And they say nothing exciting ever happens in small towns...
This week, both Sisters and Tumalo were victims of some pretty unusual activity, and only a few days apart (was there a full moon?).
I was headed to work on Friday morning when I got a call from a co-worker: Don't bother coming to the office; the entire town is dark. Seems that in the early hours of Friday morning, a car had crashed into one of Central Electric's main transmission poles on Highway 126, shutting off power to thousands of Sisters residents (all the way from Indian Ford to Plainview) and all of downtown.
Not long after I hung up from that call, my phone rang again; this time, from a friend who was stranded in Sisters with no way to fill his gas tank and return to his home in La Pine, so I ended up heading that way after all.
It was eerie to see what amounted to a ghost town, with all the restaurants and businesses empty, and only a few folks clustered at the Shell station, waiting for the gas to be turned on so they could be on their way again.
The power was restored to town by early afternoon -- but not before I'd had a glimpse of what the future could bring, in a worst-case scenario sort of way. Not pretty.
Meanwhile, Over in Tumalo...
Saturday morning brought another enlightening call. This time I was talking to a Portland woman who had seen my blog and had emailed me requesting some information about the area. Imagine my surprise when she informed me about the latest Tumalo news: A car had driven onto the Tumalo Feed Company -- literally.
At first I thought I had heard her wrong (a car had driven into Tumalo's most venerable eating establishment?!), but no, that is, in fact, what she'd said.
I hadn't been to Tumalo in several days, so on a trip to Bend a few hours later, I checked out the steakhouse site for myself. Sure enough, the porch was encased in yellow caution tape (see photo above). Yikes!
I'd seen folks plow down the fencing along Highway 20 a time or two before (that turn when you enter Tumalo from the west can be a real doozy if you're not paying attention), but drive right on up to the front door of the Feed Company? Go figure. I later read in the Bulletin that a woman from Bend had crashed into the porch last weekend.
So, thanks for the update, Karol! It really is a small world, after all -- one where you just never know what's gonna happen next.
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