Posted on

Darrin’s Birthday #59!

What do you do for a fun day on the last birthday before the big 60? Since we are in the middle of the trip of a lifetime, that doesn’t count as new. We have ziplined, and both grew up skiing. We already rock climb, mountain bike, and ride motorcycles. Darrin has learned to fly and flown solo, and we went up in a hot air balloon many years ago when we were courting. Skydiving is out till at least 60! Enter the Oregon Dunes and a Sandrail tour! Of course, he doesn’t go for the humdrum tour, he chooses the fast dune buggy 1 hour tour in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Being the wonderful wife that I am, I said “Sure, why not!”.

And once again, SILLY ME!!!! We bounced, we zigged and zagged, we dropped and went straight up, we had to have been going over 60 mph. I found sand inside places there shouldn’t ever be sand. But, I can proudly say, I didn’t thrown up or jump out and run screaming away! I kept my composure and my lunch. I must admit, the dunes were breathtaking and magnificent even at this time of year when they are at their lowest. Mother Nature is an amazing artist. But…I get to pick the next adventure, something that doesn’t require I leave parts of my bone structure behind while mimicing a ragdoll!

The staging area. Cue the theme to Jaws or any well known horror movie.
Our first hint should have been the googles and the 3 point racing harnesses. Isn’t my birthday boy cute?
Halfway through. Can you tell I am ready to chunder?
Oye! The things we do for love. Payback baby!

Tidbit: Sorry, no action shots. We were hanging on for dear life, and the sand blowing in our faces would have ruined the camera. I’m gonna need some ice cream!

Posted on

The Simple Things

I have been complaining, I know, a rare occurrance, about typing on my tablet (we left laptops at home). The old hunt and peck method can’t keep up with my flurry of thoughts. So, my wonderful guy found me a bluetooth keyboard that works with my tablet and phone and convinced me, over the course of a month, that it would be worth the $30. It is amazing how much easier it is to get blogs and such done. My fingers can now keep up with my brain. The simple things in life! Oh, and he was right:)

My new favorite electronic!
Posted on

Moxie

A visit to the Eugene, Oregon Pioneer Cemetery takes one back to an era of individuals who had more moxie than most of us could ever imagine. These people left everything known to them, their homes, families and friends, to travel across prairies and over mountains, and through Native American and Mormon territories to find a new home. They braved the cold and heat, the wild animals and rushing rivers to create a new life in an unknown place. They didn’t have cell phones or Instagram or even good old snail mail. Most of the time these individuals are forgotten in the dusty corners of history, replaced by movie stars or the latest singing idol. But, today, these individuals stole the show for me. I am humbled by their fortitude and courage.

The cemetery was on a wooded hill. Over time, neglect let Mother Nature slowly reclaim what man had lovingly created. Now a group of local people are slowly restoring the graves and putting up information placards on the town’s founding citizens. What a great way to preserve the past.
Eugene Skinner and his wife Mary were the first known white settlers in the Eugene area. They were from upstate New York and Eugene City, yup you guessed it, is named after him. The original gravestones are laying down in the background, too damaged by time to stand.
The stump grave (to signify a life cut short) of a Woodsmen of the World, a fraternal order.
And the back. These types of gravestones were quite expensive and eventually phased out.
A Vermonter turned Oregonian. I bet his trip to Oregon was a lot more arduous than ours.
The sadest gravestones of all are the children. The infant mortality rate was very high. This little gravestone was all alone. Most likely there were other graves around that have disappeared over time.

Tidbit: Visiting a town’s graveyard can be a treasure trove of information about a town’s past. I should wander through those in my own town back home.

Posted on

Silly me…

So, the other day we decided to go for a drive and explore a new area south of Grants Pass. We headed down Route 99 following the Rogue River through an older section of motels and small fishing cabins, an area that spoke of a former time and lifestyle. Today, the motels and cabins are being replaced by RV parks, they are everywhere, I mean everywhere, and amazingly most of them look full. The temperate climate makes it a great place to overwinter, I guess. But, I wander. We are driving and admiring the landscape and architecture when Darrin sees a sign that says Table Rock and says, “Isn’t that where Nancy went hiking? Lets go check it out!” (Nancy being our Grants Pass Airbnb hostest with the mostest.) So I said, “Sure, lets go give it a gander.” Silly me, several hours later we had hiked 5.5 miles round trip to the top of Lower Table Rock. Normally, that would have been a normal hike for us, but a winter in the flatlands of Florida did nothing for my hiking muscles. Never the less, we hiked, it was beautiful and we have a blog to show for it!

Lower Table Rock elevation ahout 2,000ft.
Once you reach the top of Lower Table Rock it is approximately 1 mile across to the lookout over the Rogue River (at one time it was an airstrip!)
You can read about the airstrip here, and some other fun facts.
And all that science stuff on how it was formed is here.
The view of the valley and the Rogue River.
And a look the other way down the river. Notice the lava like rocks (Did you read the science stuff above?)
Reminded us of a mini Devil’s Tower. This is from halfway up the trail.
Upper Table Rock from the top of Lower Table Rock. The easier 1 mile round trip trail is over there, I found out after.

Tidbit: The Lower Table Rock is taller and north of Upper Table Rock which makes absolutely no sense until you learn one is up river and one is down (lower on) the river, the Rogue River, that is. The all important river that brought life sustaining salmon to the native Takelma tribe.

Posted on

The unplanned plan…huh?

“Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” 
― Allen Saunders

Where are you going? What’s your plan? These were questions many people asked before we started out, almost a year ago. My standard answer was that we had no plan, we were tired of trying to plan. We were going to see where the road took us, live from day to day, in the moment. Quite enlightened and new age’ish of me, don’t you think? I thought so, but there was also the reality that we were leaving everything we knew for 2 years, jumping into the unknown, which was exciting, and a bit terrifying, ok a lot terrifying. We did want to let the road lead us, but also the thought of planning the trip as a whole was overwhelming. It was easier to think about driving out of the driveway, getting to Pennsylvania, then to the auto train to Florida, etc. But, if I am honest, there was always a tiny map in the back of my brain. A picture of where the road should take us. The inner workings of the human brain….oye!

Okay, I know get to the point, where are you going with all this rambling? (Lol, the human brain again. You want to know where this is going). The point…we followed the road and it took us to the Yukon and the Arctic Ocean, to Alaska and Denali…all amazing and life changing. We saw glaciers and bears and musk ox, and met interesting people. Not having a plan and following the road was the greatest thing ever! And then the road took us to Oregon for a new engine and Florida to be with Darrin’s mom and now to Eugene, Oregon for transmission work. And the little image in the back of my brain speaks up, “Hey, wait a minute, these weren’t in the plan!” Plan? What plan? We didn’t have a plan…where did that come from? What happened to going with the flow, letting the road show us where to go?

Okay, breathe. After a few hits over the head, we realized that the road is leading us. Where we are is okay. We were able to really be with Darrin’s mom and spend time visiting my parents. We have walked and hiked, and met interesting people. We have seen some cool landscapes and watched a bit of TV. Lately, we have taken naps and slept late, realizing we needed to recupperate from our months of hospitals and hospice in Florida. The bottom line is the road is still there and it is still an unplanned amazing adventure. We are grateful where it has taken us and look forward to where it will take us in the upcoming year, (even if it doesn’t match that little map in the back of my brain:)

Tidbit: “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit or There and Back Again
So far we haven’t seen any dragons, but we will keep our ears to the ground and our eyes to the sky. Toodles!