![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/VisDetLPrestonHorses.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSheila and Charlie Kerrian thoroughly enjoy their cross-country road trips, and besides taking loads of photos of the breathtaking landscapes, have met some truly intriguing people in law enforcement. There was the newspaper owner\/editor Ava Logan; the psychic puzzler, Lexi Sobado; the 1880s midwife, Rose Carroll; the vegetarian detective, Becky Greene; and the time traveling sheriff, Will Denton \u2013 an eclectic bunch of crime fighters to be sure.<\/span><\/p>\n “Twenty-seven hundred miles from home, Charlie and Sheila marvel at Oregon\u2019s land between the Cascade Mountains and the high desert. Traveling through the central part of the state showcases the transition of coastal fir, spruce and cedar giving way to pine and sage. Black-ribbed buttes thrust out of the sandy loam. The last road sign announces their entry into (fictional) Butte County.<\/span><\/p>\n Two seats are open at the lunch counter next to a young woman in jeans and a flannel shirt.<\/span><\/p>\n Why is she biting into a hamburger when better food is served here?<\/em> Charlie and Sheila wonder as they climb onto the last available twirly stools.<\/span><\/p>\n The young woman makes eye contact via the mirrored wall facing the lunch counter, then turns to face them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re new here. Are you moving in? D\u2019you have horses?\u201d She pulls a business card from her shirt pocket and slides it down the counter in front of them.<\/span><\/p>\n Sheila and Charlie inspect the card together. <\/span>Rainy Dale, horseshoer.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re a horseshoer?\u201d Charlie asks.<\/span><\/p>\n A chuckle erupts from the uniformed deputy on the other side of the young woman. Charlie and Sheila look at the mix of people sitting on Rainy Dale\u2019s other side. Two uniformed deputies, a middle-aged man with a crew cut and a young woman with a tight French braid who looks about Rainy\u2019s age, probably young twenties, are finishing their plates. The chuckle came from the male deputy, who nods and says, \u201cShe thinks she\u2019s a horseshoeing detective.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA horseshoeing detective?\u201d Sheila asks. \u201cThat\u2019s a thing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A ponytail keeps Rainy\u2019s long brown hair out of her plate as she leans forward and uses both hands to stuff the last bite into her mouth. She looks at Sheila in the mirrored wall and nods.<\/span><\/p>\n Charlie reaches for the laminated menu. One burger option is local, grass-fed beef.<\/span><\/p>\n A tall, blond young man in a chef\u2019s shirt comes through the swinging doors from the kitchen, plates in each hand. \u201cA sample of blackened spears of butternut squash drizzled in maple-infused vinegar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Rainy smiles and wrinkles her nose.\u00a0 \u201cGuy, that looks and sounds suspiciously like vegetables.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll try it,\u201d the male deputy says.<\/span><\/p>\n Charlie studies the man\u2019s uniform\u2014it\u2019s slightly different from what the woman is wearing. The man\u2019s shoulder patch reads Deputy<\/em> above the shield, Butte County<\/em> below. The young woman\u2019s sleeve has two lines above the cloth badge. Reserve Deputy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The horseshoer and the reserve deputy give each other the stink eye in the mirror. What kind of ire lurks between them?<\/span><\/p>\n Guy, the cook, fires up a tiny butane hand torch that hisses as he caramelizes sugar on a small, perfect-looking cr\u00e8me brul\u00e9e. The scent of browning sugar wafts over them, making Charlie and Sheila think of eating dessert first. Guy carries the dessert to the man at the first table.<\/span><\/p>\n Charlie wonders how many homicides the deputy has investigated.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow many sworn officers are in your Sheriff\u2019s Department?\u201d he asks over Rainy\u2019s head.<\/span><\/p>\n (This is how law enforcement officers compare department size\u2014by the number of sworn and non-sworn employees.)<\/span><\/p>\n The regular deputy nods as though recognizing he\u2019s likely talking to a brother officer. \u201cTwelve deputies in a county of seven thousand square miles. About as many people as square miles.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Charlie whistles. \u201cThat\u2019s not really enough personnel for full twenty-four-hour coverage. How do you patrol that much land with so few deputies?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The deputy jerks a thumb to the young woman seated beside him. \u201cWith reservists like her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The reserve deputy quits making faces at the horseshoer and sips her soda.<\/span><\/p>\n This is the modern American West. More going on than would appear at first glance. Maybe Charlie and Sheila will stay a night or two.”<\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/span><\/p>\n Many thanks to Lisa Preston for stopping by and introducing Rainy Dale, horseshoer, to the Kerrian\u2019s Notebook readers. Rainy is a truly original voice, with a talent for sizing up people and their horses. Horses kick and people get dead around her, but\u2026.. \ud83d\ude42<\/span><\/p>\n Click on the link and let Rainy tell her story in “The Clincher.”<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n http:\/\/www.lisapreston.com\/Clincher.html<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe Clincher,\u201d is the debut novel for Preston\u2019s Rainy Dale horseshoer series. An important scene in the book mentions a practical application of the sport of \u201cRide & Tie,\u201d and the photo above shows Preston competing in a real life Ride & Tie race. Although her experience and love of horses and other animals did not start out to be research for any of her books, the knowledge gained throughout her globetrotting life flows richly on the pages.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nThis trip was all about seeing the Pacific Northwest. Sheila\u2019s parents had lived in Tacoma, Washington, for a while and spoke fondly of their time in the area. The plan was to fly out to Seattle, stop in as many coffee shops as they could (Charlie ran out of time well before running out of coffee shops to visit) and then travel by rental car through Oregon and on to California. A break in the drive in the middle of Oregon\u2019s majestic scenery took them to the Cascade Kitchen.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMeet Rainy Dale and friends, in ranch and horse country Oregon:<\/span><\/p>\n
\nHunger calls and they pull off the two-lane highway in the pokey little town of Cowdry where they find an unlikely-looking diner called the Cascade Kitchen. Farmland abuts the back of the truck-choked, gravel parking lot. A gleaming red horse stands at the hitching rail. Yes, there\u2019s a hitching rail behind the diner and this horse\u2019s reins are loosely swirled around the thick wood crossbeam. The animal seems perfectly happy to wait there, head low, eyes half-closed, one hip cocked. Maybe the restaurant offers oatmeal to go, perhaps with extra brown sugar.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nInside, garden variety d\u00e9cor screams mere diner, with a wooden sign suggesting they seat themselves. The vinyl booths are dinner-rush-full, but wow\u2014at the first table, a good old boy in overalls and a baseball cap bearing the John Deere emblem is ripping into a ruby red bell pepper with fork and knife. Wild rice, sugar snap peas, and sausage spill out. Stuffed peppers in a diner!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n