the odyssey: part 3

next stop: redwood state park.
now, this stop may just have the best story to go along with it...but you'll have to be the judge of that. i guess it depends on how well i tell the story. here goes.
leah and i had spent the night at a friend's place in cottonwood, ca (close to redding)- a beautiful little farming town. our friend's dad made us breakfast and we had a nice chat with him before we headed off. we were supposed to arrive at the park in just a few hours. leah punched in the address of the park to the GPS and we were off. it was a drizzly, cloudy day, but we were enjoying our trip (i was enjoying a nap), entertaining ourselves with music and "the question game" (leah's favorite game), when the GPS began directing us off of the main roads and highways we had been traveling on. i could sense the rising levels of alterness in both us, thinking "we must be getting closer!" we continued to turn off of roads onto seemingly more insignificant, less populated ones, until we were on a gravel road, literally called "unpaved road" by the GPS. hmm. but we continued on, confidently. about a half hour later, while manuevering the many, many switchbacks and potholes on "unpaved road," i realized i had not seen any sign of civilization in quite a while. but the GPS said we were but miles from our destination. so we continued on, perhaps a little less confidently (at least on my end). 15 minutes later- during which time we had barely traveled a few miles due to the rough road- leah and i looked at each other and just started laughing. "where in the world are we????" "this doesn't really....look.....right..." "should we turn around?" my favorite response of leah's- "i think this is just a back entrance to the park or something" so, yes, we're a bit ashamed to admit it now, but we still did continue on. a bit later, as levels of concern and confusion had started to rise, i tried to call someone and ask them to look up an address. after we had established leah and i were basically lost, my cell phone lost service. ok. great. but then, the unthinkable happened- we encountered other life forms- yes, people! in a white work truck. they were coming toward us, and came to a slow stop at our window. "are you guys as lost as we are?" they asked. why, yes, yes, in fact, i believe we are lost! they informed us that they went a few miles further than the point we were at and the road was the same....they then asked where we were going. i let leah do the talking- "well, umm, i'm kind of embarrassed to say it, but- redwood national park....?" the men in the truck- "isn't that off of the 101 freeway?" (at this point, we are a great distance from the 101). leah- "ohhh, yeah...um, yeah i think i maybe got the....wrong...address." they told us they had given up on the road, and strongly suggested we turn around too. they left, and- i'm not kidding you- leah still was not quite convinced that we should turn around. however, my resolve had strengthened, and she agreed. so....we turned around!! good for us- better late than never, right? anyway, we go down the road a ways, and see the white truck pulled off to the side. we pass them, and notice them pull out behind us. leah and i realized they had been waiting for us. after finally getting back to to the main road and enduring the same potholes and switchbacks in the rain that continued to pour down, the white truck pulled up next to us to turn the opposite way onto the highway. we wave to the kind fellows, and one hops out of the truck. he comes over to our car and says "ok, do you know where you're going now?" and proceeds to give us directions to the 101. we thank him, a bit mortified at the idiots we had portrayed ourselves to be, and we parted ways. we will never forget those kind men in the white truck.
so, much later than we had hoped, we finally arrived at one of the many redwood state parks. we were immediately mesmerized by the greatness of these trees. we traipsed around the forest, barely noticing the rain falling steadily upon us. i do believe i fell in love that day. there was something so powerful, so wise and so comforting about those trees- those trees that had seen so much in their hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years of life. they reached up to the sky, and my arms could barely encircle even one side of the trunk. but their vastness was not intimidating- rather, i felt protected. even the earth beneath our feet felt softer. this was sacred land. and leah and i were in the midst of it.