Not Exactly Crater Lake*

Not exactly the day we'd planned...
Not sunny.
Not expected to clear.
But the road into Crater Lake opened this morning, so we decided to go anyway.
Not going to happen.

A light went on on the dashboard outside of La Pine.
Not a garden spot.
OilMan put some water and antifreeze in.
We watched it drip out under the car.
We called the repair place in Medford.
Not recommended that we drive there.
We called the repair place back in Bend.
Not a chance they could fit us in in less than a week.
Not going to Crater Lake.

Nothing for it but to drive 120 miles to Medford.
Not a relaxing trip over two passes.
The light flickered on once and went out again.
We waited half an hour while they were logging at the side of the road.
No water dripping out---plenty of time to check.

While they checked out the car, we went to the only place to eat on Medford's auto row.
Mrs Q's Diner.
Not much better than the trail mix and crackers we left in the car.
They had a nice juke box, and an Oregon Ducks neon sign.
The waitress had sparkly eyelids and nails.
She didn't call anybody "hon".

They couldn't find anything wrong with the car.
Not that we really wanted to see Crater Lake....

*We are fortunate indeed in our traveling companions. We are a congenial group and everybody was a good sport. OilMan is taking a nap...