Debuting for Deb, It's Dangerous Driving for Donuts Day

It was one of those Saturday mornings, late, after the kid was long done with her breakfast, that we start foraging for treats to eat. The request came to me, as I looked down at my cat hair covered sweat pants…."Donuts! Didn’t you promise me donuts earlier this morning?" I swear he uses my menopause against me at times.

Changed into my jeans, and on my way out the door, I still don’t think I have completely wakened myself, nonetheless, I have a moment of freedom to look forward to, because I know it takes me at least 10 minutes to get to the donut shop. And hopefully I can shake this foggy brain of mine and clear my head.

I feel like I am behind a filter, bleary brained and all, as I drive along the winding road.

Even though it is daytime, as the sun comes into play I wince…

My view of the world numbs me.

I try to discern the reasons for my need to be… My yearning for a place of solitude and zen moments.

I contemplate the future, while trying to remember if I have learned from my past mistakes.

It seems my days blend into nights, and nights back into days…The Sun pierces my winsdshield, blinding me, now…

My eyes burn like a fierce solar storm that blows a headwind straight from Hades.
I am floating, in and out of a dreamlike state, while the rods in my eyes adjust to the changing rays that bombard me… the road I travel continues…

For all I know I am now lost...

Things are starting to look different outside…

A memory from somewhere inside me, a subconscious state floats around my car's sunroof, trying to escape into the morning air. It's like I have been here in a dream,

have I been here before?

No.

Suddenly the clouds start burning away, the birds now return,

along with my reason for being:


Donuts …
As I drive onward, my path becomes less obscured, and the sky is clearing, and My Contemplation now fades away, to be replaced with a Pavlovian condensation in the roof on my mouth.

*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*

*

I arrive to find that the donut shop is completely stocked, unusual for a Saturday, especially unusual for a donut shop that has just added an extra dining room, now enlarging into the failed eatery next door. This donut shop also serves biscuits and gravy, very popular, though something I have yet to taste, ever. And this shop opens at 5:00 in the morning, to a daily crew that eagerly eats Cal's fresh donuts and gravy goodies.

Oh yes, it’s going to be a good day after all! I am usually left with the 'jimmy' covered, green iced, cake donuts; the donut assortment having been picked over between 5:30 and 8:00 in the morning.

Arms laden with boxes of donuts of every color and size, I walk out to the car.

Now, since I am not allowed to eat in my car, I take note that I have picked a good assortment of donuts, ones that melt in the mouth, ones that squirt red stuff, and even the ones that leave the maple icing in the corners of the mouth that I think I wiped off earlier.

Yes, I am not allowed to eat in my car, especially when driving. Nor am I allowed to eat sweet things around my camera…

They're my rules. So I can break them.

Now parked in a County Lot, I notice a cop watching me, like I am some kind of perverted freak. I guess I probably shouldn’t do this.

I should be home with my family right now….

Not parked out in some obscure location with this box of donuts on my lap…

My drive home was a little too quick, for my liking.

This is all that was left to feed my family.

~This Volvo Donut tour has been brought to you by Claybritt Images.
All names have been changed to protect the innocent donut eaters
everywhere.
Any resemblance to anyone you might think you know
is purely coincidental, and should be taken with a grain of sea salt.

The "Volvo Snow Tour"

We're going on a "Snow Tour"

Today, I got locked out of my house, in the cold and wet snow, wearing only my camera and my tripod. So I got in my car, and decided to take you on a "what's left of the snow" tour around town. We'll call it the Volvo Snow Tour, since I haven't really ever had a chance to take my car out in any of the elements, at least when there is nowhere to go. So this is going to be fun.

Our first stop is to admire my car. Ha, not really but I do admire the lines of the Volvo V50. This is where I parked my car so I could get a shot of something that I have been wanting to shoot during this snowy season. The River Ridge Golf Course is my first stop on our tour today, because I really loved seeing this flag on one the greens, all covered in snow.

Lonely and out in the cold. This flag just sat there. My optimum shot was the snow storm before this past one, when everything was completely white and the wind was blowing, causing the flag to blow.

The problem with this site is that it is right along the road and cars fly by not only spraying snow slush, but it is also on a blind corner, and it could cause some drivers to veer unexpectedly and then all hhhh would happen, and that would not be good for anyone. Sooo, that being said, this is as close as I could get ...today.

Maybe some other day. Like in the middle of a snow storm when everyone else is too scared to go out. When the only drivers out there are snow plows, cops and guys in their 4X rigs.

Leaving the River Ridge Golf Course, we will now head southbound on the notorius Delta Hwy. The one that seems to confuse more drivers, and thus probably causes more accidents because of their confusion. This is the only freeway in the New World, where some drivers actually stop on the freeway in order to wave other drivers to merge in front of them.

This is very unfortunate for the 'Drivers of Many Freeways,' that knowingly realize and comprehend that freeway interchanges and merging lanes are to be merged in a flow pattern, a smooth interfacing from one highway to another. These drivers that stop on the freeway to let others in front of them, actually think they are doing their share of 'good deeds for their day' and are quite proud of their driving, but never seem to glance in their rear view mirrors, because if they did, they would see visions of whiplash and neckbraces, the scrambling of brake lights and quick decisions made by the remainder of 50 mph, rush hour traffic, approaching this particular interchange, right up on their back door, while they are smug in their waving another onward to fill their gap in the traffic.

Continuing South bound, we approach another interchange, the I-105 interchange, once Eugene's second most deadly interchange, but it is now reconfigured so that it is actually one of the safest, yet still death defying for those "scared of heights drivers." We are coming to the end of our freeway interchanging and being led out to a feeder street, 7th Ave, a main one way street through Downtown, Eugene. This image is of the Washington Jefferson Street Park and this is a location that is usually lined with panhandlers that have some ingenious cardboard signs. Every possible corner in this area has it's own panhandler, sometimes in multiples. The interesting thing is, the signs all stay the same though the people change... Sometimes it seems that the signs have life of their own, and use the people to hold them. Who knows...

Continuing onward, we are now going through our University of Oregon campus dorm area, quite empty this time of year now that finals are over and all have returned home after shaving their mohawks off and recoloring their hair back to what their families will consider to be naturally colored. A very quiet campus today, but that is fine because we are heading uphill to our famous Rhododendron Gardens and Tall Old Growth Firs at Hendricks Park.

So the Rhody Garden was a bit...uneventful,
and I have decided to drive into the park a bit. Funny, everyone was pulling off this tiny little road that winds through the park.


It was as if everyone was scared to go any further lest they be trapped by snowdrifts. There weren't any drifts, but they will never know that now will they?

After our tour of Hendricks Park, we now head

southbound to what we in Eugene refer to as "The South Hills." We used to live down here. This area is always fun in the snow. It usually snows here first...but not always.

"Spencer Butte," in the background here, is actually getting snowed on at this very moment. A few flakes falling here and there.
Temp is 34 deg. but some drivers are driving with chains on wet pavement... I ask not why....

Returning back to downtown I notice that the Valley River Mall seems to be back in full swing as people try to get inside for an afternoon of Christmas Shopping. I notice some people looking at me whilst I shoot through my windshield.

Heading North now behind the Delta Ponds (where they probably got the name Delta Hwy from), I

decided to stop by the nature Overlook, but it was so unnatural looking that I only took one image that I thought was appealing.

This slough had a great reflection, and the ice had melted just off the water's edge.

Passing back over the notorius Delta Hwy interchange, I always keep in the left lane because it is just plain more fun to dodge the cars that have to stop quick, swerving into the laft lane when someone stops traffic to let another driver merge in front of them. This is so much better than being in the right lane, to be one of the drivers that has to sit and wait while the driver in front stops to wave on, one of the mergers. I am still waiting for the case to come, when the accident happens (and I am sure it has already happened more than once) because the driver was flipping the bird to the jutting merger who thought they were getting the go-ahead to pull in front...

Back at the River Ridge Golf Course I have decided to try another angle at that lonely green with a flag at the cup.

I am not sure where one tees off for this shot but I am parked on a private road, and fully expect to hear the Pinschers barking off in the distance as they approach me... The flag and cup are off in the distance behind the little creek with the bridge.

I have seen many a golf cart going down here. So I think this is the tee.

The creek and bridge are really far off on the background here.

Turning 180 degress around and I have found my "Shot Of The Day"



Right here ~~>

This concludes our Volvo Snow Tour, now that we have returned to our starting point. This image shows where I have been and a little of where I am right now.

Thanks for joining me on my adventure.


Afterthought: You know, when we lived in the South Hills, we used to take my Subaru Outback Sedan out during snowstorms at night; out behind that mountain (Spencer Butte) during white-outs. You know the nights, when strings cars do the same thing as us, late at night in a storm, and one by one they disappear behind us, so that only we and maybe one other car, are the only cars left out there in the snow. When the roads make no sound at all because a blanket of snow muffles all sounds... Well, this Volvo beats that Subaru tenfold...so I can't wait until we get to take you on our next tour,

Our "Snow Trek."