Alsea Falls

 My neighbors sister has been visiting from New Mexico.  She's been staying next door two weeks but leaving today to go home.

Monday they wanted me to join them to find a waterfall.   I couldn't think of any close to a parking lot where the neighbor could easily get to it, since she can't walk far.

So we went to Alsea Falls.   It's not far from here.   I hadn't been in awhile though.

She's not a good driver, the neighbor, and hugged the center of the narrow windy road out, headed west off 99W north of Monroe.   I cringed from the back seat, tried to keep my mouth shut, but these are mountain roads, barely enough room for a car to pass coming from other direction.   If going around a corner in the middle of the road and another comes, you can get slammed into.   We made it.  Whew.

There were a few cars in the day use parking lot.   The neighbor got about 50 feet down a trail slowly with her sister.  I went on ahead to the falls and climbed down the steep part, that includes some railing then no railing and some rocks for steps down to the flat rocks beneath the falls.  

It was beautiful.  I knew my neighbor could not make it down to the flat rocks but her sister could.   I went back up to the top of the trail and helped her come down.   A couple, on a first date, also helped her get down the rock step part.

Then we all helped her back up once she was ready to leave.   But up at the top of the trail, my neighbor was nowhere to be found.  I walked back to the parking lot with her sister, who was becoming extremely concerned and who then stayed by the locked car, which had our water inside.  I was hot from going up and down to the falls twice and now fast walking trails looking for her sister. I really wanted the water I'd brought.  I found some people who had seen her and told me where.  She'd gone beyond the trail branch down to the falls to plop at a picnic table.   She'd told her sister where she'd be but her sister had forgotten.

After that we drove on to Alsea itself.  There's not much to Alsea.  Then we took the extremely curvy highway 34 back to Albany.  It's only curvy going down from the Mary's Peak turnoff.

It was a short but pleasant afternoon outing.

I tried to go to the store later on, and heard a terrible noise coming from the front of the car.  I pulled back up the driveway and looked under the car, hoping it was just something caught.   I finally had to take the front tires off, spin the rotor, to find the source of the scraping metallic noise.  Thankfully a rock fell out of the rotor on drivers side.  Noise was then gone.

However I could not ignore seeing the gear oil leak, still happening, from the repair job before.   I hadn't wanted to look after he allegedly reinstalled it a second time.   I knew I'd made a mistake employing him to fix it. 

 I was angry after that.  I had to get the leak repaired so it wouldn't harm my transmission.

Yesterday I called lots of mechanic shops, got various amounts of times given me before I could get an appointment.  When suddenly!  Suddenly one of the shops said "bring it on over".    So I did.   They had time to check it with a free 15 minute eval early afternoon.  I walked home.

I got the estimate later on, in a phone call, and was told the cause of the leak--bad axle seal.  Of course.  The one he claimed he replaced.  Twice in fact.  Turned out he'd put a seal in for an automatic transmission.  Twice!   

So it will be fixed by noon today I was told.  I get to remove the heart monitor about that same time.   FREEDOM!!!   A working car again and I can go to the lake.

Yes I'm broker than broke, still from the first time paying that con artist.   Now paying to repair what he didn't and what he ruined in the process.

Alsea Falls though, so beautiful and quiet and peaceful out there.   I loved seeing it again.  It's such a short drive from here too.