#winston oregon

[psychicpoet0188]

My favorite smiling bearded goat in the Barnyard area of Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon.

[psychicpoet0188]

[psychicpoet0188]

Beautiful kookaburra singing the song of his people at Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon.

[copperboompaparazzijewelry]

Wildlife Safari Park in Winston, Oregon

Each year my family members and I head out on a drive from Eugene to Winston Oregon to spend time with the animals in the Wildlife Safari Park. We have never been disappointed.

Love animals? Check out the Wildlife Safari Park, nestled in the beautiful wooded hills of Winston, Oregon. 

[copperboompaparazzijewelry]

Jewelry, animals, and nature is my “thing.” Take at Wildlife Safari, Winston Oregon. 

[truckingwithnature]

[eyeglass-voyager]

Floris faltering 

[naturepunk]

COPS

So, many of you know that I travel in a little Chevy pickup truck. I sleep in the bed with the canopy on it so I can essentially lock myself in for the night without a need to worry about people pestering me.

It's a pretty good system. When I'm in the there, the canopy can only be opened from the inside, even if someone on the outside has the keys. And the windows lock, as well, so short of actually breaking said windows, there's no way anyone is getting in unless I approve their entry first. 

As an extra safety precaution, I have learned to set up for the night well away from people. I'm bothered FAR less in secluded areas like forest lands or nature reserves than I am at any RV park or crowded rest stop. 

Normally, I have either Jude, Cabal, or both of my dogs with me on such excursions. But my trip on Monday to pick up the foster pups meant leaving my two 70-pound 'body guards' at home.

So I went even further out of my way than usual to ensure I was in a place with very minimal human traffic, and slept with not one but three knives on me - one beside my sleeping bag, one in my book bag, and another tucked into my boot (Yes, I sleep with my boots on while I travel. There's nothing worse than waking up to a situation and wasting time and energy scrambling hard to get your shoes laced up so you're not running around barefoot during an emergency). 

My night started in Winston, Oregon. A few years ago, a friend and I had camped out on the top of a forested hill there, so that was the first place I went to seeking solitude. Unfortunately, the forest had been turned into a housing development, and I didn't want to pester anyone by spending the night in their drive way.

So I drove around until I found an unmarked dirt road that lead to a sweeping field at the foot of a large butte. 

As I was making my sleeping arrangement in the truck bed, I spotted headlights passing over the face of the mountain and soon, much to my chagrin, saw the blue-and-red flashing lights of a police car come up over the rise.  The officer caught me in his headlights and promptly struck his high beams. "That's completely unnecessary," I said aloud to myself. 

As he drew closer, with his blinding headlights sweeping the scene, he proceeded to turn on a giant spotlight mounted to the roof of his cruiser, as well.

I was pissed at this point. He was being more than unnecessary now. This was just downright gratuitous. 

Without turning off the high beams, or moving his spotlight off of me, the officer exited his vehicle and approached, asking instantly, "What was that you put in your pocket, miss?" 

I hadn't put anything in my pocket. I didn't even have pockets. I'd actually just clipped my car keys to my belt loops so that I wouldn't set them down in the truck while handing him my ID and lock myself out of it. 

I told this to the officer, but he demanded to see. So I lifted the edge of my shirt and showed him my keys dangling for my pants. He nodded, looking mildly disappointed, and asked me, "What brings you out here tonight?" 

"Just trying to find a safe, secluded place to sleep," I said. "Been driving all day. Couldn't find anywhere else." 

"Yeah? Well, I'll have you know this is private property. We've had a lot of issues with theft 'round here." 

I scoffed. 'What the fuck are people stealing out here? Grass? We're in the middle of a damned field,' I thought.

The officer walked around my vehicle, shining his light in on the assortment of dried sage, sunstones, and a salted pack rat pelt that I had left there from my road trip to Yellowstone. "Ya got some...strange stuff there," he commented, his flashlight pausing on the rat pelt.

"I'm a taxidermist," I told him bluntly. "It's my job." 

The officer raised his eyebrows, then asked me to hand him my ID, so I did, and stood awkwardly against my truck in the monstrous glow of his high beams-plus-spotlight as I waited for him to check it over. 

He finally nodded, handed my ID back, and told me simply that I had to leave.  "Got any suggestions for where else I should go?" I asked him, adding, "I'm tired and low on gas. I just want to sleep safely tonight." 

"Well, you can't do it here," the officer replied offhandedly. "Ya might try the next town over." And with that he got back in his squad car, turned off the spotlight (but kept on his high beams), and slowly left. He hung out at the bottom of the dirt road until I had started my truck, to ensure I was actually leaving, then sped off.

'To protect and serve, my ass,' I thought as I drove. 'What if I'm too exhausted to make it to the next town? Or get hit by a drunk driver on the road? Bet he'd feel like shit, scraping my carcass off the pavement. Then again, likely not...'

I drove for another half-hour around Winston, wanting to avoid the highway at midnight, but found nothing. So I jumped back on the 99 and kept driving until I ended up in Myrtle Creek, 15 miles away. 

There, I found a 24-hour convenience store. It was about 1:30 AM at this point and I was beat. I got myself a drink to be polite about it, then asked the clerk if she knew of a safe place to camp for the night. 

"RV park's closed. Ya wouldn't wanna camp there anyway. Drunkards n' that." She thought for a moment, then said, "You could try the river, on Dole road. There'll be a couple a' good turnouts there." 

So I headed up Dole road.

The first turnout had a sign beside it that said, "City Property: Day Use Area ONLY," so I continued on another mile or so down the pavement. The next turnout had no sign next to it, and was far less-traveled than the first. I couldn't bare to drive another mile more, so I pulled off into a maze of wheeling trails, found a dead-end spot, backed my mud-streaked Chevy right into it, crawled into the truck bed, and finally went to sleep. 

I was out for several hours. I thought, at one point, that I heard something outside beside my truck, but after laying silent, listening intently, the scuffling went away. I fell asleep again and slept quite soundly until I suddenly heard an authoritative knock on the side of the vehicle.

Instinctively, I reached for my knife, but caught myself. An officer was shining his flashlight in on me, and through the dusty windows, couldn't see much. He seemed a bit surprised to find that his suspect was a young woman, as I slid the window open and groggily gave him a slurred, "Can I help you, officer?" 

He took a moment to collect himself. This cop was much younger than the one who'd pestered me back in Winston, and seemed much less haughty. He asked me if I had any weapons on me, and I told him about the knives, pointing out the K-Bar beside my sleeping bag.

He seemed off-put by the fact that I had so many on me, but continued with the questioning: "You wouldn't happen to have a man out here with you, would you?" he asked, and, before I could give him an ear full about it, added, "A shirtless man?" 

Now that he was being specific, I knew he wasn't just being a dick. The question did prompt a laugh from me, though. "No." It was a pretty bizarre question. "Haven't seen anyone out here but you tonight."

"Yeah, well, some shirtless guy down here ran from me earlier," the cop said, looking much more relaxed now that he knew I was alone. He asked for my ID, adding with a rueful chuckle, "Don't go pulling that knife in your purse on me." 

"I won't," I assured him seriously, and promptly handed over my driver's license. 

He looked at it for a moment, then ducked his head and spoke into his radio, saying, "Be advised, this is not the shirtless suspect from earlier. Over."

A voice crackled back: "Okay. Thanks for the update. Over" 

The officer turned back to me. "So here's the deal," he said with a sigh, "This here is city property. You can't technically be here, but it's early enough in the morning that I'm not going to bother you about it. You can go back to sleep, but know that I did see that guy runnin' around here earlier. He ran from me, so he's likely got a warrant or somethin'. It's not really safe for a girl like you to be sleeping out here like this. Could have tried the RV park."

I lifted a lip at the officer, giving him a blatantly dirty look. "I've been traveling like this a long time," I told him honestly, "and by and large, I run into far more issues with people in places like RV parks and hotel parking lots. I've got knives, I've got mace. I know what I'm doing."

The officer seemed surprised by this backlash, but nodded in undstanding. He gave a bit of a grunt and pushed himself away from my truck window, saying, "Best of luck in your travels, then. Just be safe. And have a good night," then left.  I slept until morning with the K-Bar drawn and bare.

As the sun shone in through my dusty windows, I realized: I had found two perfectly secluded areas to sleep safely, and both times, was not bothered by anyone except officers of the law. The second cop, at the very least, had an excuse - he was looking for a suspect, and not just some made-up suspect that "matched your description" as many cops will do. He was even okay with letting me sleep there unperturbed until daybreak, which is saying a lot of an officer, especially a younger one.

The other officer, back in Winston - he was just an elitist turd biscuit through and through. He wasn't protecting anyone or anything; but he was putting me in a risky situation by forcing me back onto the highway, even after he knew that I was exhausted and low on fuel. I wish I'd have had the foresight to take his name and report him, but in that moment, I only wanted to put as much distance between us as I could.  The other guy was still a half-winged dickbat, but at least he wasn't as bad as he could have been. Never before have I had to deal with two officers in one night while truck camping during travel. Next time, I hope that it will be a female cop who is a bit more understanding, but if the gods are good, there will not be a next time to begin with.