Deadline...25º

I can't say that we slept soundly, without a care in the world, that night at the Walter Brennan Motel, but we had hope...Herbs phone call to Mr. Hayes in Alaska had been successful...He understood the difficult position we were in with less than a month to make the big move...He took phone numbers to call for our references and gave Herb a verbal promise, "If the references met his expectations, the house was ours come April 1st." He also would call the renters and make arrangements for us, along with the realtor, to get a quick tour of the house on Barton Heights, the next morning.

So far all we knew about the house was that it had 3 bedrooms that we could use, the 4th bedroom was locked as Hayes' had possessions stored there...It had a full unfinished basement, with an oil tank that fueled a floor furnace, recently installed to replace the old coal furnace...The rent was $100.00 a month, $40.00 more than we were paying and I was afraid it was more than our budget would allow, but somehow we would make it work.

Mrs. Patterson graciously welcomed us at the door, two little girls, eyes big, peeked around her...I was pleased with the covered front porch and then impressed as we walked into a spacious living room with two large windows, making it bright and airy...An open stairway added character to the room...My heart dropped as we entered the tiny, poorly arranged kitchen, with hardly enough room for a table and chairs...Range and Refrigerator were not included and I saw more dollar signs added to our already depleted budget...A haphazard laundry room, tiny bathroom (tub/no shower) and a small bedroom completed the main floor...Herb took a quick look at the unfinished basement and found that about half of it had cement floors and could be used for storage...Upstairs, the two small bedrooms would work for our kids...The house had a homey feel and already I could see small changes that would help and adding our own furnishings would certainly make a difference.

As we left by the back door, Mr. Wilson pointed out that the house sat on an acre of ground, that backed up to a 120 acre field...We had neighbors on either side of us, a dirt road at the front and over the hill between the road, the river and main street was a long narrow 2 acre strip that also belonged to the house...I mention this because in Utah we had raised our two children, ages 4 and 1, while living in a house that fronted highway 40...Bobbie Jo was now almost 11 years old and Rusty soon to be 8...A dirt road and 3 acres of ground sounded like heaven.

Before leaving Wallowa County that day, we made a quick trip to see Wallowa Lake, less than 1 mile from town...The lake although much smaller than Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho, where I had grown up, reminded me of that area...The forest, trees and mountains that I had learned to love and had been very homesick for in the years we spent in Utah would now be at our doorstep...This move also put us much closer to family, especially Herb's Dad, who would need our love and support after losing his wife of 40 years.

We arrived back in Council late that evening feeling good about this side trip...I tried to put aside all the worries that a major move can bring and concentrate on one day, one thing at a time, with positive thoughts and actions it would all come together...I would feel much better when we received a contract from Hayes, letting us know that we for sure had a place to live...Hugs To All...OWAV:)