Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Page A-9
Winding Trails: by Al Hobart
Thursday, Feb. 2, 1967
Illinois Valley News
progressed, it sounded more and more like
the voice of an angel. It was still Bill’s
masculine, friendly but business-like voice I
heard, but what it said was what produced the
hallucination referred to and sent my mind
soaring off into the regions where little angels
are supposed to dwell. You get that way about
cross-country skiing.
The thrilling words that came
crackling over the wire from Bill’s house in
Grants Pass were to the effect that our cross-
country ski club and guests were going on a
couple of bang-up ski tours over the weekend,
and to come running right in with my ski
equipment prepared to stay and travel with
them (the Pruitt’s) through the following busy
two days. To say that I accepted was merely
to waste a couple of words. Early Saturday
morning we headed out for the Gold Rey
Rancho, stronghold of John Day, our local x
c ski club president and the popular sport’s
national leader, where we picked up John’s
invaluable little snowmobile, the Ski-doo, and
all proceeded to Eagle Point, rendezvous point
for the tour gang.
The ski-tour party, 18 of us all told,
including three women and three small boys,
drove first to Lake of the Woods, where,
following a ski trail laid out by the Ski-doo,
we skied about 2 miles.
Skiing – Lake of the
Woods, 4-Mile Lake, Crater
Lake to Diamond Lake
This is one of my favorite days.
The day after. A day of thorough, relaxed
enjoyment, contentedly lounging at home,
listening to the burbling of little Packer’s
Creek down below the cabin and the crackling
of the brisk fire in the old wood-burning cast-
iron heating stove, while the ground outside
is lightly covered with frozen snow and the
temperature is hovering around the freezing
point.
Slightly, deliciously weary after a full
weekend of cross-country skiing, this day is
like sopping up the last smear of tasty gravy
after the heaping plate of delectable pot roast
and potatoes has been disposed of. Blue
Monday it may be to some, but to me it’s of
the rosiest hue as I happily relive every minute
of the exhilarating exciting two days just
past. It started off with a telephone message
from Bill Pruitt late Friday. The voice on the
scratchy old phone at first sounded pleasant,
but just earthy. Then, as the conversation
ROGUE VALLEY
OF GOVERNMENTS
Food & Friends Menu
FRIDAY – FEB. 3
It is the mission of Illinois
Valley Wellness Resources to
support the health and wellbeing
of the senior and disabled
residents of the Illinois Valley.
Currently, we are in the process
of building resources for seniors
and the disabled.
According to a recent survey
our Valley seniors are looking
for transportation, caregivers,
firewood, handymen, computer
CHICKEN A LA KING
OVER RICE
WEDNESDAY - FEB. 8
VEGETABLE CHEESE
STRATA
If you need meals
delivered please call
541-955-8839.
skills, housekeepers and yard
work.
If you would like to provide
one of these services and will
complete a background check and
have references, please contact us
so we can add you to our resource
list.
A service that we are
currently offering is Home
Safety Evaluations. We can
refer you to a Registered Nurse
who can provide you with a
safety evaluation checklist and
Sponsored by
MONDAY – FEB. 6
COUNTRY FRIED STEAK
W/ GRAVY
ski tour day. Eight of us, all men, skied the
15 miles from Crater Lake to Diamond Lake.
This five-hour trek, with several of us on our
narrow, light racing skis, was, I think, my
most pleasureful tour to date.
The way this tour was conducted is
an example of what efficient teamwork,
and the magic of club companionship, can
accomplish, making it possible for those of us
who were to make the long ski tour to ride to
the take-off point, ski down and across to the
finish point, climb aboard our waiting car at
that end and proceed straight home.
We all drove to the high Crater Lake
rim in Bill’s Jeep station wagon. Leaving
the car empty and alone, we rubbed our
magic lamp and took off. Presently, when
we were sometime gone, two little pixies
appeared on the rim and whisked our car
away, transporting it the long way around to
the Diamond Lake end, where it was waiting
for us when we ended the tour. The two lp’s
(Claudette and Donna by name – the Senoras
Pruitt and Latusick to you) thus earned the
enthusiastic gratitude of their ski companions.
From near the Crater Lake Lodge,
we skied 5 miles around the rim to the north
entrance, from where we followed the road
down the mountain, across pumice desert
and so on to our Diamond Lake terminus.
The day was perfect – sunny and windless,
and only pleasantly cold. The Cascades’
matchless peaks stood out sharp and clear in
the near and far distances, adding a priceless
ingredient to this wonderful winter tour on
skis.
Making steady progress on the
upgrades with the aid of the ski poles and
proper wax; soaring swiftly, ecstatically down
the steeper slopes, and gliding gently for long
distances on the moderate ones – all this,
combined with the exhilarating cold air and
muscle toning exercise, added up to a joyful
outing that can be found only on a cross-
country ski tour.
Once, when my wax had worn down
and the skis were slicker than banana peels,
I glided for several miles with only an
occasional backward thrust with my ski poles.
Only the friendly Clark’s nutcrackers
that we were leaving behind in their high
wintry world, and my skiing companions,
could appreciate my soaring thoughts on those
long smooth glides.
Back in Eagle Point, some of the group
transferred to John’s flying saucer and we
took off our separate ways, our memorable
weekend of cross-country skiing slipping into
a pleasure-crowded past, making way for
others soon to come.
Senior SPoTLiGHT
Illinois Valley Wellness
Resources seeking services.
COUNCIL
Only member of the group who didn’t
ski was Mike Latusick. His brother Dan,
10, and Billy Pruitt, 7, skied right along with
the rest of us, for at least part of the course.
But Mike rode all the way; he rode in a
comfortable canvas carrier on his dad’s back.
Mikey is just 2.
After a couple of hours of playing
around on Lake of the Woods we drove back
down the highway 3 miles, to the 4-mile Lake
Road junction. The 4-mile Lake round-trip
is 12 miles; it took us just over three hours to
make the run. Eleven of us made this beautiful
tour, the women and children contenting
themselves with lesser trips while we were
gone.
On our way back we stopped at one
point to take pictures of a dramatically
lovely mountain view. Where the snow-
buried road, now a ski trail, skirts little Lake
Bernice, a clear vista of startling beautiful Mt.
McLaughlin (Mt. Pitt), its lofty sharp outline
edge dark and pure white against the western
sky, nearly takes your breath away with its
majestic splendor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen
a lone mountain view more sensationally
attractive than Mt. McLaughlin in winter
dress, especially as it appears from this
particular viewpoint.
The next day, Sunday, was a banner
recommendations.
The nurse can also help you
with the following:
•
Medication preparation
•
Physician visits
•
Hiring of caregivers
If you need a Home Safety
Evaluation, have a service to
share or you want to express a
service need you have here in
the Illinois Valley please call
our program coordinator Laura
Mancuso at 541-592-9781.
i.V. Wellness resources
The importance of hearing loss treatment
Last week we discussed hearing impairments and
that many people assume hearing loss is a normal
part of aging. A study by the National Council on
Aging and recently reported in Medscape, found
that individuals with untreated hearing loss were
more likely to experience “embarrassment, fatigue,
irritability, tension and stress, anger, avoidance
of social activities, withdrawal from social situa-
tions, depression, loneliness, social isolation, less
alertness to the environment, impaired memory,
less psychological health.” Although some of
these things can be associated with aging, you can
see how adding in a hearing impairment can sig-
nificantly impact one’s daily life, especially their
relationships with others. Avoidance of social activ-
ity, withdrawing from social situations and social
interactions due to a hearing impairment, worsens
the effects of cognitive decline. A link has been
found between hearing impairment and dementia.
Some symptoms attributed to dementia may be the
effects of miscommunication and confusion caused
by untreated hearing loss. Cognitive decline is not
just dementia, it’s the ability to process and under-
stand speech, to focus on the person you’re trying
to hear and ignoring the background noise. These
brain processes are damaged by cognitive decline.
Those already diagnosed with dementia function
better when their hearing impairment is treated. The
sooner that hearing loss is treated, the greater the
benefit and the easier the adjustment will be.
You can contact I.V. Wellness Resources at www.
ivwellnesresources@gmail.com.
Senior Bulletin
AARP TAx-AIDE
PROGRAM
Providing free tax as-
sistance to people of all
ages with middle and low
incomes. Tax counselors
are IRS-certified. Call 541-
592-6139 for a Wednesday
appointment in Cave Junc-
tion or 541-956-4450 for a
Monday through Saturday
appointment in Grants
Pass.
Free for Seniors
If you are a senior and
want to place a FREE
AD for a living or health
care need call Laura at
541-592-2541 or email
laura@illinois-valley-
news.com.
Get your life back at
the new depression
and anxiety recovery
program!
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