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Just wait a minute

In New England we say ‘If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute and it will change’. We can have days where the temperature can swing as much as 40 or even 50 degrees. Oregon doesn’t have that extreme a swing in temperature during a single day, but they do have little changes in temperature that can change the constant precipitation from one form to another.

The last 2 days, the temperature here in the valley has been just warm enough for the precipitation to be in the form of rain, lots of rain. (Make sure you turn the sound up so you can hear Darrin on this little video.)

Here is the sign Darrin mentioned. If you couldn’t tell from the video, the entire field was flooded, and the road.

Now today, the temperature dropped just a few degrees and…

Snow day! A good day to watch old movies.

Tidbit: The weather in Oregon swings wildly from season to season. The winters are cool and wet, and the summers are quite hot and dry (a perfect combo for their recent wildfires).

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Diesel Conversion: our new heater!

The image below is our new diesel heater. It is spliced into the Rovers heating system and is set up to produce nice toe toasty warmth without running the motor. In short, we can pull in, pop up the tent, fire up the heater, and be cozy, warm, and dry! No power required, only a bit of diesel. Sweeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!

Eberspaecher – Hydronic S3 Economy heater

Tidbit: Happy wife! Toasty toes!

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Rainy day

Today was a rainy day here in Grants Pass, Oregon, I know very surprising this time of year.

So, we set to organizing our gear to go back in the Wee Rover.

We sorted through this…
organized that…
and charged these doohickeys

And we went for a bimble to put more miles on the motor for the next oil change.

The GPS led us up into this beautiful loop right to…
yup, you guessed another dead end (zoom into the yellow sign).
The map showed it looping around to another road.

So, all in all a very quiet, rainy day here in Grants Pass, Oregon. I think it is time to watch a little MASH and make some ravioli.

Tidbit: Grants Pass, orginally Grant’s Pass, was named after General Ulysses S. Grant and his 1863 victory at Vicksburg. A small stagecoach stop back then, the apostrophe was later dropped as the small town became a bustling railroad community.

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Ewoks of Endor

Yesterday, we spent a chilly day at ReInvent the Wheel working out a few bugs, changing out the break-in oil and hooking up my new diesel heater (no more chilly toes no matter what the season! Thanks to Richard from the Alaskan Ferry who suggested the heater!)

So, today we were back to putting down some more break-in miles for the next oil change. Since the sun was shining, a rare occurance in Oregon this time of year, we decided to head down Rt. 199 to Crescent City, CA, a round trip of 160 miles. We chose this route because it had a nice elevation change and a variety of speed changes. We started in Grants pass at 960ft, went up to the Collier Tunnel through, you guessed it, Collier Mountain at 2,000ft, down the other side to the ocean at 15ft and back to Grants Pass. The Wee Rover and her new motor hummed right along. We only belched out a bit of smoke on the way up to the pass doing 55 in overdrive.

Weeeeeeeeee!!!!
Collier Tunnel was finished in 1963 and saved 3 miles of road, over 100 turns and 5 switchbacks. It turned a Jeep track into a main route from Oregon to the coast.
The Wee Rover isn’t afraid of a little snow. See the tunnel in the background?
The Smith River looks a little chilly, probably only a single dunker.
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. I should have taken a video, it was beautiful.

Tidbit: Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park also know as Forest Moon of Endor (home of the Ewoks) is where Return of the Jedi was filmed, well the Ewok portion anyway.

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Miles to burn

Today, we spent some time driving around the Grants Pass/Merlin area in the Wee Rover trying to reach the 200 mile mark for our first oil change tomorrow. Since we had to be out and about in the rain, it rains a lot here just in case you didn’t know, except during the summer when it is hot and dry has forest fires, we decided to get wet and do a bit of sight seeing and reconnoitering for future camping places, just in case we end up back here sometime.

Our first stop was Griffin Park, a county park here in Grants Pass, OR. Oregon does a great job providing nice, affordable camping and day parks. Griffin Park is right on the Rogue River and seemed like a great place to camp, sometime when it isn’t raining and 40 degrees!

Our next venture was Indian Mary, another county campground. Again, it is right on the Rogue River and looks like a great place to camp. Bonus, it is just west of Hellgate Canyon, a beautiful gorge and playground for rafting, salmon fishing and jet boating.

Tidbit: Hellgate Canyon is where such movies as Rooster Cogburn, starring John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn, and The River Wild, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon, were filmed. A bit of stardom for you movie buffs! Corn dodgers anyone?

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Diesel Conversion, First Drive

Wow! Just Wow!

I didn’t realize just how conditioned I had become to dreading, scoping, planning, and grabbing momentum for every uphill.

The Wee Rover now just wants to pull and pull. Granted we still haven’t put her back together into traveling form so she was very svelte, but Wow! I found myself jabbing the throttle on the hills just to feel her jump forward.

More to follow as we settle in with the new motor.

Next up, 200 miles of breaking in, and her first oil change.

Tidbit: Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

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Reunion Day!!

You know the greeting you get when you pick up your dog that had to spend a few days at the vet. Tail wagging! Peeing a little! Wiggling all over! Where have you been? I knew you wouldn’t leave me, but you were gone soooo long!

We are reunited with our little companion, the Wee Rover!!!!!!!

My boy and the Wee rover are both happy, again.

Tidbit: It is the same greeting we get every time we visit our good friend Sheba next door (she’s a dog, just in case you thought we had a human friend who peed everytime we saw them😁

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Ornate modern hub

We had experienced Union Station in Chicago from afar, who hasn’t seen the movie The Untouchables, but we weren’t prepared for its absolute grandeur when standing in the middle of the Great Hall. It took our breath away. I couldn’t take enough pictures to capture all the ornate details. The newly restored glass ceiling and limestone architecture made us feel like we had stepped back into the golden era of train travel. I fully expected a silver screen movie star to come sweeping down the stairs followed by porters and trolleys full of luggage, and a half dozen well groomed dogs, of course, didn’t they all have them back then?

Originally opened in 1925 after 10 years of construction, Amtrak has been slowly remodeling and restoring the station into a modern hub of transportation while keeping the authentic historic feel. I think they are doing a great job! Kudos! Boo to Penn Station in NYC who tore down their historic building and made a modern mess.

Tidbit: During WWII the glass ceiling of the Great Hall was blacked out so the station wouldn’t be a target.

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Pass on by

When I was a child I spent hours in the car traveling to see grandparents. I would stare out the window watching the unknown worlds go by. Riding the train reminds me of those days. Hour after hour I stare out the train window watching houses, factories, schools, and cars go by. We’ve passed hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of people. Where are they all going? What are they doing? Dreaming? Wanting? Hoping for? Do we have something in common? Would they listen to my story or want to tell their own? If we met on the street, would we become friends? Foes? Or just pass on by? Since the train keeps moving, I guess we’ll never know.


Tidbit: While I may never know if I would find common ground with those outside the train, I do know that I met people inside the train, whether sharing a meal or a two minute conversation, that enriched and expanded my own narrow vision of the world outside.

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The time has come…

We are now officially on instagram!!!!!!

Taaaa daaahhhhh!! Drum roll please.

mackenziesontheroad can officially be followed, liked, commented and whatever else you can do on Instagram.

Please bear with us as we wade through this new venture…we are old’ish and this is a whole new world. If you have any suggestions as we go, please let us know. We are going to need them!

See you there!