White water in Hell!

It sure sounds good as a topic :-)

I recently went for a road trip to Hells Canyon in Oregon with a colleague of mine. His wife was out of country. so it was only 2 of us on road for 3 days.

It was quite amazing to experience. It was the most unplanned trip ever so far in my life.. My initial plans for the long week end in May'08 bombed due to inclement weather in Yellowstone National park predicted for that week end. i was bit disappointed that i was gonna miss that.. it was then i met this ex-colleague of mine in a farewell lunch of our mutual friend.. he was telling us about his long road trip.. Just then , it struck me , i had never been in roadtrips that lasted more than a day of driving.. i asked him if he was interested in one for the long weekend.. he just was excited for a roadtrip as i was..

But, we had no clue as to where to drive.. i was clear on my requirement -- drive in car in unknown land as long as i can.. ( i was in fact planning to take my car for such a drive if nothing works out).. Just a day before the start of long week end, he suggested Hells Canyon, i just googled the name and it was listed as a scenic drive... Thats all the motivation i needed.. Unfortunately, rest of my friends were unavailable.. so it was only 2 of us and all we had was just a name of the drive...!!

It was really exciting as we had absolutely no expectation and so anything was better !! we rented a Camry, keyed-in the destination "Hells Canyon Recreational Area" and blasted off I-90

It turned out to be really awesome drive

Day 1
Seattle,WA -> Lewiston,OR -> Enterprise,OR

Enterprise had population of 2000!! i was really amazed with the small town (village?) we halted in a small inn to recharge ourselves..

Day 2
Enterprise,OR -> Joseph,OR -> Imnaha,OR -> Enterprise,OR -> Baker City,OR -> Halfway,OR

Morning break fast was unforgettable, we had it in a one of the local cafes, where "Every body knew every customer"!! we were the only non locals but still i felt so much at home!

Halfway turned out to be smaller than Enterprise!
it was so nice to see banner commomerating the High school graduation in all the light pole with the poster of the students!!

Day 3
We headed for the Hells Canyon dam.. it was really nice drive following the snake river up till the dam. We then walked a trail that was following the river beyond the dam..

Coming to the topic, it was a gushing swirling water, even though dam was not fully open. Water is so calm but can stand up to heavens with a roar when it matters! we saw water in one such manifestation.. it was pure white with agitation.. thats when i noticed it.. it was in its most unruly form, unpredictable..

When i was sitting over the rock in the bank, i saw the gushing water as a we humans with our life in fast forward.. there are so many of us, yet we are all same.. we travel in same direction through time.. some of us wanting to move faster than the rest, while some refusing to move forward but nevertheless pushed forward (by time) .. and some of us scale new heights while some face new troughs!!

Bus - Train !!

Guten Tag ppl

Guess it has been really long since i blogged.(i will definitely work on not making this my statutory first line ..)
I was bit busy in the project work. We have nice time with Test Driven programming and Domain Driven design here in our team. (probably would need a separate blog)
Recently , i went to my colleague's wedding in Vizag by train. This brought back floods of memories. I had traveled by bus more when compared to train.
I went to my uncle's place in Coimbatore on every vacation when i was living in Trichy. Coimbatore is a nice place with weather similar to bangalore (Trichy has very hot and humid weather all year round). My family usually took the bus to coimbatore(it takes 5.5 hrs).

Bus

I used to like the bus rides more for the solitude that i get. Being the eldest kid:-) (may be most troublesome!!), i always got the window seat. The (dis)advantage of the buses was that once u plug urself into a seat, it is difficult to pull urself out.. So , there is no physical movement for couple of hours until there is an intermediate stop. I have one great virtue(Vice?) , i day dream a lot.. so these bus rides excite me a lot..

I sit and watch the scenary as bus goes along the beautiful shore of River Cauvery(dry for most part of the year!!) and dream all sort of things,.. from goin to mars to entering an atom.. being next Einstein to next Prime Minister of India.. there was no limit to imagination..

I believe Bus travelled more close to people than train did.. there always was some hustle-bustle enroute.. there were always countless villages, towns, cities or just remote farmin ranches on the way.. it was very rare to find a stretch of road say 10 KM without any settlement of one kind or another!! also , sitting in the bus i felt closer to outside world but with a safe distance without spoiling my solitude..

Train

The trains gave totally different experiences. The train always awed me with its larger than life image. It was always special becoz of the long wait in the station, it demands. As with other families, my family too believed in reachin the railway station atleast 2 hours before the scheduled departure time(it was rarely on-time). Since , train offered better mobility (leg space) , it was a favorite choice of transport for the younger kids.. the preparation for train journey is quite religious. A separate bag would be alloted for packing eatables, lunch , evening snack and dinner, boiled water(the elixir of life), fruits, biscuits and a flask of cofee!!! Though loaded with enough food to feed a Third World country , we kids always liked the eatables sold in the platform.. but even in the world largest democracy minors dont have a say :-(..

As against bus, getting a window seat is difficult in trains as there would be only 2 for every six passengers.. the middle and the aisle seats are really boring seats .. u never get to watch the scenary outside and also u cannot relax properly in ur seat.. i was a bit introverted kid, so unlike others, was not ready to strike up conversation with the co-passengers.. also if i start gaping in the window and start day dreamin, ppl around me get concerned and ask me if i am feelin sleepy!!

Trains offer a different view of the country. it always gives a detached and distant view of the outside world. As against bus, you get to see agricultural fields, factories and smaller home steads.. its rather peaceful perspective of a bustling civilization ..

The sides of the railway tracks have sign boards with some numbers.. for long time i tried to decipher it .. but finally concluded that it must be a puzzle for the engine driver to solve, to stop him from sleeping :-)

As opposed to other views on travel, i see it as an opportunity to have a peaceful solitude... with changing view instigating wildest of dreams.. this is one and only single factor that makes me love traveling no matter what the means is :-)

What is life?

Well, firstly this posting will not relate to the title that i had given.

I feel a sort of vacant today! donno if u guys get this .. out of no reasons , u sometimes might feel gloomy!!

Let me think wat is one really upsetting thing that happened ... was it that bad coffee with a bug in it( the tea wallah said " you are a programmer, you can debug it ") !!mmmm.. ya i remember now , it must be that really gruesome accident photo that came to me as a forward..

i was no way mentally prepared to see that!! Yuk!! My only Nightmare ( its an interesting concept)

its silly as it sounds like my favorite song , my favorite color and hey this is my favorite Nightmare!!

From the time i remember , this accidental death is one thing that i fear the most.. hate it more than cockroach(?!)

its truely unfair! its ridiculous to kill someone with unnatural things.. Had there been no automobile the guy would have lived today (of course u may argue he might not even have been born) but yet the sole responsibility for his death is recent invention called Automobile... its totally unfair to say the guy drove badly.. people do make mistakes.. thats what they are meant for.. we are not robots.. the life is all it is now because of the mistakes we make.. but life is really dearer price to pay and someway, we have to stop this...

It still spoils my sleep sometimes..

well i will start with driving safely.. u guys do drive safe!

Got to drive home..wish me Luck...