Week 18 - a strange, wonderful and terrible week
As we spun out of Spokane, we couldn't help but get excited for the fresh, salty air that awaited us on the coast. I think subconsciously we were dreaming of epic surf sessions, moments in the sand under a hot sun (I don’t wanna lose you to the same day dream, so I’ll quit there) because it was very much a day dream. We are in the flipping PNW, and it's fall.
Once we were set up at our campsite, we were ready to explore, so we checked out the local surf break: West Port. It’s iconic and somewhat famous…it’s also very VERY cold. Like 4/3mm wetsuits, booties, gloves and hood cold. The realization began to sink in: we were WELL underprepared. Logan had a wetsuit but definitely not thick enough (he’s what I'd call a fair-weather swimmer and surfer) and I just had my swimmers.
I was down for a couple of icy dips, but Logan abstained and enjoyed watching the locals tear it up from the safety of the dunes.
the ultimate thrift store bundle
Pretty quickly we realised 2 things: this week of rest was not going to look how we’d imagined, so we’d better embrace that. The second being that maybe “physical rest” wasn’t the only tank in need of filling. We have really started to miss our community in South Carolina, our friends and family that happen to be spread across the globe (honestly, I’d be concerned if we didn’t). But the cool thing was, as soon as we said this aloud, plans quickly started taking form for us to be inundated with visitors in the lead-up to Christmas. We realised, at the very time when we were running on empty in this department, there were plans already made and being made to throw in the pump and fill up the tank. And we thank God for being all-knowing and oh so kind to see to it all.
And so, we enjoyed the cute little surf town for a few more nights before deciding on a new plan for the week: drive the highway south and simply enjoy all that this epic coastline has to offer besides surfing: rocky cliffs, ocean sunsets, foggy hikes, ice cream (and A LOT of skating for Logan). We found our way to Tillamook, at which point we realized it was the very town from which the Tillamook ice cream, cheese, etc all comes from. We made our way inland to one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever been - a mountain top campground by Mount Hood. And it was here that the utterly terrible news of the school shooting in Bend, OR reached us. This was our next stop, and just days before pulling into town it had been struck by tragedy.
For schools, churches, first responders, the community - they are walking in a new reality now and all trying their best to respond well to it.
we were reunited with Isaac - a Lutheran Church Charities Comfort Dog we had met at Redeemer. He’s here in Bend with 3 of his buddies to love on this community
some intense pumpkin carving going on during our first night in Bend
Reece, a LOST bus and Redeemer Lutheran connection here in Bend, reassured us he thinks we were pulling at the perfect time. And so, though we are not yet sure how we will be serving this week, we are hoping and trusting it will become clear, and we can be part of a response that offers support and love to this community.
A shorter blog, but we wanted to keep our wonderful LOST bus community informed, especially as we head into a rather intense couple of weeks.
