Sunday, July 6, 2008

A Pleasant Winter Day in Washington

This is one of the most pleasant winters I've spent here in Washington state, even though it seems to have arrived four months early.

Yesterday afternoon I drove to tiny Heisson store, where I have my PO box. With a sack lunch and an iced tea stashed in my backpack, I headed down the railroad tracks from the 279th St crossing to the one at 259th St, a distance of one mile. Reaching my first goal, I turned around and began the walk back.

This was to be the first of the eight or so miles I had planned to walk.

Mid-way to 279th St is a trestle overlooking a stream. I usually stop on the bridge and take in the nice view before continuing. Yesterday, however, the sky opened up and dumped rain all over my parade. Finding refuge under a row of trees, I attempted to wait out the unexpected deluge, but found myself to be the intended meal of a swarm of mosquitoes.

I don't know about you, but I'll take getting rained on to getting eaten pretty much any day of the year.

When I arrived back at the 279th St crossing, I was soaked and angry and punctuated the misty air with well-chosen cuss words, the volume of which I attempted to keep below the threshold of hearing of any humans who were stupid enough to be caught in the same rain as I. Hoping for sun but expecting clouds, I ended up all wet, now in no mood to continue my journey to the crossing at Hantwick Road, a distance of about three more miles. I planted my wet ass in my car and drove home.

I already have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head.

2 comments:

Difster said...

Personally, I love walking in the rain. But even if I didn't it's still preferable to becoming a mosquito fast food joint.

St0rmChaser said...

I love the rain too, honestly. What I get dreadfully tired of is 9 months of it. That's enough to dampen even the most ardent rain lover's spirits!