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SLOW AND STEADY
WINS THE RACE
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The trip had been planned for awhile. Six days playing
that horrid game of golf, somewhere on the west coast of Oregon, at a place
called Bandon Dunes.
One of my oldest friends had put it together. Eight guys,
all flying in from around the country---except me.
"Are you nuts?" my friend asked when I told him I was
driving. "It’s at least nine hours."
Nine glorious hours. That’s the way I looked at it. My friend
and three other knuckleheads from the Bay Area had chartered a plane to take
them to this obscure place and wanted me to join them. I was having none of
it.
I don’t do private planes. Never have, never will. Not only
am I too scared, I’m too cheap. If I’m going to die, at least I’ll be
doing it while saving money.
Besides, my friend and the other three knuckleheads happened to
be attorneys. Their time was worth $300-$500 per hour, making the cost of a
chartered plane well worth it. The latest bid for my time was….well,
actually there were no bids. The drive could take about 334 days and I’d
still come out ahead.
I left after dinner on Thursday night and drove about 3
hours up Insterstate 5 before stopping at a Motel 6. Clean room, cable TV
and a lovely shower, all for $42.00. Life doesn’t get much better than
that.
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I left early the next
morning and marveled at the sights of the majestic Mt. Shasta area, then
cruised through Ashland, Oregon before making a left to the coast and a
pastoral ride through some absolutely gorgeous countryside.
I arrived in Bandon, Oregon about 2 p.m. and wasn’t
even disappointed to see that the private plane and the four knuckleheads
had made it as well. I secretly knew that their chances were good.
"How was the flight?" I asked, hoping to hear
tales of horrendous turbulence and sheer terror.
"Smooth and fast," my friend replied, with a
bit of a smirk. "How was the drive?"
"Slow and spectacular," I replied. "I
thoroughly enjoyed it."
No one bought it, but it was true. The memories of the
drive became even fonder after our first round of golf. We were greeted with
50 mph gusts, freezing weather and ridiculous conditions. Which apparently
is the norm for Bandon Dunes.
Some billionaire from Chicago, an avid golfer, built these
courses in the middle of nowhere. The idea was to re-create the link-style
courses native to the birthplace of golf—Scotland. Bad idea, at least in
my opinion.
Six days in the middle of June and I never took off my coat.
Scotland looks like St. Tropez compared to Bandon, Oregon. The wind never
stops blowing and the temperature never rises. After two days, I began
looking forward to my drive home.
I was going to take the coastal route, all the way down Highway
101 right to the exit to my house. The day I left happened to be my
birthday, last Thursday.
"You’re going to spend 10 hours in the car, alone, on
your birthday?" my friend asked a couple of days before my departure.
"Are you nuts?"
"I’ll leave at 7:00 in the morning and I’ll be home by
5:00," I replied. "I’ll have dinner with my family, happy to be
alive." (I was assuming the private plane would never make it, but I
didn’t tell him that.)
I left the morning of my birthday and thoroughly enjoyed one of
the most beautiful drives imaginable. Down the Oregon Coast and then through
the Redwood Empire; it was mind-boggling, riveting scenery.
I think I was getting close to Garberville, California, around
2:00 p.m., when my friend called. He was in his office. He had left Bandon
at 10:00 a.m. and was already back at work, billing away.
"How’s the drive going?" he asked.
I was genuinely happy his plane hadn’t crashed. I took
a sip of my diet Coke and looked longingly at my half-eaten Snickers bar.
Another 10 miles and I could have another bite.
I turned down the CD and gazed at the road ahead. There was a
big turn coming up, and I had no idea what vista would appear around the
corner.
"It’s been a great birthday," I replied. "I’m
alive, I’ll be home soon, and I never had to leave the ground."
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