The Road to Shasta (Day 3, part one)

24 October 2010

It was 2:17 a.m. and I was finally starting to drift off... wasn't I?

I had gone to bed at a reasonable time, but I couldn't fall asleep because my racing mind kept rehearsing scenarios of what might happen in California (never a healthy exercise). Bullets of rain were thwapping the Ponderosa Motel from all approaches, and I just wished for the sound of metallic hands clapping outside to fade into the odd drip in the gutter. (Being on the top floor was no advantage when the sky was falling into metal panels just above me.) It was also frustrating that I could hear everything happening in adjacent rooms because the insulation, if any, was so thin. But everyone eventually settles in, whether travelling on business or pleasure or honeymooning, and the guests seemed to have reached a consensus that it was finally quiet hour. And then the rain acquiesced. Finally.

I still couldn't sleep, though. Barring a crisis, I would arrive at Mount Shasta late afternoon or early evening, and the Lord was allowing certain temptations to test my mettle. Though He kept me from stumbling, I couldn't help but pontificate about how inconvenient it was that I was losing valuable repose. I consoled myself with the belief that, if He had indeed summoned me to Mount Shasta, He would see to my safe journey.

Okay then, no reason to be awake. After all, these were not new challenges, nor my thoughts new ones. I knew what my destination was, if not my mission. Details were not mine to iron out. So why was I so stuck on them? (Ah, sinful nature, go away!)

It was a hard fought battle, but the Lord prevailed in me. Then at 2:17 a.m., just when my mind was beginning to settle, I heard two trucks pull into the parking lot. I deduced from the number of distinct voices I could discern that there were two couples who had just gotten back from a night of drinking. I let ten minutes go by before I got up and peered through the blinds to see one of them briefly run into sight and then disappear again. It was hard to tell whether the two men were going to end up in a fistfight (so conveniently close to Isobel, no less!) or sing bar tunes with arms around each other. In a sense I was pleased it was the latter, but I imagine I wasn't the only one who was vexed to hear them pull out some acoustic guitars and belt out Sublime songs with 3:00 a.m. fast approaching. I sighed and went back to bed, thinking about how the enemy seemed to know where I was, too. And he was bent on keeping me awake as long as he could. About a half hour later, one of the truck engines started. The driver honked five or six times as he left the parking lot. It was very annoying, but at least it was over. Can't say how much actual sleep I snuck in, but I woke up in good spirits.

I left Goldendale around 9:00 a.m., after refuelling. The sky was a piercing blue and the temperature was about 8C, a welcome change from the cold rain that had fallen the night before. I drove through a series of mountains and saw several clusters of wind turbines. The hills were yellow, much like those in Saskatchewan this time of year, and there was a friendly blend of the foreign and familiar to fill me with a sense of comfort. Some of the mountain passes were so curvy and steep that I had to slow to 15 mph at some spots. The 97 even passed through this one community in particular that was built on the mountainside, so I was driving within feet of some people's houses. There were even three deer on the front lawn of one residence, and I was going so slow that I had a chance to see them eat a mouthful of grass. It was in this same area that I first saw fallen rocks to accompany the Rocks signs I'd seen before. I guess that beauty can be dangerous, because the landscape certainly was gorgeous. But man would it be tough to drive in the winter.

One of the most beautiful parts of the entire trip was driving near and over the Columbia River in Washington. I remember being addicted to video games before the Lord saved me, and one of my motives in spending so many hundreds of hours on such pointless media was the fact that it allowed me to vicariously visit exotic places. It dawned on me that real life could also bless a person with indescribable adventures, especially for those who serve Jesus Christ.

After a while I did start to despair a bit. The roads kept winding and it felt like I was no closer to my destination than yesterday. The map seemed to confirm this. I crossed into Oregon, which is a very cumbersome state to drive on the 97 South. The scenery just repeats itself and soon feels commonplace (though I suspect the coast is quite different and beautiful in its own right). It was cool to see a few redwoods (though not the massive ones of fame) but they hardly consoled me when I started to see snow mixed in with the rain that was falling. Isobel was telling me the temp had dipped to 2C; I had not planned on snow! [Sad face!]

I stopped in a tiny place called La Pine to fill my tank. Tried to get out and pump my own gas but the attendant said there were no self-serve stations in Oregon. I asked him if he knew how much farther it was to California, and he told me I was about two hours from Klamath Falls, which was about halfway. It was very exciting to learn that I would make it to Mount Shasta with the fuel that I had then, so I decided to stop and eat something. In homage to my childhood, I went to Dairy Queen and had a burger and fries. As I was eating my lunch, I think I overheard a woman at the next table whisper to her husband, "He looks like a Canadian." Must have been the lumberjack beard.

I was on the road again, this time with a renewed sense of purpose. Within a few hours I would fulfill a command that was given me fourteen months prior. I would, until He asked me to do something else, be right with God. I could die a free man. It was a big deal. It had been a big deal. It was here. And maybe it was in poor taste to be thinking about returning home, but for the first time I knew that I'd actually make it back to tell about this journey. It just didn't compute that perhaps God would not want these anecdotes shared. They were, as far as I could tell, the most significant thing He'd done in my life since plucking me like a burning brand from the fire.

I crossed into California. It wasn't a watershed moment. The state line was markedly not Mount Shasta--in geography and certainly in terms of my mission. But Shasta was near. The signage indicated that Weed, the closest town to Mount Shasta, was about 35 miles away. It was still raining, but it didn't matter. I did have a minor scare heading uphill when an SUV cut in front of me and flung a toonie-sized rock at my windshield. It was so big that I could see it from several feet out and I had enough time to cringe at the massive dent it would inflict in my windshield. God being as faithful as He is, it must have hit my [moving!] wiper blade because there wasn't even a scratch! I thought this was a pretty cool gesture on God's part. Though I know He sends angels to protect and encourage, they had done me a real solid in His name and I praised Jesus for His constant gaze and concern.

As I drove through Weed, California, the first significant settlement coming down the 97 South, I was elated to drive past several churches. It made me think the Lemurian garbage Laura and I had read about was just some special interest mumbo jumb. Besides, websites are pretty cheap nowadays and any nut can create one with the software that's available. Maybe I was being blessed with a spiritual retreat that would ignite a flame under me for the rest of my life and give me a renewed interest in my studies. Maybe I would see some powerful miracles. Maybe God had just set Mount Shasta on fire and wanted to use her people to teach and show me some cool things. If Weed was any preview, then that was surely to be the case. This thought freed me to enjoy the mountains on all sides, which were quite pretty. Not worthy of worship, but it was an aesthetically wonderful place to be.

Turns out, however, that Mount Shasta was a spiritual minefield.

Mileage: 2530 km