Rain, rain, rain.....

    If you like rain, December in Oregon is for you.  We have seen the sun for maybe 15 minutes this month.  Looking at various rain gauges around Portland, the rainfall is about 10-11 inches of precipitation so far this month and it is raining lightly as I write this.  I have read that the native Chinook people had 22 words for rain in their vocabulary.  I know why.

     I must admit that the water is needed.  We have been in a four year drought.  We need rain and lots of it.  More importantly we need snow in the mountains.  A good heavy snow pack means filled reservoirs and flowing streams and rivers in the spring and into the summer.

   It does mean dark gray gloomy days and, because it is winter, long dark gloomy nights.

   The stormy/ rainy / snowy weather does create a interesting situation as R and I plan for our trip heading south.  The plan is to head out on the 26th.  Depending on what the weather is doing and whether it is snowing in the mountains, we will pick our escape route.  The preferred route is !-5 to Eugene, Hwy 58 over Willamette Pass, and Hwy 97 through K Falls and into Calif.  Alturus, south on 395 to Reno, then Vegas, Phoenix, and then I-10 into Texas.  The crux part of the trip is getting over the Cascades.  I-5 into Calif. is an alternative, but is longer and much slower due to the traffic and the amount of grades to climb and descend.  Going my route entails just one grade, and less traffic.  I-5, being I-5, gets more attention and the heavy traffic keeps it open longer than 58.  I try not to fret about it because I have absolutely no control.  If we have to delay our departure a day or more, so be it.