Wednesday, Oct. 15th

Our stay in Sutherlin at the Escapee Park with the Smoots was an enjoyable time. Gary and Shirley are terrific hosts and we always treasure our time with them. Dottie and Shirley spent some time away from the guys and doing some serious shopping. Meantime, Gary and I drove down to Roseburg and had lunch at a McMenamin’s brewpub. We really relaxed while in Sutherlin and will visit there again next year.

We left Sutherlin on Sunday morning, the 5th, and drove south to Medford. I had planned to spend the night at the American RV Park, a Passport America park (half-price discount), but they don’t accept reservations. When we pulled in to the park, it was not very impressive. There were many semi-permanent RVs in the park and the clerk told us he had just rented his last site. I knew that the Wal-Marts all have signs posted saying “No Overnight RV Parking”. So we drove to the local Fred Meyer, asked the Mgr. if we could park in his lot, and received permission to do so. Once we were situated, I phoned our good friend, Sandy Baleria, who is now staying In Medford. Dave Baleria, who was a very close friend of ours, passed away suddenly last February in Benson, AZ. Sandy has had a rough time after losing Dave and now lives in Medford. We specifically wanted to spend some time with her. She drove over to our coach and took us to the Wild River Brewing Co., a small brewpub in Medford. We were able to sit and talk with Sandy and let her vent a lot of emotions. She is doing amazingly well in spite of her loss. We had a great time visiting with her and enjoying her company.

On Monday morning we pulled out of the parking lot and headed west to Williams, OR and the home of Bob & Sally Nason. Bob was the closest friend of cousin Paul Anderson. Paul went through the ordeal of dealing with Alzheimer’s Disease and passed away four years ago. Bob has written several times inviting us to visit and stay with them for a couple of nights. The timing was right and we were in the area, so we took advantage of his invitation. We arrived in Williams about 10AM and looked over the parking arrangement. Bob has a long, narrow driveway with overhanging trees. Sally had a dentist’s appointment, so they weren‘t there to see us finesse the coach into his driveway. I backed it in from the road stopping every 10-15 feet to check for obstacles. It took us a few minutes to get in and parked, but careful maneuvering made a successful parking job. When Bob and Sally got home, Bob was amazed that the coach was all the way back in his driveway! We had a relaxing evening with them and made plans for the next day.

Tuesday morning Bob and I went to the Williams Church and met a group of men for the Tuesday morning men’s breakfast. I remembered many of the fellows from my visits to Paul in previous years. It was an opportunity to enjoy some great guys and have a tasty breakfast with some old friends. When I returned to the house, Dottie had the coach ready and we prepared to leave. Bob wanted to show us some of the wildlife in his yard, so he got his animal caller and started making some sounds. We had three foxes come out of the woods and start toward us. They looked like small skinny dogs. It was amazing to see them hop through the grass thinking an injured animal was waiting for them. When I started the coach’s engine, Bob walked ahead of me and watched for any errant branches and I drove out the driveway to the road where we hooked up the car. It was a short visit but a lot of fun to see both of them after too long a time.

We drove the coach over to US-199 and started the climb over the mountains and to the coast. We got to Crescent City and, on a whim, phoned Jim & Peggy Grich to see where they were. They had a change of plans and decided to join us in Eureka at the Elks Lodge for the night. We arrived at the Eureka Elks Lodge, checked in and parked, and awaited their arrival. They pulled in within the hour and we prepared to go to supper at the Lost Coast Brewery. I restocked my craft beer supply after dinner and we went back to the Lodge for the evening.

The next morning we drove over to the Samoa Smokehouse, an old restaurant that was part of an active logging operation. Food is served family-style and we had tasty, filling breakfast. We drove back to the Lodge, packed up the coaches, and headed south to Cloverdale, CA and the Russian River Thousand Trails park where we both had reservations. When we arrived we found sites that allowed us satellite reception and settled in. It was a long day driving through the redwoods and both Jim & I were tired from the drive.

The next day we rode with Jim & Peggy in to Windsor and Santa Rosa to get some supplies and take care of some business paperwork. During our stay at Russian River, we made another trip to Santa Rosa to introduce the Griches to Costco, Trader Joe’s, and BevMo. I added some additional brews to my collection and several food items that we needed. We also had the opportunity to try Ruth McGowan’s Brewpub in Cloverdale, a small brewpub that was fun to visit.

Our time with Jim & Peggy was a lot of fun! They are a couple that isn’t that familiar with the West Coast, but are enjoying the full-time lifestyle while still working. We had some memorable moments with them and look forward to seeing them later this year when we will all get together again.

We left Russian River on Sunday morning and drove down to Walnut Creek to see my youngest sister. Our drive took us through the wine country of Calistoga and Napa. The route was a narrow, two-laned road with light, Sunday tourist traffic. It’s an easy drive that avoids the bounces of Hwy. 101. We arrived in Walnut Creek and the Elks Lodge by 2PM. Sister Harriet had tickets to a Carlos Santana concert, so we knew we wouldn’t see her that night. We checked in to the friendly Elks Lodge, paid our donation fee, and waited for a traffic school to finish so we could park the coach. In the meantime we sat in the Lodge lounge, enjoyed a drink, and met some of the members that were there watching the San Francisco football game. Once the parking lot cleared, I was able to get the coach parked and run a 100’ extension cord to a 15a outlet for electrical service. We spent the night and drove over to my sister’s house on Monday for a fantastic rib dinner including pasta salad, Caesar salad, and an apple crisp dessert. Husband Skip does a fantastic job of cooking dinner and we had a great time with them.

On Tuesday morning we left the Elks Lodge and drove south to the Morgan Hill Thousand Trails park. We met cousin Kate and Keith Nelson for dinner at the El Toro Brewing Co. brewpub in downtown Morgan Hill. We haven’t seen Kate for almost two years - she was always a reason for us to visit Lincoln, NE since she was staying there with her father before he passed away last year. Kate is back to substitute-teaching and staying busy with her house. We spent Wednesday evening with her at her house and letting Nancy meet her new poodle, Kitty. ( Yeah, a dog named Kitty - can’t you just imagine? Calling the dog - “Here Kitty, Kitty!”)

We have a flexible schedule and manage to keep it that way. Well, we have made a change in our plans and will be arriving in San Diego on Saturday afternoon, the 18th. We’re going to bypass Rancho Oso Thousand Trails and leave Morgan Hill on Friday morning. We’ll spend Friday night at the Palmdale Elks Lodge and drive on to San Diego on Saturday. My, how things can change…