from Eugene, Salem, and Portland, but they are beautiful places with unique vistas from many different angles. A drive along the Beach Loop Road in Bandon left me speechless. When you throw in Cape Blanco as an extra feature on the southern coast, there is a beauty here that is unmatched. I’m already making plans for next year’s vacation(s), but I think I’ll drive down here, instead of walk, and give myself some extra days to take in the scenery.
Bandon Coastline (Fog Still Lifting)
Bandon
Bandon
Cape Blanco (Fog Fully Lifted)
Cape Blanco Beach
Cape Blanco Lighthouse
Cape Blanco (Port Orford, Upper Right)
The five hours I dedicated to prayer and “meditation” today were for the administrators, faculties, staffs, students, and benefactors of O’Hara Catholic School and Holy Cross School. I finished each decade of the Rosary, for example, praying that God would grant each of these groups His joy, blessing, and protection this summer. The community at O’Hara gave me very personal reminders that they would be praying for me this month and many of the children at Holy Cross wrote notes to me, even before I have arrived there. If that weren’t enough, the faculty and staff at Holy Cross gave me a nice card when I visited Portland in May; that card has been in my backpack every step of the journey so far. I’m grateful to all of those in the two school communities who have been so kind to remember me for 22 days now.
An All-School Art Project?
Beach Grass
Totem Near Langlois
Willow Creek
Did you ever notice that some things seem to happen in groups of three? Whenever a death is announced, either on the news or in the parish office, I nearly always hear someone say soon after, “You know, these things happen in threes.” Whether they do or not, a couple of different groupings of three have popped up this week. First, I walked 13.1 miles three days in a row. I sent a text to my sister Paula saying that we should buy lottery tickets, but she told me there are no games that have 13.1 as a possibility. I was kind of working on the “string of luck” theory, but the lottery isn’t my game anyway. I also encountered three priests during the last week. Fr. Karl Schray was kind enough to host Bruce and I at Holy Redeemer parish in North Bend. Fr. David Cullings, from Marist High in Eugene, nearly drove into me in the parking lot at the Bandon Shopping Center! He was returning to Eugene from a visit with a classmate and friend in San Francisco. He’s actually a safe driver, so the near-collision is mostly in jest. Then, Bruce and I were welcomed into the house of Fr. Michael Patrick in Bandon. The church, parish center, and rectory of Holy Trinity parish are on top of a hill in Bandon. They are not only in a beautiful setting (with a great view), they look great. In about 12 years I may be making a request to the Archbishop for a parish assignment that will lead me to retirement . . . and Bandon looks like a strong candidate! I hope these priests know how deeply grateful, how deeply grateful, how deeply grateful (these things happen in threes!) I am.
One More Thing to Make Bandon Attractive:
Wild Turkey
There have been many chances to partake of fresh seafood over the past three weeks. Nobody can match my sister’s cooking, but many have tried this month with rock fish, halibut, salmon, and shrimp. Paula’s crab salad was a memorable grand prize winner, so far. When I lived in Astoria and was pastor at St. Mary, Star of the Sea, I found myself dining on occasion at The Ship Inn. It was an English-style fish and chips restaurant and they were quite proud of their award-winning clam chowder. I love clam chowder, I especially loved their clam chowder, but the taste of clams (and their texture, to be honest) have never agreed with me. I used to ask Jill Stokeld, the owner, if she would make the chowder, just once, without the clams. She would laugh. She never thought I was serious, but I was. Nonetheless, I have always judged all other clam chowders by the standard they set at The Ship Inn. No one has matched it, yet. [Have you heard of the idea of the bucket list? Clam-free clam chowder is one of my items!]
Junipero was a star today! I stopped for a sandwich at the Langlois Market. Langlois, the town is located a little north of Denmark. Yes, there is a Denmark, OR. There were about nine or ten people in the store and four more employees. A young man in his twenties looked at me and said, “We’ve seen you on the road for three days now.” I told him about the Pilgrimage and then his attention went right to the stick. He wouldn’t stop talking about how great it looked and, before long, everybody in the store was taking a look. It was a great way to say a few words about the project for 1st Way, but the stick was definitely center stage. It’s a little strange sometimes when I am silent, praying, and without human contact for three or four hours . . . then, all of sudden, I’ve got people coming at me from all sides, eager to talk with me, very curious about what I’m doing and what the stick is all about. I sort of have to brace myself for such encounters about a half-mile before I get to a store or town or whatever. When I went outside the Langlois Market, a man in a pickup with Texas license plates drove up, got out, and came immediately to see Junipero, too. He even asked, very politely, if he could touch it! I said, “Go ahead and grab it, it’s carved with finger grooves and everything.” He admired it for a time and then said, “Well, God bless you.” I said, “He is.”
A couple of St. Francis Moments; the kinds of things you can only see at three miles per hour:
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