Jose

I would have never found Jose except for a random Oregonian stopping to talk to Amity while she waited for me to shoot another descanso. He had asked if she needed help, nice of him, and when she explained what we were doing he said, “Oh, my buddy died just a mile up the road, want me to show you?”

Indeed.

Jose died during an ice storm, according to his friend. Just bad luck on a hill on Highway 97. Two semis had crashed into each other in the early morning hours, and the Tacoma that Jose was in crashed into one of the semi as it slid across the highway.

Speed, ice, and bad luck.

It was interesting to me that when I told the friendly stranger what we were doing he immediately offered information. I would never have seen Jose’s descansos without his help … it was just too far off the road down a small hill, invisible but not forgotten.