is a town in Klamath Falls

because, as it turned out, 

we had not really been in Klamath Falls anyway:

our motel was on a road

off to the side, 

somewhat ill-informed about its own location

and innocently unaware how far it really was 

to Crater Lake.

It was much farther.

Crater Lake is a hole in the ground

on top of the world

filled with water and blue.

There were still mountains of snow

along the road 

and lining the parking areas,

but it was a place--

Daniel and Ellie had told us--

where engagements are made

and promises are promising.

We wound about and wended our way

to Portland where Elliot lives,

doing what she can to make life evident.

But more of that later.