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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.

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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.

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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!

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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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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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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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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!