Lost in Oregon

Am sure you folks came across this story- http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news/116555193774760.xml&coll=7&thispage=3.

A 35 year old dad of two girls. That's someone i can identify with. More so, because of the two vacations i had in Oregon. Check this map - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Roseburg,+OR&ie=UTF8&z=9&ll=42.676378,-123.535767&spn=0.93694,2.752075&om=1. As you drive down from Oregon to California - you are likely to check out places like the Winston safari and Ashland (with its replica of Shakespeare's Globe theaters) and then you look for the best route to California.

Now you have two choices - drive past Mt. Shasta onto boring Reading and Sacramento or drive down the glorious highway 1 along the Pacific coast. Simple choice. To get to Highway 1 from Roseburg or thereabouts you can take Highway 42 (shortest route) or go further down and take 199. Obviously you want to do the 42.

The right turn at the 42 is near Winston. You are likely to miss this turn - i did so on both my vacations. On the second occasion, i was 50 miles past Winston when i realized the error. That turn isnt as easy to spot as it should be.

On the first vacation, we were looking to get to Steamboat from Eugene - http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=eugene,+OR&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=8&ll=43.729429,-122.783203&spn=1.841869,5.50415&iwloc=addr. We looked at some Rand-McNally maps and figured there was shortcut no one knew about. 30 minutes of ever narrowing roads finally ended in a dirt track. We knew we were lost and an old gentleman who could have been from the sets of Deliverance (http://imdb.com/title/tt0068473/) turned up to confirm our status. "Oh thats a nice car you have. You could be lost for days on these roads if you dont know the road numbers. You can drive around for days and run out of gas."

Hope his family finds peace. If any of you can, do contribute at jamesandkati.com. My wish is the money goes to better rescue infrastructure and safety signs in Josephine county.

Thanks for reading thus far!

Before you ask for some incriminating photos - we had about 3 rolls shot at Hawaii. All of them were processed at the local Costco. Smera and I took turns browsing thru the rolls. After seeing two of the rolls, Smera said "I dont want to see another one". Thats how bad the snaps were - never mind that it was a top holiday destination.

Hawaii's a nice place ... great in fact. We were in Oahu, the most populous island. But let's say you dont surf, dont sunbathe (you are as brown as you want to be - true for all Indians), dont scuba dive. And if you are my wife - dont eat seafood. What you are left is with snorkelling and swimming in the sea. Oahu doesnt have the volcanoes and lava flows - thats on Hawaii (aka the big island) and other islands.

We might have enjoyed things a little better if Smera hadnt fallen ill. Indeed, we were in the Emergency Room till 6am one night when she had 103F. We ended up doing have the stuff we wanted to - sour grapes, i guess.

Had some fun snorkelling at Hanauma bay - an exotic experience. On the final day, we took a sailboat tour and i had the opportunity to sail and snorkel. We were taken 1/2 a mile out into the Pacific to a place that was about 10-30 feet deep. I attempted (keyword!) to snorkel. But the thought of swimming in an open expanse of water made me panic - never been so freaked out all my life. 3 attempts to get into the water - each time i ended up grasping for the side of the boat. A humbling experience that taught me what fear really was...

An epiphany we had - one should always shop for souvenirs on eBay. After searching high and low and bargaining like a Scotsman, we bought a mask that had Hawaii in silver letters on the top. Some googling on our return determined the mask to be from Papua New Guinea (an island which brings up these thoughts - http://www.pngaa.net/Articles/articles_The_Kukukuku.htm). And what of the eBay dealer that sold Hawaiina and stated "No shipping to Hawaii and Alaska"?

Guess we'll go back some day. Possibly to one of the other islands.