The Applegate Trail
The Applegate Trail
Featured

Welcome to My Blog

[su_dropcap style=”simple” size=”7″ class=”my_drop_style”]H[/su_dropcap]ere old windmillon the borderland between the forest and the desert we have, perhaps, a unique perspective on the world around us. To the north lies the primeval home of the imagination, and to the south, the desolation of our hearts. Here in Eastern Oregon it is a narrow transition zone which allows humans to prosper, although you could not find many folk in Germaine who would call their existence prosperity. Still, in the scope of history, even for most people in the world today, it is not merely prosperity, it is abundance.

The Applegate Trail is more than just my personal weblog, it is the diary of my town, that little spot of green on Tamarack Creek where my ancestors stopped to rest, and never left. It is their history, and their struggles, and their tears that I inscribe with the hard edge of truth, for I believe in the adage that the truth shall set them free.

Germaine is a town like other towns, full of mysteries, dark secrets, and hopes fulfilled or abandoned. We are a small town, about as tiny as you can get, and still be a kind of microcosm of the world around you. We defy stereotypes. We are conservative and liberal, and other things closer to the edge of acceptability. We are farmers, and ranchers and city folk, come to find a more peaceful existence. We are religious and non-religious, and some of us hold our spirituality, like our innermost desires, in a protective place close to our hearts. For the most part, we like to keep to ourselves, we Germainers. We are Americans of the Great American West, after all.

Begin The Applegate Trail here: Dark Cloud Over the Ochocos

 

Dark Cloud Over the Ochocos

[su_dropcap style=”simple” size=”7″ class=”my_drop_style”]A[/su_dropcap] few years back, a dark cloud settled over Wilbur County, and it just hung there as though it were permanently anchored to the Ochocos. The storm had been gathering for years, and some said it originated on the trail out west from Missouri and was well established even before little Germaine …

My Small Obsession

[su_dropcap style=”simple” size=”7″ class=”my_drop_style”]S[/su_dropcap]oon after I had returned to Germaine a few months ago, I began to delve into the local history as I had never desired to in my school days. Suddenly, these people, and this history had become a feverish fascination that led me to spend hours in the archives of city hall, and …

The Unfortunate Incident

[su_dropcap style=”simple” size=”7″ class=”my_drop_style”]T[/su_dropcap]here is a disconnect in this town. On the one hand everyone acts like I should already know everything that took place in Germaine during all those years that I was not here and on the other hand, they seem to think I know nothing about Germaine at all. Even my own mother …

Confrontation with Dad

[su_dropcap style=”simple” size=”7″ class=”my_drop_style”]O[/su_dropcap]kay, ten weeks holed up in my apartment is over the top, even for a recluse like me. I was so pissed at my dad and mom for perpetuating this falsehood about the Arlingtons that I could hardly stand it! I don’t care if The Germaine Truth goes to hell if, in …