Last Day

(August 6, 2002)

World's Largest Bucket (?)

8:05 am (2,777 miles)
Klamath Falls, OR

We're on our way to the gas station when Eagle Eye Laura says, "Dang! That's a big bucket!" Aha! Could it be the World's Largest Bucket? Well, it doesn't say it is, but it's about 12 feet tall and is the biggest bucket WE've ever seen.

It sits in front of the Klamath Country Courthouse at 305 Main St, and is a memorial to forest fire fighters. Until we hear otherwise, we're proclaiming it as the World's Largest Bucket.

9:01 am

We leave Klamath Falls, home of the World's Largest Bucket (maybe) and hit the road.

We spend the morning driving through various National Forests. As soon as we drive out of one National Forest, we enter another one (no kidding, there's a sign, "Leaving Klamath National Forest" and then 50 feet further will be another sign, "Entering Willamette National Forest"--who knew forests had turf wars?). The temperature outside is lower than usual (60 degrees) and there is a whole lot of nothing but trees.

11:30 am
Oakridge, OR

We notice a fire on a hill outside of town. Later on we hear about it on the radio (turns out to be a small fire, not the World's Largest).

12:18 pm (2,936 miles)
Dexter, OR

Our GPS system leads us to a local fishing spot next to the Dexter Dam. We watch big fish (two foot long) leap out of the water. We also watch about a dozen local fishermen try to catch these fish. Mostly the fish just laugh at them. In the 40 minutes we were there, nobody caught anything.

2:39 pm (3,033 miles)
Mt Angel, OR

Our sources indicate that the World's Largest Hairball is in a museum in the Benedictine Abbey just outside of Mt. Angel. We locate the museum, which is in the basement of a building.

Although the museum contains an eclectic collection of "stuff," there is no hairball, giant or otherwise. There're a couple of dozen stuffed animals (deer, fox, and so forth), some of them in action poses (bobcat catching grouse, cougar bringing down deer).

Eavesdropping reveals that there has been a change to the items displayed ("there used to be a whole cabinet here that they took out"). We imagine that the monks got a little tired of people (like Robert) showing up and going, "Cool! A giant hairball! Man, those Benedictines sure know what to put in their museums!"

It's a very pretty monastery with a spectacular view of the surrounding territory. ("Could use a giant hairball," mutters Robert).

7:30 pm (3,271 miles)
Redmond, WA

Whew! We weren't sure we were going to make it all the way across Oregon (and halfway across Washington) in a day, but the closer Astro got to home, the faster he went. Besides, we wanted to sleep in our own bed, with our own cats pestering us, and our own two week stack of mail looming over us.

And so we come to the end of the World's Largest Trip, featuring such amazing items as the World's Largest Frying Pan, Yo-yo, and Lemon.

What did we learn? Well, just because it's the World's Largest, doesn't mean it's the World's Best. But sometimes, it does!