The Sag Wagon, Priscilla's Chevrolet

When you lose a parent, and years go by, you think you are OK. But thoughts of your loved one creep up at the darndest times. And as we start out on this next adventure I can’t help but think of my mother, Priscilla, the original “Adventurer.”

In 1943, Priscilla’s dad put her on a bus in Massachusetts. The bus was bound for Texas. My grandfather later described this as one of the hardest things he ever did. Several days later the bus rolled into Austin, Texas and my mother had her first glimpse of her beloved University of Texas.

Priscilla worked her way through school, taught botany labs to classes full of returning service men, served as a night editor of the Daily Texan, and when it was all said and done, was selected as a University of Texas Goodfellow, one of the highest honors the University bestows on its outstanding students.

After graduation, Priscilla once again boarded a bus, this time headed for the small west Texas town of Wellington, where she took a job on the award winning newspaper, the Wellington Leader. She didn’t intend to stay long, only a couple of years. But she met my dad, and, well, you know the rest of the story.

Priscilla would agree that 55 M.P.H. is just too slow!

But she was always ready for an adventure. And I feel quite certain she would be up for a trip across Oregon. It is therefore appropriate that Priscilla’s Chevrolet will serve as the Sag Wagon for this journey. And I think she would support Ted’s cause, raising the speed limit on Oregon’s limited access roads. After all she was a bit of a speedster. I can’t think of how many times I would say as we drove the back roads of Texas, “Mom, you’re going a bit too fast”, “Mom, you’re going over 80”, “Mom, you might want to slow down a bit.”

Ready to roll, two days and counting

My job on this journey will be to drive the Sag Wagon. I will transport our stuff from point to point, check on Ted, and pick him up at the end of the day. And as we see all the beauty that Oregon has to offer, I wish my mom could be riding shot gun with me in her Chevrolet.

Baylee, "the Dog", wants to ride across Oregon in Priscilla's Chevrolet